Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Road to hard work stricken with planning and hard work

In my search for something to write about in the months since my last entry I've realised that I have been engaged in constructing a Ph.D for the past year. That consists, in large part, of writing, after a fashion. Not the 'pour the contents of your feeble mind onto the keyboard and thence unto screen' sort of writing, more the 'pour a pot of tea then notice it has gone cold while you have written precisely nothing in that time' sort.

It's reasonable to suggest that I've not assailed it unmercifully. It would also be reasonable to suggest that I have done Sweet Fuck All. Not that I haven't done anything mind you, because I have done something (get to the point man). It's just that the something to which I refer is rendered indistinguishable when you consider the time I've supposedly spent on it. It isn't lack of interest that obstructs me; a recent research junket to Queensland yielded exciting results and was motivational if nothing else. Unfortunately, that motivation is now chummy with fanciful notions of re-designed curricula, plans to create a support body linking industry and eductional institutions and other such outcomes. That's the key word see, 'outcomes'. It clouds my view; can't see the forest for the tall woody bits sort of business.

I can't seem to persuade that motivational fuel to power my nuts-and-bolts research phase which is where I am currently. Literature reviews were surely devised by Spaniards during a black period for wiccan folk (and those that looked like wiccan folk). I am wholly aware of their purpose and I wholly endorse it, but I just can't be arsed at the moment. "Suck it up and dig in" I bark internally. I'll finish these thoughts later so I shall.

Ahem, it is now later so I'll finish these thoughts. The year is about to begin and my strategy this time is organization; organization of the physical and organization of the mental. Despite my creative flights of fancy that take me every now and then, the thing I most stringently need (especially when it comes to something as rigid as research) is structure. Discipline. A swift rap across the knuckles. A series of whippings across the butto-SO ANYway, the knowledge that where I need to be and what I need to be doing has been, to a degree, pre-ordained, is comforting.

The first step is to take the next 6 months and break it down into chunks of progress yet to be made. Set some goals, despite my disate for that phrase. Climb that mountain! Believe in yourself! You can do it! What I can do is not vomit in an innapropriate spot in place of adopting that false self empowerment. At least the former has real-world application.

I'm off to collect some goodies to house and organize my various bits and bobs that I should have accumulated last year; folders, label makers, stationery. To summarize: I need to properly attack this thing before declaring it a lost cause. To do this I need to become properly organized. To do that, I need to identify what can be accomplished in a 6 month period, timetable it, set milestones, then meet them at an 80% success rate. Plus I'll get some pens and folders and stuff, cos everyone needs pens. I'll be back.