I berate myself a lot of the time for not working smarter. I usually know what I need to do, and frequently have ample time to work on projects. Unfortunately, like many other people (maybe most other people), I procrastinate. I found that one advantage in working with research groups that meet or talk regularly is that this creates automatic pressure to have something to talk about. If a group is really organized, then people have designated tasks. Even if a group is less organized, conversations or meetings often flow such that each person, in turn, gets his or her time to provide an update. And I, for one, hate telling people that I have not done anything. I particularly hate telling people that more than once. This led me to develop the theory featured in this blog post - the "Thursday afternoon" theory. I should make it clear that the "Thursday afternoon" theory only applies to groups that meet on Fridays. For this theory to apply to your specific group, just select your meeting day and move back 12-24 hours.
The gist of the theory is this: much of the work on a project is done shortly before the next update is due. I used to beat myself up about this: "Why am I waiting until Monday afternoon to work on something I need to talk about on Tuesday morning?" And sometimes I do a better job of, for instance, working hard two or even three days before. (Ideally I like to get my deliverable done for the next meeting immediately after the current meeting. But since I stopped working in regular jobs and started to work in academic settings, my time seemed to stop being so easy to control, which, as I consider that, does not seem to make much sense at all.) Nonetheless, I found that it was not only me who was getting things done right before the meeting - it seemed like everyone else in the group worked that way. This led me to develop the "Thursday afternoon" theory and also to decide that it really doesn't matter if most of the work gets done 12-24 hours before it is "due,' as long as it gets done. So that explains high functioning groups. I am still working on development of a theory to describe groups that cannot seem to get anything done no matter what day/days they meet.
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AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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