Thursday, March 11 2010

Check-In @ 6:20 pm

Been a few days since I've checked in, and I'm not organized to submit a detailed list but I know what's on my mind:

MUTs / MITs
[U1] AM/PM Chores
[U/I 2] Pest Control
[U3] Bills
[U4] Planned Emails
[U5] Tasklist
[U/I 6] Paper/Presenation 1
[U/I 7] Proposal

This deceptively simple tasklist has me in a quiet frenzy right now. Explanation:

- U1 (Chores) have to be done twice a day (include medication routine for sick pet) and all together can sap energy and throw rest of schedule off.

- U/I 2 (Pest control) is my current "delayed Important item becoming urgent." Nothing says "pay attention now" like a termite swarm in your home. Exterminator say I don't need fumigation immediately (very lucky), but I do have to fit time for the topical treatment in to my schedule. First had to clear overgrown plants around house so the exterminators can do their thing later. Got lucky and found someone who did a great job in no time. The actual treatment will take a bigger chunk of time, and soon. Moral: there is to remember there will always be emergency interruptions and be sufficiently on top of things to allow for them.

-U3 Can't ignore bills but I'm regularly handling them last-minute. The really nasty ones demand extra attention: today had an insurance renewal with upgrade options that ended up keeping me on the phone talking with an agent for a long time. Still have a pile of the run-of-mill but urgent bills to handle.

-U4 Email responses. I've become better at not stopping to write an email response on the spot but keep a list of responses I owe. Trouble is finding time to respond while still timely, and keeping the priorities straight. Today one was nagging at me - not even the top priority, and I handled it on a whim. I suddenly realized I'd spent an hour on it and now everything else on my list was behind.

- U5 Tasklist. Still a mess. I'm relying on my memory to keep track of truly urgent items till I get it straighted out. Problem is that it's so neglected that it will take one big session (or lots of little ones) to handle it and I'm afraid of getting sidetracked by yet another time binge. (Experienced PA'ers will note a couple in what I've written already).

All this leads up to:

U6 Paper/Presentation
Way down on the list, and taking a back seat to all the nuisance task but THIS is the Big Task.
The one I've been in avoidance about and just barely nibbling at.
Due tomorrow.
Way behind because I've let a bunch of urgent tasks and time binges nibble away at my time.
Going to have to offer mea culpas and buy time, and am scared of consequences. This is a classic example of the Procrastination cycle as documented by Burka and Yuen (Procrastination: What it is, what you can do about it), and I've walked right into it. Again.

So now I have to deal with another self-manufactured crisis. Exactly the scenario I'm trying to find a solution for.

U7 Proposal. This one I can afford to ignore - today. But it's due in less than 2 weeks and is waiting to be a MUT at work as soon as the paper is done. I'm also stalling with people who need to work with me on it based on the Paper deadline. So if I get an extension on the Paper, the Proposal suffers.
Again, a scenario I'm trying to learn to get away from.

All adds up to some stressful days immediately ahead. Something to learn from, and whatever techniques it takes to get them handled, just need to own up to my responsibility and go do.

-=-=-=-=-=
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
Benjamin Franklin

1. Complete ISS Research Proposal by 2:30pm

2. Study 15 pages of earth system science notes by 4pm

3. Update Facebook group by 9pm

4. Be asleep by 10:30 PM

I have not yet completed #1 (it's rather long), but I have done some of it. I'm going to divide it up into sections:

1. Complete ISS Research Proposal

a. Problem statement

b. literature review

1. 3-5 themes 2. arguments 3. methodology 4. results 5. gaps/weaknesses 6. inconsistencies

Step 1: read through 8 articles and paraphrase major points for each. (by 9:30)

Step 2:  synthesis shuffle the main points around (by 9:45)

Step 3: Pile the lit review together! (by 10:30)

c. method plan: (by 3:30)  by 8:45

1. intro 2. method 3. sampling 4. strengths/weaknesses 5. ethics 6. analysis

d. consent form

e. survey template

8:15PM UPDATE: Ok, so by now I will only be able to accomplish #1 and 4 today, but I'm still VERY proud of what I accomplished today so far! I gotta get back on track! I have 2 hours left to work have fun doing my research proposal!

Having a hard time this morning, working stuff out follows:
*I messed up sth in lab. That's making me feel pretty cruddy about myself. But it sounds like it's fixable (ask a couple people if they have extra supplies I can use, o/w someone's willing to place an urgent order for me. I'm going to deal w/ that a little later, when I'm calmer.
*I'm also generally feeling down on myself...I've had a lot of TAing work to do this week, meaning I've made very little progress on my research. That's kind of expected and I don't think it's bad, but it's still making me feel bad.
*I went to bed too late last night, and so got up too late this morning, so skipped prayer time and was still late to work this morning. Argh

OK, how do I get this fixed:
1)Today I'm going to have a lot of teaching work again. I'm going to try and do it well and take pride in it, rather than looking at it as time-wating.
Specifically, teaching-wise, I need to:
*Finish grading pset
*Make exam grading plan
*Proctor exam

2)I can also get some lab work done...not a huge amount, but some. I think it's realistic to:
*Proc. data samples
*Analyze biosensor data, make slide (working on this now...not sure I'll get it all done, but I want to make progress)

3)Finally, I can get some personal stuff done
*Harambee 6-8:30
*Call AG

*Exercise (this will be a short walk at most, if it happens at all)

I'm going to go have a late prayer time now...skipping it may save me time in the short run, but if I feel cruddy and unsettled all day I'm going to be way less productive. It's worth taking 15 min to center myself. 

Good morning!  I'm back in the office today.   I cringe when I look at my calendar  because I have two unpleasant meetings today.  Oh, well, if I stay busy the day will go  by fast right? 

I've been to the gym, had a bad commute in this morning, two people were killed in two separate accidents during this morning's rush hour.  wow.   be careful out there, people!

But anyway, I was still early to work today and I've read email, checked my calendar (eek!) and I have my coffee.   Now . . . todo list.  My first unpleasant meeting is at 10:30.  I have a meeting at 9:30 also but it's not unpleasant :).  So my intention is to have my todo list and schedule made before that meeting starts. 

Yesterday was a pretty good day . . . I didn't make a lot of progress on my projects, but I worked on them the amount of time that I had planned.   I stayed up a little late watching "Clean and Sober" with Michael Keaton.   That's a great movie, if you have a chance to watch it, do so.   During your scheduled free time of course.   

UPDATE noon:  todo list and schedule done, 9:30 meeting done, 10:30 meeting (the yucky one) done.  Took a break after the yucky meeting.  Now I'm going to spend an hour doing small tasks and getting ready for the next yucky meeting at 1:00.  I should probably eat my lunch too. I'll check back after the yucky meeting, because that will be a dangerous time for me.

UPDATE:  3 pm the yucky meeting is done!  Now I want to just goof off the rest of the day.  I have one more small task, then I'll work on Project V for 2 hours or so using a timer to work for 30 minute chunks. 

UPDATE 4 pm: break, then check back.

UPDATE 4:45 pm break and a phone call re another project done.  switching to another section of Project V for 45 minutes.  

Jo

Every time you get up and get back in the race, one more little piece of you starts to fall into place - (from "Stand" by Rascal Flatts)

stuck between alternatives. could not see the answer.

...until i pasted here. this is my standard day starter. This will get me moving out of stagnation into motion. Then it will be easier to choose among alternatives.

i get so stuck. Shd i do A or B. They both need to be done. neither is urgent. So i sit on the couch and think abt it. It NEVER enters my mind "do A now, B later, then both will get done." I dont kno why that is.

but posting here does put the idea in my mind.

reflecting on this a bit right now, i get the sense that at first i'm trying to "find the right thing to do." And then when i "wise up" i get in a mindset of "getting things done." I suppose they're compatible mindsets as long as things can be prioritized. When they can't, the 2nd is better.

ok, now to start

7:10 10min ci :)
7:20 10min emerg email only / ck mtgs :)
7:30 30 make lunches :)
+8:00 40min admin :)
8:40 30min quiet time
15min rdy
10min dailies
10min work plan
work hard.
gmake
t.x. brkin
acq
cars

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the touch of the master's hand: http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1898#comment-27748

"fall down seven times, get up eight" - japanese proverb