This post is going to be nerdy. There, you've been forewarned. I feel like every quarter is when I make this effort to improve how I work and figure out how to work most efficiently and effectively. I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, but apparently, I believe in New Quarter Resolutions. Among some of my strategies to be efficient and effective: be disciplined and work during the day so that I can play at night, save the heavy lifting for the day (reading, writing) and the easy stuff for the evenings (TA stuff, easy reading), maintain hobbies (baking, knitting, crocheting), be active to relieve stress (yoga), and don't feel guilty when I'm not working (presumably because I've worked hard during the day, right?). And here's another strategy: To Do lists on the Tasks lab of my gmail account.
It is already the third week of the quarter, and I still haven't finished a new draft of my anti-rape paper. I wanted to get this new draft to DM at the end of last quarter, which was about a month ago. I have felt quite overwhelmed with it and this feeling was stalling my write up. I read a lot for the paper last quarter but recently I have felt like I had nothing to show for it, so it gave me this nagging feeling and very mild anxiety about doing a new draft.
So, during the first week of the quarter, I decided to quit stalling and get my ass in gear. I set a goal to finish the paper by a certain day, but that day has already come and gone. So I have a new goal (Monday), and I am making it happen, damn it. Let me tell you about my strategy. If every journey begins with a single step, then every paper begins with a single sentence. I have broken down the pieces of my paper into manageable sections to be completed- intro, theory, data and methods, results, discussion and conclusion. Then I go through each section and quickly freewrite and jot down notes and what I want to say in each section. This helps because then I just quickly say what I want to say without agonizing over word choice and grammar. Finally, I go through each section, cleaning it up and trying to make it sound good.
To stay on track, I am using this wonderful tool on my gmail account: the Tasks lab. It is amazing. I have a To Do list for every day of the week, a weekend To Do list, a weekly To Do list, and an Ongoing To Do list. It sounds insane, but it's helping me stay on track. I break up everything I need to do into manageable pieces and put them on my To Do list. After I complete the task, I get a nerdy sense of pleasure and accomplishment in checking off the task. So far, the Tasks lab helps me stay accountable, and at the end of the day, I get to see everything that I've accomplished. Because I've broken my anti-rape paper into small, manageable pieces, it doesn't seem so overwhelming anymore. And I WILL have a new draft on Monday. Seriously.
It is already the third week of the quarter, and I still haven't finished a new draft of my anti-rape paper. I wanted to get this new draft to DM at the end of last quarter, which was about a month ago. I have felt quite overwhelmed with it and this feeling was stalling my write up. I read a lot for the paper last quarter but recently I have felt like I had nothing to show for it, so it gave me this nagging feeling and very mild anxiety about doing a new draft.
So, during the first week of the quarter, I decided to quit stalling and get my ass in gear. I set a goal to finish the paper by a certain day, but that day has already come and gone. So I have a new goal (Monday), and I am making it happen, damn it. Let me tell you about my strategy. If every journey begins with a single step, then every paper begins with a single sentence. I have broken down the pieces of my paper into manageable sections to be completed- intro, theory, data and methods, results, discussion and conclusion. Then I go through each section and quickly freewrite and jot down notes and what I want to say in each section. This helps because then I just quickly say what I want to say without agonizing over word choice and grammar. Finally, I go through each section, cleaning it up and trying to make it sound good.
To stay on track, I am using this wonderful tool on my gmail account: the Tasks lab. It is amazing. I have a To Do list for every day of the week, a weekend To Do list, a weekly To Do list, and an Ongoing To Do list. It sounds insane, but it's helping me stay on track. I break up everything I need to do into manageable pieces and put them on my To Do list. After I complete the task, I get a nerdy sense of pleasure and accomplishment in checking off the task. So far, the Tasks lab helps me stay accountable, and at the end of the day, I get to see everything that I've accomplished. Because I've broken my anti-rape paper into small, manageable pieces, it doesn't seem so overwhelming anymore. And I WILL have a new draft on Monday. Seriously.
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