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Resources for dealing wtih COVID-19
Summary of the article: "Put one foot in front of the other
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Kannika Nimithkoune Posts: 67
5/19/2020
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As we move into the next phase of the coronavirus crisis, how can we slow down and focus on fewer, more meaningful goals? The immediate future is not going to be simple or neat. As we move through the summer and then into early fall, it is important to find ways to make steady progress. You can’t just stop, even if it feels like the world has. Resolve to do better. What’s daunting varies for each of us from moment to moment. On any given day, the idea of taking on a simple task can generate the same feeling of dread. How can you focus on meaningful goals as we move into the next phase of the coronavirus crisis?
One way is to reinterpret your time in manageable pieces -- not with a short, task-focused, timer-based approach but by setting your sights two weeks ahead. Two weeks is a long enough time to get something done. Two weeks is not long enough to launch a massive new effort, and it is not so short that the time will simply escape from you. Better yet, you do not have to tell anybody else your goal. Just pick some small thing you want to do and do it.
When you feel you can give attention to the near future, think about this: What is one self-contained thing you would like to get done in the next two weeks? It might be an educational goal, like taking a short online course, or a health-related one, like taking a walk now and then or breaking a recent habit of staying up all night. It could even be a goalless goal, like relaxing for a few days rather than picking up another project.
The thing you focus on should be resolvable into parts so that no piece of it is so large as to derail you. For example, pick a small task that has needed to be fixed, but you haven't had the time.. Fix the wonky door hinge. Wash away the dirt that has spattered up the walls from hard rains all winter. Take a hammer to the corner where a piece of siding has fallen away. Paint the walls. Paint the doors.
In the end, two weeks and one task are through. When you ask, “What did I do with my time?” the answer is in front of you. You painted a thing that needed painting. You made one of the universe’s specks a little better, even just for a moment. That is not a small thing at all.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/05/18/why-and-how-focus-fewer-more-meaningful-goals-during-pandemic-opinion
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