academic flylady

[lobelia321]

So maybe 15 minutes for writing the paper and 15 minutes for doing my proposal was over-ambitious. Added up, that is 30 minutes, after all, and it was evidently too overwhelming for me even to start on.

I have now tried another method of getting myself motivated. As my housework is strangely blooming (or whatever housework does), due to being nagged by the Flylady Stepford emails and due to being used as a procrastination tool, I thought I could try adapting the Flylady methods to my academic work. So I have set up reminder emails on my Yahoo Calendar, set to repeat every day or every week, with nagging-myself messages such as 'Write 15 minutes' or 'Do your proposal!' but also sickly (but strangely effective) Flyladyish type of motivational messages, such as 'Smile!' or 'Not achieved anything today? Forgive yourself!' and also 'Go to a cafe!'

Pondering a comment made by novanumbernine I thought that I might also make an email, telling myself to gaze at men's willies but then again, I may not need a reminder to open up my jpeg of Brad Pitt's penis... :-)

As you can tell, I'm feeling slightly, slightly better. Still not 100 per cent but crawling out of the well a little.

Today I saw the DVD of Harry Potter and Azkaban with t'younger son and everyone who said this was right: it is much better than nr.1 film! (I never even bothered to see nr.2.) It is actually quite a zippy children's adventure film, and has some nice magic in it. And there are adolescents to ogle! I was very taken with the guy who plays Draco and with the skinny black trousers they make him wear -- the scene in the snow is very scrumptious. There are also some lovely boys who are friends of Harry's, who knows what they are called. I'm not writing, though, and am reading so very, very little. Still, I fantasise!

Thanks to all you kind people who tigged so nicely. It's an odd thing: I never encounter this mean bitchiness that drives some LJ-users to rants and defriendings. Most of the people whom I encounter create a lovely, safe, supportive environment.

Speaking of whom: Is You-Know-Who a proper noun? If it is, then I can excuse such film sentences as Yes, I've heard of You-Know-Who. If, however, that is not a proper noun, such object-constructions should, of course, always be You-Know-Whom.

Comments

[fearlessdiva.livejournal.com]

It is my considered opinion that You-Know-Who is indeed a proper noun.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It is good to know that somebody is on the case of these things. :-)

[fuschia.livejournal.com]

The Fly-Lady for academics sounds helpful! I'd like to get cheerful messages (even if they are Stepfordian) from myself instead of the constant barrage of "why haven't you finished this??" messages my mind likes to send me.

And, hee, Draco's rather cute in the snow scene...I'm much more a fan of the young man who plays Harry, but Draco did look rather fetching in that fur cap. ;)

Fuschia

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have been doing this for two days now and it has been very, very helpful! It's FUN to get up and look at them all. I spent some time tinkering with them and at the end of the day I delete the lot and wait for the new barrage on the morn! And on Yahoo you can set them up to repeat every day or every other day and other fun options so you don't get the same ones all the time.

The mind tricks we need! Or, I need, at any rate.

I am not at all fond of young-man-who-plays-Harry. In fact, he gets on my nerves intensely. He's just the kind of whiny pom I don't like. Note icon: that is my Harry! *g*

Otoh, don't note icon because I have just discovered that I deleted that icon and now I can't be arsed to go and upload it again. Here, I will post a link and an imgsrc:

http://www.geocities.com/lobelia40/myharry.txt

[msilverstar]

I'm so glad you're feeling better. bring me up with you, please.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*pulls hard on rope to haul you up*

Don't worry if you've achieved nothing today! Let it go free! You are not behind! Smile!! Go and shine your sink. Go and sit down and have a cup of coffee / glass of water / shot of drambuie. You can do this!

This is the type of message I send myself now. It is actually very helpful so far. :-)

[novanumbernine.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

n.x ;)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Snicker????

*smites you with Mars bar*

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

I much prefer 'Not achieved anything today? Forgive yourself!' to the current casting-about-for-something-to-achieve. (Does smut count as an achievement? Do I have to write it down, or can I just think it up?)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I am trying to get away from the achievement pressure, and I don't in fact use that word in my messages. I thought I was using it but I checked today and I hadn't -- which was wise. So I will happily liberate smut from the need to be an achievement! It is *not* an achievement! And proud of it!!!!

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

aha, but I am Quoting ...
Stuff achievement, anyway: spontaneity, creativity, randomness etc are ever so much more fun.
Have unachieved smut, too!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I re-checked the messages and one of them does use 'achieve', you are right. I then rephrased that message and that was the one I was remembering. I have so many messages on auto-repeat now that I am losing track of them!!!