Aiming for 10.000

That's 10 000 words, unfortunately and not pounds (or Euros/Dollars).

I have devoted this weekend to finishing my personal development report, I started working on this report back in April, writing 1-2 thousand words, but I need to complete it now, as the deadline is on Friday.

The official deadline is on Friday, but I need to complete it by Tuesday at least! I was originally aiming to finish this today but it doesn't look like it. It's a stupid report, but it is worth 15 credits out of the 45 I am taking this year, therefore I need to complete it!

The good thing about it, is that it involves writing about all the courses I have taken part-in in the past 6 months, and the self-study I have done in order to become who I am today. It has been a good experience, I have to admit, attending various courses such as the presentation course back in April that got me so stressed and gave me a cold sore!

Writing a report about all these courses is not a happy experience, even though it does act as a reminder for the courses!

Ohhh ok ok, I like writing the report, but it is so f****ing long that it makes itself an-enjoyable!
One of my biggest problems is that when I came up with my development plan, I didn't really take into consideration the various courses I should be attending. So I ended up attending two courses that were for the same skill, and not attending any courses for some other skills.

But. But. It will be a good report. I am halfway through it, yes, but I have created a strong structure, which helps me write more fluently. I have also used a cool colour scheme and set up the different headings, therefore I wont have to do much work after I finish writing (and proof reading).

I just hope my manager and supervisors wont want to read it, as some of it is very.. vague and.. well.. very obvious!?


A year or two ago, I would never even dream to be able to write 10000 in 4-5 days.. now it just seems 'natural'. Has the blog really improved my writing skills? I know I don't write very often, but I believe that it has helped me!

I am just sorry that what I write is pretty boring usually! I still haven't gotten used to this blogging/writing thing..


I hope those of you in Cyprus enjoy your day off today (it's already Monday in Cyprus)
For the ones in the UK, it's back to the office tomorrow (and it's probably raining as well)!


The Physicist

On a lighter note

I did complete 2 weeks away (apart from yoghurt last week) from lactose.

I was told that I need to stay completely off for two weeks, before I start the testing, therefore I will continue without it!

The good news is that apart from that one day, I had no other major issues with my stomach! I have even lost a 1kg!
And that 1kg is excellent news for me! In the past I have not been able to lose weight. Even being on diets (from actual dietitians) did not really work, it would take me a whole month to loose 2kg and that was even debatable some months. And of course I gained all of it back as soon as I stopped.

I am quite excited right now! I want to get myself on a running schedule as well; I ve been reading a book about a person, very similar to me, who decides to get fit for a marathon, in order to raise money for a friend.
Let's see if I can make it.. Right now I am not sure if I can run for more than 5 minutes without fainting!



Oh I am so optimistic after each deadline.. I hope this continues through to my other deadlines this month!

x x
The Physicist

 

Another milestone

I have finally submitted my 'draft' paper for the CIBSE Technical Symbosium in September!

Of course it did take me the whole of last month to find the data, analyse it, and write the paper as a whole. Something I learned from 'core skills training' within my company is to review the performance during each project as soon as it finishes.
Therefore:
I will have to give it to me, I have been more organised than usual. I even managed to send my draft for review to my supervisors on Wednesday!
But even though I had a draft by last Wednesday, I stayed up all night last night to finish it. There are various reasons for that. Firstly I did not finalize my graphs over the weekend as I was supposed to, and I did not write the conclusion early enough. Also I hadn't checked the required formatting for the references thoroughly, and I was using the wrong one from the beginning.
These, on top with the fact that one of my supervisors only sent me his comments through at 2 o clock yesterday, requesting major changes in the results section, caused major trouble!

As a general conclusion I think that I have improved.
But I need to organise myself a lot better in order to manage my project more effectively.
For example I could have sent my draft earlier to my supervisors so that they could find the time to review it, in between their busy schedules.
While waiting for their responses I could have finalized my version of it, with good quality graphs and a template for the whole paper. This would have helped me save time when making the requested changes.
One of the reasons why my version was not finalized, was mainly because of my stress, keeping me from working effectively. Last week I spent 4 days at home, supposedly writing, but I was not really making any progress. I really need to find a way to avoid this happening in the future!

How I will follow this up? I will try to work in tighter schedules, so that for the next deadline, I do send my draft to my supervisors at least a week before the deadline. This will help all of us in creating a better result, and hopefully keep my stress levels under control!


Have a great week!

The Physicist