One thing that struck me reading through our goals last week was how many items related to restoring some kind of order in our lives. We've got goals this week for cleaning desk areas, getting on top of routine tasks, trying to find some calm or not creating more chaos, making to-do lists, unpacking boxes... We're spending a lot of time on this!
I also spent some time this last week reading about bullet journals (http://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/blog/how-to-bullet-journal) and I can't recall if one of you posted the link, or where I first saw the term. I tend to rebel against systems that require me to do a thing in a specific way with lots of different codes, colours or rules, but I was happy to note that my academic diary (one side of the page is days of the week, the other is room for notes) and the way I keep it was rather similar to much of what they suggested. I felt like I was doing better at organising because some external source validated it. I also reached a point this week where writing a to-do list felt like it would be counterproductive - so much to do, such a long list, completely overwhelming. And no fancy note book, coloured pens, or coded set of bullet points was going to change this (it was a bad moment - coloured pens weren't going to work?? AAagggghh!). So what happens when organisational things become the complete opposite of mindful - a new source of pressure?
This week, what's the worst organisational technique you've ever tried on yourself or on others? What looked really good on paper/in print/online/as sold, but turned out to be a horror? And why?
Contingent
Cassandra
--keep trying to stay ahead of, or at least on top of,
teaching tasks
--keep moving (as much as cold allows)
--make at least chili and pesto
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in with brother
--begin blog and other work for online class
Daisy
1 - Figure 1 for three posters
2 - Don't let conference talks wait and languish - finish 2 of them
3 - Run three times
4 - Data processing for conference posters
1 - Figure 1 for three posters
2 - Don't let conference talks wait and languish - finish 2 of them
3 - Run three times
4 - Data processing for conference posters
Dame
Eleanor Hull
1. House:
Clear auxiliary desk area of study (roughly 2' x 4').
2. Research: Touch the revision project every day: add a reference, read through old notes, write one sentence.
3. Teaching: track down a short story I want to teach in a few weeks.
4. Health: make plan for once again rehabbing my wonky ankle. (It can be done. The trick is not straining it again by doing too much too soon when it’s feeling better.) Spend ½ hour a day on stretching, yoga, weights, to preserve some level of fitness while not doing ankle-stressing cardio (swimming also hurts, so not an option). Use transition periods to sit, if only for 3-5 minutes.
5. Fun/social thing: lots of resistance here; I really feel like cocooning. More jigsaw, I guess, and some coloring while listening to music; sci-fi TV with Sir John.
2. Research: Touch the revision project every day: add a reference, read through old notes, write one sentence.
3. Teaching: track down a short story I want to teach in a few weeks.
4. Health: make plan for once again rehabbing my wonky ankle. (It can be done. The trick is not straining it again by doing too much too soon when it’s feeling better.) Spend ½ hour a day on stretching, yoga, weights, to preserve some level of fitness while not doing ankle-stressing cardio (swimming also hurts, so not an option). Use transition periods to sit, if only for 3-5 minutes.
5. Fun/social thing: lots of resistance here; I really feel like cocooning. More jigsaw, I guess, and some coloring while listening to music; sci-fi TV with Sir John.
Earnest
English
-Grounding:
get adequate sleep! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths,
music. Meditate or yoga or stretching twice this week.
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; read book
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other gardendreaming? plants in office?
-Plan and plod: need to work more devotedly on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in order to not get behind; responses need to get done; journals need to be looked at and recorded; work on annual report; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2)
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research
-Big Report: respond to report draft
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; read book
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other gardendreaming? plants in office?
-Plan and plod: need to work more devotedly on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in order to not get behind; responses need to get done; journals need to be looked at and recorded; work on annual report; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2)
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research
-Big Report: respond to report draft
Good
Enough Woman
1. Do all corrections to thesis.
2. Submit thesis for final binding.
3. Get lab work done that the doctor ordered at my appointment last week.
4. Make appointment for X-ray (kidney stone follow up).
5. Walk dogs four times (I'm dog sitting my mom's dog for three weeks, which is going to be rather disruptive, but it motivates me to get both dogs [mine and hers] out of the house so they'll be tired. That's good for me, too.)
6. Enjoy my time with the kids while my husband is away this weekend. Maybe plan a outing into "town"?
1. Do all corrections to thesis.
2. Submit thesis for final binding.
3. Get lab work done that the doctor ordered at my appointment last week.
4. Make appointment for X-ray (kidney stone follow up).
5. Walk dogs four times (I'm dog sitting my mom's dog for three weeks, which is going to be rather disruptive, but it motivates me to get both dogs [mine and hers] out of the house so they'll be tired. That's good for me, too.)
6. Enjoy my time with the kids while my husband is away this weekend. Maybe plan a outing into "town"?
Heu mihi
1) Synthesize writing group's comments on intro and create to-do list
2) Read first 30 pages of next research book
3) Read student's dissertation chapter (one of them)
4) Draft rec letter for student
1) Synthesize writing group's comments on intro and create to-do list
2) Read first 30 pages of next research book
3) Read student's dissertation chapter (one of them)
4) Draft rec letter for student
Humming42
1 Finish film review and submit
2 Read 4x
3 Write 4x
4 Be mindful about not creating chaos by taking on too many projects
1 Finish film review and submit
2 Read 4x
3 Write 4x
4 Be mindful about not creating chaos by taking on too many projects
JaneB
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos.
2) an hour on Ferrett
3) an hour on the grant I wish I'd never started
4) get a new passport photo, and send off the paperwork for the visa to ExoticCountry
5) declutter something somehow
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos.
2) an hour on Ferrett
3) an hour on the grant I wish I'd never started
4) get a new passport photo, and send off the paperwork for the visa to ExoticCountry
5) declutter something somehow
Karen
1. Reading lists!!!!
2. Get everything out of boxes in my office; have home library/spare room ready for visitors to be able to locate and sleep on the sofa bed.
3. 3 x articles, 2 x 30 minute writing session
4. Start a artist residency application
5. Packed lunches, move regularly at work (use a timer if needed), yoga x 1, gym x 1.
1. Reading lists!!!!
2. Get everything out of boxes in my office; have home library/spare room ready for visitors to be able to locate and sleep on the sofa bed.
3. 3 x articles, 2 x 30 minute writing session
4. Start a artist residency application
5. Packed lunches, move regularly at work (use a timer if needed), yoga x 1, gym x 1.
KJHaxton
- progress on marking and teaching prep
- compile annual report for local activity, write agenda, chair meeting and hopefully put together an activity programme for the year
- edit down acronym paper
- complete two manuscript reviews
- progress on marking and teaching prep
- compile annual report for local activity, write agenda, chair meeting and hopefully put together an activity programme for the year
- edit down acronym paper
- complete two manuscript reviews
Waffles
1. Work on relat paper - this really needs to happen this
week
2. Finish aims and start on strategy
3. Read for fun (currently reading A Series of
Unfortunate Events - inspired by the Netflix series)
Topic: Order out of chaos. A timely topic for me, given that I fell and broke my right arm in two places the day after I returned from my conference. I have often broken lower extremities but rarely upper, and this happens to be my dominant arm, causing further complications. Order is thus paramount in keeping life workable at this minute.The old song lyric, “You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone,” is quite true. I am amazed how much one uses one's arm beyond the obvious: for balance, for propping one's head on one's hand, for sitting down and getting up. In reality, I am quite lucky that both breaks are closed fractures, so it's unlikely I will need surgery for either break, thankfully. Also, I had planned to learn how to use dictation software I am beginning to have arthritis in my fingers and have often felt that a break from typing would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
Pack and prepare for traveling and for the meetings. Yes, and efficiently.
Eat sensibly while traveling. Yes, although I partook of more alcohol than I should have done.
Write five sentences a day. Four out of seven days
Figure out reluctance, overcome, and write up dream planning. This goal was easily met thanks to all of you who offered suggestions last week about my reluctance to do the dream planning. I followed Dame Eleanor’s and Earnest English’s advice, agreed to by many others, that it was not meant to be such a contentious and stressful exercise. I felt that pressure to do as I was told. Earnest English also pointed out the insistence of the dream book to create rituals when actually writing in the dream book is a ritual, which seemed to be missed by the creators. Thank all of you for pointing this out to me and I have decided that I will be where I am in 3 years and I don't need create to dreams for that. My goals for next week will be minimal, given that I need to figure out ways to address my work with one arm in a sling.
Next week's goals:
Finish grant application.
Finish staff evaluations.
Compile questions for Orthopedics.
Plod like tortoises, everyone. We will get there eventually.
Oh, dear, poor you! Poor arm! Best wishes for a comfortable recovery.
DeleteOh dear, NOT the souvenir you wanted to bring back. Hoping for a speedy and comfortable recovery, and that all the people around you are helpful (and that you can easily accept their help, which is often the hard bit!)
DeleteVery sorry to hear about the arm. Hope it heals quickly (and that the ability to use the dictation software proves lastingly useful).
DeleteAnd glad to hear that comments hear helped you find a way to make the dream journal work for you. Tools should, after all, serve us, not bully or impede us.
Oh no! Hope you manage to be comfortable and heal well.
DeleteHope the arm heals smoothly and doesn't cause too much pain in the meantime. Do share any amusing dictation software errors with us next week :)
DeleteGood luck with the arm, hope it heals well!
DeleteI'm amazed at how you are looking at the silver lining of these breaks! But I am so sorry to hear about them. I hope there are no complications and that you recover quickly.
DeleteKJH: It really is bad when coloured pens don't help.
ReplyDeleteTopic: probably the least useful thing I've ever tried doing, time-management-wise, was budgeting every hour of the week, in half-hour increments, when I first arrived at college (we'd received multiple warnings in high school about time management, and I was anxious; as it turned out, moving from a high school schedule with 6-7 hours of classes a day plus 4 hours or so of homework to a college schedule with a bit more daily prep/homework but far fewer hours spent in the classroom wasn't so hard, and was a much better fit for this introvert, especially when it came to energy use/conservation). The only useful part (and the only reason I occasionally return briefly to time-tracking and planning/budgeting) was finding out how long things really take (though I think it took me 'til my thirties or forties to stop thinking up ways to make things take as long as I *thought* they ought to take, and move toward accepting that if something consistently took me longer than I thought it should, that probably wasn't going to change, and I should just plan accordingly).
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by bullet journals, precisely because they seem to offer a fairly flexible, customizable, and changeable/evolveable approach. I'm not going to try one, however, because I'm pretty happy with my electronic to-do tracker (I do need to update to new software one of these days, however, since I'm still running a system originally built for the Palm OS, Bonsai, in its Windows version. There are some similar/compatible Android apps out there, and one of these days I'll choose one and begin the transition, but I'm a bit reluctant, since I have gotten to the point where I trust the current system enough that I don't try to keep things I've written down in mind as well, and I know there may be some slip-ups as I learn to use a new system. Also, my aging brain no longer serves as an effective back-up for the electronic system, on which I'm more and more genuinely dependent.)
So I guess the bottom line for me is finding a balance between structure and flexibility (with considerable preference for the second, and some tolerance for occasional chaos), and being realistic about how long things I genuinely need to do take to do(while also taking note of how much time I lose doing things I don't really want to do, but default to when tired or overwhelmed; that's time I wouldn't mind filling with something more productive, with "more productive" including genuinely restorative leisure activities, exercise, sleep, etc., as well as work-work).
And yes, when the to-do list is overwhelmingly long, it's time to do something (other than imagine it can actually be accomplished). Of course, figuring out exactly *what* to do becomes a to-do of its own.
Last week's goals:
Delete--keep trying to stay ahead of, or at least on top of, teaching tasks
--keep moving (as much as cold allows)
--make at least chili and pesto
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in with brother
--begin blog and other work for online class
Accomplished: on top (but not really ahead) of teaching tasks, began other work; not much else (still dealing with cold, and resulting lack of energy; I may get one or more additional tasks done today or tomorrow, but wanted to check in on time for once).
Goals for next week:
--keep trying to stay ahead of, or at least on top of, teaching tasks
--get back to moving as cold wanes
--make at least chili and pesto
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in with brother
--begin blog for online class; continue other work
I read so much about the time-budgeting approach (those click-bait headlines of 'how very efficient/effective/brilliant people manage their time), particularly about scheduling 15 minute increments...it usually makes me want to run screaming in the opposite direction. That being said, I've never considered it as a useful way to work out how long stuff actually takes me. I may log a few things this week out of curiosity.
DeleteThe bullet journal does seem flexible enough to cope with a variety of styles.
The incremental thing makes me crazy too. I realize that my brain doesn't operate in 15 minute or 30 minute blocks and trying to adapt to that structure just made me resentful (toward myself).
DeleteTopic: I did a MOOC before Christmas, the '12Apps of Christmas' and one of the apps we had to try was a productivity thing based on 1980s computer games. You had an avatar, could level up if you did the tasks you assigned to yourself, could get credit to get fancy new things for your avatar. Just setting it up nearly made me cry! I like games but games are my down time. I don't find badges or levels particularly motivating when it comes to to do lists.
ReplyDeleteI have now made a comprehensive to-do list, and been very grown up about printing out the various manuscript drafts that I need to edit severely this week. I have not dealt with the coloured pen issue - the main problem is that I forgot to bring my nice markers home from the office so I've got my range of fountain pens with coloured ink. They all need refilling though and it's likely I'll end up with green ink up my nose, purple streaks across my face, and blue fingers.
Last week:
- progress on marking and teaching prep
- compile annual report for local activity, write agenda, chair meeting and hopefully put together an activity programme for the year
- edit down acronym paper
- complete two manuscript reviews
Achieved - a good bit of marking was done and a greater amount of teaching prep (at the expense of the marking to be honest as I do prefer prep). I did the agenda, meeting chairing and the activity programme, but not the annual report. I've not touched acronym paper, and I did one manuscript review and one textbook review that appeared mid-week (because it was interesting).
This week:
- finish marking (1st year papers, 2nd year reflective diaries)
- review manuscript, send off other review
- edit collaborative paper that came back as a revise and resubmit
- try to learn to crochet (I got star wars crochet for Christmas, the arumigami figures)
The marking is now urgent as the deadline is looming. It's a chemo week with a new-to-me drug so who knows how that's going to go. The collaborative paper, well, it's an interesting challenge. I think teaching prep is sufficiently advanced that I can leave it for the week. Hopefully I can limit email checking to an hour a day as well.
Good luck with the chemo week. I love the idea of Star Wars crochet!
DeleteGood luck with the new drug. Always an anxious moment...
DeleteGood luck for chemo week, sending good thoughts your way!
DeleteOrder out of chaos. Interesting topic. I struggle with my relationship to order - my engineer father is excessively orderly in what one might call a public manner (there are piles of books and magazines and containers full of writing supplies wherever he ends up spending time in the house, but these are stacked by size and category with squared-off edges, or sorted into pen holders in a precise colour/size/function system. He has a great many 'things' in the workshop and garage, but they are all boxed or hung or clipped to the wall or whatever (yes, there is a small jar for pieces of string which are too short to be useful for tying things)). My Mum is more of a 'pack everything in where there is room for it' person, and especially renowned for her fridge tetris (there is a tupperware for everything, and therefore a tablespoon full of leftover peas or half a cup of gravy will be carefully boxed up and fitted into the small fridge somehow, and either moulder quietly or become a soup component, depending). I find rigid order uncomfortable, but am currently far too close to chaos in most places. My sister has a larger house than me - she has an office which looks like an explosion in a craft and paper factory, and a living room which looks like it has just been styled for a photo shoot, and a kitchen-diner where it's clear there are dogs and a child because there is a lot of 'stuff' (especially drawing supplies and artwork and lego) distributed around and it's all above the height that dog-who-eats-everything can reach - below that height it's just chewed bits of dog toy...).
ReplyDeleteTime management systems that haven't worked? All of em, really, even my beloved diary with dates one side and blank space the other system falls apart sometimes. I'm just easily hemmed in and overwhelmed by systems when there are too many small things that need doing, or when I have a confidence blip, or just get too busy. Love setting up systems, happily spend ages on them (especially if I get to buy new stationary), then fail to use them once they are actually needed.
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos. not doing great here, but I'm trying. Hard when the world seems to be falling apart, both meso and macro scale.
2) an hour on Ferrett nope. Software won't work at home...
3) an hour on the grant I wish I'd never started nope, no excuses, just... teaching prep expanding to fill whatever space it can find in my head
4) get a new passport photo, and send off the paperwork for the visa to ExoticCountry yes. Aargh. Not sure I want to leave the country...
5) declutter something somehow a teeny bit
The forthcoming week:
Deletehas a scarily full diary. Start of a new semester, new module, next layer of new organisational structure (centralisation of all support services for students, teaching etc. in a separate building (and not even on the ground floor)). So unready. Also technical glitches - spent 5 hours at the office today setting stuff up in the VLE and sending emails, and it looks as if all of that has been eaten, has gone nowhere and left no recoverable traces. ::pout:: So I'll just keep working away at nearly the same small things:
goals for the coming week:
JaneB
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos.
2) an hour on Ferrett
3) an hour on the grant I wish I'd never started
4) get to Friday with most of the following week's teaching prepared
5) declutter something somehow
Just a note to say how much I love the writing in your first check-in paragraph. Still hoping to read one of your novels someday.
DeleteI'm pretty organized, generally, and am especially good at dealing with the stuff that's on my desk--so I tend to keep my desk clean, or at least to clean it up at the end of every work day, which makes me happy. Email, however, is my downfall. I flag things to deal with later and then forget about them. I've been doing this for *years*, so I'm not quite sure how to handle it (other than just to reply to things when I open them, but that always feels like such a drag that I don't...).
ReplyDeleteI've been feeling especially organized this week, as work has become a kind of safe refuge from the stress and anxiety of politics. I don't know how long that'll last, though.
Last week:
1) Synthesize writing group's comments on intro and create to-do list
DONE
2) Read first 30 pages of next research book
DONE
3) Read student's dissertation chapter (one of them)
DONE
4) Draft rec letter for student
DONE
Coming week:
1) Read another big chunk of research book
2) Get 1 week ahead on grad class reading
3) Get back to my running schedule (MWF)
4) Tinker with intro and chapter 1, so that I'm at least touching my writing
5) Make some notes on first 30 pages of research book
I gather some people keep separate "to be dealt with/answered," "to be read," and "for reference" email folders, and move everything to one of them on opening (unless the answer can be written very quickly, in which case it's written then). That sounds like it might work if one ever actually visited one of those folders. . .
DeleteHere's a description of one such system: http://getalifephd.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-take-control-of-your-email-in.html
I'm not sure what the deal about e-mail is. I leave everything in my inbox and use search functions to find what I need, later. Anything really important, someone will nag me about if I forget. I deal with quick-to-answer stuff pretty fast, not-so-quick stuff fairly fast if I care about it, and the rest is there so I can search for it if I need to check on something. My work inbox shows 507 items as "new" (some no doubt date back nearly ten years). Probably I could get rid of some old stuff, but I have plenty of storage, so it doesn't really seem worth my time.
DeleteWhen I have been organized, I have been at my most productive (or vice versa). When I am productive, I make a list at the end of each day for what I need to do the next day - and I stick to it. So, last night I made a list for today - and am hoping that will help. About a year ago, I made a spreadsheet for all of my projects and deadlines, but haven’t been keeping it up. A collaborator encouraged me to make a spreadsheet for our shared projects - but I haven’t been keeping that one up either. I think the multiple, huge projects all in one place scares me.
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1. Work on relat paper - this really needs to happen this week - DIDN’T DO - MUST GET DONE BEFORE WED
2. Finish aims and start on strategy - DONE
3. Read for fun (currently reading A Series of Unfortunate Events - inspired by the Netflix series) - DONE AND ONGOING!
This week:
1. Finish this draft of relat paper
2. Revise aims and strategy and work on innovation
3. write report
I use graph pad notebooks - so I am pretty sure I'm well on my way to bullet journaling! :)
DeleteAll of my classes this semester are in a room with a whiteboard that has very light graph background. It is a pleasure to write on the board, for the first time ever. I might move to the graph pad notebook next too.
DeleteI love graph paper - I also use graph post-its. Love!
DeleteWhen I have been organized, I have been at my most productive (or vice versa).
DeleteI think the "or vice versa" part is a very important question. It's hard to tell whether "good" time-management habits result in increased productivity, or whether such habits *and* increased productivity both result from some third factor, whether that be a period of good personal mental/physical health, supportive working conditions, an especially engrossing project, or something else.
And without understanding the real cause and effect chain, we tend to beat ourselves up about the wrong things (or beat ourselves up, period, when we shouldn't).
I especially love squared-paper notebooks (the ones with little squares not actual real teeny-tiny-square graph paper). I use them for my laboratory notebook - and take particular pleasure in buying ones from 'proper stationary brands' - because in the UK that type of paper is named using the french term, Quadrille, and there's just something so elegant-feeling about buying a quadrille notebook. Something Georgette-Heyer-ish about it. (I am good at finding pleasure in tiny things. I think this is a talent I should celebrate and indulge more!)
Deletemight have been the person who posted about bullet journals, since I am ever and always trying to find ways to be organized that work best for me. I too have been overwhelmed by the time and effort people devote to creating elaborate, colorful bullet journal spreads. I mentioned this to a friend, who suggested that for many journalers, the creative aspect is meditative, like coloring in adult coloring books. For some people, it seems the artistic side is built into the planning. For me? I just want the space to have good, well organized lists. And to have everything in one place.
ReplyDeleteMy worst organizational technique ever happened in 2016, after I spent a lot of time researching planners and journals. I spent too much money on a beautiful planner. I bought in September or October 2015 and was so anticipating the opportunity to use it. And when 2016 began, the planner was too big and too heavy to carry to campus with me, and the lines for writing the lists on each given day were too short for me. But I did have a feeling of releasing 2016 when I tore it up for recycling last month.
There is also a movement (if we can call it that) of “minimalist” bullet journalers who are more aligned with what I want from an organizational system.
Last week
1 Finish film review and submit: yes, finally
2 Read 4x: 3x
3 Write 4x (Recherce, really): 3x
4 Be mindful about not creating chaos by taking on too many projects: yes, and then no
There was a research project that I considered and decided against but then two things came up related to teaching that piqued my interest. One relates to a potential international partnership that could be a lot of fun.
This week has a bunch of service-related and teaching-related obligations, so I’m setting a low bar.
1 Read 3x
2 Write 4x
3 Spend an hour working on rbp
4 Check in on pink hat research
Wishing healing to those who need it, strength to all who can benefit from it, and peace all around.
Ah, you're the one who made the point about the artistic aspect of bullet journals! I can see the attraction of starting out that way but agree that it would start to feel like one more obligation rather than being helpful.
DeletePlanners and Organizational Tools: The Horror, the Horror
ReplyDeleteI think that most planners and organizational strategies that assume that you really can schedule your life down to the half-hour don’t work for me. Probably the worst version of this is from The Academic Self, where you’re supposed to be able to plan your schedule and projects out 3 months. No part of my life (working or personal) ever been that regular, so it sets up a false expectation of calm normality and time-enough-for-everything that generally doesn’t have much to do with my life. (I have a clear image of what this looks like, and I swear part of why I got into this profession has to do with that image of calm and deep thought, but that image has very little to do with reality.) (Furthermore, many things that are enjoyable when you do them when you want to turn into drudgery when scheduled. Maybe that’s the ornery rebel in me.) But many strategies and planners focus on scheduling things at specific times. I tend to get all excited and ambitious from the rhetoric that I should be able to control my life and destiny and then overschedule, but one thing the gurus don’t talk about is the transition time from whatever previous thing you were doing to the new thing. I’ve learned that the only time I can really control is the early morning (Spirited doesn’t wake up early, which helps), when I really don’t feel like doing anything but drink my coffee, so habits tend to stick really well here, as long as I don’t have to also do work in the morning. But most of my day really doesn’t feel like it’s mine or within my control. So I’ve learned to only write in appointments in my Dream Planner, which, by the way, has gotten ignored for the last two weeks.
Last Week
-Grounding: get adequate sleep! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga or stretching twice this week. Meditated twice!!
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; read book. BOOK DONE, but doing terribly with therapy and HS
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other gardendreaming? plants in office? GOT A MINT PLANT (all I could find) and started gardendreaming about what seeds I want to start very very soon, thanks to a recently-received seed catalogue.
-Plan and plod: need to work more devotedly on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in order to not get behind; responses need to get done; journals need to be looked at and recorded; work on annual report; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2); Got responses done in the morning for the second time! GAH. NOPE to all others.
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research; Research progressing but not 1x
-Big Report: respond to report draft: DONE
Dearest Gaia! The weekend was filled with very annoying work emails and loads of stress. There are shenanigans going on in my department where it really seems as if some people are trying to deny our autonomy and expertise in some Big Changes. My area gotten taken up in some random proposal that doesn’t make sense and the one person who was on that committee and should’ve been paying attention to our area did not catch the problem until it came out of committee. This is not the first time that this particular person, who happens to be senior to me but who leaves me a lot of the leadership and organization of our common area, has totally not done his job in being vigilant to protect interests he’s supposed to serve and just “assumed” that everything was checked out. Very annoying! Then this person wants me to pass along his ideas to our department chair instead of passing them along himself. Somehow because I get my work done and like things to be clear and will go to different people in order to find out what’s going on, I get treated like a secretary, asked to do stupid things. I do get that there is a great compliment here – that I’m effective so people ask me to do more. My old chair would tell me that I was needed and make me feel important and so I’d be annoyed but probably inspired to do more. But my current chair basically says that if you do too much service, that’s your own problem (not that this stops him from asking me to do stupid things because I sometimes know things he doesn’t). So the lesson here is: don’t be effective. It’s a trap! If you want time to do your research, look incompetent, so no one will ask you to do anything. Sigh.
DeleteI will say that I totally misinterpreted a key email and thought people had worse intentions than they really do. I know this sounds awful, but I need to start assuming that people are just blind rather than mean.
This Week
-Grounding: get adequate sleep! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga or stretching twice this week.
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; get book from library; schedule music lessons when we get the money
-Gardening: check artichoke seeds; find saucer and take mint to work
-Plan and plod: look at and record journals; look up some things for class; recommendations; work on annual report; schedule Big Meeting; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2) and do something nice for Imbolc!
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research
-Big Continuing Project: figure out what needs doing on Tuesday and do it
Forget move like water: let’s all be Crush from Finding Nemo! Resist despair and be jubilant. Don’t let the bastards get you down!
Finding joy is a big one for me right now. I'm planning a post chez moi on this, but basically, I refuse to let the orange one ruin my life.
Delete"I know this sounds awful, but I need to start assuming that people are just blind rather than mean"
DeleteHanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"
I really have to keep reminding myself that being academically clever, as all my colleagues are, does NOT protect anyone from being really, really stupid, especially about administration or teaching. Or neglectful.
"(Furthermore, many things that are enjoyable when you do them when you want to turn into drudgery when scheduled. Maybe that’s the ornery rebel in me."
DeleteYES that's me too. I rebel against my own freely chosen constraints constantly! It's not a helpful personality quirk...
Topic:
ReplyDeleteElectronic calendars are terrible for me, because I over-schedule myself, and make recurring appointments for research or whatever that just do not appeal to me/feel possible at the time I’m supposed to do them, and I get discouraged and fed up with alarms that regiment me even if I’m the one who set them.
I do well with a combination of an 8 ½ x 11" (17 x 11 when open) academic-year calendar showing one month on an open spread, and a little Moleskine notebook, the ones that are roughly 3" x 5", which I use as something like a bullet journal, though less fussily (good point about some people apparently finding that making the fancier layouts is relaxing; I have a grad student who falls in that category). I can have a page a day or a half page or two pages, depending on how busy I am and how much I’m trying to capture, and keep a list of stuff to think about or schedule, and plan in accordance with how I’m feeling physically and mentally on a given day. One small thing from the bullet journal method made a big difference to me: having a square to fill in when an item is complete, rather than crossing off or checking items, seems far more satisfying to me. I like seeing neat rows of things I have completed—or even not completed—rather than messy cross-outs and having to hunt for the still-to-be-done items among them.
". . .make recurring appointments for research or whatever that just do not appeal to me/feel possible at the time I’m supposed to do them, and I get discouraged and fed up with alarms that regiment me even if I’m the one who set them."
DeleteMe too! Thanks for saying it loud and proud!
How I did last week:
ReplyDelete1. House: Clear auxiliary desk area of study (roughly 2' x 4'). NO. I started, but did not complete this task.
2. Research: Touch the revision project every day: add a reference, read through old notes, write one sentence. OK: I think not every day, but I did read and note a book and an article.
3. Teaching: track down a short story I want to teach in a few weeks. NO.
4. Health: make plan for once again rehabbing my wonky ankle. YES (It can be done. The trick is not straining it again by doing too much too soon when it’s feeling better.) Spend ½ hour a day on stretching, yoga, weights, to preserve some level of fitness while not doing ankle-stressing cardio (swimming also hurts, so not an option). MOSTLY. I skipped the gym a couple of days, but did better about at-home stuff, and made it to one yoga class. Use transition periods to sit, if only for 3-5 minutes. NO (well, once or twice, but it didn’t become a regular thing).
5. Fun/social thing: lots of resistance here; I really feel like cocooning. More jigsaw, I guess, and some coloring while listening to music; sci-fi TV with Sir John. DONE: jigsaw, TV, reading (am loving Emma Newman’s “Split Worlds” series).
This week:
1. House: don’t worry about it. Just pay the bills, cook, do the crucial errands; if there’s energy/inspiration over for decluttering, then go for it, but if not, that’s okay.
2. Research: carry on with the “touch” project; try to read/note three items this week.
3. Teaching: update Blackboard, grade one set of papers, track down that story.
4. Health: exercise of some kind at least one-half hour per day; ankle rehab exercises daily; weights three times; at least one yoga class at the weekend. Sit 3x.
5. Fun/social thing: do something pleasurable every day (read, eat raspberries—doesn’t have to be a big thing but has to be consciously enjoyed).
Further commentary:
1. Long-term, I know this may mean I don’t meet my goal, but I am not feeling it on the declutter front right now. I’d rather lower the goal and stop beating myself up.
4. I think the exercises are helping, which is a relief. If I don’t see substantial improvement after about 10 days of doing them regularly, I think I’ll need to see a doctor again, and the last time I saw a specialist, he was so unpleasant that I swore I’d rather be crippled than visit him again. But maybe my nice PCP can send me to someone else. What I mainly want, if it comes to this, is physical therapy, but I’ll need a current diagnosis to get it.
5. I’m not making this a goal yet, but I’m thinking of joining my local League of Women Voters and am looking at some other possible local groups, which might then lead to more options in this category. Though strongly introverted, I know seeing people is good for me, which is why this is a “social” as well as “fun” category. But so much of my people-energy gets eaten by teaching and committee work that it’s hard to go and do things with anyone other than my husband when I’m not on campus.
I think it's important to go easy on goals that are just adding to pressure - there's no point in beating yourself up.
DeleteI hope the exercise helps - I've been managing to get out for a walk for about 30 mins most days and find it really helps with mostly everything. I am cranky if I can't get out because of the weather. I hope you can get a nicer doctor - it changes how you feel about everything medical so much.
Sorry I missed last week -- another (ultimately minor) health crisis for my mother ate up an inordinate amount of time last week and threw me coompletely off base.
ReplyDeleteAnyway: I opened this as I sat at my desk and said, I've got to get this organized! And deal with the junk. So:::
Add me to the people who doesn't deal well with systems of organization that will miraculously turn me into a person who does everything in predictable ways. I now keep my calendar on the computer, partly because people on campus invite me to things and then I can accept them and they are there on my calendar, reducing the possibility that I miss them. And I can check it on my phone, so I always have the information.
I've tried multiple systems, and I can't think of a "worst". They all just fail. Which is funny, because intellectually I'm really good at structure and organization, but in life? Not so much.
Goals from two weeks ago:
Susan
1. Finish syllabi -- DONE, though late. Classes on their way
2. Write abstract - no. 10 hours in the ER did me in. BUt I have ordered a few things on ILL, so I'm making some progress!
3. Pay bills -- most pressing ones
4. Clear desk - No.
So -- in addition to my mother's health, my home computer - a desktop - died. I didn't need that. So I've now plugged my laptop in on my desk, in a not ideal position, and my monitor won't display anything. (Grumble about technology, right?) Anyway, that really did set me back. For a bit I camped on the dining room table, but that was driving me nuts in other ways. (I may not be super orderly, but I have certain needs for order!) Grumble Grumble Grumble. Then I spent far too much of the weekend on twitter and fb getting depressed. However, I did get through my UK taxes, and I'm 2/3 through the 95 grant applications I have to finish tomorrow, for a meeting on Saturday. (This is turning out to be a much bigger task than I thought.)
Goals for the rest of the week:
1. Finish last 30 fellowship apps.
2. Tidy desk
3. Use time at favorite exotic library on Friday to write abstract, and start preparing for Monday's seminar.
4. Control use of social media, which so easily sends me into a tailspin.
5. Don;t let myself get too sick. Let this just be a cold.
(I'm away for the weekend, with an all day Fellowship review meeting on Saturday. Then my sister will be visiting for a week, which will be challenging, just because I'm used to living alone and doing work as it makes sense to me, and she will organize my life.
I hope things are going better with your mother. Twitter and fb have been difficult the past couple of weeks, - I resorted to muting specific key words on twitter to get a bit of perspective. 96 grant applications sounds horrific!
DeleteHello
ReplyDeleteTaking a break from formal checking in this week. Because world...
That's fine - hope you're doing OK.
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