Ideas for non-medicated focusing?

Not much time to post today, but I wanted to check in briefly to quell the feeling I have that I've been neglecting this blog, and to provide a quick update.

I've had two meetings with my advisor since I wrote last. While he is not ecstatic at my slow progress, he is glad that I am making progress. I have another meeting with him on Monday, and am determined to make it into the lab for at least a few hours before then. On the positive side, I am much closer to actual data analysis with the non-lab part of my project, and am really looking forward to seeing what insight my data might offer up.

The fall semester has started, along with associated teaching responsibilities. This is my third time teaching this particular class, which is great, and somewhat a gift from my advisor, who is involved with the process of assigning TA-ships to the grad students in our department. Because it is my third time teaching this class, I finally feel fairly confident with teaching the subject material, and am happy to be focusing more attention on the act of teaching itself. I love teaching, and I'm really looking forward to helping my students do as well as they want to do in a class that is viewed by many of them as a "weed out" course. More on that in a later post.

On the personal side, I'm settling nicely into my new living situation, which has already had a really positive effect on my progress. It's so much easier to focus on my dissertation, and since living here depends partly on me making significant progress, I am a bit more motivated on a daily basis.

And now for the big news... I found out Tuesday morning that I am pregnant!  I'm definitely happy about it, but at the same time a little nervous about my ability to stay on track without my medication. The ADHD meds have been a lifesaver for me, but I know that I don't want to be taking them while I'm pregnant, so I'm going to have to figure out alternative strategies for when I am having a difficult time focusing on the task on hand.

That's about it for now. I need to get ready to get my butt out the door for a 10am appointment, and there's a bit of administrative stuff I need to do before then, in addition to trying to get past the slight bout of morning sickness that is making it difficult to concentrate...

So now that you have the inside scoop (so far only the parents and me and my boyfriend know about the little life inside me), if you have any strategies for non-medicated focusing, please, please, please, let me know!  Thanks!

An update...

There's nothing quite like trying to get in a productive routine, only to be interrupted by the chaos of moving.

On the up side, I think the place I have moved to will be good for my productivity (read 'focus') in the long run. In my 'old' situation ('old' as of Thursday evening), I had a drunken roommate who never lifted a finger to help clean the apartment, and who was perhaps the most obliviously selfish, inconsiderate person I have ever had such a long association with.

Having not had a roommate other than my husband (now ex-husband) for 14 years, and having only good roommate experiences before that, I have decided to chalk my most recent roommate debacle up to experience, and have learned a great deal from it, none of which I will go into detail about now. Suffice to say that any future roommate I have will be researched a little better than the last one...

On the downside, I haven't gotten much done towards my dissertation since my last meeting with my advisor two weeks ago. Packing, moving, and cleaning always take me way longer than I think it should. As does settling into a new place.

Pretty much everything at the new place is still in chaos, except that I have managed to finally get my desk area set up to where it is workable; there is still much to do before it is how I want it, but it is good enough to get me through this work week so I can focus on getting back on track.

I have a meeting with my advisor in an hour... hopefully he will be understanding about my temporary derailment resulting from the move. I'm just going to be honest with him, but also try to reassure him that I am back on track. With teaching done for the summer, I have 19 days until the fall semester starts (including weekends) to focus entirely on my dissertation. I feel confident that in that 19 days I can get into a new routine and make good progress.

To do right now, make a 'to-do'list for those 19 days to show my advisor today...

That's all for now. I just wanted to check in here, confess to my lack of progress, and publicly announce my temporarily vague goal of getting back on track. Now it's time to get to work and make my short-term (next two weeks) goals a little more concrete.

In pursuit of organization and productivity

It's been a week since my last post, but it hardly feels like it. I've been spending way too much time researching productivity apps and websites, and not enough time on actual productivity. I'm hoping the time investment now will pay off in the future.

I've had a week of using Remember the Milk and a nifty app called Pomodroido.  They are a good combination.  Remember the Milk keeps track of my to-do lists and sends me text reminders when something is due in an hour, and at the time it is due. Pomodroido helps to keep me focused on what I am supposed to be doing, but allows me little breaks every so often.

Today I installed Evernote... I'm hoping this could be the demise of little scraps of paper all over the apartment... I'll post an update after I've had a chance to really put it to use.

The only thing missing now is some way to keep track of projects, such as my dissertation... I'm currently reviewing my options, but am leaning strongly towards Producteev.

That's it for now. I'm in the process of moving, and I have a ton of work to do before a meeting with my advisor Monday... back to work!