Time keeps going…faster and faster

In case you missed it, it is November! November! Just let that set in for a minute.

We are almost done with the semester…which means I am a month away from my comprehensives. I think. I have been working on a “one-pager” on what I want my dissertation to be on…and when I say working I mean I have presented about twenty versions, each one considering the comments made by one or more of my three comps committee professors. The best I can say is that my focus is getting sharper and I am considering my thought from many different directions. But it just isn’t there yet. I think I am making it more complicated than I should. And I have to get it right before I get my comps questions. And December is looming…

I have started writing something every day. In preparation for the major amount of writing facing me next month. I shoot for at least 15 minutes (and yes, this is counting) but I am finding that the more I do it, the longer I seem to be writing. But there are the many assignments I have to write for my classes, so that could be part of it. Both of my classes have the majority of assignments due now in the second half of the semester, so it has been busy, to say the least.

An interesting tool that I have happened upon is an app called Hours. It is a time tracking app and it is pretty interesting and helpful. It is allowing me to see when I work on what and also it is helping me see what I am neglecting and what I spend too much time on. This is helpful because I can see where my time is spent and when I have a blank area, it makes me think back on what was I doing and could I have been working on something more productive. And for me, that is valuable…very valuable. If you are motivated by data, this is the app for you!

You create your unique tasks and then track away. It takes a minute to set up your tasks and you will think of new ones as you go. I decided I was going to track my “work” as well as my “household work” which has been useful. I realize that I spend more time “working” than I had thought partially because I never really counted reading as work. But it is! I read for homework, I read for research, I read for the class I teach, and that is all WORK! And boy do I spend a lot of time reading! It is amazing that anything is sticking long enough to use the information in any meaningful way. Sometimes I feel like as I am putting things in the front of my brain, and other things are falling out the back! This has only made my conviction that having an education makes you realize how much you don’t know. There is so much information…so much…and it is growing every day, hour, minute and second!

AHHHHHH…it is best that I don’t think about that too long. It becomes really overwhelming and makes me wonder if there is anything out there that hasn’t been done and if there is anything that I can add something meaningful to for my current and future work…Like I said let’s not dwell on that!

So I am heading back into my one-pager…it is like practicing any skill…you do it, get feedback, edit and try again. Ready, set…go!