It is no secret that I am a full-time employee and full-time student. Combine that with being a family man and community servant and there is no end to the distractions that can take me away from my classes and dissertation. The last few weeks have been filled with re-orgs, re-positioning, shortened time lines with compromised quality standards, and removals of job responsibilities only to be told new ones would be coming. These are tough economic times and remaining flexible is mandatory to retain a job.
When the normal routine gets to be extraordinary it poses a threat to remaining focused on other areas of life, namely school (for me). Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life, wrote that when you have a purpose in life you find yourself doing less and more meaningful work. FranklinCovey, in the Focus: Time Management workshop, called attention to using your values to plan your weeks and days in order to remain effective and schedule the big rocks first.
Admittedly, I’ve been pretty distracted these last 4 or 5 weeks and that seems to happen to me enough that I began to reflect on it a bit. My mentor in class gave me the inspiration to do so with a kind empathy. She simply stated that is all I needed when I am trying to get my dissertation going.
So how to get back on track.
- Ask for help
- Accept help
- Re-evaluate the Big Rocks
- Schedule Big Rocks first
- Guard your time
- Break out goals and large tasks into smaller more accomplishable tasks
- Communicate progress
There is no end to life’s distractions. Some people feel that not going back to school or not staying in school will allow them to focus on the rest of life’s little things and stay afloat. To them I say, going to school is not a weight, it is a set of swim fins. They can be a bit awkward but will help you stay afloat. I’ve learned one thing about being a working student, there is no perfect time to go to school (either enroll or remain in school), there certainly are worse times but there is no perfect time. So just get your swim fins on and jump in.
I’ve got to rework some important elements of my dissertation this week. It will take considerable time and investment or resource. Important? Yes. Urgent? A little. I am following my 7 steps and it will come. It might mean some late nights but that is okay.
Image source: underminingme
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April 7th, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Mike; I know exactly what this is talking about. I am a husband to a wife who recently got her masters and a huge procrastinator. I remember getting that same book on the purpose driven life and looking through it. Some of the things it was talking about my wife never paid attention to.
For those of us, myself included, who do have an issue with distractions I find making deadlines for yourself will help. Not the real deadline but a fake one that you use to challenge yourself.
Another thing I learned is little tips to rid yourself of them. Such as e-mail, I read it but don’t immediately answer it. Phone conferences occur 1/2 hour before lunch and 1/2 hour before quitting. This keeps everything on track. Little things like that will calm down the distractions.
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April 7th, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Lou,
Thanks for coming by the Doc Blog. I agree with your tips. I’ve spent considerable time working on my email and Outlook habits. Thankfully, I’ve got that licked. I also have a lot of teleconferences and lunch time is a popular time for those. Knocking them off earlier than lunch and giving yourself some rejuvenation time is important.
Well received tips Lou! Well received!
Mike
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