Day 429: Urgent/important online tasks; checking email
I have been trying to be more disciplined about going to bed on time and waking up early, but last night I didn’t sleep very well at all, so I hope I’ll still be able to get a lot of work done today.
I also had something I needed to do online that was a bit urgent, so I did it right away when I got up. But after I finished doing it, it took me a little while to get myself to start my Japanese learning.
It should have been obvious to me, but I’m only now realizing that going online first, even for something urgent and important, derailed my “eating my frogs” routine and is reducing my efficiency. After all, the whole point of doing certain “frogs" first thing in the morning is to make sure I actually do them, because I already know my self-discipline is very poor. If I prioritize some other urgent/important task and don’t do my “frogs" first thing, then of course it’s going to be harder for me to do my “frogs” at all. I already saw that when I was doing writing first thing and never getting to my other important daily “frogs.”
The problem is that I tend to want to do urgent/important things right away simply because the stress of knowing I have to do it tends to nag at me when I’m doing other things (like writing or Japanese study). When doing my writing, it really bothered me and distracted me so much that I couldn’t focus on work. It’s not as bad with Japanese study, but it’s still distracting.
I suppose I just need to be aware that if I do have something urgent/important to do before my Japanese study, that I’ll need to make sure I jump right into my Japanese as soon as it’s done rather than putzing around online like I did the past few days. Maybe it would help to set a timer that will jolt me out of my putzing mode?
***
In the past two weeks, I had time to reevaluate my writing schedule and tasks for each day and each week. I discovered that it’s just too tiring to clean out my email inbox when I haven’t checked it in a week (or two).
I had originally scheduled checking email only on the weekend because checking it during the week was sometimes mentally tiring for me and made it difficult to get into the writing afterward.
However, these days I’m doing my Japanese study before my writing work in order to make sure it gets done every day. Because of all the other “frogs” I have to get done before writing (chores, Bible reading, exercise), I end up eating lunch before starting my writing work.
So, in light of that, I think I can squeeze in a half-hour of email work after my Japanese. I’ll limit my time and stop when the timer goes off rather than trying to clear everything in my Inbox. Then I’ll go to lunch—that break will hopefully clear my head and enable me to focus on writing after eating.
Well, I’m not sure how it’ll work, but I’ll try it today and see. Cleaning out my inbox was just too difficult for me to do only one day a week.
***
Doing my email wasn’t bad. I actually finished all of it in 30 minutes, and I was able to get out of the business mindset during lunch right after that and get into a writing mindset.
Unfortunately I had a lot of house chores to do today, and so it took a bit longer than normal. After finishing my “frogs” (exercise, chores, Bible reading, Japanese study) I didn’t get started on my writing until the afternoon.
I got some work done, but then I started feeling the effects of not sleeping well last night. I’m so exhausted that I’m not thinking very clearly. I did get some progress done on blocking one scene, but it’s taking a really long time because my thought processes are so slow.
I decided to throw in the towel and just go to bed early and then try to get a better night’s sleep. Then I can get back to work tomorrow with a fresher brain (hopefully).
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 3 hours, 32 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Total number of words: n/a
Writing: Overall writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 5 minutes
My takeaway for today: When I do have to do something urgent or important online before my Japanese study, be sure to set a timer or alarm so that it will jolt me out of any mindless putzing I might do online.
I also had something I needed to do online that was a bit urgent, so I did it right away when I got up. But after I finished doing it, it took me a little while to get myself to start my Japanese learning.
It should have been obvious to me, but I’m only now realizing that going online first, even for something urgent and important, derailed my “eating my frogs” routine and is reducing my efficiency. After all, the whole point of doing certain “frogs" first thing in the morning is to make sure I actually do them, because I already know my self-discipline is very poor. If I prioritize some other urgent/important task and don’t do my “frogs" first thing, then of course it’s going to be harder for me to do my “frogs” at all. I already saw that when I was doing writing first thing and never getting to my other important daily “frogs.”
The problem is that I tend to want to do urgent/important things right away simply because the stress of knowing I have to do it tends to nag at me when I’m doing other things (like writing or Japanese study). When doing my writing, it really bothered me and distracted me so much that I couldn’t focus on work. It’s not as bad with Japanese study, but it’s still distracting.
I suppose I just need to be aware that if I do have something urgent/important to do before my Japanese study, that I’ll need to make sure I jump right into my Japanese as soon as it’s done rather than putzing around online like I did the past few days. Maybe it would help to set a timer that will jolt me out of my putzing mode?
***
In the past two weeks, I had time to reevaluate my writing schedule and tasks for each day and each week. I discovered that it’s just too tiring to clean out my email inbox when I haven’t checked it in a week (or two).
I had originally scheduled checking email only on the weekend because checking it during the week was sometimes mentally tiring for me and made it difficult to get into the writing afterward.
However, these days I’m doing my Japanese study before my writing work in order to make sure it gets done every day. Because of all the other “frogs” I have to get done before writing (chores, Bible reading, exercise), I end up eating lunch before starting my writing work.
So, in light of that, I think I can squeeze in a half-hour of email work after my Japanese. I’ll limit my time and stop when the timer goes off rather than trying to clear everything in my Inbox. Then I’ll go to lunch—that break will hopefully clear my head and enable me to focus on writing after eating.
Well, I’m not sure how it’ll work, but I’ll try it today and see. Cleaning out my inbox was just too difficult for me to do only one day a week.
***
Doing my email wasn’t bad. I actually finished all of it in 30 minutes, and I was able to get out of the business mindset during lunch right after that and get into a writing mindset.
Unfortunately I had a lot of house chores to do today, and so it took a bit longer than normal. After finishing my “frogs” (exercise, chores, Bible reading, Japanese study) I didn’t get started on my writing until the afternoon.
I got some work done, but then I started feeling the effects of not sleeping well last night. I’m so exhausted that I’m not thinking very clearly. I did get some progress done on blocking one scene, but it’s taking a really long time because my thought processes are so slow.
I decided to throw in the towel and just go to bed early and then try to get a better night’s sleep. Then I can get back to work tomorrow with a fresher brain (hopefully).
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 3 hours, 32 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Total number of words: n/a
Writing: Overall writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 5 minutes
My takeaway for today: When I do have to do something urgent or important online before my Japanese study, be sure to set a timer or alarm so that it will jolt me out of any mindless putzing I might do online.
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