Mummy Brain Vs Science Brain
The last 2 weeks have been a challenge in the ThesisBaby household- everyone has had flu ( the trapped in bed, sore skin awful type), ThesisBaby has got her first 2 teeth and the change to Summer Time had destroyed our bedtime routine. Overall not much sleep here! And then an even bigger disaster- on a trip into the office ThesisBaby was very tired and grumpy and as she flailed around in the sling she knocked my hard-drive onto the floor and now all the files are unreadable. All my Thesis files :(
Overall not a great time, but I've decided to make the best of each thing- so here goes;
I lost a lot of work- 100's of hours, but most of the really important files had been emailed, so in reality only 2-3 weeks of work was totally lost. I'm using the 'thinning out' of files to start a new organising structure going forward, and I have a new back up scheduled.
I've found a MOOC (massively open online course) provided by the University of Wollongong on FutureLearn about writing a literature review, which is this month's writing task. I'm using is as a the reminder of how to effectively (re)-do a literature review to improve on my lost work. Turns out the lost version was missing some finesse in the search strategy so being forced to do it all again has made me more organised and detailed. Ultimately I hope the re-do makes my lit review better, even though I could cry about the lost time.
With everyone in the house ill or very sleep deprived at one point or the other, I'm also having the learn to give myself a break and accept I can only do what I can do. I've started splitting tasks into easy (e.g reading) and hard (e.g analysis) and desk (need the computer) or anywhere (printed journals and books). Easy anywhere tasks get done while I'm watching the baby, hard desk tasks can only happen when she is at nursery, easy desk tasks can fit in at bedtime when I might have 10 min between shhing ThesisBaby down again, and I haven't found any hard anywhere tasks yet. Defiantly not moving forward as fast as I would like, but I am moving forward, so I'm counting that as a win.
This morning ThesisBaby cried when I left her at nursery; last week she was sent home early because she refused to eat or drink and was getting stressed out, Monday was bank holiday, so she was home, and today I think it was all a bit to much for her. I hate it and it makes me want to cry. I'm starting to find that I have a mummy brain and a science brain. Mummy brain wants to runs and get her, cuddle it better and keep her close. Science brain knows I need time to work on my own, a chance to digest and move forward with my research.
It's hard- mummy and scientist don't agree, but untimely I know I'm a better parent to ThesisBaby when I'm me, and sometimes me needs to sit down with a good review article. I also know that sometimes I need sleep and cuddles more than I need science, and this afternoon when I pick her up we are having both, but right now it's Web of Science time!
Do you have deal with your task list and a little one? Any top tips? Feel free to comment below :)
Overall not a great time, but I've decided to make the best of each thing- so here goes;
I lost a lot of work- 100's of hours, but most of the really important files had been emailed, so in reality only 2-3 weeks of work was totally lost. I'm using the 'thinning out' of files to start a new organising structure going forward, and I have a new back up scheduled.
I've found a MOOC (massively open online course) provided by the University of Wollongong on FutureLearn about writing a literature review, which is this month's writing task. I'm using is as a the reminder of how to effectively (re)-do a literature review to improve on my lost work. Turns out the lost version was missing some finesse in the search strategy so being forced to do it all again has made me more organised and detailed. Ultimately I hope the re-do makes my lit review better, even though I could cry about the lost time.
With everyone in the house ill or very sleep deprived at one point or the other, I'm also having the learn to give myself a break and accept I can only do what I can do. I've started splitting tasks into easy (e.g reading) and hard (e.g analysis) and desk (need the computer) or anywhere (printed journals and books). Easy anywhere tasks get done while I'm watching the baby, hard desk tasks can only happen when she is at nursery, easy desk tasks can fit in at bedtime when I might have 10 min between shhing ThesisBaby down again, and I haven't found any hard anywhere tasks yet. Defiantly not moving forward as fast as I would like, but I am moving forward, so I'm counting that as a win.
This morning ThesisBaby cried when I left her at nursery; last week she was sent home early because she refused to eat or drink and was getting stressed out, Monday was bank holiday, so she was home, and today I think it was all a bit to much for her. I hate it and it makes me want to cry. I'm starting to find that I have a mummy brain and a science brain. Mummy brain wants to runs and get her, cuddle it better and keep her close. Science brain knows I need time to work on my own, a chance to digest and move forward with my research.
It's hard- mummy and scientist don't agree, but untimely I know I'm a better parent to ThesisBaby when I'm me, and sometimes me needs to sit down with a good review article. I also know that sometimes I need sleep and cuddles more than I need science, and this afternoon when I pick her up we are having both, but right now it's Web of Science time!
Do you have deal with your task list and a little one? Any top tips? Feel free to comment below :)
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