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Planning & executing
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Posted by Dellu
Aug 8, 2021 at 08:07 PM
I am in the academics.
I always plan to accomplish a task: often it is a research. I start to read papers and books on the topic I want to publish. Then, after a some days of reading and researching, the ideas in some of the works i read would nudge me to a different direction. As I learn some cool problems and ideas, i slowly, often unintentionally sway away from my original plan and move to a new topic.
- and, then spend some time, on the new topic—-again the same thing happens.
I have so many unorganized notes and unfinished projects. This is so annoying.
What method or tool do you guys use to keep yourself on line to your plans?
Posted by Prion
Aug 9, 2021 at 06:59 AM
I am in the academics, too, and will follow this topic with interest as you describe a common problem.
First off, although the ability to stick to a plan has a mostly positive connotation generally I am convinced that some of what you describe is inevitable. As you familiarise yourself with a (to you!) new subject, you realise that at least some aspects of it have been researched earlier, perhaps in other contexts and this insight has the power to modify your initial view - as it by all means should! You should be proud of first familiarising yourself with the work to others. It has become customary in my field to cut corners here and largely ignore everything that cannot be found by half an hour of googling around. It is not only and perhaps not even primarily laziness but a perverted system of never-ending cycles of hectic grant writing, rejections and resubmissions that are only very occasionally being reviewed by someone more familiar with the research subject that penalises a deeper familiarisation methinks.
Anyway, I have a similarly disordered digital workflow in that respect and cannot offer a software that would magically solve it all. I am constantly thinking about doing things differently but that open-mindedness can become a liability, too. One of the better books on that subject is Sönke Ahrens’ “How to take smart notes” which I found to be quite insightful.
https://takesmartnotes.com
The one thing I can add here is that good old analog life has had the most positive effect in keeping me on course. Either pen and paper or in the last years an erasable whiteboard that I salvaged when those were replaced by digital ones in our institute. On this I have the names of the students I am supervising (which keeps me from forgetting about the external ones that I don’t see very often), collaborators and project titles that move up and down in relation to their relative importance for the day or week. There is enough space to jot down a quick insight or paper that I need to read and the best part is that everything is there in relative permanency, no booting up, no need to remember to open a particular program or file. Whenever my mind begins to wander, that whiteboard is there and drifts into sight. The title of each project at least ensures that despite modifications along the way there is at least some continuity in my thinking.
Sorry if that is not precisely what you have been asking for but it is the best I can offer for now.
Posted by Cyganet
Aug 9, 2021 at 09:27 AM
Hi Dellu,
I am a consultant not an academic, but I recognise your situation. I have so many ideas about what I could do next that I also find myself drifting from one to the next, leaving a lot of them unfinished. My biggest challenge is focusing on things long enough to see them to completion.
My way of tackling this lies in the process, not the tool. I have learned over time that I am an “incrementally move forwards in steps” kind of person, not a “work backwards from a goal in the future” kind of person. So although I have tried setting annual or quarterly goals, I don’t actually translate them into what I do every day. But you could try it and see if it works for you.
What DOES work for me is the “weekly review”. I find that planning for a week is a manageable timeframe. Every Monday morning I make a list of 3-5 priorities for this week. And a week later I look back at what I achieved, did not achieve and spent (unplanned) time on. I keep these as simple text notes (with a template) in The Journal, but really any notetaking tool will do. Having all these notes in one place allows me to look back over earlier weeks’ priorities to remind me of what I was working on when I get off track.
The other lesson I have learned is to schedule my priority tasks in my week. I use Amazing Marvin, but also here whatever calendar or task manager you use will be fine. Sometimes, when my focus is really off, I will make 3 sticky notes of what really needs to happen and put them on top of each other, so I can only see the top one on my desk. Then that visual reminder brings me back to what I was supposed to be doing.
I hope some of these ideas are helpful for you.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 9, 2021 at 12:44 PM
Have you ever looked into Tiago Forte’s PARA system? I haven’t used this myself, but it does look to me as if it makes sense and could be useful for you. A quick intro. PARA stands for:
- Projects (things you do that have a beginning and and end)
- Ares of Responsibility (things you have to work on but they don’t end)
- Research
- Archives
Here’s a long introduction:
https://fortelabs.co/blog/why-i-organize-areas-in-para-with-a-taxonomy-of-functional-areas/
You can search the web and find a lot of other information.
Steve
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 9, 2021 at 12:51 PM
Correction: The R stands for Resource, not Research.
Here’s another source of information:
https://fortelabs.co/blog/para/
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
Have you ever looked into Tiago Forte’s PARA system? I haven’t used this
>myself, but it does look to me as if it makes sense and could be useful
>for you. A quick intro. PARA stands for:
>
>- Projects (things you do that have a beginning and and end)
>- Ares of Responsibility (things you have to work on but they don’t end)
>- Research
>- Archives
>
>Here’s a long introduction:
>
>https://fortelabs.co/blog/why-i-organize-areas-in-para-with-a-taxonomy-of-functional-areas/
>
>You can search the web and find a lot of other information.
>
>Steve