Tag: Practical

Pickle Jar Time Management [en]

I wanted to try yesterday, but I started out a bit late in the day. So I did it today.

I got up, spent 10 minutes or so figuring out my rocks for the day, jotted down a few pebbles, and got to work. By the time the evening had come I had studied for three hours and got a whole lot of other things done. And I hadn’t switched on my computer.

Let me know if Pickle Jar Time Management works for you too!

The idea is simple: take a pickle jar (your day), and fill it with rocks. It’s full now, isn’t it? Take a handful of pebbles and add them in too. You might have to shake the jar a little. See how they fit nicely between the rocks? You can fill the jar even more: gravel, sand, water…

Girl Stuff [en]

Did I tell you about my Golder Rule #1 for putting on nail polish? I’m not sure anymore. It goes like this:

1. Don’t start putting nail polish on when you have just 20 minutes left before going out.

This morning, I have discovered Golden Rule #2:

2. Don’t put nail polish on in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat.

Now let me go and have my breakfast.

Procrastinator? Yes! [en]

At many points in my procrastinator’s life, I’ve had an inkling this was the way to go.

All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. […] The procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.

John Perry, Structured Procrastination.

Look at what I’m doing now: I have exams to prepare, laundry to do, piles of books to read, a website to update. And I’m writing for my weblog. Writing for my weblog is definitely not a high-priority task. But on the other hand, over the past year or so, I’ve started to gain a reputation for being an active weblogger, worth reading by some.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop fighting my procrastination. Actually, one of the reasons I’ve been “going the wrong way” lately (ie. refusing commitments) is very precisely because I’m trying to get to the root of my procrastination. I’m inching nearer each day, actually. But on the other hand, when I’m deep in it, I might as well do something useful, mightn’t I?

[link from Glenn, again!]

Vaisselle [en]

Certes, je n’ai pas envie de faire la vaisselle maintenant.
Mais je n’en aurai pas plus envie dans dix minutes, une heure, un jour ou une semaine.

Autant la faire maintenant.

Cat and Dog Diet [en]

Yes, I know. Lots about my animals, these days.
Well, coming home from the vet’s, it seems that I’ve been doing the worst thing possible: feeding cat food to the dog and vice-versa.

Cats are pure carnivores. Dogs are omnivores. They need a different diet, and each have very specific protein and vitamin requirements.

So here I am, with my veterinary kitty and doggie foods. It looks expensive, but it’s rather economical: as it is dry, a little goes a long way. And it is good quality.

I guess if the vet feeds that to her animals, and she is neither producing it, nor paid to promote it, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?