Turning over a new leaf before 2015
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A colleague of mine said to me last week:
“When you commit to something you don’t do it in moderation do you?”
I laughed and then I starting thinking about what she said. She’s right. When I’m on track, I’m on track! I’ve blogged a lot less frequently because most of my free time is now dedicated to completing my MA degree. I’ve successfully completed 8 courses, I’m currently taking my last taught course this semester and as of January 2015 I’ll be racing towards the finish line of completing my capstone project!
The past year and a half has been a blur of work-hard, play-hard and as a result I came down with three of the worst colds I’ve had in my life. My mom said “You’re pushing yourself too much, you need to take a step back.” She was right too! I’m lucky to be surrounded by such perceptive wise women.
The first goal is:
- Finish the literature review portion of my capstone project by Oct. 31 (this is ambitious considering the number of articles I have to read and summarize)
- Identify the data sets and create data coding sheets by Nov. 9
- Record data by Nov. 30
- Complete data analysis by Dec. 31
These goals should take me to the end of ROW80 round 4 and I will have new writing goals for the first ROW80 round of 2015.
The second goal is:
I’ve always been nervous to write more personal blogs because I use my name and then people at work or friends who happen to Google you can know a LOT about you. I always worried that people would be bored reading a personal blog, but looking at the blogs I subscribe to, the more personal blogs are the ones I read every time they appear in my inbox. The niche blogs are great and informative, but if the title doesn’t interest me, I might not read it. I’ve never been a true niche blogger because I like to write about diverse topics hence why the blog name is The Chron-nicoles. They are my (hi)stories.
On that note, it’s time to go eat some more pumpkin pie.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
Welcome back to ROW80! And good luck with your goals! I have just started my MA by distance learning this past week, so I feel for you! 🙂
Hi Conny. Thanks for the welcome message! My degree is also by distance learning so we’re in the same boat! Wishing you the best of luck!
Good luck on all you want to accomplish! School can be so stressful, some days I’m glad it’s behind me! (But then I remember how much I love learning, and I miss it a bit, too!)
I totally understand in writing a more personal blog–I just started one of my own to complement my writing website, and it’s difficult to put yourself out there. But the response so far has been good, too! Good luck!
Kelsie
Yes it’s a never-ending tug-of-war between stress and bliss. I’ve had this blog for four years now and kept it at a firm arm’s length. I’m going to attempt the being more open thing. We’ll see how it goes!
Good luck with your goals! It makes sense that you’re using this round to finish stuff at school since that has to be your focus right now. I’m glad you rejoined us!
Thank you! Yes, one Lena Corazon also focused on her thesis/dissertation during ROW80 once upon a time. I definitely need the goals an accountability to keep me on track.
I have to ask, what is a capstone project. I did my MA a couple of years ago and we must be working on totally different systems. It all depends on the discipline of course. So, a bit more, what is your MA on/in? Feel free to elaborate.
Silly me for not providing a description. The MA I’m working on is called “Master of Arts in Communications and Technology” at the University of Alberta in Canada. It is a professional degree designed for people who work full-time. The capstone project is very similar to a thesis. The main differences are: we are conducting data-gathering research and we are not required to defend our projects to an academic panel. It goes through a review process instead. Please let me know if you have anymore questions about it!