My sleep has been haunted. Every night, I lie awake in bed and wonder if I did all the things I promised my customers, co-workers, and bosses I'd do. Most of the nights, after an a lot of thinking, my brain would shut down and I'd fall asleep. But on the less fortunate nights, I would find some fault -- a request I failed to fulfill -- and I would toss and turn and worry about the next day's confrontation with the person I failed. Maybe they forgot too. I hope. Maybe I should quit, move to Venezuala, and change my name to Diego. Maybe I should commit Hari Kari for my failure.

Well, I've had enough: no more I say! Based on William Bilancio's strong recomendation, I decided to purchase and read Thomas A. Limoncellis's Time Management for System Administrators.

Mr. Limoncelli's book details a system -- The Cycle -- by which I arrange my schedule and todo list. The Cycle works. It doesn't just get stuff done -- hell, I managed to get stuff done -- it gets the important stuff done, lets me know exactly what un-important stuff I haven't done, and makes sure I do it when it becomes important stuff. Hey now! I can sleep again.

The Cycle -- though the pivotal element of this book -- isn't all Mr. Limoncelli taught me. One of the many, many topics he covered was email management. He starts off his chapter on email management describing me, ``How we manage email says a lot about how we manage our time. Most system administrators let email manage them, not the other way around.'' By the end of that chapter, I had my email under control.

And it doesn't stop there, Mr. Limoncelli has some nifty automation tricks up his sleeves (Makefiles. Damn, I should have thought of that.), sensible ways to get along with your boss, and a million little, but priceless, hints on how to use your current skills to better effect. Expect me to continue raving about this book, and to share with you my adaptations of it's systems on my blog.

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