New Year's Resolutions
I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, for reasons that are discussed lucidly elsewhere. But I do find it valuable to periodically take stock of my life and think about it in a longer-term way than is common in daily life. I usually do this in the summer in a going-back-to-school kind of way, and often in the New Year. This year I don't seem to be in the mood for major stock-taking and thinking, but I have thought of two specific things which feel achievable and suitable for resolving. I'm noting them here because what's the point of LJ if not self-obsessed navel-gazing? my experience of my work panopticon filter is that publicly stating my intentions helps me to consummate the commitment.
On work days, not to look at LJ, gmail and blogs until lunch time. This will be very hard to do because it's such a habit as part of my settling-in-to-work processes, but by the time I've looked at work email and then these, it can easily be 10.30 or 11, and that's half the morning (or a third of the day on a school-pick up day) gone. I want to get better at constraining work to my paid hours (I'm very good at this compared to most academics, but I fail before deadlines). My hunch is that changing this habit will have a big effect on how effective I am at work overall. This year is a particularly good time to try to do this as I'm wondering whether I want to ask to go up to 4 days a week from the autumn. If I'm confident that I'm working more optimally on 3 days, I'll be able to make a more informed decision about working more (assuming they'll let me, which is by no means a given).
To serve the children smaller portions of food. We waste *a lot* of food (albeit into our own compost heap or the council food scraps recycling scheme). I'm quite sure that our strategy of not pressurising them to finish what's on their plates is right, but I don't like wasting so much food. I think the way to go is to cook the same amount but give them about half what I think they will eat. This will probably be less than they want, but I'm sure they can learn to ask for more. And if they don't want more, D and I can eat it for packed lunches, which we don't always fancy once they've mauled it.
On work days, not to look at LJ, gmail and blogs until lunch time. This will be very hard to do because it's such a habit as part of my settling-in-to-work processes, but by the time I've looked at work email and then these, it can easily be 10.30 or 11, and that's half the morning (or a third of the day on a school-pick up day) gone. I want to get better at constraining work to my paid hours (I'm very good at this compared to most academics, but I fail before deadlines). My hunch is that changing this habit will have a big effect on how effective I am at work overall. This year is a particularly good time to try to do this as I'm wondering whether I want to ask to go up to 4 days a week from the autumn. If I'm confident that I'm working more optimally on 3 days, I'll be able to make a more informed decision about working more (assuming they'll let me, which is by no means a given).
To serve the children smaller portions of food. We waste *a lot* of food (albeit into our own compost heap or the council food scraps recycling scheme). I'm quite sure that our strategy of not pressurising them to finish what's on their plates is right, but I don't like wasting so much food. I think the way to go is to cook the same amount but give them about half what I think they will eat. This will probably be less than they want, but I'm sure they can learn to ask for more. And if they don't want more, D and I can eat it for packed lunches, which we don't always fancy once they've mauled it.