End of week 1
Well, I've made it through one weekof this new adventure, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I find that my personal style of work lends itself well to bursts of highly focused and concentrated tasks, followed by large breaks that let me cool down.
For most of the week I've started my day rather lazily (I guess that new-job smell is still around), but once I start working, I'll do so for 3 hours or so until I reach a good stopping point. After that I'll take a solid hour or two to eat, watch TV, play a game, or take the dog out. Later on in the day I'll find myself in the middle of another burst, and I usually end up actually working around 6 or 7 hours a day.
I've never been the kind of person to follow a typical schedule. During my short regular-job-holding career (about 6 years), I've usually started my work day close to 7 am, working until about 4 pm and using the rest of my day for personal tasks, freelance work, or just playing around. I don't usually eat breakfast, or if I do, its something small and never when I wake up (closer to 9 or 10); and lunch is usually not at noon because of that. Because I'm not on that kind of schedule - and because my body doesn't care for it - I think I'm able to use these working bursts to their fullest, not stopping for food or anything else really.
I had a very productive meeting with some people at UT on Monday, and hopefully that work will start in the next few weeks. In the mean time, work on Track the Pig is coming along quite well. I'm hoping to have a beta out before the end of the year, some time in December (it would be nice if it were out in time to track holiday expenses, but that's a long shot). I've also been able to get to a number of tasks around the house this week, which Samara is happy about.
Before I embarked on this adventure, I researched a lot of tools and information on keeping oneself on task, and setting realistic goals and priorities. After this first week - during which I used no tools, except email, calendar, and a simple to-do list - I'm not sure that I'm the kind of person that needs those tools. I find that I'm able to get a lot done in those bursts, and maintaining a rigid schedule seems like it may impede that process. For now, I'll keep going as I am, but if things start to slip then I can take a second look at some of those tools.
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