Well, here we are, nearly two weeks into the new year. What’s working in my set-up and what isn’t?
Well, the easiest way to assess this is to look at what I’ve achieved and what I haven’t and to reflect on why.
Week 1: I achieved almost everything on my to-do list for the week. There were two things not ticked off – one lot of exercises which I missed on one day but did the next day and the other was to email a reminder to someone to do something but they are in the middle of a family crisis and, in the grand scheme of things, my reminder was irrelevant (and unkind and thoughtless and so on). Why did I get so much done (and manage to feel smug when doing my weekly review)? Because I made sure that I looked at my planner each day and had it open at the side of me, with un-ticked tick-boxes glowering at me. The thought of them remaining un-ticked was too much for me, so I did the item and ticked with glee.
Week 2: more of a disaster. I haven’t managed my running schedule because I’m injured. Also, I haven’t done other things that I could have done, despite being injured, because I didn’t have my planner open and I wasn’t looking at it. So I just bumbled about, doing things that weren’t all that important and certainly didn’t advance achieving my goals. Lesson to learn from this? Open the planner and look at it. Plan the day. Reward myself with ticks. [Amanda, it's not rocket science!]
I know I can be really bad at this kind of thing. I can faff about unproductively and get absolutely sod-all done at times. I have two sand-timers on my desk to help me tackle this: a 30 min one to help me focus and get on and do things and a 60 minute one to make me stop doing things and move and relax my eyes etc. I usually also have a 2 minute one to de-stress, but I have lent it to a student of mine who needs it more than me at the moment.
But, the sand-timers only work if I use them, much like my planner!
Next week, I will go back to time-boxing. I talked about it here, outlining why it does and doesn’t work for me, but I think I need to kick-start things again.
598 days and counting.
You sound like me with one timer to keep you focused and one to make you stop. I feel your pain.
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