20 for 2020: week 38

Week of 14 September 2020

My 20 for 2020 list. Shiny new shoes

What did I want to do better this week?
Set myself a stop time for my uni work to give myself some wind down time before I start to get ready for bed.

So, how did that go then?
I didn’t work as intensely on the uni project this week so I wasn’t doing it all evening and I didn’t really need to do it this week. But it’s something to keep in mind for when things start to get a bit more hectic. I have four weeks before the project has to be completed and I have to hand in the report.

I’m also struggling to make picking out my “big rocks” for the week that I talked about last week and making time to do them during my weekly planning session. (“Planning session” sounds a whole lot more efficient that it actually is, by the ways.) I think because it’s new, it feels forced and awkward. I’m hoping if I make myself do it it will start to feel more normal and I’ll get used to doing it.

On to 20 for 2020
This week was all about uni (thing 8). My project, which is what my final assignment will be about, is now fully underway. The publicity is out there and people are starting to contact me about taking part. I’m not getting as much interest as I’d hoped for but I am getting people who I don’t actually know contacting me about it, which is cool. What I need to do is focus my energy now on putting together as much background as I can so that will all be written before my consultations get into full swing and I can then spend the last couple of weeks writing those up rather than fretting about the desktop research.Stephen Walker sculpture at Long Beach

What did I achieve this week? 
I’m keeping up to date with my weekly photo journal and my street corners project.

I wrote some briefing notes for my manager about something that I’m supposed to be working on but right now have very little idea about, so somehow managed to pull that together to make sense. I also sat in on a (virtual) meeting that she wasn’t able to attend and made some notes that she said were “very helpful”, thus demonstrating my ability to listen to conversations about things I know very little about and extract the key issues.

What didn’t go so well?
I think the weekly planning, scheduling focus time blocks and the packing up fall into this heading. I don’t think there’s anything else that I particularly struggled with.  That’s enough!

What do I want to do better next week?
I went to my physio on Friday with a couple of really niggling sore points. I’ve completely lost the habit of going on a walk in the afternoon after work and I’m not sure if the two are entirely unrelated. The physio suggested, among other things, that I need to move more, sit less and drink more water. So next week I want to focus on getting back into that walking habit. Along with better planning of my weeks and my days that includes a firm pack up and shut down time.

Curvy concrete

Summary for the week

• Things completed this week: 0
• Things completed to date: 12 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20)
• Things I progressed: 1 (8)
• Things in progress I didn’t progress: 5 (7, 11, 13, 17, 22)
• Things not started: 4 (9, 12, 19, 21)
• Days I worked on my art (Goal = 2): 6
• Days I read a book (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I did yoga stretches (Goal = 7): 0
• Days I was in bed by 10.30 (Goal = 7): 6