{"id":7832,"date":"2016-07-22T15:35:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T20:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/?p=7832"},"modified":"2025-07-29T15:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:53:12","slug":"what-are-you-doing-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/blog\/what-are-you-doing-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"What are you doing RIGHT NOW?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_16386\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16386\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16386\" src=\"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160722_bigben-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An image of Big Ben in London.\" width=\"300\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160722_bigben-scaled.jpg 1284w, https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160722_bigben-770x1536.jpg 770w, https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160722_bigben-1027x2048.jpg 1027w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16386\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What are you doing RIGHT NOW?<\/figcaption><\/figure>Stop.<\/p>\n<p>What are you doing <em>right now?<\/em> Right this very minute.<\/p>\n<p>Stop for a couple of minutes and answer that question.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all it takes. Just stop. Look around. Are you where you wanted to be at this time of TODAY? Are you past that? Did you get sidetracked? Are you focused? Are you floundering, confused, overwhelmed? Are you hungry or thirsty? Is your brain tired? Do you need a nap? Are you cooking with gas?<\/p>\n<p>What are you doing <em>right now?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Answer the question.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"post\">bullet journals<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">productivity apps<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">to-do lists<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">habit trackers<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Pomodoro<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">time tracking<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">GSD (Getting Stuff Done)<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">etc<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">etc<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">etc<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have failed or I flail at any or all of these. To-do lists and GSD works the most consistently, but some days that\u2019s not saying much.<\/p>\n<p>Some of my Twitter friends and I are productivity enthusiasts, which is to say, we <em>try<\/em>. And flail. Sometimes fail. We run through methods to see what we like, what we don\u2019t like, what will work provided we work it, what won\u2019t work or what we won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>Mostly we do it for the stationery.<\/p>\n<p>Not really. All we really want to do is get our stuff done so we can do other things that make us happy. That\u2019s all any of us (productivity enthusiasts or not) really want.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what we tell ourselves anyway.<\/p>\n<p>My main method of wrangling my productivity or lack thereof is a combination to-do list, a dun-did list, and mind-mapping with a splash of GSD. (Bullet journaling is beyond my comprehension.) I\u2019m not always faithful about this. But!<\/p>\n<p>I have several problems, three of which are:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"alpha\">I\u2019m addicted to procrastination (which is a form of thrill-seeking)<\/li>\n<li class=\"alpha\">I\u2019m only able to focus on one thing at a time and I lose time like crazy, and<\/li>\n<li class=\"alpha\">I\u2019m terrified of getting everything done. What would I do then?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>But I ran across this: WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW? I don\u2019t know where. I meant to make a note so I could link back to the article. But it only built on an idea I had when I heard the local college\u2019s clocktower chime.<\/p>\n<p>I have alarms on my phone set for 9a, 11a, 3p, 7p, and 9p and I use distinctive ringtone(s).<sup class='footnote' id='fnref-7832-1'><a href='#fn-7832-1' rel='footnote'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>This one thing, more than anything I have tried thus far, has managed to make me more aware of my daily pace. Even if I don\u2019t write in my journal, even if I don\u2019t have a to-do list, even if I don\u2019t have a dun-did list, when I hear my distinctive ringtones, I know exactly what time it is and I can make a mental note of where I am in my day and what I still need to do.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t wander around so aimlessly now if I\u2019ve hit the wall.<\/p>\n<p>And so I leave you with these and two questions:<\/p>\n<p>What are you doing <em>right now?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s your most effective productivity mechanism(s)?<\/p>\n<div class=\"p7832\">\n<div class=\"compact_audio_player_wrapper\"><div class=\"sc_player_container1\"><input type=\"button\" id=\"btnplay_69d3e4494f2963.57909327\" class=\"myButton_play\" onClick=\"play_mp3('play','69d3e4494f2963.57909327','http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/music\/ScottJoplin_TheEntertainer.mp3','80','false');show_hide('play','69d3e4494f2963.57909327');\" \/><input type=\"button\"  id=\"btnstop_69d3e4494f2963.57909327\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"myButton_stop\" onClick=\"play_mp3('stop','69d3e4494f2963.57909327','','80','false');show_hide('stop','69d3e4494f2963.57909327');\" \/><div id=\"sm2-container\"><!-- flash movie ends up here --><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201cThe Entertainer\u201d by Scott Joplin <\/div>\n<div class=\"p7832\">\n<div class=\"compact_audio_player_wrapper\"><div class=\"sc_player_container1\"><input type=\"button\" id=\"btnplay_69d3e449ed6032.62099208\" class=\"myButton_play\" onClick=\"play_mp3('play','69d3e449ed6032.62099208','http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/music\/ScottJoplin_MapleLeafRag.mp3','80','false');show_hide('play','69d3e449ed6032.62099208');\" \/><input type=\"button\"  id=\"btnstop_69d3e449ed6032.62099208\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"myButton_stop\" onClick=\"play_mp3('stop','69d3e449ed6032.62099208','','80','false');show_hide('stop','69d3e449ed6032.62099208');\" \/><div id=\"sm2-container\"><!-- flash movie ends up here --><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u201cMaple Leaf Rag\u201d by Scott Joplin<\/div>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">______________________________<\/p>\n<p class=\"footnote\"><span class='footnote' id='fn-7832-1'><a href='#fnref-7832-1'>1<\/a>.<\/span> But here\u2019s the thing: When I set up my alarms, I knew I had to select my alarms very carefully. The ringtone couldn\u2019t be something I already like because I\u2019d ruin the song for myself. It couldn\u2019t be funereal or serious. It couldn\u2019t be too engaging, e.g., too peppy or with lyrics. It couldn\u2019t be something one hears here and there throughout the course of one\u2019s life.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As I already had alarms set for 11, 3, and 7, and I needed to distinguish these somehow, I needed two so I could differentiate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stop. What are you doing right now? Right this very minute. Stop for a couple of minutes and answer that question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7832"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16545,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions\/16545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}