![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
When i got up to make tea, i saw the parking lot was wet. Rain! (Well, precipitation!) It's been a very dry December, and it was good to see that perhaps the pattern is breaking. In inside weather news, i ran the vaporizer last night and "rain" fell on my bedside table. At 2 am i woke to find my cell phone wet. I think all is well but perhaps i needn't run it on high, not when we're getting rain outside, at least.
--==∞==--
Yesterday i listened to the recording of a webinair from the Energy Project (http://www.theenergyproject.com/) on restoration. For me, the Energy Project folks come across as preaching time and energy management practices that i know, so listening rarely has any revelations, but often helps me renew my commitment to following a practice.
I listened to their working with difficult/negative people some time back and wrote these notes:
Yesterday's program was a recording from some weeks back about renewal. I'd come to the conclusion some time past that i need to figure out some way to take microbreaks. I often hit GO when i start to see email, sometimes fairly early in the morning, and by the time all the driving interrupts from the eastern time zone quiet down, i'm exhausted. How can i possibly recover throughout the day so that i'm not drained when there's finally quiet to get things done?
The advice in this seminar was just what i needed to hear (although, again, i multitasked through it, occasionally hitting rewind). Some of the advice was what i didn't want to hear, i will admit. The first advice was to get your sleep. I do, and i make a big deal about my falling asleep and waking up rituals.
Probably the most important to me was the discussion about tennis players:
The top tennis players were able to have their heart rate drop by a beat a second over the thirty seconds or so it took to go back to the line after the end of a point. The poorer performers had a drop of their heart rate by a beat or so over the whole microbreak.
These are the microbreaks i've needed. The bad news for me, as i reflected on how to map this to my day, was that i've been taking the breaks when i can and finding a "distraction." The distraction are my own choices in entertainment and social connections: checking personal email, reading journals and news, webcomics. The observation that the players used the time as they walked back to the line "fiddling with the string on the racket," was used to drive home that the players were really focussing on blocking out distractions and were just resting.
My wish to have some ritual of my own "stuff" isn't going to help me really recover. I suppose i'm not surprised, and realizing my attachment to the little escapes helps me recognize them more for what they are: escapes. If i am escaping every chance i get, that is draining, not replenishing. I can offer myself the possibility: if i am replenished and refreshed, maybe the time i spend in my spaces will be even more rewarding.
Instead of taking my phone and reading my own stuff as i walk around for biobreaks or changing rooms, i will microrest, counting breaths instead of "fiddling with strings."
Another strong suggestion was to nap. I think i will start trying to do that when i work at home, at 5 eastern time. Maybe i'll use the same time block to walk when i am at the office. There was a superficial discussion of ultradian rhythms being present throughout our day at 90-120 min cycles, and that we needed to look for the lows in that frequency and replenish then instead of "pushing through." Wikipedia's page on ultradian rhythms didn't offer much insight; a scan of how the Energy Project uses the concept seems to be simply to point out that you need to renew and refresh every 90 min or so: nothing more deep. Scan of "lifehacker" and ultradian also basically points to the existence of the cycle and not much else.
It seems clear that the Pomodoro methods are about tiny sprints with microrests and a longer rest in the 90 to 120 minute time period. I'd been thinking of it as context switching control, but that doesn't seem to be quite the right use.
Interestingly, the final slide of the talk describes renewal rituals that don't echo the study results on the microbreaks or the napping. Instead, they offer
* eat 5-6 small meals a day, including breakfast [i do this]
* implement a workout routine [erm, well, *scuffs shoes*]
* create a pre-sleep wind down routine [i do this]
* design a transition ritual between work and home [i've thought about this, but this hasn't been the real issue. How to renew vs collapse when i get home is my challenge]
I will commit to two new practices:
* Take microrests: turn away, let the mind rest, focus on the rest (breath), and put on a confident posture.
* 15 min nap (break) after 2 pm
I remain curious about managing context switching. It seems clear that an optimal design would be 90 min focus with micro breaks. But managing context switching....
--==∞==--
Yesterday i listened to the recording of a webinair from the Energy Project (http://www.theenergyproject.com/) on restoration. For me, the Energy Project folks come across as preaching time and energy management practices that i know, so listening rarely has any revelations, but often helps me renew my commitment to following a practice.
I listened to their working with difficult/negative people some time back and wrote these notes:
General conclusions:
* interesting suggestion to "feel your feet" when you feel triggered
* as most of these sets of advice go, still strongly assuming that one isn't traumatized
* felt that i've worked through all the advice already, including the "what can i learn" long lens
* appreciated the affirmation that there is toxicity in being certain negative boss behaviors, appreciated the encouragement to stay awake to the pain and the question "is it worth it"
* glad i could multitask through it.
Yesterday's program was a recording from some weeks back about renewal. I'd come to the conclusion some time past that i need to figure out some way to take microbreaks. I often hit GO when i start to see email, sometimes fairly early in the morning, and by the time all the driving interrupts from the eastern time zone quiet down, i'm exhausted. How can i possibly recover throughout the day so that i'm not drained when there's finally quiet to get things done?
The advice in this seminar was just what i needed to hear (although, again, i multitasked through it, occasionally hitting rewind). Some of the advice was what i didn't want to hear, i will admit. The first advice was to get your sleep. I do, and i make a big deal about my falling asleep and waking up rituals.
Probably the most important to me was the discussion about tennis players:
Lessons learned by observing the top tennis players who had a consistent recovery in the moments of stopped play between points:
* immediately turn away from the net at the end of the point
* switched racket from dominant to non dominant hand
* fiddle with the string on the racket -- avoided distraction, stayed focused on the rest
* put on confident mein
The top tennis players were able to have their heart rate drop by a beat a second over the thirty seconds or so it took to go back to the line after the end of a point. The poorer performers had a drop of their heart rate by a beat or so over the whole microbreak.
These are the microbreaks i've needed. The bad news for me, as i reflected on how to map this to my day, was that i've been taking the breaks when i can and finding a "distraction." The distraction are my own choices in entertainment and social connections: checking personal email, reading journals and news, webcomics. The observation that the players used the time as they walked back to the line "fiddling with the string on the racket," was used to drive home that the players were really focussing on blocking out distractions and were just resting.
My wish to have some ritual of my own "stuff" isn't going to help me really recover. I suppose i'm not surprised, and realizing my attachment to the little escapes helps me recognize them more for what they are: escapes. If i am escaping every chance i get, that is draining, not replenishing. I can offer myself the possibility: if i am replenished and refreshed, maybe the time i spend in my spaces will be even more rewarding.
Instead of taking my phone and reading my own stuff as i walk around for biobreaks or changing rooms, i will microrest, counting breaths instead of "fiddling with strings."
Another strong suggestion was to nap. I think i will start trying to do that when i work at home, at 5 eastern time. Maybe i'll use the same time block to walk when i am at the office. There was a superficial discussion of ultradian rhythms being present throughout our day at 90-120 min cycles, and that we needed to look for the lows in that frequency and replenish then instead of "pushing through." Wikipedia's page on ultradian rhythms didn't offer much insight; a scan of how the Energy Project uses the concept seems to be simply to point out that you need to renew and refresh every 90 min or so: nothing more deep. Scan of "lifehacker" and ultradian also basically points to the existence of the cycle and not much else.
It seems clear that the Pomodoro methods are about tiny sprints with microrests and a longer rest in the 90 to 120 minute time period. I'd been thinking of it as context switching control, but that doesn't seem to be quite the right use.
Interestingly, the final slide of the talk describes renewal rituals that don't echo the study results on the microbreaks or the napping. Instead, they offer
* eat 5-6 small meals a day, including breakfast [i do this]
* implement a workout routine [erm, well, *scuffs shoes*]
* create a pre-sleep wind down routine [i do this]
* design a transition ritual between work and home [i've thought about this, but this hasn't been the real issue. How to renew vs collapse when i get home is my challenge]
I will commit to two new practices:
* Take microrests: turn away, let the mind rest, focus on the rest (breath), and put on a confident posture.
* 15 min nap (break) after 2 pm
I remain curious about managing context switching. It seems clear that an optimal design would be 90 min focus with micro breaks. But managing context switching....
Tags:
no subject
no subject
no subject