February Bootcamp 2012: Play and Productivity!

Had a slightly rough day which was in danger of throwing me off, utterly. However, rescued the evening by using some daft-but-fun TV to chill out for a bit, along with some yummy dinner; then turned to productivity – not masses, but it turned out to be enlightening and just left me with a much better feeling about the day in general.

I really do find myself feeling the need to see the day as not wasted. Now I need to have this at the start and not the end! ;)

• SMART goals – oh yeah. Set myself an achievable target of reaching page 100 in my new C# book, knowing that I could based on yesterday’s work.
• Then set myself a reward for when I completed it!
• It’s not all I want to do today – but that sense of achievement is motivating!
• I took regular mini-breaks, at the end of exercises; or even mini-er (quick read of emails, etc) when the computer needed time to do stuff.
• Having reached a set target, though, I now need a proper break – away from the computer!!

So. Cool :)

Right: productivity is so key for the next 2 months – 2 months in which I finish about 90% of my degree! o_O Obviously I want want WANT that hugely – but also to survive the time with my sanity intact (or, as much as it ever is! ;))

So… work hard, but then play: yes, and yes! Me being me, as soon as I’m hit by a large dose of straight-nosed geekery and work, my brain flits to “ooh, the pretty pictures…!!” – yes, art and getting back to that!

Two ideas: that I tend to use the lure of one to avoid focus on the other – right now art seems all-encompassing, but I’ll bet that come April 24th I’ll be _{running away from it} when I do I have ‘time’... Which leads to: absolutely commit to the work that needs done right now, but use the playtime as a prelude to the next phase…

La! Can’t believe ‘this time’ is actually here – huge, scary, exciting and WOW!!

And breath… soon… just keep on keeping on til it gets here!! o_O

1. Don’t Panic!!
2. backtrack a little and revise the object-y stuff for the coursework – I obviously don’t really ‘get’ working with (programming) objects, really :(

• C# – start the first bit of coursework

Yup, that’s it.

It’s almost half three and so far I’ve done none of it. I have done the laundry, printed my CV for next week’s course, and started chopping up a squash to make tagine. ONE priority for the day – and I just can’t be bothered doing anything: on that, or anything else. Bleh :*( I want to do everything, and absolutely nothing. Only ‘nothing’ sounds like too much effort, too. I’m starting to dislike Saturdays, y’know!!

Have been struck by the snuffles doing the rounds in the office at the moment, which isn’t helping motivation any: I want to snuggle down and sleep til it’s gone! So, while current priorities really have to be about keep healthy, I’m also feeling that there’s a mini pile-up beyond that.

• C#
• tai-chi
• plenty of healthiness!

• doctor stuff to sort out – ear, friday, etc
• cooking: big bnut to use, so thinking a weekend batch session, of veg tagine, bnut curry, maybe a lasagne? And chilli.
• course next week – must get organised!
• energy too low right now, but having worked out C# ‘schedule’, need to bring in netApps and portfolio (ffs!) sharpish!!
• career planning – soon, but head needs to be elsewhere now, regardless of the happy-excitement of all my soon-to-be-ex-colleagues off to pastures new!
• likewise: hurumph at the new dating stuff going on with my formerly-single-compatriots. Tch. Too much work to it right now! o_O
• creativity stuff is being ignored – sort of okay-ish about that for now; everything else feels more urgent and important in the short term
• fitness has to wait out the snuffles, alas – but it might be helpful in preventing the next lot! o_O
• would be excellent to finish the kitchen cupboard sorting already and tick off that goal!!
• mortgage to sort out

Overall, then, I am currently in a mindset of “let’s focus on the study stuff with ever-closer-creeping-deadlines and just get it out of the way – and then move on!” I tend to get bored halfway through that (maybe need to set myself some better motivational rewards!), but would be good to get shifting while I can – damn this cold and need for sleep!! Anyway. Is life, and is busy, and there are worse things! :)

Ooh, here’s a tough question: do I set this for tomorrow, or the whole weekend? If it’s the latter, do I then choose six priorities? Hmm.

Having a rough plan for the whole weekend is what I’ve more or less been doing (less structured-ly) and it tends not to work. For instance, if my six things have three ‘nice’ and three work, too easy to feel productive for doing the nicer stuff first!

But still, I could pre-plan but with specific split out tasks for the Sat/Sun, thus ensuring I did everything I wanted over the two days? Or do I just start with tomorrow and see how it goes?!

• C# coursework
• C# book chapter
• tidy cards stuff
• maybe make a card?
• watch GotA / download next one!
• watch a movie from stack
• eat healthily – esp fruit needing used!
• exercise
• maybe cinema?
• write 500 words
• review?
• laundry
• pay cc / email re GP

• admin – paperwork, emails, etc
• housework – laundry and tidying
• chores – admin plus housework!
• healthfulness™ – eating, exercise and probably pampering and sleep
• C# (learning)
• creativity – writing and cards
• passive and/or at home time wasters: watching stuff, ‘pooter time [let’s face it: these are NOT priorities and likely to happen anyway!]
• going out (cinema)

1. C# – need and want to get moving on this!
2. looking after me: meditation, eat well, move some, get enough sleep – sort of a catch-all, but putting that theme in my mind is important and hopefully not too broad
3. plough through some of the weekend chores!

Tempting to say “oh – more time at the weekend, can/should have more priorities” in order to get in both chores and creativity. But… I’m talking priorities, not just a list of want-to-dos. THAT I think is the difference to this approach! In which case, while yes it is important to me to get some creativity going on, it’s not really a ‘must-do’ priority – there’s nothing stopping me doing it anyway!

I’ll see how that goes. Chances are Sunday is going to look very similar, but who knows – maybe I’ll have finished the chores and move creativity onto the list, or decide it’s important (and the weather is enabling!) to go out. Now that I’ve gone through this process, I’m far preferring the idea of keeping the planning to just one day ahead – Sunday now has more room to be flexible depending on how tomorrow goes, and mood.

So there we go: a long a tortuous look into how my mind works in reasoning out a plan, and how complicated I can make these things! ;)

• phone doctor, get an appointment and get my ear sorted. Grrrr!
• do what I can to feel satisfied with the working day
• enjoy a giggle with J after work, and a relaxed evening

• almost wiggled my way out of doing this, but then I knew it was on the list – and got a really good response, so yay!
• not having a productive mood day really, but by remember this was the end goal it did help try to find something that would feel as productive as I could be
• and something to look forward to, which has made the whole day a bit nicer :)

• C# coursework x3
• portfolio
• really should start revising (a little but often) for The Last Exam (!)
• tons’o’work stuff (big meeting, presentation, journal review, code, analysis, etc etc)
• some career planning stuff, including finding/booking 2 or 3 courses while I can
• meditation – signed up for course, plus daily practice (it does me a lot of good!)
• tai-chi
• achieve some kind of fitness!!
• healthier eating – and yes, I have a weight loss goal I really want to do this time!!
• 500 words goal
• back to review writing
• card making – bday coming up, plus general
• household chores/organisation
• plenty of baths and other pampering
• general ent’ment: keeping up with tv and movies and books!!
• yes, some mindless fun – computer games and all!

I’ve just had a very unmotivated, low-energy month in January, which is only adding to the pressure. So! Time to get my butt in gear – but that ‘play’ element is essential if I want to (a) keep going and (b) stay sane!

I’m think achieving both will involve better time management. And I have to be honest, I would have loads of time in a day/week if I stopped with the obsessive internet procrastination :(

My goal of the month, then (as per this) will be about turning off the computer:

• Weekdays: by 8pm each night
• Weekends: no more than 1hr at a time; off after tea
• also, at least 2 ‘pooter-free evenings/week.

To tie in with that (I know, I know – one thing!!) I really do need to prioritise my ‘must-do’ tasks – making sure that what time I do spend on the computer is work/study first, then some play! I also really like K’s take about writing down just 3 things the evening before – which I’ll have loads of time to do since I’m stopping early, right!?

• work: main aim is (...)
• tai-chi
• non-computer evening: do something ‘else’ from that list instead