I met my goal (actually I did 30 min. instead of 15) of writing first thing this morning before anyone else but my cat was up. I did it Monday instead of Saturday. I think I was not thinking that part through very well when on Friday I said "tomorrow." I had a Master's thesis defense/oral exam to attend Saturday, so it felt like I had worked half the day anyway when that was through at noon. I decided to stick to my original goal days and not try to work on the weekends--for now.
What worked was having this set of goals and group to make me work. This time the reason was unexpected: I wasn't dreading the task but looking forward to it. (I always enjoy writing more when the project is 100% mine, i.e. before I've submitted it somewhere and am then bound to the reviewers'/ editors' suggestions for revision, so this is still the honeymoon stage for this paper with lots of fresh ideas and excitement). But my problem was feeling guilty about working on it because I felt like I should be grading instead--addressing a more immediate deadline. I got over that by reminding myself it was just 15 min--but then did 30 because 15 minutes of webpage searches for publishing ops. promoted by writing centers seemed like next to nothing.
I plan the same for W, Th, and F this week. If I also do some tomorrow, that will be a bonus.
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2 comments:
I must say it does make a difference when you have a group of folks to talk it all through with! I think you may be on to something, too. If you set aside 15 minutes, but go an extra chunk of time, you feel doubly better! But, if you set aside a huge chunk of time and can't spend but half of that time, you feel defeated. It looks like 15 minutes might be the magic number!
Molly, I agree 100%-- having people to interact with is important as is starting with a bit of time. You said it well.
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