Research has been moving forward little by little.
The literature review I have worked on for the past four months was initially for just one section, but as I discussed it with my supervisors, we extended it to further relevant scopes and added references, and it has become a chapter.
I am very happy about working on the topic. But I’ve spent so much time tackling it, I desperately hope that this won’t turn out to be wasted time for my thesis.
Completed a 30-day project on Minimalism
A month ago, I tried a 30-day project to ‘become a minimalist’.
I asked myself: what sort of home office environment would I like to be in?
I spend 14 hours a day at my desk, writing, reading and editing. For me, a vital aspect of being productive when working at home is premised on a decluttered desk that has minimal stuff. It means that I can concentrate on one or two really important things intensely for a short period, and avoid being distracted during the day. I like putting 99% of the stationery supplies into the drawers. So, I focused on grouping the text materials and allocating them into each drawer – this took a week!
Household and kitchen items weren’t difficult. Our cupboard and pantry offer plenty of space, but we removed some mugs and placemats I hadn’t used for two years.
How much unnecessary stuff did I remove eventually? Not that much, probably four or five bags of old clothes, dried-out pens, unneeded magazines, manuals and kitchen items.
Being comfortable in a working space and home is paramount to the attainment of maximum productivity.
My achievements in week 95
- submitted a piece of coursework for the teaching programme
- attended a session on presenting a thesis
- completed a 30-day project to become a minimalist
Goals for week 96
- proofread my draft more than three times
- submit my third revision of Chapter 2 to my supervisors