Well, that’s a post for another day. Today’s post is about BALANCE, which I have little of… but I do try, or at least I want to start trying! Right now I’m juggling a full time job that “encourages” me to stay late; a lucrative freelancing gig; an online Ajax class; and time for my wife, friends, and, of course, me. Honestly, I just feel there are not enough hours in the day!

So what am I doing right and what am I doing wrong?

One thing I’m doing right is that I set freelancing work hours for myself. I want to work 10 hours a week, so I’ll split that up and dedicate exactly 10 hours where there are no conflicts. Unfortunately, this rarely works out—mostly due to deadlines—and I just continue to work past my set 10 hours. Need to work on that one a bit harder, me thinks…

That’s where this comes in!

Something neat I recently discovered is Toggl, which helps me log my time and organize my tasks. This has helped me at least ATTEMPT to keep my set work hours! Before, I merely glanced at a clock when I started, and glanced again when I finished. This made switching between tasks, or taking breaks, difficult. I think the coolest thing about Toggl is the Adobe AIR app you can download, so you can run it on your desktop and not worry about keeping a web browser up to access your account.

Now, where I’m truly failing in life balance is in the fun/social department. Sure, I go to a friend’s house maybe once every other week, or attend my monthly Meetup groups, or go out for for dinner/coffee/movie every blue moon with my wife, but I haven’t taken a real vacation since my honeymoon (going on 2 years) or even a weekender in a few months. Maybe because it’s winter, maybe because we’re in recession, but really, if I don’t start living, I’m eventually going to burnout. And that’s no fun.

My (hopefully) next post will further explain how I’m planning to achieve the life balance I’ve always dreamed of. Stay tuned for that..

And before I sign off…

How do you maintain balance in your life? Let me know in the comments!

1. First thing I did in late 2007 was establish Mike Design as an actual business in Passaic County, NJ. After that, I established a bank account. By doing this, I made myself more “official” and professional. Not just some guy who builds web sites.
2. I started speaking to my accountant more often. I stated how much I would like to make in 2008 and how I was going to go about it. He was also the one that told me to establish myself as a sole proprietary business with the county and get a business account.
3. I joined a few meetup groups. The one I am most active in is the NJ Web Design/PHP/Blogger group. I’ve met some really great people there and learned a whole hell-of-a-lot from the professionals that attend. 
4. A few years back I was experiencing a condition called Skill Rot. Basically, I wasn’t keeping up with the ever-changing web and was struggling to remain relevant. Luckily, I realized this and began enrolling in online classes at eclasses.org and ed2go.com. In 2008, I continued seeking knowledge by completing courses in XML, SEO, advanced PHP, and 2 levels of Photoshop. These classes are great for establishing the fundamentals of a technology and learning best practice. I still continue to read blogs, visit sites like sitepoint.com, buy books, and talk to people to evolve further.
5. Networking, Networking, Networking! I probably had my best year of networking and that attributed most to my success. I kept in touch with past connections, made new connections, and made new connections through past connections. You never know where you’re going to get your next great connection, so always be prepared. If you are looking to make new connections, my best advice is to tactfully bring up that you are a web developer (or whatever it is you do) in conversation with new people, always have your business cards on you, if you don’t have business cards get some, do a stellar job no matter how small the project is. Like I said, you never know where your next great contact will come from.

Five, that seems enough. So anyway, here’s another short list of what I’m doing to prepare for a successful 2009.

1. I enrolled in another new class focusing on Ajax. So yes, I’m continuing to take classes. I also want to take classes in advanced CSS, Illustrator, and Flash this year. I’m experienced in all 3 (especially CSS), but I want to fill in some knowledge holes. Plus, learning is fun!
2. I bought a copy of CS4 Web Premium. I had a registered version CS2, so purchasing an upsell version of CS4 didn’t break the bank. I won’t lie, it was expensive, but well worth it. Plus, I can write it off.
3. I also took advantage of a one-day promotion Staples was having that I blogged about here. So yes, now I have a “free” copy of Quickbooks 2009. Once I get my mail-in rebate, I will have only spent about $11 on it (tax, ya know).
4. I got a cool Bamboo Pen and Tablet for Christmas! Should come in handy for the Illustrator class I want to take.
5. I bought this book and this book to help me with my business.
6. Lastly, I plan on blogging regularly here at mikedesign.net. It’s sure to help me get more traffic to my site, especially if I use it along with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
7. I want to get more organized. Right now, my Mike Design folder is just that: one manila folder. In the past it was fine because I didn’t do much business. Now I think I need a much larger folder with divisions for each month. This I think will be good for now. Hopefully next year I’ll be saying I need a whole darn filing cabinet dedicated to Mike Design!

So what are you doing to prepare for 2009? Let me know in the comments section!

Today Josh Catone over at sitepoint.com posted 10 Essential Tips For Landing Your Next Job, which I found timely and relevant. Especially considering the current state of the job market. He made some great points you should consider before applying to a job… like not using the same cover letter for every job. My wife taught me this one a few years back. I do keep a cover letter template which contains the “guts” of my letter. However, I usually rewrite the first and last paragraphs for every job I apply to.

Some other ones in his list I try and follow are blogging (which I’m getting better at these days), Networking Offline (I ALWAYS have business cards with me, and it pays off), and Don’t Stop Learning (I enroll in online classes constantly).