Current Affairs ....

Looking back this week regarding the PhD ... not much done actually. It was not a good idea somehow to cancel the lab meeting on Thursday morning. I was not "forced" to present some results. It was a great opportunity again to procrastinate on this project. Yes, I did the protein networks for the mouse, but as I had created quite a system for this it was easily done. By the way, my supervisor hasn't said anything to the results yet *sniff*. So, what are the next steps then?

The gene expression data from Kate focusing on Macrophages looks quite interesting. I am concerned about the value of this approach as mouse PPI data, especially for the endocytosis process, are not enough of quantity so far. But I would like to give it a try, to get some analysis data for my thesis. That means I have to do some mapping again. So, let's find a way to find the connection between the GEO project GSE10246 (I like this number) and Entrez GeneIDs.

Also it would be good to get the third chapter of my thesis going. Not much context so far. Ok, to be honest nothing so far ... still just the mindmap. If there wouldn't be all these other much more interesting projects in my ToDo list. The possible outcome of all the other projects excites me more than this PhD. What is the goal again? Hello ... where are you? Is it just because of the title? Who cares about this network thingy I am doing? ... Ok, I assume that's always like this with research. Just keep going now.

Photo Courtesy by Markus Brosch

As I have told a couple of blogs ago, I am back with ThinkingRock. There are some pro and conts, like for any tool and toy. The Pros are that I have things every time with me on my USB stick. So far, wherever I am, there is a computer ... so all good. Of course, I am still carrying my notebook with me. First of all to make notes and second to track my expenses. I might need another strategy for this one. Another thing I like with TR is, it creates all recurrent tasks by itself. That's THE advantage to offline tools – automatisation.

What I am struggling with is the Context feature. I am still not sure for what it is useful. Ok, I actually haven't read David Allen's book “Get things Done”, but Stephane tried to explain it already several times. But no nice way came to my mind. It is a bit annoying as it splits the sorting function. I definitely will have to rethink this feature and make it useful for me.

Before TR I had the strategy to work on a specific project on a specific day. As I couldn't already manage this before jumping onto TR, now it might be even more trickier. As soon as I get an email regarding one specific topic, I can't wait until the day for this project arrives and process it then. What do you think? And also how much details would you put into TR regarding actions and projects. As I want to empty my mind immediately, I would put things down as detailed as possible. Otherwise I keep thinking about it or even forget it and I would lose information.

Yes, in summary I am still in the testing phase, but looking forward to get the projects moving.

Each day now the fight about the PhD. No enthusiasm left. But what can I do? It would be quite stupid to stop now. Now that I am using ThinkingRock, I write down every idea I have and do it step by step. That are really baby steps. Rohan, my supervisor, also mentioned 2 weeks ago, I should start writing my third chapter of the thesis. What I have done so far is a MindMap, better than nothing, right?

No one said it will be easy. I don't make it myself even easy with all the other projects I am running next to it. So, what can I do to make it happen?

- I have to keep meeting Rohan on a regular basis.
- I have to ask the right questions.
- Get the notes down on paper and straight into TR.
- Brainstorm the third chapter. Actually start writing it. It will never be perfect anyway.
- Try to concentrate for 20min ... remove any distraction (email, twitter, etc.)
- Just do it.

Regarding the concentration, it could be still the issue coming from my thyroid. The lower dosage of hormone supplements is apparently not enough to have the energy level as an average normal person. But I need this energy to focus and concentrate.

Photo Courtesy by Markus Brosch

Yes, interest and the right persons around me would make it easier as well. I see it right now as a time waster. My interest is somewhere else, same for goals and applied strategies. I see the PhD as a job I have to get done. Then I can follow my dream fulltime, hehe.

Change in the organisation ...

So, yesterday I have decided to change my personal project management. I am stepping back from the offline agenda to Thinking Rock (TR). It is a software I have used a year ago, but never really made to get into it. I will give it another go, as they give it significant changes and I am ready to use it fully, for business and PhD.

During the last couple of weeks I still made my notes for the PhD completely out of my range. Now I will and can force myself to make the notes (thoughts) directly in TR. This way I will see them every day. I have to admit I am not daily at Uni, but why should I. I can work from everywhere, as long as I have internet connection.

Photo Courtesy by Markus Brosch

Just yesterday was such a day, where nothing went as planned. And if you knew me, you would know how grumpy I can become. So, I just stepped back from the things I had on my list and re-structured everything. In such situation I just do things which are out of any logic. This way I came back to TR again. I know that Apple offers more flexible toys, but I don't have the capacity yet. Don't worry, I am on my way to play with such toys soon *evil*.

This morning the daily activities keep me busy and I should do my PhD stuff. I love to do them, as they give me quite some value and I see more opportunities coming up. But I will have to be more strict on it. 10min for every "Gadget" has to be enough. The network will grow, slowly but strongly.