the grid

the grid

Sunday 14 January 2018

Week 2: Planning & organizing

Welcome all to week 2! Classes start for me this week, and I am working through reorganizing my schedule and my routines, as many of us are. In this reorientation, I’m noting Daisy’s shout out: WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN, ALWAYS. The trouble I’m in right now is that I write everything down, four times. On the computer, there’s a to do list and a spreadsheet. On paper, there’s a to do list in my notebook from the first-of-semester planning meeting, in addition to the bullet journal style monthly list I already made. I need to consolidate all of this and do just one thing.

So topic for this week: What system(s) of planning and organizing do you use? Apps, websites, journals, calendars, notebooks? In addition to managing life and work, and making deadlines, I expect many of us are also accountable for reporting on our progress/accomplishments. My faculty activity report is due Monday, and I am seemingly not nearly as careful about keeping up with things as I was pre-tenure.

Wishing you good health and warmth this week!

Bardiac (wasn’t sure if these were weekly goals or session goals)
1. Big one, for sabbatical, think about an adventure (or two)
2. Read a book of poetry (for fun)
3. Finish writing a review letter
4. Prep for writing a second review letter
5. Practice violin: work on bowing, especially!
6. Exercise at least a bit every day (shoveling counts...)

Daisy
1: Finish figures for LP
2: Finish other two abstracts which are now TRQ
3: Sleep off back-to-school bug

Dame Eleanor Hull
1. Research: Daily translation work; upload two chunks. Make plan (or find old plan and review) for revising the last article.
2. Teaching: Syllabi for two classes. Start teaching notes. Do some more assignment-writing.
3. Self-care: see doc (done this morning); make two more appointments when referrals come through; stretch at least once daily; cardio 6-7 days; weights 3 days.
4. House/Life: some financial and filing things. Keeping this minimal as I focus on pre-semester prep.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Send guidelines to the senate committee for wordsmithing.
Finish two staff evaluations.
Revise the outline for chapters 1 & 2 of Prudence.
One more week of walking 1.5 miles a day.
Two hours on the grant for five days.
Another foot of the lace shawl.

Good Enough Woman
1) Print and Read Chapter 4, thinking about what could be cut.
2) Read one critical article/chapter.
3) Finish SF novel.
4) Find a plant-heavy dinner recipe.
5) Walk 3x.
6) Buy or order bookshelf.
7) Spend 1-2 hours tidying campus office.

heu mihi
1. Meditate some amount.
2. Read first 6 chapters of Contest Book 1.
3. Bibliography for conference paper (hereafter Silence. My three projects this semester are Silence, Wonder, and Impatience. And those aren't even pseudonyms!),
4. Prep 1 syllabus/course.
5. Letter for student group.

humming42
I have to report for jury duty Tuesday and hope it won’t wreck my week)
1 finish book and submit book review
2 write outline for Jewel article
3 edit Buildings draft
4 finish book and write review
5 write and post syllabi

JaneB
On rest & recovery

KJHaxton
1. Mark coursework and exam scripts
2. write draft of opinion article
3. make contact with people about outreach events
4. finish teaching admin for semester ahead
5. knit something else


35 comments:

  1. Thanks for including me. Those were weekly goals, but since I was late putting them up... some of them are also for this week.

    I use a bullet journal thingy. I'm not very decorative about it, but it does help me make sure I don't lose track of things from meetings or whatever because I write them down right away. But, I'm WAY less good about keeping track on break, and that needs to change for my upcoming sabbatical!

    Session goals:
    1. Teach well
    2. Find sabbatical adventure ideas
    3. Work a bit on sabbatical project
    4. Celebrate in May

    Last week's goals:
    1. Big one, for sabbatical, think about an adventure (or two) Started!
    2. Read a book of poetry (for fun): Done! Really really good work of poetry!
    3. Finish writing a review letter: not done.
    4. Prep for writing a second review letter: not done
    5. Practice violin: work on bowing, especially! Done, and continues!
    6. Exercise at least a bit every day (shoveling counts...) Done

    This week:
    1. Big one, for sabbatical, think about an adventure (or two)
    2. Do some birding
    3. Finish writing a review letter
    4. Prep for writing a second review letter
    5. Practice violin: work on bowing, especially!
    6. Exercise at least a bit every day (shoveling counts...)
    7. Start prepping classes (start in two weeks!)


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Be careful with shoveling! As a person who has lived most of her life in the southern US, I'm impressed by the ability to cope with snow and cold.

      I think returning to more consistent bullet journaling will be good for me too. It's totally stripped down over here. Even adding a sticker or using a blue pen instead of black feels like a huge accomplishment.

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    2. I find bullet journals intriguing but intimidating.

      Delete
  2. Topic: I use a diary that's part bullet journal, part diary. It's got 1 week per double page spread with days on the left and lines on the right. I split the days section into timetabled stuff, and stuff I plan to do on a given day, then use the lined page on the right for a master to-do list that I usually run over two weeks. I gave up on google calendar (despite it being a work thing) because I need my diary when I'm off line. I tried proper bullet journaling but like Bardiac didn't do the decorative stuff. The residue was that I colour code my diary using colouring pencils to code each event so I know at a glance what type of things I am doing. Each module is a specific colour (and the folders on my google drive are that colour as well). It's cheerful at least...
    I'm about to start planning a paper so I'm investigating new ways of doing that. I'm going on a writing retreat this week so hoping to make major progress on a paper.

    Last week
    1. Mark coursework and exam scripts
    2. write draft of opinion article
    3. make contact with people about outreach events
    4. finish teaching admin for semester ahead
    5. knit something else

    I think everything was partially done, I made good progress but didn't complete so I'm largely rolling over this week. So yay! good progress.

    This week:
    1. Finish marking coursework and exam scripts
    2. Finish draft of opinion article
    3. make contact with people about outreach events
    4. finish teaching admin for semester ahead
    5. knit something else
    6. plan victorian paper, gather references before writing retreat and write a significant quantity of the first draft

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's so good to remember the significance of making good progress instead of feeling like we haven't done a thing until we're completely finished.

      Writing retreat will be a topic for a future prompt, so I'm looking forward to hearing more about that.

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    2. KJHaxton, your method sounds just like mine. Recently, I bought stickers and have thought of using them as writer V.E. Schwab does: as rewards and visual cues.

      https://veschwab.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/star-stickers-and-calendars-oh-my-aka-the-best-writing-trick-i-know/

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  3. I am against consolidation. Writing things multiple times helps me remember them and helps me think about what’s important enough to be worth writing down in several places. I have an 8.5x11 (closed) calendar, a pocket-sized Moleskine that I use as a design-your-own calendar/list place, a teaching journal, a research journal, a research spreadsheet, my personal journal, and a set of independent pages that I’ve been using to plan 2018 w/r/t values, long-term goals, etc. Those are stuck into the calendar for now and when I’m done, I’ll transfer bits and pieces onto appropriate calendar pages.

    If reading about this makes you twitchy or you’re forgetting to write everything in all the places it needs to be, then sure, maybe you’re better off consolidating. But maybe there’s method in your madness, as there is in mine. (Not to mention that there is a pleasure sure in being mad, which only madmen know.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the things I'm doing with planning for the year is trying to come up with a theme for each month. January is Prep; February is Finances (taxes and some other stuff that I've been putting off); March is Move (probably not the literal move to a new house, but final prep on this one before listing). After that it may all just be living with uncertainty and working the process for awhile, but maybe by the end of the first quarter I'll be able to come up with themes for more of the year!

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    2. Yes on the pleasure of madness. I aspire to celebrate my weirdness whenever I can.

      One of my weird things is using tarot cards for inspiration. I drew a card for each month at the beginning of the year as a way to summon those monthly themes.

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    3. humming--I really like the tarot idea!

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  4. I like a paper journal--online doesn't work for me for to-do tasks--and ideally one with the days of the week on the left, and lines on the right (like what KJHaxton describes). Moleskine has a nice one that I've been using for the last few years.

    But this week went off the rails when I got the flu on Wednesday--at 1:30 pm, to be precise. Sudden onset, indeed! I'm much better now--my stomach is feeling non-iffy for the first time in days--but I have a nasty cough and am distressingly under-caffeinated. Thank goodness there's still another week until classes start.

    Luckily I had a good first few days last week, so I at least accomplished some of my goals, but this week is going to be focused heavily on catching up *and* getting ready. And, of course, simply getting my strength back, since five days of not really eating has made me a bit funny.

    Oh, and also, we're in the thick of things for a political fundraiser that I'm helping to organize. (That's a phrase I never would've expected myself to utter! But here we are.) It's on Sunday, the night before classes start. I'm really looking forward to wrapping it up!

    Last week:
    1. Meditate some amount. ONCE? I can't meditate when I have chills.
    2. Read first 6 chapters of Contest Book 1. DONE (barely).
    3. Bibliography for conference paper (hereafter Silence). DONE
    4. Prep 1 syllabus/course. MOSTLY.
    5. Letter for student group. NO--forgot all about this, in fact.

    This week:
    1. Meditate some amount.
    2. Finish both syllabi; prepare Moodle pages.
    3. Balance checkbook, pay bills, generally get my s*** together
    4. Write letter for student group
    5. Finish Contest Book 1; read intro and 1st chapter of Contest Book 2
    6. Read 1-3 essays from Silence bibliography

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So sorry to hear about the flu, and hope you recover quickly and without relapses. I've heard there are some strains that this year's shot doesn't cover, so I'm planning to keep the hand sanitizer handy.

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    2. So glad to hear you're feeling better! Five days is a long time to be down with the flu. Take your recovering slow.

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    3. I had the shot and everything! So unfair. I can't remember when I was this sick for this long. It's been a week now and I'm mostly recovered--but not strong enough to vacuum this filthy house, which, believe it or not, is REALLY bothering me.

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    4. Avoid relapse! Don't push too hard to get back into your routine.

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  5. Checking in.

    How I did:
    1. Research: Daily translation work; upload two chunks. Make plan (or find old plan and review) for revising the last article. YES, and NO: can't find the old research journal (I think I packed it and then unpacked it and have somehow hid it from myself); will just start over this week.
    2. Teaching: Syllabi for two classes. Start teaching notes. Do some more assignment-writing. YES, NO, NO.
    3. Self-care: see doc (done this morning); make two more appointments when referrals come through; stretch at least once daily; cardio 6-7 days; weights 3 days. YES (obviously), NO, stretching 6/7, cardio 5/7, weights 2.
    4. House/Life: some financial and filing things. Keeping this minimal as I focus on pre-semester prep. NOPE.
    I did a lot of reading this week: a lot of it was both fun and work, since I'm teaching a class on fantasy lit this spring.

    THIS WEEK:
    1. Research: Daily translation work; upload at least one chunk. Make plan for revising the last article. Fill in a form and write an e-mail.
    2. Teaching: Start teaching notes. Do some more assignment-writing. Set up online stuff.
    3. Self-care: see dentist; stretch at least once daily; cardio 6-7 days; weights 2 days.
    4. House/Life: stuff from last week, plus pack for a trip.
    5. Admin: annual evil documents.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay for teaching things we enjoy reading! I hope your students will share your enthusiasm and bring their own perspectives too.

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    2. So often I wind up talking to myself that I decided I might as well talk about things I like . . .

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    3. Fantasy lit! That is fantastic. Would love to know a few of the texts you're teaching.

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    4. Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock; Susan Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone; Alan Garner, The Owl Service; JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit. All paired with medieval source material.

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  6. Hello all. Ugh, this cold thing is really mean. I'm still not interested in food (and coughing for quite a while after I eat which doesn't help), coughing unpleasantly and not sleeping well and all that stuff. It's a 'mucus cough' type thing which is really bad for my voice (basically reflux, I suppose). And I'm just tired and disinterested, but not eating much will do that to you. It's very frustrating - instead of starting the year feeling like I've ticked off some social and personal stuff, had fun, spent time with people I love and had a proper break, I feel behind, stressed and very, very tired already. ::pout::!

    whine whine whine.

    But I am better than I was, so here are some goals for this week:
    1) do revise and resubmit for Problem Child 3
    2) write some newsletter pieces for Society Thing
    3) do some teaching prep
    4) grade things
    5) be kind to myself

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nurturing yourself through recovering from illness is a good way to be kind to yourself. I hope you find your stride again soon.

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  7. Topic: I am in the same shape as heu mihi, in that I have multiple tools and places to write things down. My library has a staff wiki, on which my department’s projects are tracked. One of my library committees uses Trello, and two of my external committees use Basecamp. The university uses Outlook calendar as well. For personal tasks and writing, I use several paper notebooks and Google Drive. Therefore, I fall between heu mihi and Dame Eleanor, in that I cannot consolidate everything, but I do wish I only had two or three places to write things down. Since my life is so scattered, I take a half-hour at the end of every day to update all the various tools.

    Also, I colorcode what I can--different writing projects are in different colored notebooks. I like Moleskine, but I tend to use Leuchtturm1917 (Jottbooks for small projects and the larger notebooks for longer projects) because they come in a lovely rainbow. When I have to work with printed copy, I use colored ink to help keep things clear: red ink for excisions, green for additions, and blue for edits.

    Last week’s goals:
    Send guidelines to the senate committee for wordsmithing. Yes.
    Finish two staff evaluations. Yes.
    Revise the outline for chapters 1 & 2 of Prudence. Yes.
    One more week of walking 1.5 miles a day. Yes, with a couple of higher days.
    Two hours on the grant for five days. Only four days.
    Another foot of the lace shawl. Yes.

    Analysis:
    I had a productive week until Friday, when I had to take the train to a doctor’s appointment in Manhattan. The escalator to the track level was slippery, and I managed to free fall down the thing, severely twisting my knee and back. Luckily, my doctor checked me out, and I have only strained ligaments and muscles (and colorful bruises at this point). It will set me back on my walking for a while, sadly, but I am very lucky not to have done more damage.

    Next week’s goals:
    Compile list of research questions to answer before the sabbatical.
    Walk 0.75 miles a day.
    Three hours on the grant for four days.
    Switch to first pair of socks and complete foot to heel gusset.

    Excelsior, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so sorry to hear about that cursed escalator! I guess if there's an upside, it's that you were on the way to the doctor? Of course you wouldn't have encountered the escalator if you weren't on your way to the doctor.

      You definitely had a productive week before that, across so many different projects.

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  8. Topic: After last week's giant comment on project organization there's not much to add :)
    For everyday scheduling I use a notebook for everything I have to do/write/read/review/email so that they are easy to see and check off, my electronic calendar synced with phone for places I have to be, and a fridge calendar for everything to do with home/kid.

    Last week's goals:
    1: Finish figures for LP NOT EVEN CLOSE
    2: Finish other two abstracts which are now TRQ DONE, WITH AN EXTRA ONE AND AN INVITED TALK TO ADD, 6 total
    3: Sleep off back-to-school bug DONE, 2 extra afternoons of napping meant lots of catching up on weekend..

    This week's goals:
    1: Finish the figures!!!! Seriously...
    2: Do reading for new literature review section on new project
    3: Decide on new round of lab work and get contracts set up

    And an extra TRQ goal: complain loudly and in writing to as many powers-that-be about my office still having no heat and no power... I can only work in my storage space for so long...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No heat and no power? That's crazy. I'm sorry you have to contend with that. But six abstracts? You are doing a tremendous amount of work for someone with an unacceptable work environment.

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  9. Thanks for so much feedback on organization. It’s interesting that everyone seems rather settled in to their systems.
    Last week:
    (I have to report for jury duty Tuesday and hope it won’t wreck my week)
    1 finish book and submit book review: no
    2 write outline for Jewel article: no
    3 edit Buildings draft: no
    4 finish book and write review: no
    5 write and post syllabi: yes, but TRQ
    Analysis:
    I’m hopeful that I can get some flow going in all aspects of my life now that classes are about to start. I didn’t get selected for jury duty but did have to spend almost a full day sitting through jury selection. Since it’s due at the end of January and I don’t have an actual commitment (just answering a call for papers), I decided not to write the Jewel article.
    This week:
    1 Submit book review
    2 Edit Buildings draft
    3 Work on pitch paragraph
    4 30 minutes writing/research related 3x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you're making decisions about your priorities and acting to reduce stress (Jewel): very sensible.

      I think we're mostly fairly advanced in our careers at this point, so have already figured out our systems. That said, I had to re-commit to the spreadsheet, which I found in the past two years I'd used fairly consistently until June or July and then stopped using. So this year, I set up the whole thing in advance, and I hope that will help me keep it going through summer (or pick it up again after breaks, whichever is appropriate).

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    2. Occasionally, I try to implement new and improved planning systems, but then I always slide back into what is most natural.

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  10. I used a Moleskine weekly calendar, so I can put appointments on the left and to-do lists on the right. I also keep a spiral notebook that I use for various things throughout a semester, and I'll jot daily to-do lists in my spiral notebook (along with meeting notes and class prep notes). I do enter doc appointment type things into my phone calendar.

    Last week:
    1) Print and Read Chapter 4, thinking about what could be cut. NOT DONE.
    2) Read one critical article/chapter. NOT DONE.
    3) Finish SF novel. DONE.
    4) Find a plant-heavy dinner recipe. NOT DONE.
    5) Walk 3x. DONE.
    6) Buy or order bookshelf. I TRIED! CANNOT FIND THE RIGHT THING!
    7) Spend 1-2 hours tidying campus office. DONE.

    There are several undone things here, but despite that, I had a productive week. I felt more energized during the weekend than I have in a long time. I did a lot of housework, got a couple of things framed, and I helped kids with projects. I also got prepped for the semester. Research did not rise to the top, however. Once again.

    This week:
    1) Print and read chapter four (aka "Jenny").
    2) Try (again) to find a bookshelf that will work.
    3) 1-2 hours tidying office.
    4) Finish reading gothic novella for class.
    5) Morning (or evening) pages 4x.
    6) Walking 3x.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As ever, so important to recognize lots of forward progress even if the "done" box isn't ready to be checked yet. I feel for you regarding bookcases: I need to the hand-me-down, doesn't-work-for-me desk in my office and make room for another bookcase. Maybe this year I will take care of this so I can use my office as work space instead of storage.

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  11. Happy New Year, friends. I checked in this morning wondering when the group was starting up, and lo and behold, you've been busy. I've put an introduction and session goals into the first week so Humming42 and HeuMihi don't have to search. Though I just realized this is a short session, so I may have been too ambitious with my goals!

    How do I keep track? badly, and various attempts to organize myself have failed. I keep a basic calendar in Outlook, which is important because people can add things to my calendar for me. (I go to lots of meetings.) I use the sticky notes app on my computer for short term things, and like deleting them when they are done. I have a notebook that I take notes in, but I haven't got a good way of moving from notes to action. (I spent time in Staples this morning thinking about this.) Moral of the story: I get a lot done, but goodness knows how.

    Anyway, to save everyone trouble, here are my session goals:
    Session goals:
    I am not teaching this semester (I taught an overload last term) so I'm trying to block time out for writing and thinking.
    1. Way outside project: it's almost done -- I'll finish the substantive stuff today (I think) and then I have to do permissions.
    2. Big lecture. I'm giving a keynote at a conference in March, and need to write it. I'll give the same talk in the UK a few weeks before, so I basically have February to do this
    3. Polemic: I want to write a polemic on a topic that folks are interested in, drawing on my scholarship. I imagine this as short (30-40,000 words). My goal for the spring is to get a solid outline and draft the first chapter. I may do more, but that's doable.
    4. Home: I want to deal with some of the clutter I'm living with. My desk is the first goal, but there's the guest room and the second study which might become a den if I dealt with stuff.
    5. Health: I want to keep moving, eat well, and sleep c. 7 hours a night.
    6. Recreation: read for pleasure; see friends. Do something each week.

    Where I am right now: I traveled too much over "break" - a vacation trip to the east coast, then back to the east coast for my disciplines convention, home for a few days, and then to big city in the south of the state to help with my 4 y.o. niece & nephew's birthday party. So My life is a mess, and I'm just digging out of most of the obligations (letters in for students, a set of fellowship apps, etc.)

    So Goals for this week:
    1. Finish way outside. I got final comments just before Christmas, and I just need to sit down for a few hours and do it.
    2. Start permissions for way outside
    3. Finish organizing my desk
    4. Read grad applications
    5. Walk 3 times plus 3 times workout.
    My fun for the week is a concert tonight, and maybe a movie later in the weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just reading about all of your recent travel makes me want to curl up under a blanket. I hope you're able to do some nesting and de-cluttering so you'll feel ready to tackle all of your cool projects!

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