Okay, after much thinking (and an unproductive start to today, seeing as how I ended up sleeping in), I’ve decided on a gameplan to help me get through this month. This is a gameplan, as opposed to goals. I haven’t gotten around to goals yet.

1. No more sleeping in. Hmmm. That looks pretty stark, bolded like that. Well, okay, as little sleeping in as possible.

2. Target completion date for ALL offline deadlines is at least two days before the work is due. I have nine more deadlines to go this month, plus a column to write by the end of the month, so this is kind of a biggie (especially since I’m usually a very last minute person and can typically be found finishing up a project minutes before I’m supposed to email it in).

But I’m off to a good start. I’m almost finished the project that’s not due until mid-week next week, and will be starting on the next one tomorrow, and that one isn’t due until Thursday.

3. Do some work on my offline projects every morning. I’ve been spending too much time doing nonproductive online stuff in the mornings. So once I check email, stats, Adsense, CJ and SAS, and write any urgent return emails, that’s it. I’m going to plunge into my work. My two-year-old started nursery school in the mornings last month, and I really need to start making good use of this time to work.

4. Have laptop permanently set up on a rollaway cart so I can work anywhere else in the house, if I’m not in the office. I usually can’t get much work done on my offline projects in the afternoons, because I find it difficult doing the work away from my desktop. But I just realized I can check feeds and blog from my laptop. Yesterday I synchronized all my FeedDemon feeds (well, not all of them, but 361 of them) with my Newsgator account, so I have absolutely no excuses for not blogging when I can’t be in the office.

I mean, I can blog just as well while watching Dora the Explorer or Thomas the Tank Engine, as I can sitting in the peace and quiet of my desk. I think.

(If this works, I will actually be able to get a good chunk of website and blogging work done in the afternoons, which will be good.)

5. Dinnertime. A total write-off, work-wise, around here - there’s dinner, and homework help, and then putting a certain little tot to bed - so I won’t be able to get back to work until around 7:00.

6. After dinner. This is when I plan to write more emails, spend some time thinking, look through my ideas lists and notebooks to see what I can add to my online to-do list, and surf around to find out what’s been happening all day. I can also pull out the offline stuff and start plugging away again, until the older kids’ bedtime. Then it’s tucking in and saying goodnight.

7. The rest of the night. I usually work until around 1 or 2 a.m., so the rest of the evening will be a mix of working on offline projects, blogging, writing articles for my sites, tweaking templates, doing keyword research, more blogging, more work on offline projects, setting up new sites … My offline work usually proceeds by chapters, so I’ll probably limit myself to a chapter at a time, before taking a break to do online work. I think that will be a good mix that will help me plow through all my deadlines and still get through my online to-do list for the day.

7. I must not get sidetracked. I’ve been known to spend an entire day Googling for Wordpress plugins, wandering through forums, playing around with one (as in, a SINGLE ONE AND ONLY ONE) header, or strolling through various interesting blogs. No more.

At least, not until November.

Next up: goals. But not until tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m going to take some inspiration from Darren’s A Day In the Life of a Blogger.