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State of the Brain management August 2021
Aug. 25th, 2021 12:37 amI'm having an "up" few days, which is really good, and mostly just means I frantically scramble to Make Progress Before My Brain Sucks Again which like...is a good thing, but I think also makes the good days twice as effortful and draining as they ought to be.
Today in therapy I mentioned that I think overall, in the last two or three years, I am making net positive progress on Getting Things Done. This means I still feel desperately behind on everything all the time (and probably always will) but like...every time I get into the good space, it feels a little easier and like I've got a slightly broader base to work from.
Shit like how a year ago or so I did a major filing push and got all my adulting documents more or less sorted. There's still plenty of refining to do (hint: I do not need the paystubs from when I worked at Dunkin Donuts in 2012) but it was a *major* accomplishment at the time.
And then this past week I went through and did part two (of four eventual) of major paper culling, and went through all the personal docs. And while I was at it, I gathered all the loose paper from my room and filed it. And...that was really quick. Because I had the folders and it just needed a quick sort and there we go. Whenever I get the brainpower and energy to do another big paper cull and organizational push, it'll be easier still, because filing away the acquired detritus is less awful than cleaning out a dozen folders.
So yeah. Net progress. Tiny progress. Getting better at Doing Things, getting more practice, trying to find enough novelty to keep things worthwhile but also enough familiarity that it doesn't take so long to redevelop the system every time.
Anyways, here's some other things going on:
*I've finally gotten consistent about reading my DW flist alongside my webcomics, which is a hugely good thing. I still don't comment quite as much or effectively as I'd like, but I'm getting there.
*I did a big push to organize the discord servers I'm in, and being real aggressive about muting everything I don't actually care about. This means that instead of exclusively reading and posting in one (1) server and being avoidant about all the message notification dots in thirty servers, I am quietly reading in about a dozen not-too-active servers filled with people I actually know and like. Still mostly only ever posting in my own server, because of the colossal awkward-feels about suddenly appearing out of nowhere, but I like that I am getting info about my friends.
*I looked up my notes on the subject and discovered that I hit Inbox 0 for like three weeks in March/April of 2020, which makes the literally over 7000 unread emails I currently have extremely mindboggling. I've set to working on that again, which basically means I'm two days down of actually archiving the day's stuff, and also I've dealt with about 1400 unreads. Uuuusually when I get into this project for more than just a day I keep poking at it until it finishes, I hope that's the case again this time.
*I have started to use a google calendar to keep track of when I am doing shit which is basically the worst thing ever and I kinda hate it, but it's not like there's anything better. This has the hopeful added benefit of being useful to Ezri? Anyways, I don't actually hate it and it is good for me to externalize my brain thusly, but blaahhhhhhh.
*The above is an example of New Phone OS Means New Workflows, which is...turning out okay, I guess? It's all kinda weird, but it's nice to have the opportunity to try and change things around. I haven't bothered to log into either twitter or facebook on Janet yet, so like, that's a major benefit of the new phone right there.
*I'm also listening to more music, which is mostly a new phone effect, and partly a "right, I really enjoy having music on in the background basically always and I should do things to encourage that".
Dunno what else. School starts pretty soon. Before that I am doing a million last minute summer things, including a bunch of "oh yeah, I guess I should work on that" school stuff. This year I will have a mentee which is pretty cool (it's Clayton, who was basically already my informal mentee last year since his proper one was from another department. The biggest difference is now I get paid to give him advice, hell yes.)
Good luck. I hope you are managing your life well.
~Sor
MOOP!
Today in therapy I mentioned that I think overall, in the last two or three years, I am making net positive progress on Getting Things Done. This means I still feel desperately behind on everything all the time (and probably always will) but like...every time I get into the good space, it feels a little easier and like I've got a slightly broader base to work from.
Shit like how a year ago or so I did a major filing push and got all my adulting documents more or less sorted. There's still plenty of refining to do (hint: I do not need the paystubs from when I worked at Dunkin Donuts in 2012) but it was a *major* accomplishment at the time.
And then this past week I went through and did part two (of four eventual) of major paper culling, and went through all the personal docs. And while I was at it, I gathered all the loose paper from my room and filed it. And...that was really quick. Because I had the folders and it just needed a quick sort and there we go. Whenever I get the brainpower and energy to do another big paper cull and organizational push, it'll be easier still, because filing away the acquired detritus is less awful than cleaning out a dozen folders.
So yeah. Net progress. Tiny progress. Getting better at Doing Things, getting more practice, trying to find enough novelty to keep things worthwhile but also enough familiarity that it doesn't take so long to redevelop the system every time.
Anyways, here's some other things going on:
*I've finally gotten consistent about reading my DW flist alongside my webcomics, which is a hugely good thing. I still don't comment quite as much or effectively as I'd like, but I'm getting there.
*I did a big push to organize the discord servers I'm in, and being real aggressive about muting everything I don't actually care about. This means that instead of exclusively reading and posting in one (1) server and being avoidant about all the message notification dots in thirty servers, I am quietly reading in about a dozen not-too-active servers filled with people I actually know and like. Still mostly only ever posting in my own server, because of the colossal awkward-feels about suddenly appearing out of nowhere, but I like that I am getting info about my friends.
*I looked up my notes on the subject and discovered that I hit Inbox 0 for like three weeks in March/April of 2020, which makes the literally over 7000 unread emails I currently have extremely mindboggling. I've set to working on that again, which basically means I'm two days down of actually archiving the day's stuff, and also I've dealt with about 1400 unreads. Uuuusually when I get into this project for more than just a day I keep poking at it until it finishes, I hope that's the case again this time.
*I have started to use a google calendar to keep track of when I am doing shit which is basically the worst thing ever and I kinda hate it, but it's not like there's anything better. This has the hopeful added benefit of being useful to Ezri? Anyways, I don't actually hate it and it is good for me to externalize my brain thusly, but blaahhhhhhh.
*The above is an example of New Phone OS Means New Workflows, which is...turning out okay, I guess? It's all kinda weird, but it's nice to have the opportunity to try and change things around. I haven't bothered to log into either twitter or facebook on Janet yet, so like, that's a major benefit of the new phone right there.
*I'm also listening to more music, which is mostly a new phone effect, and partly a "right, I really enjoy having music on in the background basically always and I should do things to encourage that".
Dunno what else. School starts pretty soon. Before that I am doing a million last minute summer things, including a bunch of "oh yeah, I guess I should work on that" school stuff. This year I will have a mentee which is pretty cool (it's Clayton, who was basically already my informal mentee last year since his proper one was from another department. The biggest difference is now I get paid to give him advice, hell yes.)
Good luck. I hope you are managing your life well.
~Sor
MOOP!