This week I challenged myself to get into work a couple hours earlier than my typical start time. Two of the main driving forces behind this decision was 1) a desire to get more work out of a day and 2) to push myself into unfamiliar/uncomfortable territory.
In the end, I think the tally came up: 1 early morning and 4 regular starts. Overall this week I'd say I am pleased with managing my workload and for the most part I followed through on all my plans. While I didn't rack up heaps of extra hours (at least not at the start of my days) I believe I did grow this week.
Moving forward, I think it's important to realise the difference between self motivation and external motivation. A couple months back my wife had to start work around 6:30am, six days a week. I tagged along because I didn't mind the extra hours. In this case, what got us to school each day (on time) was the knowledge that we needed to be there, in this case for her to use specific equipment in the lab. This week I set a goal for myself to do basically the same thing as was routine a couple months back, only now the drive to get into work early was self generated.
In studying for my PhD, particularly in New Zealand where we don't take classes, the onus is on me to keep up with my studies, lab work and writing. This is a lot of responsibility and requires a great deal of organisation, planning, focus and follow through to earn you degree. I know I can handle the organisation and planning, but the focus and follow through are definitely skills I need to work on. To focus and follow through with my lengthy list of plans for the next 12 months, I will need an insane amount of self motivation to stay on track. I am proud of the baby steps I've made this week towards becoming better at motivating myself.
* Also, for the record, I did go into work today, but not early! I had a great morning/afternoon working on some programming. I am pleased I took advantage of some extra hours this weekend. Now on to preparing for next week.
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