Category: Personal

Anything and everything about me and my life. You’ll have to hunt a lot for gossip-worthy tidbits, though.

Working Too Much or Not Enough? [en]

[fr] J'ai souvent du mal à savoir si je travaille trop ou pas assez. Mon entourage me donne les deux retours.

I’m very bad at evaluating how much I work. Not in the sense that I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent in the office or on a given project (I know how to look at the clock and add up, even if I don’t usually bill for my time) — but more as in I don’t really know if I’m slacking or “working hard”.

There are days where I feel that I have been working hard for weeks or months. But then there are others where I look at my lifestyle and find it pretty relaxed, overall.

People around me also have differing opinions: sometimes I get the feedback that I should take my work more seriously (“work harder!”) and sometimes — more often, I have to admit — I get amazement or admiration for the amount of things I’m doing.

I guess this ambivalence in my auto-evaluation reflects an ambivalence in my attitude towards work. Part of me has a heavy workaholic streak (I can get “lost” in work easily, and tend to be a little obsessive and perfectionist, which results in difficulty stopping once I get started) but another part of me strongly resists working a lot and wants to have free time and a leisurely pace of life (that was already the case when I was in school: good enough grades, but never really liked studying too hard).

And in the end, what is working “enough”? I think there are cultural standards here, and that “working hard” in the US (for example) is not exactly the same thing as “working hard” here in Europe.

Thoughts?

A Year of Chalet Mini-Holidays [en]

[fr] Ça fait une année que je monte régulièrement au chalet pour des mini-vacances (week-ends prolongés). Bon rythme!

A bit over a year ago, I badly needed a break (after Going Solo). One of my friends was deep in her thesis and needed one too, so we went up to my chalet for five days and walked around in the mountains.

I remembered (or rediscovered) how much I loved walking and being in the mountains. Before I headed back to Lausanne, I had booked subsequent “chalet breathers” for the next few months.

Over the last year, I’ve tried to go up to the chalet every 6 weeks or so. Sometimes it’s less, sometimes it’s more — but that’s what I aim for. I figured that as my financial situation does not really allow me take “real” holidays (2-3 weeks off somewhere) I was going to grant myself regular extended week-ends: mini-holidays.

It has worked really well.

I get breaks, and I have noticed how important it is to be able to hit the pause button once in a while, just think about stuff (personal or professional) but without actually having any work to do, read books, or write. Or just spend time talking with people.

It’s like with sports, really. If you exercise regularly, your body needs a break now and again. For exemple, at a time when I was at university, I would do judo 4-5 times a week. At some point, I realised that my body needed a holiday. And when I came back, I realized that I was refreshed and had actually made progress while I wasn’t training!

The brain needs “off” time to process all the activity and things learned during the “on” time — whether it’s physical or intellectual.

Mon barbecue se rapproche! [en]

[fr] Saturday 11th July: my traditional birthday barbecue will take place by the lake.

Comme chaque année, je complote mon traditionnel barbecue d’anniversaire au bord du lac. Il est annoncé sur Facebook, mais pour ceux et celles d’entre vous parmi mes amis et connaissances qui n’utiliseraient pas encore ce merveilleux réseau social, voici quelques détails accessibles publiquement (je précise en passant à ceux de mes lecteurs que je n’ai jamais rencontrés, ou que je ne connais pas, qu’a priori mieux vaut venir au prochain apéro de l’eclau pour faire ma connaissance ;-)):

  • samedi 11 juillet 2009, dès 18h (oui, c’est le dernier soir de la Cité, rien ne nous empêche d’y finir; aussi, je serai sur place dès l’après-midi pour réserver la place, compagnie bienvenue)
  • barbecue canadien: amenez ce que vous désirez griller ainsi que quelque chose à partager (salade, apéro, boissons, desserts, etc…); je fournis le “matériel” ainsi qu’une bonne quantité de boissons sans alcool
  • amis/famille bienvenus: conjoints, tendres moitiés, enfants, amis de passage ou proche sont bienvenus (à quatre pattes également) — amenez frisbee, boules de pétanque, ou piscine gonflable si le coeur vous en dit
  • idée cadeau: c’est sans obligation aucune, mais comme on me demande régulièrement et que là j’ai une idée, je la partage avec vous: j’ai l’intention de m’offrir pour mes 35 ans un vélo d’appartement (pas très glamour, je sais) — vous me voyez venir? Offrez-moi une pédale, quelques centimètres de chaîne ou encore la poignée gauche du guidon 😉
  • RSVP: merci de vous inscrire, sur Facebook ou bien par e-mail (éventuellement dans les commentaires), histoire que je sache à peu près combien on sera!

Je crois que je n’ai rien oublié! Je me réjouis de vous revoir le 11!

Je cours! [fr]

[en] All is well, lots of errands these days (personal and professionnal) so not quite enough screen time to keep up.

Je passe une bonne semaine, mais un peu loin de l’écran. Du retard donc dans le triage de photos du Bol d’Or (et le récit de celui-ci), pas tellement d’articles, et ça ne va pas s’arranger durant la fin du mois de juin (chalet, stage de judo, multiples séances avec des clients).

J’étais au Blog°bar hier soir à Martigny. C’était très sympa, et j’ai pu y revoir Corinne, que je n’avais pas revue depuis près d’un an!

Bon, je vous laisse (sur ces quelques modestes mots), une journée d’errands devant moi avant de monter au chalet!

Départ pour le Bol d'Or! [fr]

[en] I'll be on the lake most of these next four days. The Bol d'Or race is on Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving early to bring the boat to Geneva. We'll be coming back either late Sunday or Monday, depending on when we finish the race.

Ce week-end, c’est le Bol d’Or. Demain, on descend le bateau à Genève (départ vers 8h du matin). Course samedi et dimanche. Suivant à quelle heure on termine, on ramène le bateau de Genève dimanche dans la soirée ou lundi.

Vous l’aurez compris, je vais être plutôt hors ligne durant ces quatre prochains jours.

Et juste là, je vais préparer mes affaires et acheter mon pique-nique!

Portrait dans Le Matin Dimanche [fr]

[en] Our local Sunday paper published a portrait of me, with quite a few lines about eclau, the coworking space I started.

Si vous avez Le Matin Dimanche sous la main, rendez-vous en page 23 où vous trouverez un portrait de moi (qui parle pas mal de l’eclau!). Un grand merci à Geneviève Morand pour l’article!

Je n’ai pas réussi à le trouver en ligne, mais voici une petite photo rapide.

Portrait Le Matin Dimanche

(Tiens, ça me rappelle que j’ai des photos de grèbes huppés et de chalet à mettre en ligne… en attandant, régalez-vous des photos de Claude de notre sortie avec le Farrniente — vous y trouverez aussi quelques grèbes!)

Office vs. Errand Days [en]

[fr] Ma solution pour rester un peu en contrôle de mon agenda: bloquer des journées entières de travail au bureau sans rendez-vous, et concentrer tout ce qui implique sorties, courses, cours, meetings, rencontres sur d'autres journées. Etre ferme, avec soi-même tout d'abord.

These last weeks have been pretty hectic. Large amounts of stress (work and personal), slipping deadlines, contemplation of possible big changes ahead… I had the feeling that I was spending each of my days running around and not having the time to do any of all the hyper-urgent things I needed to deal with.

Now things are much calmer. I caught up with my deadlines (boy, were they running away fast!) and am much more relaxed. So, of course, it’s easy to figure out solutions that make things better and talk about them when things are better but… who knows, maybe these solutions did actually help me 😉

Actually, “this solution”: concentrate meetings and errands on given days. Book whole days in the office. Be firm with yourself. I actually put huge “booked!” meetings in my calendar. And I don’t make exceptions. Because when you start making exceptions, even with very good reasons, it’s the beginning of the end — and before long your whole week is just riddled with appointments and meetings, like a piece of old Emmental cheese.

A Short Note and Update [en]

[fr] Comme vous avez pu vous en rendre compte, passablement occupée ces temps-ci. C'est l'occasion de peaufiner mes armes de gestion du temps!

As you can see, the few days I spent recuperating up in the mountains resulted in quite a lot of 50-word stories. I’m a bit horribly busy these days (working on keeping my time management under control) — thankfully because I have quite a bit of work lined up.

Expect a steady drivel of more business-related postings around here in a few weeks!

*PS: yes, there are still about 4 months worth of posts missing from Climb to the Stars. Coming soon too!*

Les vacances, les vacances! [fr]

[en] Off for the holidays. Some reading recommendations for my French readers.

Je me prépare à filer à la montagne. Pour cause de trop de travail et ensuite de trop de virus, je suis restée un peu clouée en plaine ces derniers mois, donc je me réjouis vraiment d’aller m’enterrer avec le chat sous des piles de neige!

Durant mon absence, n’hésitez pas à aller rattraper de la lecture en retard sur le blog des boulangeries Fleur de Pains (je l’anime à coups de reportage, par exemple sur la Saint-Valentin ou la fabrication des financiers au chocolat& miam!) et sur le blog de voyage d’ebookers.ch, où je suis responsable de coordonner les publications de sept blogueurs enthousiastes qui partagent récits de voyage et bons plans tournant autour de multiples destinations.

Quant à ma petite personne personnelle, si vous n’avez pas consulté récemment Digital Crumble, mon tumblelog, je vous invite à le faire (et à ouvrir votre propre tumblelog, pendant qu’on y est).

Je serai complètement déconnectée en montagne, mais si vous avez de la chance, je vous enverrai quelques photos via Twitter.

Ah oui! Cela fait des semaines que je veux écrire un article en français sur Ada Lovelace Day, qui aura lieu le 24 mars. Il s’agit d’une journée où les blogueurs écriront un article consacré à une femme qu’ils admirent dans les sciences et les technologies. Si vous n’êtes pas encore inscrits, allez le faire — et l’excuse “je ne vois pas de qui parler” n’est vraiment pas valable. Vraiment. (Parce que si c’est vrai, ça montre à quel point une telle journée est nécessaire, et il vous faudra donc y prendre part, quitte à vous creuser un peu les méninges, non?)

Allez, bonne semaine. La mienne le sera, ça c’est sûr. :-)

A Week of FlyLady Inspiration [en]

[fr] Une semaine à faire 15 minutes de rangement par jour. Les petits pas fonctionnent pour moi! Mon hall d'entrée est rangé, et plein d'autres changements sont en route.

Last week-end, I wrote about the Wisdom of Incremental Change, or something like that. I’ve spent a week now on my FlyLady-ish programme, and am reporting now to the world so you can witness my progress.

Huge progress.

I feel like I have a new life. I feel like soon, I’ll actually be able to bake cookies (one of my fantasies, representing a stress-free life where one has enough time to do useless but pleasant things like baking cookies).

Here’s what I’m doing:

  • morning routine (includes making the bed and rincing the bathroom sink clean)
  • unclutter 15 minutes a day
  • evening routine (includes checking my calendar for the next day, planning train times, and major work activities)
  • clean sink, bathtub, two counters, mirror and toilet with detergent on Sunday
  • clean kitchen sink with detergent on Sunday
  • empty my GTD inbox 15 minutes a day
  • Sunday = bath day!
  • generally, keeping clean/uncluttered areas that way
  • going to bed at midnight (Cinderella technique)
  • set alarms for all regular things throughout the week, including mealtimes

Here are the things I’m thinking of slowly easing into my routines; not all at once, but next on the list:

  • set Roomba to work in a different room each day
  • go through projects, clients, and tasks 15 minutes a day
  • prepare stuff I need the night before (ie. judo bag, snacks)
  • set alarms for snacks between meals
  • do “weekly home blessing” (not right away though)
  • get an indoor bicycle for my bedroom and cycle 20 minutes a day on it
  • add stretching and other exercises to my morning and evening routines (gradually)

It’s interesting how cleaning/uncluttering is contagious: in addition to straightening out my hallway (photos below) I also emptied my big suitcase (it had been lying around since October with stuff still in it), but a few hooks up in the kitchen, and removed all the dead leaves from my plants (poor neglected plants).

Equally of note, I put my clean laundry away the very day I unhung it (it’s easier when the last load of clean laundry isn’t still lying around the room), cleared out my fridge before I went shopping, and threw out a few scary things that were in my freezer (like 2 or 3 year old chicken legs and fish).

Here’s a before and after pair of photos taken from my hallway; click on the photos to read notes:

next cluttered-up space in the zone Uncluttered hallway

I’ve also reorganised the entrance part of my hallway (again, click for notes):

Uncluttered and reorganized hallway

I realised that I have a lot of stuff in my flat which has no home. But I also have lots of spaces which are not home to any stuff. For example, those white shelves in my hallway where just layer upon layer of “things dumped here”. What are they going to be home to? As you can see in the notes, I’m trying to figure out what to put in them — but I’m sure it’s not final. I have cupboards and drawers which are just full of “stuff” that was dumped there at some point when I moved furniture around — I need to have a long hard think about what goes where at some point. (That’s an idea for a future blog post: a list of stuff that I’m keeping but I don’t know where to keep.)

A side-effect of this “more sleeping, more cleaning” regime is that I’m way less stressed (I feel like a big cloud has lifted off my life) and I’m taking time to do things, like eat and cook. I cooked my first chicken last night, and today made chicken salad, chicken soup, and cooked some minced meat that needed it. I think that for quite a few years, I’ve put a lot of energy trying to “escape from” my flat (well, my chaos) when I was in it. Now, I’m happy to be around. Happy to see that I’m taking control of things.

2009 is the year of taking control of my life again. I’ve been letting it happen to me for way too long. So here we go:

  • keeping track of my finances with buxfer — which has a great iPhone site btw, and allows updates from Twitter, so you can enter all your transactions on the road if needed
  • regaining control of my living space with FlyLady
  • keeping control of the “stuff” I want to do with a sprinkling of GTD (and having an office).

I’m going to love 2009!