On slowing down, thinking hard and the wise management of time

photo credit: srta.G

In the past few weeks, I have slowly but steadily been regaining more time for myself. As I reflect on the talk I gave at Freelance Camp Vancouver 2011, I have begun to ponder what exactly did I do with my time to this day. The past week I have somehow found time to blog on my research site about scholarly applications of social media (in teaching and in research).

I have found the time to write a literature review, edit a grant proposal and meet with students and colleagues. AND prepare my lectures. AND be on top of my work, consulting, and writing.

Doing many things at once and wearing many hats (e.g. being a “Renaissance man”) has taken its toll on my ability to spend extended periods of time reflecting and thinking hard about issues. If I want to create scholarship that will further our understanding of environmental policy and public policy, I need to be able to spend extended periods of time concentrating and thinking hard about the issues.

When I first recruited Anabelle and Jessica as my interns, I told them that my goal was to buy myself 30 hours a week of time for my scholarly research. That’s precisely my goal, and they have been amazing at taking on many of the tasks that managing Hummingbird604.com has presented me with.

photo credit: jgoge

I have been pondering a number of things and trying to find the time to do them all: Redesign Hummingbird604.com (specially re-theming it, something I’ve been thinking of doing for more than a year now); edit my academic CV to reflect more accurately what I do; re-shape my consultancy website. Map out my scholarly research agenda for the next 5-10 years. All of these things require time for me to sit down, alone and just THINK.

In an era where I am continuously bombarded with information, I have decided to trim down on a number of things. I am going to unfollow a substantial number of people (sorry folks, the fire hose approach is not working for me). I’m going to spend less time being active on social media, and social media events. And I’m going to start redirecting efforts towards my scholarly research agenda.

All of these changes to my life are a reflection of one of the tips I gave when I spoke at Freelance Camp Vancouver 2011: I am a tyrant with my time. I have a right to be. Now, a caveat and clarification: the fact that I decide to spend LESS time on social media doesn’t mean I have failed to manage my life WITHIN social media. Much to the contrary. I have worked in the space, put in the hours, done my time and gained a lot of insight into how I want to use social media and how much time I want to spend on it.

Now, it’s time to apply the lessons I’ve learned and stop trying to do EVERYTHING. There’s only one Raul and my goal is to keep him (me) sane. Finding the time to slow down and just THINK is exactly working towards that objective.

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