I’m an avid user of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system since last year. This system has allowed me to take on more projects without a concomitant increase in stress levels. However, while I’ve been good about adding projects and working on them, I haven’t been doing so well on finishing them.
That’s really what it’s all about, right? The finished project, the final accomplishment, the closed loop.
My New Year’s resolution for 2006 is to start aggressively closing the loops, to finish my projects. With a steady eye on the goal, I should be able to accomplish many things this year, including but not limited to:
- Publication of two (both first author) or three (one co-author) research papers
- Acquisition of a research fellowship (this of course depends on its acceptance)
- A steady(/ier) stream of research- and science-related blog posts
This blog tends to be more personal than professional. While my goal is to build up an online persona that shows the world who I am, that persona needs to include more of what I really work on. It’s hard sometimes to blog about the research before it’s published. There’s a bit of an arms race in science, and sharing is all well and good — once the manuscript has been accepted. That’s another reason for me to finish projects and the related papers: I’ll be able to write more about them.
Technorati Tags: fellowship, electrophysiology, science, research, gtd
As a fellow blogger, grad student and procrastinator, I understand a bit of the “stress levels” you’re talking about. Keep up the good work and I hope you are successful in meeting all those GTD goals.