Saturday November 6, 2010

I suppose yesterday and today was a lesson in things not always being predictable! Had to go to the hospital to get some tests done and was SOOOO nervous they'd induce labor. . .but thankfully I have a little more time!

Tonite I must rest, but I wanted to come on anyway even though today is almost over just to keep the habit up. And to excuse myself for not getting anything done yesterday :P

So just a couple things
-Read Ch. 11 Sect 11/12
-Reading Quiz
-Activity
-Email prof
-Make study list
-Vitamins

Thanks all for being so lovely and insightful! Even if I don't always comment, people write such cool things.

I want to thank my Higher Power for this program, this website, the telephone and online meetings, and my life

I want to thank seattle1968 for starting this trend.

Things I did today

1. Went to the 7 a.m. telephone DA meeting

2. Fixed and ate brunch

3. Did some inner writing

4. Went to the 2:30 p.m. telephone CODA meeting

Things I will do today

1. Take shower

2. Get dressed

3. Cook and eat dinner

4. Go to the 7:30 p.m. face to face NA meeting

5. Make bed

6. Wash dishes

7. Call my DA Sponsor

8. Do numbers

9. Study Business.

10. Do my paper

11. Have meditation time

12. Post and send out Al-Anon literature for today.

Thanks for letting me share. 

 Good morning,

My basics are (1) showing up - done; (2) check calendar - done; (3) reading / gratitudes - done; (4) plan to plan - done.  

Goal: Volunteer Exec. Board Project: For each 1/2 hour smiley face:

  [looked for draft of document I worked on this summer, shoot cannot find it.]   [more slow going due to not finding old sheet but got started and found faster way to do it than the way I was going to] 

 [good progress on 3rd 1/2 hour. One productivity article said 90 min is ideal for work. I think 1st half hour shouldn't count as it was prep time. Think I can finish in next 1/2 hour. We'll see.]

 Yes. finished and even did an extra report to president and sent a follow up email to follow up on another outstanding issue.   

This will be the last year I work on this Board as my tendency has been to take on too many responsibilities and wonder why I can't get everything done when I am working as a part-time volunteer for 4 organizations, coach for 5 teams last year, etc etc. So learning to say "no" even for things I believe in and not take on any new tasks unless I take another one off my list.   

Some tool reading: 

Idea of managing energy and not just time.  One of the articles referenced by someone here at PA (marshmallow study) linked to another study at Harvard Business Review - Called “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time,” HBR October 2007. The study addressed work performance & the problem of employee disengagement. It believed that burnout was one of its leading causes and focused almost exclusively on helping individuals avoid it by managing their energy, as opposed to their time. (Time, after all, is finite. By contrast, you can expand your personal energy and also regularly renew it.)

Once people understand how their supply of available energy is influenced by the choices they make, they can learn new strategies that increase the fuel in their tanks and boost their productivity. If people define precise times at which to do highly specific activities, these new behaviors eventually become automatic and no longer require conscious will and discipline. We refer to them as rituals. They’re simple but powerful. They include practices such as shutting down your e-mail for a couple of hours during the day, so you can tackle important or complex tasks without distracting interruptions, or taking a daily 3 PM walk to get an emotional and mental breather.

In the article, they describe the transformation they helped initiate at Sony Pictures Entertainment. To date, the reaction to the program has been overwhelmingly positive. Eighty-eight percent of participants say it has made them more focused and productive. More than 90% say it has helped them bring more energy to work every day. Eighty-four percent say they feel better able to manage their jobs’ demands and are more engaged at work. Sony’s leaders believe that these changes have helped boost the company’s performance. Despite the recession, Sony Pictures had its most profitable year ever in 2008 and one of its highest revenue years in 2009 (though an industrywide collapse in DVD sales forced the company to do a round of layoffs early in 2010).

 The Energy Project

They encouraged Sony to make 2 fundamental shifts in the way it manages employees. 1.  The first was to stop expecting people to operate like computers—at high speeds, continuously, running multiple programs at the same time—and to recognize that human beings perform best and are most productive when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.

2.  The second was to move from trying to get more out of employees and instead to invest in systematically meeting their four core needs, so they’re fueled and inspired to bring more of themselves to work every day. These four core needs are physical health (achieved through nutrition, sleep, daytime renewal, and exercise), emotional well-being (which grows out of feeling appreciated and valued), mental clarity (the ability to focus intensely, prioritize, and think creatively), and spiritual significance (which comes from the feeling of serving a mission beyond generating a profit). 

 Have a great day everyone.

tracy-la

It's All Saints Day here and I planned on having a quiet relaxing day with no work. Alas, emergency work happens.

Done:
- Updated website 1
- wrote manual
- took candles to the graveyard (a snowy graveyard with lots of candles is a beautiful sight :))