Wibbly wobbly timey-wimey...stuff.
Ok, my geek credentials are showing. For those not familiar with the origin of the title of this blog, it's taken from a Doctor Who episode from Season 3 entitled 'Blink'. Widely regarded to be *the* best Doctor Who episode of the most recent series', in which the tenth Doctor Who (played by David Tennant) states: "People assume time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff."
Which brings me to the subject of this blog - time. Or more precisely, time management. As, if there is one thing that you need to allow for when taking on a part-time distance-learning Masters course such as this, is just how much time it takes up. If I had 48 hours in a day, it wouldn't be enough. Hence I have had to become a 'master' (sorry) of time, of multi-tasking, of delegation, of prioritizing, and the 101 different challenges that come with working full-time, being a busy parent of 4, and undertaking university assignments. This is the reason why there are residual Christmas decorations up at the end of March. I wish I was joking...but I'm not.
What all of this means is that I have just had to let go of what's not important and focus on what is. So what if there are still strings of fairy lights and tinsel around the house. Is it hurting anyone? No. Have I become blind to seeing them? Yep. In fact, it's become a running joke amongst my friends - "Might as well just leave them up; it's almost Christmas again anyway." Tempted.
The important things are: my daily job, my family commitments, and my Masters work - though not necessarily in that order. Tasks will often overlap and dovetail into one another. I often find myself listening to the weekly podcast lecture on my phone while commuting to work, and re-listening while making dinner or hanging up laundry. Or I will work on an assignment at work during my break, or catch up on prescribed course reading during my lunch break. The key is *efficient* use of time.
Before I incorporated this Masters course into my already busy life, I was the world's worst procrastinator. I even bought a book about it once - "How to stop procrastinating and just do it" - I just never got around to reading it...I kid you not. So as well as all of the training, the learning, the new tools, the processes and procedures, one of the best things to come out of this course was that it completely changed my attitude towards doing things. Now I just do them. Apart from the Christmas decorations, that is. But that's a whole other story.
So having reflected over the past ten weeks or so on the course content, the critical challenges, the core competencies that I've acquired, only one question remains - if I knew then, what I know now, would I do it all over again? The answer is an emphatic yes. In a heartbeat.
"I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do - the day after." ~ Oscar Wilde
Which brings me to the subject of this blog - time. Or more precisely, time management. As, if there is one thing that you need to allow for when taking on a part-time distance-learning Masters course such as this, is just how much time it takes up. If I had 48 hours in a day, it wouldn't be enough. Hence I have had to become a 'master' (sorry) of time, of multi-tasking, of delegation, of prioritizing, and the 101 different challenges that come with working full-time, being a busy parent of 4, and undertaking university assignments. This is the reason why there are residual Christmas decorations up at the end of March. I wish I was joking...but I'm not.
What all of this means is that I have just had to let go of what's not important and focus on what is. So what if there are still strings of fairy lights and tinsel around the house. Is it hurting anyone? No. Have I become blind to seeing them? Yep. In fact, it's become a running joke amongst my friends - "Might as well just leave them up; it's almost Christmas again anyway." Tempted.
Before I incorporated this Masters course into my already busy life, I was the world's worst procrastinator. I even bought a book about it once - "How to stop procrastinating and just do it" - I just never got around to reading it...I kid you not. So as well as all of the training, the learning, the new tools, the processes and procedures, one of the best things to come out of this course was that it completely changed my attitude towards doing things. Now I just do them. Apart from the Christmas decorations, that is. But that's a whole other story.
So having reflected over the past ten weeks or so on the course content, the critical challenges, the core competencies that I've acquired, only one question remains - if I knew then, what I know now, would I do it all over again? The answer is an emphatic yes. In a heartbeat.
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"I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do - the day after." ~ Oscar Wilde
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