Any Multi-Tasking Tips?

I’m a pretty big multitasker. I actually booked meetings at my new box-filled home tomorrow morning so I could get something done as I was waiting on the cable guy. But even I am struggling these days.

As it turns out technology and uber-efficiency can only create so many extra hours in the day. Between promoting my book, co-hosting TechTicker, writing my column for BusinessWeek and of course blogging, it seems like I always focus on one, only to inadvertently neglect the other. Then when I try to compensate, I neglect something else.

When I started blogging, I was ahead on columns, and I was traveling so not some 30 hours at TechTicker. Blogging was a snap and my traffic soared. When my book came out, my column was hopelessly late and TechTicker suffered a bit, though I should note both overlords couldn’t have been more understanding or supportive. When I tried to resume those duties, plus still blog, my book promotion suffered.

This week, I finally had a BusinessWeek column run and I really had a kick-ass week at TechTicker. As a result my plans for my User Generated Book Tour have stagnated a bit, and well….blog? What’s that? Throw in a move, and a new house with no Internet yet and just forget it.

As Mr. Lacy and I work on painting, unpacking and transforming our home into a digital wonderland the balance will stay hard.

I am imploring other multitaskers out there: What are your secrets? Is there technology I am missing to make my life easier?

My hunch is I need a part-time personal assistant. This is something that fellow Web 2.0 authors Charlene Li and Tara Hunt and I were talking about earlier this week. Are there good services for finding very part time, highly skilled assistant? Charlene pointed out that the answer wasn’t college kids but stay-at-home moms wanting a few hours of work per day, or alternately one day a week out of the house. Are there sites (other than Craigslist) where you can easily connect with them? That’s a business opportunity I think.