December 26, 2009
I hate to admit that, honestly, because I prefer to do things when I want to. Who doesn’t? And operating on that philosophy, housework, schoolwork and work work does get done around here. But, like medicine, while compulsion doesn’t sound pleasant, looming deadline(s) tends to have a terrific effect on your concentration.
It turns out that while I like doing things “when I wanna” holds a certain hedonistic pleasure, it’s not the most productive, and thus – for me -ultimately satisfactory. It’s the workaholic in me: getting lots done makes me happy.
I’ve had the pleasure of running my own routine, such as it is squeezed between travel, etc., for some months now. There are certain tasks that must be done on specific dates. Where possible, I schedule those tasks for completion a week in advance of the due date, while treating items on the Should Do list as rolling objects from day to day.
One area this worked quite well is for my online classes. The syllabi, reading lists, assignments, quizzes and discussion boards were all posted during the first week of school. Armed with this information, I could creatively schedule several weeks’ worth of schoolwork to accommodate other things, a la Hawaii. [By “creatively” I really just mean: did all the work early.]
Basically, A) I spare myself the stress of working against the clock when it matters (ie: timed quizzes and exams), and B) I create more free time at the back end in case of problems, questions, or complications.
It also works well in handling my finances. My account aggregator is good for daily and weekly check-ups, and sitting down to pay the bills once a week.
An area where I hadn’t applied that scheduling ethic is right here on the blog. This has always sort of been a time-sensitive blog, written on the spot and during the heat of the moment but that doesn’t necessarily equal writing worth reading. During my leisure time, I’m slowly changing that habit in the pursuit of higher quality writing; a cushion of posts would be a lovely bonus.
There’s definitely an element of “makes me feel like I’m winning” at play here as well. If there’s a deadline and I handily beat it? WIN. It’s the same as that intrinsic love of rules or benchmarks.
So I can make this work for me during the most unstructured time of my life. Step by step, I’m imposing structure on my daily routines: blogging, recreational reading, “research” reading, schoolwork, even cooking, and most importantly, career development.
October 28, 2008
Now this is satisfying! That’s a 1000+ page book placed for scale next to the full-to-bursting bag of paperwork I shredded in my first go-’round.
This is the second stack that I was working on this weekend:
And lest anyone mistakenly believe that I’m totally dedicated to this project, it’s 97% escapism. As long as I’m still being productive, I can justify not working on other, more important but much more depressing projects like thinking about my future. *tsk*
Then again, getting rid of that much junk so far is keeping the spirits up and inspiration on how to creatively re-locate stuff. That’s not bad, either.
May 6, 2008
Did you know ….
1. That Treasury Direct’s help line is open until midnight EST?
2. That if you use AutoPay with T-Mobile, they wait 17 or more days to charge your credit card? They actually wait until two days before my NEXT bill is due before the charge hits my credit card. This contrasts sharply with AT&T who charges for the month in advance. I hate that. I probably hate it more because I was deprived of my sweet T-mobile. O T-mobile!
On the more personal side ….
BroDucky Debacles, Part One Million: he’s sent another message via PaDucky asking to talk to me about another variation of “if I make a car payment, can I use the car?” It’s almost funny now. Faster than the speed of completing the sentence, I said no, no, and no, don’t even talk to me about it, no. Seriously, some day he might actually learn what that word means.
My courtesy credit, including tax, has already been applied to my cell phone account. Considering my anticipation of an angry and unsatisfactory call with AT&T, it was really a better outcome than I’d hoped.
June 27, 2007
As I get closer and closer to the date of my own little Mecca, you’d think I would be gleefully planning each day, girding to do battle with the masses of people who’ll be attending Comic Con this year. Most especially, you’d think I would be hoarding my pennies more fiercely than ever to maybe add a little somethin’ to the miniscule budget ($200: food, parking, gifts for 4.5 days). Heck, I’m not even sure that I should be spending THAT much in the wake of some recent revelations!
You’d think. How I wish you were right! Because you’d be wrong. Oh, so wrong. The programming for Comic Con is still not available, and so I’ve not got a program to obsess over.
In its place, my obsessiveness has grabbed hold of my acquisitiveness left over from that weekend jaunt to Macy’s and now I’m restraining myself from yearning after adorable summer clothing the likes of which I can only imagine would be wonderful for our lunch reception aboard the USS Midway, or for the lectures of Salmon Rushdie and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Surely, surely you say, such intellectuals wouldn’t be interested in my attire if they even gazed in my direction. True, but I can’t help but want to make a good showing anyway. It’s not for them, it’s for me. Hah! That makes it even harder to stand firm. And NOT BUY. Lord, give me strength to resist!
“Anything I spend now only takes away from Con.” (Repeat 10, no, 100! times.) Where’s someone to browbeat me into obedience when I need him/her??
I know, this is not the most dire situation. But, still.
