Time Management and Motivation

I spend lots of time talking to interns about time management. I don't spend much time talking about motivation with them, and I've recently come to the realization that those two things have to go together before anything works. I have had little to no motivation to do my clinical documentation lately. That has led me to doing avoidance tasks rather than my work. I've paid for that decision as I have had to dedicate more and more of my time to documentation than I do when I am managing my time well. This week has to be a good time management week - I have lots of stuff to do and not as much time available to me to get it done.

I have a plan to help me with these tasks. It all starts with my to-do and my not-to-do lists. It continues with my 30-minute on and off strategy, and finishes with prioritization of every task I do for the next 48 hours.

If I didn't have to be at work for some of those hours, my to-do list would be really manageable. I do, though, so that makes things more complicated.

The to-do list looks like this, at the moment:
  • Take shower
  • Go to work
  • Do six sessions with clients
  • Finish documentation
  • Arrange interview with prospective intern
  • Review intern paperwork
  • Send acceptance/rejection letters to applicants
  • Finalize schedule for 3/9 training
  • Find schedule board examples for presentation
  • Pack materials for presentations
  • Move packed bag out of view of cat
  • Fill self-feeder and self-waterers
  • Arrange services
  • Fold laundry
  • Make the bed
  • Arrange to get tire looked at for slow leak
  • Get allowance money
  • Eat something somewhat nutritious
  • Start to get acclimatized to new time zone - stay up late!
  • Check admittance tickets to events for this weekend
  • Keep up with OCMT certificates
That's nothing. Right? That is today's list, and I anticipate that I will get about 75% of it finished. In fact, I can get the tire appointment scheduled right now... I'll be back... That's finished. One thing to check off the list. I can also arrange other services from the computer, but those have to wait until later or the services that I need will be halted now and not when I need them. 

For me, the first step to motivation is figuring out what needs to be done. That's what my to-do list is for - it gives me that initial push towards doing something, anything. The second step to motivation is doing something on that list. It really starts me off into completing the things that need to be done. Lastly, time constraints really make things complicated - there is only so much time before everything on that list (and on the list for tomorrow and Wednesday) has to be done. It simply has to be finished.

I am currently motivated to get my shower finished so I can get on my way to work. Once there, documentation takes priority over everything except for client interactions. Once that documentation is finished, I'll knock out the other work tasks that I have before me. Then I'll keep going with the documentation for tomorrow's sessions. It will all get done, eventually - well, in the next 48 hours!

Already starting Tuesday's to-do list:
  • check-in with airline
  • get second half of allowance
  • cuddle the cat as much as possible
  • finish documentation for the week - Tuesday sessions
  • stop mail
And Wednesday's list as well:
  • tire appointment
  • go!
Happy Monday. I will get this done! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more