Burn out hurts and requires immediate action on the individuals part. A suggestion: If you have a Franklin Quest store in your area, look into some of the literature they have. The day planner they have plus the concepts behind it are very helpful. As an example, they have you define your Value System. What are your values in life? Next, define your goals. Do your goals agree with your values? If not, why? Re examination may be necessary. At the end of the day take five minutes to evaluate what tasks you accomplished. Were they in line with your goals? Again evaluate what you do and what you think and see if they are in agreement.

Organize and prioritize your work. Do you have a functional specification for each application you create? Define a technical spec with screen shots of each form to be used in your project. Break down the application into elements, Security, Splash Screen, Utilities, Data Entry forms, Reports, etc. Give everything a priority: Target Date and Actual Date. Be in charge do not let the project control you. At the end of your programming session, write down where you are and leave it at your computer terminal. When you return you will know where you left off and where to begin. Do not try to carry it around in your head. I use a little message clip attached to my monitor to hold my "goals and where I left off".

Plan your day well. So much time for each of life’s tasks. When it comes to programming define your expectations for the day. Be realistic and do your best. Keep notes on each element of your project. You will be surprised what you will learn. Do not forget family or self. Exercise, listen to music and talk to your wife!

Try to get lists of VFP (etc) training courses available, such as App Dev, Micro Mega, etc. See what they are teaching and begin a list of what you want to learn. Teach your self, go to classes if you can and by all means ask questions. Work towards learning new technologies. I do this by creating projects for myself at home, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, for an hour or two per day. The family is asleep and it is a good time to try new things. It has never failed that perhaps a few nonths after I learn something new, I get to use it professionally. If you close your eyes to computer technology the world will pass you by.

Use an application foundation such as CodeBook, Visual MaxFrame Professional, etc. Learn how to use it well and you will save yourself hundreds of hours of development time. Also, these application frameworks have user groups on the InterNet who can assist each other.

I have been programming for 18 years. At the end of the day I look forward exercising, and then picking up my flamenco guitar and having fun. Do not be hard on your self and learn to enjoy life. That is what life is about!

Tom