Incessant rain all day. Spent the morning catching up on this journal then finished off the re-install of Windows. I wanted to go out and try Haverhill Library, to see if it was better than Cambridge, but instead had a think about how the first three weeks have gone. Here are a few notes:
- It was a relief finishing work and pleasing to think I no longer have to deal with the Management Team there. I’ve felt grateful for that.
- I’ve felt a bit disorientated. Deliberately, I didn’t have a specific plan for the first month, but that’s meant I’m not sure if I’m spending my time the best I could. Leaving work means the responsibility for your time is entirely on you, and although I’m happy with that, I’ve also felt pressure to spend my time well, and I’m worried I haven’t.
- I need to find a quiet place to work, undisturbed. I’ve realised how important this is. Home is too busy. This afternoon I tried tethering my phone to a laptop and I already have a mobile router, so I could use those options, and then I can work from anywhere that has a mobile signal.
- I haven’t have as much time as I thought I would. Before I left work, I thought I’d have lots of time to do things, but I haven’t. I think that’s partly because I’m setting up a work practice and re-orientating myself, but it’s also because I’d underestimated how many household things I do in normal life. I could work more efficiently, too. Exercise will help with that.
- Almost anything I’ve had to do with computers has been a waste of time. I don’t know what’s happened here. I’ve never had such problems before. I need to be careful with this, and be ruthless aboiut time management. It would be nice to have a career where your skills accumulate over time, rather than where you have to keep learning different skills. Imagine if I’d been a painter or musician all this time, and spent as much time practising those skills as I have sitting at a computer! I’d be so good at them by now. With web development it feels like you spend a lot of time going down snakes, to learn something that is passé in a few years. Perhaps I just need to choose simpler technology.
Went for a run in the evening. It’s so important to keep up exercise, to boost the ebergy levels.