lifehacks

10 ways to find time for 23 Things

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I’m facilitating a 23 Things /Learning 2.0 program at MPOW. I mentioned on twitter that I was emailing staff with 10 ways to find time for 23 things, and I was asked to share. Here it is. The reference to “mentors” is because some staff have agreed to be “go to” people during the program:

This programme will take different people different amounts of time, according to:

  • how familiar you are with this kind of stuff
  • how quickly you learn new things
  • how motivated you are
  • whether it matches your leaning style

– so it is hard to say “this will take exactly an hour per week”.

I can guarantee that by the end of the 13 weeks, you would be able to go back and do the first things in half or a third of the time. You are learning general skills about how to use web tools as well as 23 specific Things.

Where will you find the hour or so per week? Here’s some starting points dealing with understanding why, finding support and maintaining motivation.

TEN WAYS TO FIND TIME FOR 23 THINGS

  • 1.Why? Think about what will happen to libraries if we don’t understand these new tools
  • 2. How are they used? Do a bit of googling about to find out how other libraries are using these tools to be more productive. Here is a good place to start: Library Success: a best practices wiki
  • 3. Cheat club. Talk to people in your section about forming a “cheat club” to work through the tasks together.
  • 4. Buddy up. Ask one of the mentors to “buddy up” to cheer you on.
  • 5. A sign. Put a sign up on your PC saying “”23 Thinging” when you are working on it, so other staff know not to interrupt you
  • 6. Phone a friend. Arrange a “phone a friend” agreement with a teenager so you can ring them if you get stuck.
  • 7. Float you own boat. Work out what floats your boat – knitting, gardening, Ancient Egypt, trainspotting, photography, celebrity babies – and weave this theme into each activity.
  • 8. 15 minutes per day. Set aside 15 minutes a day each afternoon, or before you open your email each day.
  • 9. A week at a time. Commit to the program a week at a time. Initially, just commit to the first week. If you find time for that, commit to just the second week. If you don’t complete all you need to do, then commit to getting Week 2 done by the end of Week 3. This is not a race.
  • 10. Rearrange your workflow. This program has support from management. If you have tried the things above and still can’t find time, please talk to your supervisor about how you can re-arrange your workflow

Say yes less?

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My blog tagline is: Musing, enthusing, libraries, emerging technologies, balancing, being mum. This post fits the “musing” and “balancing” part more than the “emerging technologies and libraries” bit of it.

About a year ago, my sons became more independent and the last of my parents’ estate was almost wound up. I suddenly had more time for me. So what did I do? I said “yes”.

yes yes yes uploaded to Flickr.com on May 15, 2007 by b.frahm

I read Danny Wallace ‘s book Yes Man, where he decided to say “yes” for a year just to see what happened. Without going to the same extremes, I tried starting my response to anything from “yes”. As I reported in August last year it lead to some great professional opportunities – ones I would have previously turned down because I had too little time/wasn’t organised enough/didn’t know enough/wasn’t good enough/was scared about.

So, where has this attitude got me now? Back from a week’s holiday with rather more on my plate than I should have, and less time for my kids than I want. I LOVE all the things I’ve said “yes” to, but won’t have enough “me” left if I keep up at this pace.

Much of what I’m doing is half work related/half professional development. I do most of it outside work hours, unpaid – although work is extremely supportive and has been very generous about allowing me some time. I think they hire me to do a job – not to tell everyone about it or develop other people’s staff – although maybe I should go back and read my last post about how libraries should blow their own trumpets.

So, here’s what’s in the “yes bunker” for the next couple of months:

  1. Presentation ready for Perth barcamp this Saturday called “What’s the Use of Second Life in Education?”. I’ve created a wiki with some embedded YouTube clips as I suspect Central TAFE blocks Second Life.
  2. Revisons and screenshots for a chapter that I’m co-authoring with two co-workers for a hybrid book/wiki about Library2.0 initiatives in academic libraries. (end of July)
  3. Rewrite presentation and slides about Second Life and Libraries for Libraries, Web2.0 and Other Internet Stuff, at the State Library of Victoria, July 23rd
  4. Doing something for WA Library Unconference planned for 3 August (NOT about Second Life)
  5. Create an enhanced podcast about Libraries and Second Life and learn how to use shoutcast and winamp, for a presentation to be streamed into Second Life as part of the University of Southern Queensland Faculty of Education Symposium Online Learning Using Virtual Worlds 16th August 2007
  6. Record a voice track for the movie clip of the Australian Libraries Building in Second Life so that it can be archived by the Pandora project at the National Library of Australia
  7. If they are accepted, write one paper for the VALA conference, and co-author another.
  8. Write a couple of “how to” posts for librariesinteract.info

What have I learned from my yes-filled adventures?

  • If I am well prepared and talk about something that interests me, I won’t fall flat on my face in terror during a presentation, and can even find it enjoyable.
  • Accepting all friend offers in social networks (except the utter kooks) can lead to some unexpectedly delightful gems.
  • Each hour of presentation takes at least 5 hours of preparation, and often much, much more.
  • It’s not cheating to recycle material if its fresh to the audience.
  • It’s fun to be part of other peoples’ learning.
  • “Yes” works best with a reason behind it. These are not good “yes” reasons – “No-one else can do it”, “Housework is more boring”, “My family won’t miss the time with me”, “It’s such a good opportunity”, “I can miss a bit of sleep/exercise/leisure time”.
  • If I’m really interested in a project, I will simply not sleep, just like in High School.
  • My time is precious and I should use “no” to guard it
  • Instead of approaching situations and thinking “I can’t do that because…”, I am approaching them with the attitude “I can do this – do I want to?”.

Random 3 – My goals

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Random thing 3 from the list I made on Thursday:

3. My goals at the moment are:

  1. To stop interrupting people when they are talking
  2. To find the strategic few points in any situation and communicate them, instead of EVERTHING
  3. To reconnect with my husband after several years of our kids’ needs and my parents’ needs draining our energy
  4. To exercise more and eat fewer marshmellows
  5. To regularly get more than 5-6 hr sleep a night.
  6. To do a perfect butterfly with my contact juggling ball
  7. To work out how to say “no” to interesting things when I really don’t have time for them
  8. To find in housework the Zen place that monks go to when they chop wood.

[…to be continued…]

My Life-hacks

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Was just commenting over at Pop Goes the Library on Sophie Brookover’s post, On Not Doing It All — Further Thoughts on Life Hacking. She reports changes in her life since her column on the life/work balance in the September 2006 Library Journal, Priorities and Professionalism.

Among her life-hacks are:

  • getting a career coach
  • using Remember the Milk
  • chunking her tasks
  • Ensuring that her extra-curricular activities match her long term goals

Here’s how I responded to her question about how I Not Do it All:

I’m mum to 2 little boys, work 2 days a week looking at new web tools for my library, and do professional development many, many hours more. My trap is that my employer lets me do half my work from home, around the household chaos.

Thing 1. For me, it’s the maxim “SLEEP COMES FIRST”. Sounds simple, but every time things go out of whack with us, it’s because I’m not sleeping enough. With babies, that meant restructuring so I slept when the baby slept, no matter what else needed doing, or other interesting adult fun was to be had.

Now, it’s turning the PC off at night so I get enough sleep. I’ve not been doing it in the last few weeks (working on projects, having too much fun) and am a gumpy messy b*tch. I know I need to go back to that first principle for my life to work.

Thing 2. I live by my PDA. Have bought one for my Co-Pilot and we sync. to the home PC, so I can share the load by putting tasks on my calendar I know he’ll pick up.(They have his name next to them – he has to :))

Thing 3. I’ve been experimenting with saying “yes” more. When I did that, I realised that most of the things I’d been saying “no” to were things that I said I couldn’t do because I had a family. I was saying “yes” to baking cakes for the kids’ schools, but “no” to professional opportunities and fun nights out. Worth the experiment. I’ve become happier, but now need to re-tweak my life to get it back in balance (see Thing 1.)

Thing 4. Exercise. It works. I sleep better and have more energy, so the time pays for itself by making my other hours much more fun and productive. Now, after a 5 week family holiday, I have to get back into it. (see Thing 1)
TODAY’S HIPPIE CARD: Rest.
(Oh, now you will think I’m making them up..but they ARE random. Honest)

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Oil your bras…

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Having pushed our library staff outside their comfort level with the MULTA project, I was at it again today – this time videoing some of them for the 5 weeks screencast. We all contributed to the project, so I wanted their voices heard too.

When it was my turn, LB who knows how to do this type of thing, attached the radio mike to my shirt and I smiled and spoke into the camera. I felt like a prize ‘nana.

Half way through..”STOP..the mike’s picking up a squeaking noise”. Mike clipped higher up. Still squeaking. Shoes removed. Still squeaking. Chair changed. Still squeaking.

“It’s happening when you move forward”…..

Finally worked out it was the underwire from my bra. Or underplastic in this case.

MY LIBRARY 2.0 TIP FOR THE DAY:
Before you try videoblogging, check your bra for squeaks.

TODAY’S HIPPIE CARD:Mystery

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