Wow! What a productive day! What came over me? you ask. Well, I'm not sure. I'm just tired of squeezing all my productive time into the last few hours of my day (at the same time stressing myself out immensely) and not even enjoying the hours prior to that because I'm feeling guilty I haven't started anything yet, tired of going into class feeling unprepared because I didn't start things early enough to get everything done thoroughly, tired of doing the bare minimum when I know I can do so much more and so much better. I just got tired. And so I took a deep breath, grabbed the thing I knew I needed to get out of the way first for Monday, and did it. At 1 pm this afternoon. Two days before I absolutely needed to have it done. And not only did I do the very least I could get by with (coming up with questions for my class and posting them online for them to answer), I did more (actually answering the questions myself - writing them out so I'd have them in front of me when we go over them in class Monday).
Today, I actually tried out some of the things I've been wanting to experiment with, to see if they would work for me. Since everyone is different and everyone works differently, at a different pace, whatever, I tried to work with my own patterns, etc. Here's what I did:
1. I made sure that I took a leisurely morning. I don't wake up well, and I enjoy lingering over breakfast and coffee and getting ready. So I let myself do that. Fortunately, I woke up at 10 (another good thing - woke up before noon!), so I could be a little leisurely and not feel bad about it. That having been said, I did make sure I kept watch on the time; not like a hawk or anything, but I just made note of how long I was spending especially on Facebook - one of my biggest black holes in terms of time.
2. Once I had my leisurely morning, I did a couple of chores to get the blood pumping a bit. A little physical activity is good for the brain, because, as I said, it gets the blood pumping, and that blood gets oxygen into the brain, which helps you think better. Good thinkin', huh? ;)
3. I turned on music, I sat down with all my stuff (readings, paper, pen, phone, something to drink) in my comfy chair with the lap desk - and I STARTED. Before I did, though, I set a goal: to get through the readings and write out the questions. That's it. Whatever I did after that didn't matter, as long as I did that. If I needed to stop before for a mini-break, then that was fine, and that's what I'd do. But then I'd get back to work until it was done. And that's exactly what I did.
4. When I was done, I rewarded myself with a lengthy break and a snack (or, in this particular case, lunch). One of my big problems with putting tasks before fun is my fear (irrational in a way, but common for many procrastinators) that I'll do the tasks and then not have any time left for fun. That's why I think it's important to take the lengthy breaks - to make sure I do something that I like to and want to do. To provide balance throughout the day, I suppose, rather than put all the "fun time" off to the very end of the day. This way, I also have a reward for putting in effort and getting something - or, in the case of bigger projects, and I'm thinking of paper writing and research coming up, even a piece of something - done. Rewarding right away is a good way to get procrastinators motivated to keep going....
5. ....which brings me to another part of the "making sure I have breaks for fun" plan: making sure the breaks are not too long. Today, in experimentation, I took at least an hour break between tasks. After I'd done a couple of fun things, had a snack or a meal, did a little physical activity (walking down the driveway to get the mail or finishing the laundry), and prepared for the next task, I made sure I went on to actually DO it.
6. When I'd done quite a few tasks (the ones on my mental list) for today, I stopped and relaxed. In a way, at this point, the urge was strong to keep going. But in the interest of the fear that there would be not any time left for fun, I stopped. Pacing oneself is important too. I didn't want to burn myself out today and then remember it not as a productive day but as an oppressive day.
7. I made a list for tomorrow and I prioritized it. Not everything on the list HAS to be done tomorrow, but I hope to make a good start on it.
This method seemed to work pretty well today. I will see if it works tomorrow. Everyone has to find their own rhythm and what works for them. And it'll probably take some trial and error and forgiving self for error and tweaking, but I think this type of schedule could work for me. At least on days when I don't actually have to BE in class. Those I'll work on in due time (and for those of you who think I'm procrastinating on THAT, just know that right now, for the summer, I'm only in class two days a week. So if I can get to a point where I'm doing well on my out-of-class days, I can then work on my in-class days, particuarly when I go back to four of them in the fall. In case you didn't realize this, SOME procrastination is actually fruitful. But you have to know which is which! Usually, I don't, but I think I might be learning....).
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
On Accountability
A couple of triumphs before I get started on accountability:
- Went over notes from last fall's Lincoln and John Brown presentation and put together an outline to send to the editor of Civil War History, and sent it the other night.
- Got a few more prof letters under my belt and nailed down one rec letter for fall.
- All tests from yesterday graded and two of the three classes' scores online.
- Questions for Monday's history lesson on WWII done and up on the class site.
- Two essay drafts reviewed and comments sent to students.
Not bad, eh?
Now - on to accountability. Accountability can be a very useful tool to a procrastinator, especially to those who feel embarrassed at their lack of productivity when they know they've had time to do something and just haven't. Many of us procrastinators do not know how to be accountable to ourselves, unless it's just to the final deadline and nothing else. People tell me, "can't you just make your own deadlines for things? For making sure parts of whatever you're working on are done by a certain day, so you can at least be working toward the final product?" Frankly, as good an idea as that is, because I am the way I am, I always know that since it's MY deadline, set by my own self, it's ALWAYS negotiable and when I try it, it's almost always broken. That's where being accountable to someone outside of yourself can be very helpful. Being accountable to someone else can also be a good way to make sure that you are measuring your time in a realistic way (i.e., not overestimating how much you can reasonably get done in a day), which is another problem that I and many other procrastinators have.
In a previous blog I tell about how a friend and I used to email each other accountability lists of things we planned on doing that day or week and then report back each night with how much we'd gotten done. This served several purposes:
1. Accountability to one another, of course.
2. Each making sure that the other person's list is doable/manageable and pointing out if a list seems too optimistic or potentially overwhelming.
3. Possibility for advice as to how to handle a certain deadline or task if it's looming very close and enough hasn't been done yet.
4. Allowing each of us to see, "on paper", and receive outside praise for the things we had accomplished. Knowing that you're accomplishing something, even if it's whittling away at a project bit by bit, encourages even procrastinators to keep going. It has something to do with a feel-good chemical in your brain that gets released when you can see how far you've come with something.
5. There is a possible record of how long (in days, at the very least) it took each of us to get something done, therefore giving us a better idea of how to budget our time for similar tasks in the future.
6. It makes each of us put together a "to do" list for that day - if it were just us each alone, we might not to it. And for many procrastinators, if there is no list, it's easy to lose track of just how many things need to get done, which enables our "I have plenty of time because it really isn't that much to do" mentality further.
Why this works for me: With this friend, the accountability is mutual, and since we are both procrastinator/perfectionists with tendencies for harsh self-criticisms, we understand each other, can boost each other, and kick each other in the butt if necessary, as well as make sure we're also not too hard on ourselves (as we often are, although we are much fairer toward each other). We are also both academics, and we both understand the demands and requirements of being academics, which helps us to understand each other's lists and priorities. When we do the accountability lists with each other consistently, it seems to work very well for both of us. However, there are plenty of times (like now) when we're just too busy or whatever to keep up with them.
There is another kind of accountability that I've tried too, which also works okay, and has other benefits as well. With this one, there is a sort of work plan with "fake" deadlines, but these deadlines are accountable to someone else (one time I did this with a friend and another time with a professor). The two of us sit down together at the beginning of a project and make a timeline of when different parts of the project should be done. This is great, because it helps you make a concrete plan (kind of like a project "to do" list), but also, it breaks the larger task into smaller, much more manageable parts. How many of us procrastinators tend to put off a project or task because it's "just too big! I'll never get that done, because I'll never have that big a block of time!"? We tend too often to concentrate on that finished project and how inconceivably large it is. But when you sit down (whether with an accountability partner or on your own) and look at the project and all the many parts - those small goals - that lead up to that finished product, it's not so bad. Concentrating on the small goals and what it takes to get those parts done can really help. And reinforcement of positive behavior (pardon me while I get even more psychological on you) happens a lot easier by accomplishing smaller goals more often than by accomplishing larger goals only every-so-often.
After we've gotten a timeline/deadlines fixed for those parts, my friend and I will put together a sort of notebook (this worked for us - you may need something different or you might not need it at all) and a contract sheet containing all the dates and what would be done by each date. By each one, there is a place for the signature of the friend, so that when something gets done, she sees it and then signs off that I've actually done it.
Sometimes the date beside her signature (for the day she actually signs off on that part) is after the original deadline - sometimes these delays are planned, sometimes not; sometimes they are because of procrastination and sometimes not. But this again shows (especially if it's a new project) if the time you expected to have something done by was realistic or not. If you didn't procrastinate or did so very little, and you still didn't get it done, you'll probably need to rethink how much time you need to set for that same part next time. If you use the notebook I mentioned before, you can record how you did - timing-wise, procrastination-wise, and if there were reasons you think you procrastinated on that particular part, or why you might not have, if you didn't procrastinate. Recording all these bits is good to do, not just because you can see just how much you under/over-estimated the time a part would take, but also so you can learn the patterns of your own procrastination. And if you know your own patterns, you can plan better and be prepared for your procrastination (you KNOW you're going to procrastinate, so why not just plan it in? It'll be much less stressful this way! - I have a friend who does this, by the way.)
Why this works for me: Accountability can be a double edged sword, especially for perfectionists, particularly if it's not handled right. This arrangement seems to sidestep some of those issues that, for me and many perfectionist procrastinators, can trigger an even deeper abyss of procrastination. This gets those "fake" deadlines set up so that I can get parts of a bigger thing done in a timely manner, making sure I have at least one other person I have to be accountable to for that deadline. But it doesn't put the same type of pressure on you that a real deadline does. For example: often in classes, the teacher has parts of your research/term paper due before the final product is due at the end of the class or whenever. Don't get me wrong - this set up is still much more preferable to me than the, "Here's when the final product is due several months down the line, good luck." I still have problems with it, though: 1. Often the teacher expects parts of a paper to be turned in that, if left alone, I don't normally do or don't do until I'm pretty much ready to write the paper and sometimes WHILE I'm writing the paper(i.e., an initial outline, a beautifully crafted thesis statement, etc.). This, to me, is a waste of time, and I STILL procrastinate on it and get stressed out, because it's a REAL deadline. 2. There is still this pressure, because you're doing these parts for a grade or whatever, to have them be perfect. Even if the teacher doesn't expect them to be perfect, it is the nature of a perfectionist to make them so.
With this "fake" deadline-based accountability structure, YOU get to pick what gets done, and if it DOESN'T, for whatever reason get done on time or imperfectly, you know that YOU did set the deadlines, and that your accountability partner is not going to give you a bad grade if you dropped the ball. The accountability partner is there for encouragement, support, reminding, and, if need be, and occasional kick in the pants, but is not there to judge you. Grading, by nature, is a judgment. Not necessarily of you (although sometimes of you), but of your work. Your partner, however, doesn't even have to read your work if you don't want them to (although mine usually does); their main purpose is to KEEP YOU ON TRACK. And if you need a few extra days to finish something, since the deadline isn't real, there's no reason not to take those few extra days. We're trying to AVOID feeling that crazy stressful pressure, not create it, right?
Just a word of advice: if you want to go this route, with an accountability partner of any kind, choose your partner wisely. Those who do not push you enough are of no use to you (and quite possibly enable your procrastination), but those who get power hungry and try to push too hard, or who don't understand what kinds of "encouragement" might be the wrong kind (i.e., teasing? nagging? Yours may be different from mine.) will only make you procrastinate more. I've been very lucky in this respect to have people who understood what I needed and when I needed it. I hope that if you decide to try accountability, you can find someone who truly helps you.
- Went over notes from last fall's Lincoln and John Brown presentation and put together an outline to send to the editor of Civil War History, and sent it the other night.
- Got a few more prof letters under my belt and nailed down one rec letter for fall.
- All tests from yesterday graded and two of the three classes' scores online.
- Questions for Monday's history lesson on WWII done and up on the class site.
- Two essay drafts reviewed and comments sent to students.
Not bad, eh?
Now - on to accountability. Accountability can be a very useful tool to a procrastinator, especially to those who feel embarrassed at their lack of productivity when they know they've had time to do something and just haven't. Many of us procrastinators do not know how to be accountable to ourselves, unless it's just to the final deadline and nothing else. People tell me, "can't you just make your own deadlines for things? For making sure parts of whatever you're working on are done by a certain day, so you can at least be working toward the final product?" Frankly, as good an idea as that is, because I am the way I am, I always know that since it's MY deadline, set by my own self, it's ALWAYS negotiable and when I try it, it's almost always broken. That's where being accountable to someone outside of yourself can be very helpful. Being accountable to someone else can also be a good way to make sure that you are measuring your time in a realistic way (i.e., not overestimating how much you can reasonably get done in a day), which is another problem that I and many other procrastinators have.
In a previous blog I tell about how a friend and I used to email each other accountability lists of things we planned on doing that day or week and then report back each night with how much we'd gotten done. This served several purposes:
1. Accountability to one another, of course.
2. Each making sure that the other person's list is doable/manageable and pointing out if a list seems too optimistic or potentially overwhelming.
3. Possibility for advice as to how to handle a certain deadline or task if it's looming very close and enough hasn't been done yet.
4. Allowing each of us to see, "on paper", and receive outside praise for the things we had accomplished. Knowing that you're accomplishing something, even if it's whittling away at a project bit by bit, encourages even procrastinators to keep going. It has something to do with a feel-good chemical in your brain that gets released when you can see how far you've come with something.
5. There is a possible record of how long (in days, at the very least) it took each of us to get something done, therefore giving us a better idea of how to budget our time for similar tasks in the future.
6. It makes each of us put together a "to do" list for that day - if it were just us each alone, we might not to it. And for many procrastinators, if there is no list, it's easy to lose track of just how many things need to get done, which enables our "I have plenty of time because it really isn't that much to do" mentality further.
Why this works for me: With this friend, the accountability is mutual, and since we are both procrastinator/perfectionists with tendencies for harsh self-criticisms, we understand each other, can boost each other, and kick each other in the butt if necessary, as well as make sure we're also not too hard on ourselves (as we often are, although we are much fairer toward each other). We are also both academics, and we both understand the demands and requirements of being academics, which helps us to understand each other's lists and priorities. When we do the accountability lists with each other consistently, it seems to work very well for both of us. However, there are plenty of times (like now) when we're just too busy or whatever to keep up with them.
There is another kind of accountability that I've tried too, which also works okay, and has other benefits as well. With this one, there is a sort of work plan with "fake" deadlines, but these deadlines are accountable to someone else (one time I did this with a friend and another time with a professor). The two of us sit down together at the beginning of a project and make a timeline of when different parts of the project should be done. This is great, because it helps you make a concrete plan (kind of like a project "to do" list), but also, it breaks the larger task into smaller, much more manageable parts. How many of us procrastinators tend to put off a project or task because it's "just too big! I'll never get that done, because I'll never have that big a block of time!"? We tend too often to concentrate on that finished project and how inconceivably large it is. But when you sit down (whether with an accountability partner or on your own) and look at the project and all the many parts - those small goals - that lead up to that finished product, it's not so bad. Concentrating on the small goals and what it takes to get those parts done can really help. And reinforcement of positive behavior (pardon me while I get even more psychological on you) happens a lot easier by accomplishing smaller goals more often than by accomplishing larger goals only every-so-often.
After we've gotten a timeline/deadlines fixed for those parts, my friend and I will put together a sort of notebook (this worked for us - you may need something different or you might not need it at all) and a contract sheet containing all the dates and what would be done by each date. By each one, there is a place for the signature of the friend, so that when something gets done, she sees it and then signs off that I've actually done it.
Sometimes the date beside her signature (for the day she actually signs off on that part) is after the original deadline - sometimes these delays are planned, sometimes not; sometimes they are because of procrastination and sometimes not. But this again shows (especially if it's a new project) if the time you expected to have something done by was realistic or not. If you didn't procrastinate or did so very little, and you still didn't get it done, you'll probably need to rethink how much time you need to set for that same part next time. If you use the notebook I mentioned before, you can record how you did - timing-wise, procrastination-wise, and if there were reasons you think you procrastinated on that particular part, or why you might not have, if you didn't procrastinate. Recording all these bits is good to do, not just because you can see just how much you under/over-estimated the time a part would take, but also so you can learn the patterns of your own procrastination. And if you know your own patterns, you can plan better and be prepared for your procrastination (you KNOW you're going to procrastinate, so why not just plan it in? It'll be much less stressful this way! - I have a friend who does this, by the way.)
Why this works for me: Accountability can be a double edged sword, especially for perfectionists, particularly if it's not handled right. This arrangement seems to sidestep some of those issues that, for me and many perfectionist procrastinators, can trigger an even deeper abyss of procrastination. This gets those "fake" deadlines set up so that I can get parts of a bigger thing done in a timely manner, making sure I have at least one other person I have to be accountable to for that deadline. But it doesn't put the same type of pressure on you that a real deadline does. For example: often in classes, the teacher has parts of your research/term paper due before the final product is due at the end of the class or whenever. Don't get me wrong - this set up is still much more preferable to me than the, "Here's when the final product is due several months down the line, good luck." I still have problems with it, though: 1. Often the teacher expects parts of a paper to be turned in that, if left alone, I don't normally do or don't do until I'm pretty much ready to write the paper and sometimes WHILE I'm writing the paper(i.e., an initial outline, a beautifully crafted thesis statement, etc.). This, to me, is a waste of time, and I STILL procrastinate on it and get stressed out, because it's a REAL deadline. 2. There is still this pressure, because you're doing these parts for a grade or whatever, to have them be perfect. Even if the teacher doesn't expect them to be perfect, it is the nature of a perfectionist to make them so.
With this "fake" deadline-based accountability structure, YOU get to pick what gets done, and if it DOESN'T, for whatever reason get done on time or imperfectly, you know that YOU did set the deadlines, and that your accountability partner is not going to give you a bad grade if you dropped the ball. The accountability partner is there for encouragement, support, reminding, and, if need be, and occasional kick in the pants, but is not there to judge you. Grading, by nature, is a judgment. Not necessarily of you (although sometimes of you), but of your work. Your partner, however, doesn't even have to read your work if you don't want them to (although mine usually does); their main purpose is to KEEP YOU ON TRACK. And if you need a few extra days to finish something, since the deadline isn't real, there's no reason not to take those few extra days. We're trying to AVOID feeling that crazy stressful pressure, not create it, right?
Just a word of advice: if you want to go this route, with an accountability partner of any kind, choose your partner wisely. Those who do not push you enough are of no use to you (and quite possibly enable your procrastination), but those who get power hungry and try to push too hard, or who don't understand what kinds of "encouragement" might be the wrong kind (i.e., teasing? nagging? Yours may be different from mine.) will only make you procrastinate more. I've been very lucky in this respect to have people who understood what I needed and when I needed it. I hope that if you decide to try accountability, you can find someone who truly helps you.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Summoning up Motivation....
First of all, I'd like to report on my triumphs from the last few days:
- sent more emails to profs (I decided to spread this out a bit)
- create history test 2 & took this with the other test to school on Monday to get put into the print shop for copying
- Jacob Cox project - but only a very little
What I still need to get done, and priority:
- get Discussion Week 4 HSS PowerPoint together and online (2)
- read and create question sheet for WWII materials to put online (1)
- read one student's essay rough draft and comment (1)
- answer WWII question sheet in preparation for next Monday's class (3)
- more on Jacob Cox Project (2)
- more emails to profs (2)
Now, all I need to do is summon up the motivation. Ha. The thing is, for many of us procrastinators, things will always put off until we are "more motivated", "feel better", "more organized", or "have a bigger block of time". Many times I know I don't even form these excuses in my head as such - they take on much more insidious forms and are hard to identify as excuses. There is an exercise in my well-worn copy of PROCRASTINATION: Why You Do It, What to Do About It NOW (by Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen - psychologists AND procrastinators), that asks you to make a list of your excuses, and to keep track of your excuses for a week. They also acknowledge that they may be hard at first to identify, because "These thoughts may be so automatic and familiar that they don't seem to be excuses at all." (p. 172) What makes them insidious is that "Many excuses have a kernel of truth. You probably do need to exercise, and you might be tired, bored, uninspired, hungry, or sick."(p. 173) The difference for nonprocrastinators (who, of course, often feel these things too) is that they decide what they can still do toward the project or goal, despite these things, and they do that. Procrastinators don't do anything.
So, even if I feel uninspired, unmotivated, tired, bored - whatever - my goal for today is to at least WORK on something, even if I don't get it done. But you know what? I've found that if I at least WORK on something, I can get into it, and I get more done than I thought I would, sometimes to the point of finishing it. Which is pretty cool.
- sent more emails to profs (I decided to spread this out a bit)
- create history test 2 & took this with the other test to school on Monday to get put into the print shop for copying
- Jacob Cox project - but only a very little
What I still need to get done, and priority:
- get Discussion Week 4 HSS PowerPoint together and online (2)
- read and create question sheet for WWII materials to put online (1)
- read one student's essay rough draft and comment (1)
- answer WWII question sheet in preparation for next Monday's class (3)
- more on Jacob Cox Project (2)
- more emails to profs (2)
Now, all I need to do is summon up the motivation. Ha. The thing is, for many of us procrastinators, things will always put off until we are "more motivated", "feel better", "more organized", or "have a bigger block of time". Many times I know I don't even form these excuses in my head as such - they take on much more insidious forms and are hard to identify as excuses. There is an exercise in my well-worn copy of PROCRASTINATION: Why You Do It, What to Do About It NOW (by Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen - psychologists AND procrastinators), that asks you to make a list of your excuses, and to keep track of your excuses for a week. They also acknowledge that they may be hard at first to identify, because "These thoughts may be so automatic and familiar that they don't seem to be excuses at all." (p. 172) What makes them insidious is that "Many excuses have a kernel of truth. You probably do need to exercise, and you might be tired, bored, uninspired, hungry, or sick."(p. 173) The difference for nonprocrastinators (who, of course, often feel these things too) is that they decide what they can still do toward the project or goal, despite these things, and they do that. Procrastinators don't do anything.
So, even if I feel uninspired, unmotivated, tired, bored - whatever - my goal for today is to at least WORK on something, even if I don't get it done. But you know what? I've found that if I at least WORK on something, I can get into it, and I get more done than I thought I would, sometimes to the point of finishing it. Which is pretty cool.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Being Somewhat Productive
I HAVE gotten some things done in the past few days. Not nearly as much as I should have done, but I'm concentrating on small triumphs and victories at the moment. I'm still working on things that were on my list for days ago (a version of the Weekly Assignment List, but not the real thing - I'm thinking about making one, though, after I get done with summer vacation).
One of my big problems is I underestimate how much time it'll take for me to do something. Do any of the other procrastinators out there have this problem? For example, when I put together the test for my Technology and Society (HSS) class, it took me several hours when I thought it should have taken an hour tops (which is why I'm now scared to even work on the history exam, because I already know it's going to take far longer - yikes!). Another example is the emails I'm sending to prospective PhD advisers - it takes much longer than I thought (of course, when I was in the middle of this task last night, I was also watching TV, and I am NOT a good multitasker). The weird thing is, most of these activities I've done before - at least once, but often several to many times before. It makes me think that I need to start timing myself when I do these things, and write down if the time I took to do whatever went smoothly or had a lot of bumps, etc., so that when I go to do it next time I'll have a record of how long it ACTUALLY took the last time, not just my (obviously faulty) estimation. Part of the reason my time management doesn't work so well is because of this very problem.
Anyway, I do want to list out some of the things I HAVE gotten done in the past few days:
- printed out WWII materials for history class
- put all the outstanding grades online
- created the HSS test 2 (!)
- send some of the emails to professors (I'll finish that today, I hope)
- emailed ST about the Cobb house graduate seminar this fall
- got information on upcoming conferences in the fall (man, it's going to be a lot of $$!)
- put Unit 3 reading links online for history class
- exercised fairly regularly (finally!)
- got together a grocery list and went grocery shopping
- paid all bills for this month
I still have quite a number of things to do, but here are the ones I'll be concentrating on today and tomorrow (see, this may seem to be extraneous to some of you - hey, why is she listing all these things when they aren't generally useful to any of us - why should we care? - etc. But, what I'm creating here is ACCOUNTABILITY*. Sometimes I've found that even making someone aware of what I'm supposed to be doing and working on gives me motivation, if only for the simple reason that I feel embarrassed when I haven't at least started something that someone or everyone knows I'm supposed to be doing. I have another procrastinating friend, and at times we'll make lists for each other of what we're supposed to be doing that day/week. Then we have to report back to each other what we got done. This serves the purpose I just said, but it also serves another one for us, since we're both perfectionists/procrastinators who both underestimate how much time something will take - it gives us the chance to tell each other if our respective lists are "doable" or not. It works really well when we actually do it, but often we get so busy that our lists just fall by the wayside. Which is sad, because they do help.) Anyway, here's my list, to create some accountability with anyone who reads this:
- finish sending emails to profs
- create history test 2 (this needs to be taken with the other test to school on Monday to get put into the print shop for copying)
- Jacob Cox project (this is another source of income for me, so I *do* need to work on this, esp now that I've gotten my first summer paycheck and have seen how much of it my monthly bills took away - ugh)
- get Discussion Week 4 HSS PowerPoint together and online
- read and create question sheet for WWII materials to put online
- read one student's essay rough draft and comment
- answer WWII question sheet in preparation for Wednesday's class
- exercise
Now, keep in mind the above has to be done for Mon, Tues, Wed. There are certain ones that have priority, and I'll probably make a mini Weekly Assignment List for those three days, just so I can keep it all straight. In the future, I probably need to start doing estimates of how much time each activity will take (and to do realistic ones, as I mentioned above, I probably need to start making note of how much time I take to do each activity). But all of this I'll eventually work out. Right now I'm concentrating on not procrastinating on each one this week. The other stuff will help with the "not procrastinating", sure, but part of my problem is being in the very bad habit of not even getting started or working on the things I need to work on. So, let's get started!
*If I have some time later today or in the next few days - as long as I'm not procrastinating on other things, ha! - I'll write another blog entry on accountability, because I think it can be an important motivator to get things done, especially when your only other motivator may be the deadline itself.
One of my big problems is I underestimate how much time it'll take for me to do something. Do any of the other procrastinators out there have this problem? For example, when I put together the test for my Technology and Society (HSS) class, it took me several hours when I thought it should have taken an hour tops (which is why I'm now scared to even work on the history exam, because I already know it's going to take far longer - yikes!). Another example is the emails I'm sending to prospective PhD advisers - it takes much longer than I thought (of course, when I was in the middle of this task last night, I was also watching TV, and I am NOT a good multitasker). The weird thing is, most of these activities I've done before - at least once, but often several to many times before. It makes me think that I need to start timing myself when I do these things, and write down if the time I took to do whatever went smoothly or had a lot of bumps, etc., so that when I go to do it next time I'll have a record of how long it ACTUALLY took the last time, not just my (obviously faulty) estimation. Part of the reason my time management doesn't work so well is because of this very problem.
Anyway, I do want to list out some of the things I HAVE gotten done in the past few days:
- printed out WWII materials for history class
- put all the outstanding grades online
- created the HSS test 2 (!)
- send some of the emails to professors (I'll finish that today, I hope)
- emailed ST about the Cobb house graduate seminar this fall
- got information on upcoming conferences in the fall (man, it's going to be a lot of $$!)
- put Unit 3 reading links online for history class
- exercised fairly regularly (finally!)
- got together a grocery list and went grocery shopping
- paid all bills for this month
I still have quite a number of things to do, but here are the ones I'll be concentrating on today and tomorrow (see, this may seem to be extraneous to some of you - hey, why is she listing all these things when they aren't generally useful to any of us - why should we care? - etc. But, what I'm creating here is ACCOUNTABILITY*. Sometimes I've found that even making someone aware of what I'm supposed to be doing and working on gives me motivation, if only for the simple reason that I feel embarrassed when I haven't at least started something that someone or everyone knows I'm supposed to be doing. I have another procrastinating friend, and at times we'll make lists for each other of what we're supposed to be doing that day/week. Then we have to report back to each other what we got done. This serves the purpose I just said, but it also serves another one for us, since we're both perfectionists/procrastinators who both underestimate how much time something will take - it gives us the chance to tell each other if our respective lists are "doable" or not. It works really well when we actually do it, but often we get so busy that our lists just fall by the wayside. Which is sad, because they do help.) Anyway, here's my list, to create some accountability with anyone who reads this:
- finish sending emails to profs
- create history test 2 (this needs to be taken with the other test to school on Monday to get put into the print shop for copying)
- Jacob Cox project (this is another source of income for me, so I *do* need to work on this, esp now that I've gotten my first summer paycheck and have seen how much of it my monthly bills took away - ugh)
- get Discussion Week 4 HSS PowerPoint together and online
- read and create question sheet for WWII materials to put online
- read one student's essay rough draft and comment
- answer WWII question sheet in preparation for Wednesday's class
- exercise
Now, keep in mind the above has to be done for Mon, Tues, Wed. There are certain ones that have priority, and I'll probably make a mini Weekly Assignment List for those three days, just so I can keep it all straight. In the future, I probably need to start doing estimates of how much time each activity will take (and to do realistic ones, as I mentioned above, I probably need to start making note of how much time I take to do each activity). But all of this I'll eventually work out. Right now I'm concentrating on not procrastinating on each one this week. The other stuff will help with the "not procrastinating", sure, but part of my problem is being in the very bad habit of not even getting started or working on the things I need to work on. So, let's get started!
*If I have some time later today or in the next few days - as long as I'm not procrastinating on other things, ha! - I'll write another blog entry on accountability, because I think it can be an important motivator to get things done, especially when your only other motivator may be the deadline itself.
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