It's amazing how the day fills up (Will in About A Boy)

Picasso painted 50,000 works of art in his lifetime.

 

This is a kind of ramshackle sequel to the previous post:

The ideas around dividing your day into meaningful segments appeals to me.

Will in About A Boy divides his day into units of time - each unit is 30 minutes.

Gretchen Rubin has this on rebounding from a mistake: “Instead of feeling that you’ve blown the day and thinking, “I'll get back on track tomorrow,” try thinking of each day as a set of four quarters: morning, midday, afternoon, evening. If you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter. Fail small, not big.” 

Ingvar Kamprad (founder of IKEA) advocates small units: “You can do so much in ten minutes’ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.”

What's good for Ingvar seems unworkable for Wozza's world. Ten minute slots??? Far too small. I'll stick to About A Boy I think.

Using Will's units of time as a guide, my Monday to Friday 11 hour school day is divided up into 22 units (3 units before school starts then 12 units of teaching/ learning time, plus 1 unit for morning tea and 2 units for lunch. After school there are another 4 units before heading home).

I like this concept - it allows me to use both Ingvar's no waste, and Gretchen's fail small ideas as well. Yes - 30 minute units is the way to go!

BTW: Picasso apparently worked each day from 2pm until 10pm - a solid 8 hours (16 units) hence his amazing productivity.

Incidentally, I had to get a blood test this week so I went to a local place, took a number, and waited my turn. It took 2 units (apparently I could have booked online and arrived at an appointed time, but, luckily, yes - luckily, I didn't know that). So I spent the time reading and then deleting stuff on my phone. I managed a complete catch up (and unsubscribed from The Literary Hub for good measure - mixed feelings but glad that I made a decision).

Who knows what's good or bad right?

Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination (from 'Secrets of Adulthood' - Gretchen Rubin)

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Back at school this week and wouldn't you know it my Baggy Trousers' post falls on a Thursday - the busiest day of my week.

I normally send off my post before school but that's not an option on a Thursday.

From 4.30am to 6.45am I am getting ready for school and doing the hour commute. 

From 6.45am to 7.45am I am reviewing and writing comments to staff who have completed their weekly reports - today there were 17 of them.

From then on it's a succession of zoom and face to face meetings, duty and then the day heats up with double English classes, supervisions, reports on the previous week to write  and so on.

By the time I draw breath it's 4.30pm and time to lock the school!

Upshot of all that - this post is a day late. Grrrrrrr.

Only you know and I know all the lovin' we've got to show, so don't refuse to believe it by reading too many meanings (Dave Mason)

Last term, a colleague gave me a copy of Gretchen Rubin's The Four Tendencies to read. Thanks Lisa!

Rubin's idea is that we all tend towards one of four personality profiles (or at least - one or two are dominant).

She has a quiz in the book to help readers identify their tendency. Or her website has the quiz if you are interested.

Upholder was my tendency (with lesser interlocking tendencies in Questioner and Obliger). I have no Rebel tendencies whatsoever! Shock horror probe!!!

According to Gretchen: As an Upholder, I am self-directed and self-motivated so I can easily stick to a schedule, meet deadlines, and take initiative without much supervision.

I love understanding and following the rules and do well in situations where the rules and expectations are clearly laid out.

I am conscientious, reliable, and thorough. You can always count on me to deliver as planned.

I hate to make mistakes or do things wrong and because of that, I may become angry or defensive at the suggestion that I’ve dropped the ball or made a mistake. I often feel the need to explain my mistakes.

Because I enjoy and thrive in routine, structure, and clear expectations, I may have trouble adjusting to a break in routine, sudden scheduling changes, or ambiguous expectations.

Pretty accurate generalisations I'm thinking.