I noticed that my very best pupils are still sticking to the GTD workflow, say about a third of the class, while the others have drifted off a little and a few have little evidence of any conviction that it will help them out. I am very glad that at least the method had helped some of them to be better equipped in handling their school life. I need to be persistent in this and keep pressing them to do this so that more will make it into a habit.
During the round of individual consultation my pupils have with me, I was a little concerned about this pupil of mine, one of my best performing pupils, but definitely one of the most fatigued. Holding on to a couple of key appointments in CCAs and having a busy school schedule, she is clearly quite exhausted and not having focus as a result. As I was analysing about her time spent on activities and was thinking about what I should say to her to provide some guidance, it dawned on me that it is not so much about time management that she is missing, but energy management.
As we delved into this topic, she agreed that it is the case for her. Sleep deprivation comes right on top of her list. I found that there is little I can advise her on this other than the usual comment about the importance of healthy food, ample rest and exercise. I shared with her that I have a can of almonds on my desk which I would take in small portions throughout my day in office to keep my own energy up. That certainly worked for me, as it's effect is easily felt when I ran out of it.
The key thing which I told her in the end is to be mindful of what she is trading off. If she trades off sleep more than she should, she will have to pay it off in some way. If she trades off regular exercise for more time to do other activities, it too, will come back to her.
Easy for me to say. When was the last time I don my running shoes for a good jog?
2 comments:
That's an insightful prospective to our often busy and stressful demands in life.
In GTD, is there a strategy to work only on the critical tasks that matters the most? Leaving other non-essential demands at the back burner could be a way to conserve energy for matters that are core.
There's only that much one can do.
Yes, there is. Focusing on the most important tasks to do first is one of the key objectives of this methodology.
This focus and selection of what to do can only be effective when all 'stuff' gets collected reliably in a system. When things fall through the cracks, and they always do, loops are open and the system gets compromised.
Therefore, it takes some persistence in practice to form a habit of effective collection.
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