Dreamer's World March 7 2016

Mondays are really hard to deal with at times. They offer the promise of new possibilities, or the sense of being a hamster in a wheel. I suppose that not knowing which environment I will step into makes each Monday an adventure of some type, at least it keeps me on my toes as the week begins. 
     The first thing that I really need to do is to take the first 30 minutes or so on Monday morning and figure out what I have to accomplish during the week and allocate enough time to make sure I can get the top priorities done. Then I can assign time for other tasks that don't have a major impending deadline during the week. Once I have that figured out I have to distribute that time around all of the meetings that I'm required to attend. 
     All of this planning usually pays off. It gives me the chance to get ahead of things as well. I have begun the 5 Choices class offered through the company I work for, and I am finding that I am already using quite a few of their recommendations while not utilizing others. I need to take the time to fully incorporate the lessons into my daily work routine on order to be more effective and productive. This will require some reorganizing of my routine, but it will pay off in the long term. The first thing that I really need to do is to take that 30 minutes and make the most of it as I start my week. I already know that planning prevents crisis management later on, I just need to be more effective at making my planning and priorities known to others on the team.
     Today is the first time I will have taken the extra care in my approach to Monday at work. I predict that there will be a few minor things that I fail to account forn this time, but I will take note of them and make sure that I do not let them sneak up on me in the future. I see the 5 Choices course as a useful tool to help me do even better. As long as I keep that outlook, things will be fine. If I let myself get drawn away from proper planning, I will soon find myself struggling at times when it is truly un-necessary.

    I find that working from home has made my work life more manageable. I can self-organize better now than when I was in an office. Of course, not having the daily interaction with teammates does create some disadvantages, but nothing that cannot be overcome with a little effort. I find that I am less distracted at home than I initially thought I would be. Perhaps it was the initial emphasis that I put on paying strict attention to work that made the adjustment easier, but now it is second nature to me and I am not sure that I would want to go back to an office environment again unless it was absolutely required or me. My sense of self-discipline helps me to keep my focus on the job during working hours and I find that I spend less time wishing that the clock would move faster than I did at the office in the past.

    At any rate, this morning will be the first time I will put the 5 Choices into practice on a weekly basis. I predict that it will turn out well and it certainly will make this Monday different from all of the others. I hope that this becomes the new normal for me, we will wait and see because I remain a Type B personality surrounded in the company by Type A's who constantly try to over-organize themselves all of the time. I need my spontaneity to maintain my sanity!

     So far, the day has not been that bad. I am having difficulty arranging my weekly meeting with my supervisor due to numerous scheduling conflicts that we both have this week, but hopefully it will all work out in the end. If necessary, I will have the meeting after working hours to get it out of the way.

     I did take the liberty of installing Evernote on the SP4. It helps me to not have to move things around as much when I feel the need to write as I take breaks during the day. As much as I am liking the SP4, I am not ready yet to state that I want one strictly for myself. I convince myself without too much effort that my Chromebooks are more than sufficient, and most important pf all, they are cheaper by a long shot! I would consider buying another Chromebook before I would spend the money on a MacBook or an SP4 right now.

    As the day/evening ends, I am happy with the results of my efforts. I am going to bed soon and I hope to get a great night of sleep. Since the weather is warming up, I am turning the A/C on before bedtime because I would rather put a blanket on to stay warm than to sweat in a room that is too warm.