Juggling Act
Multitasking, a fine skill to have.
Life is a roller coaster, but also a juggling act - you just don’t know how much you have to deal with until you start.
Being back at college and with several weeks to go until RootsTech (just a little over 2 weeks now!) — I’ve submitted my slides and syllabi for my two classes. Here is my speaker page. Click here to add my classes to your schedule.
Please note that I will not be in person at RootsTech. I’m giving both of my talks online (but still live!) from my desk here in Ireland.
I must admit, trying to juggle college and genealogy life (while also trying to progress on getting part-time work, which hasn’t been working very well for me as of late) - is certainly a challenge. But it’s certainly helped me to look at what I have to do [in this case, I see the plastic ball pit balls, as a load of tasks, regardless of whether they’re small or large]
Some things are always going to be a constant ongoing task. For instance, the three essays I have to do in three of my subjects. Or perhaps studying for a resit of a driving test I’ll eventually have (and hope to miracles that I pass…) I seem to manage to have everything happening at once, don’t I?
It’s a real pain for me sometimes, wanting to go down yet another research rabbit hole or just want to do research - but I have not been in the mood for doing any recently at all, which bugs me to no end. However, based on past experiences, I know not to force it because I definitely will be in no mood to do anything. What I will feel is guilt, that I’m not doing enough or that because I don’t have time to do any research (or I’m simply not in the research headspace) it’s going to set me back by weeks with what I want to achieve. Heck, I hardly write on this space because I don’t have the time. But I’m trying to prioritise this.
But perhaps one of the more important things that college has taught me (or at least reinforced for me, I should say) is planning and time management. I say that as if I’m to feasibly (and as I mentioned above, feel able to) do any sort of work with Project Infant and balance that with college and social life, I do have to plan to make sure everything gets a look in and prioritising the important bits [something that goes without saying!].
In genealogy, a similar principle to this could be used as well. When there is someone you mightn’t be making much headway with, pause, take a step back and re-evaluate what you’ve done. Then, go and focus on another part of your tree elsewhere.
Admittedly, I know this is a much shorter post than usual, but I just wanted to put out something to let people know I am still working on this. In other news, I’ve made a lot of headway on something that I have been researching for some time (that I’ve also written about on my blog here). That will probably be one of the longest blog posts that I have written to date! I’m even considering narrating the blog post, so if you would like to listen to it - you can hear the words in my voice instead of Substack’s own AI voice thingy.
(On another note) One thing I would like to know is what content from me you enjoy the most. I’m trying to work out what kind of content to focus on. YouTube? Blog? Podcast? TikToks? Something else? I’d appreciate it if you could let me know your thoughts!
Time management is always difficult. Not only do you have your own stuff to do (and want to do!), but there’s what other people want you to do - your boss wants this by Friday, your client is stressing about something you promised for two weeks away, family insisting you to join them for a spur-of-the-moment event. And that’s even before you think about just living…..
Do not under any circumstance, start a To-Do List and do not try multitasking! You’ll go mad with the pressure. Your diary is your friend! Look at your requests and decide when you will do each one. Put them in your diary and then stick to the dates like glue. Get tough with clients, family and your boss. “I agreed xxxxxxx date, I can’t do it any earlier, I have other commitments”
It also takes a long time to learn the skills of time management and assertiveness. My strap line was always “Underpromise and overdeliver”.
Oh, and be nice to yourself - there’s only one of you.
Daniel, I've always appreciated your participation and insight in any form it takes. Given your limited time, I suggest you consider how valuable short notes, comments, and observations can be to this new community finding its way.