musing – Nathan Ryder

Three Weeks

Three weeks into a month, my mind starts thinking about the next one: “What have I accomplished, what am I unlikely to get done, what do I need to start on the first of the next month?”

I do this a lot, sometimes I set goals so realistic that I don’t do anything but what I set out to do. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with this; I don’t think I or anyone needs to work flat out all the time. I have noticed in the last week or so, though, that when I work from home I’m setting more and more realistic goals – to the point of finishing everything early, doing a little extra and then feeling pleased with myself. But on the following day(s) I don’t take time for myself, or for my family, I just wonder what else I could do to “get ahead.”

There are so many tensions here! The tension between doing too little, too much and “enough” – the tension between getting things done and getting more done – work expanding to fill the time available versus being realistic… Am I alone in thinking about these areas? Have you experienced similar thoughts, either in work on a PhD or in other creative work? Let me know in the comments if any of this resonates with you.

Next week I am going to review where I’m up to, and I am going to plan for June – but not before I do my best to really make the most of the last week of May, and any opportunities that that might bring.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

They’ve been rattling around in my head these last few days.

I used the first one at a workshop last week, after reading it an article of questions that coaches use to get the best from people. I used it because I like the language of it, but in musing on it, I think there is a second question that has to come after it.

The first question is “what excites you?” For me, it’s playing games, of all kinds – board games, card games, dice games, role-playing games, computer games. I should probably qualify that: playing games with people for all but computer and video games (I like playing video games by myself).

I used this question just as a springboard to get people talking, and only afterwards did I think that there is a question which has to come after this one, at some point, maybe not immediately, but it is there and it is necessary. The second question is “what do you need to do to get more of what excites you?”

And that’s hard… But it’s what I’m thinking about at the moment.

Thanks for reading – if these questions resonate with you, please comment!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)