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Some of my fondest memories from undergrad and graduate school come from my travels to Kalamazoo.

“If you understand this, you understand the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. Medievalists, who lead solitary and difficult lives, with only books for friends, get together and cavort and dance and talk about the things they love the most in the world, surrounded by people who care about the same things they care about. The frame holds together a vast tangle of contradictory stories—a thousand academic papers, a thousand combative Q&As, a thousand awkward wine receptions—with the glue of a ferocious and shared love for the deep, deep past. As with Chaucer, however, that doesn’t mean anybody actually understands what’s going on.”

I miss medieval studies, even the awkward, annual conference disco.

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In my most private moments, I still dream of and hope for an Internet from February 8, 1996:

“Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”

Twenty years later, we are in a much different place.

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fitbit upload 201602

Last month’s 30-day challenge was to exercise for at least 45 minutes, three days a week. I’m happy to say that I accomplished and exceeded that goal. As a result, I’ve lost 10 pounds and have managed to keep my weight at a level consistent with my age, height, and the national recommendations. The plan is to continue this habit as time and workload permits. Not tonight, though: there is too much to do this week. I cannot express how eager I am to see 1pm next Saturday.

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my week, january 25 2016

I have long been a proponent of the GTD method for managing my to-dos, but recently I’ve been finding that it does very little to help me stay on top of my constantly growing project list and shrinking free time.

problem #1: contexts

The use of “contexts” has always helped me to prioritize what I ought to work on first: do what you can, when you can, and only if you have the right tools and resources on hand. But in my current position, I am always in the right context. I can work on almost any task regardless of where I am using my tablet or smartphone since so much of what I do happens via email, on social media, in a text file, or using web-based design tools. Prioritizing by context is no longer effective.

problem #2: calendaring

I have always been religious about my calendar. I never put anything on it unless it is date and time specific. Unfortunately, this leaves my time wide open for commandeering since anyone at MPOW can view my calendar and request a meeting. Granted, one of my main responsibilities as an Outreach & Communications Librarian is to make connections with people and the best way to do that is face-to-face, but I still have other projects that need attention. Spending all day in meetings only to bring solitary work home every night is just begging for burnout.

solution: task blocks

So for the next few weeks I’m trying something new. On Sundays while I’m doing my weekly review, I plan to block out times on my calendar to focus on specific, prioritized projects. I’m setting aside time each day to focus solely on email (so that I don’t have to worry about it at other times of the day) and leaving up to 20% of each day unscheduled for things that may come up unexpectedly. I’m also adding a three weekly “productivity and creative” sessions:

  1. Discover & Imaging: a time to think creatively about a problem or project (usually over coffee).
  2. Research & Writing: a time to focus on whatever research project I’m working on at the time.
  3. Weekly Roundup: a time to review all my email, tasks, and notes from the past week, reflect on what I’ve learned, and begin prioritizing projects for the next week.

From another Outlook user’s perspective, it looks like my calendar is completely booked. On the one hand, I’m worried this will make my colleagues less likely to request a meeting. On the other hand, I know that if someone really wants to request a meeting, they will contact me before trying to do so, and in most cases, I will be the one setting up the meeting so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Ultimately, I am responsible for my time. I need to ensure that my projects get the attention they deserve.

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This is my small contribution to #lismentalhealth week. On Thursday, I met with a therapist for the first time. The good news: she doesn’t recommend long term therapy. The bad news: I probably could have used it years ago.

In 2012, I discovered I had a chronic illness. I had been told by my doctor that there is a strong link between the illness and depression, but I ignored his suggestion that I should seek out a therapist. What I didn’t realize was that I was slowing slipping into a perverse apathy for all the things that used to give me joy: professional development, networking, technology, wine, food, gardening… I had no desire for any of that. I wanted silence and solitude and sleep.

Then something remarkable happened. In fall of 2015, the medication (mercaptopurine) that I had been taking for almost 3 years stopped working. My immune system started to shut down. I received one of those late night phone calls from my doctor shortly after some blood work. Stop taking the medication, he said. Right now. My blood had turned, in his words, “toxic.”

I was immediately given steroids and within a few days my personality completely changed. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. My family noted the change as well. I suddenly had the desire to do things. I wanted to get up early, exercise, cook a decent meal, talk with my wife, play with my children, work on research projects, read professional literature, and explore new areas of study. Since that time I’ve started a new medication (Humira) and while some of the old physical side effects have returned (fatigue especially), I haven’t lost the boost in motivation.

It wasn’t until I stopped taking the mercaptopurine that I realized how dark my outlook had become. So as a preventative measure, I reached out to a therapist and set up an appointment. We talked about managing stress (a primary cause of regression), the connection between the illness and my job performance, how it’s affected my personal life, etc. The therapist did not recommend long term care, but we are planning to meet again in month to re-assess. After all, this new medication is intense (lots of needles) and I don’t know what the long-term affects will be. What I do know is that I don’t want to go back to where I was last year. It’s very likely that I’ll continue to live with this illness for another decade and that is far too long to live a passionless life.