I’ve been catching by reflecting on my own Action Log for the month of October 2011. Following the trusty old Gibbs Model of Reflection, I gathered the data in and answered the six prompts in order, using a private and distraction-free text editor. We’ll be returning to Gibbs in future posts no doubt but for now here are the rough headlines that structure the reflective model:
What happened? Describing the data How do you feel about it? Deal with the emotions What do you make of it? Analysis What are the implications? Conclusions What next? – Make an Action Plan
The problem I had with the data from my current practice of action logging is probably a common one, that of coping with the different categories of actions. I have recognised in the past that pinning down exactly what constitutes an action for the purpose of action logging and what doesn’t, the question of definition, is something that is inevitably loose and constantly changing. Whatever definition you try to abide by will just have to be revisited on a semi-constant basis. Well the bad news is that the same goes for sub-categories of actions. Over the course of just one month I found that some categories had fallen into disuse, while one or two new ones had popped up mid month. Not only that but my practice of assigning actions to categories had shifted around a fair bit as well. So it is with subjective data. Every morning when I quickly update my action log for the previous day, I may be feeling a greater or lesser sense of urgency, my optimist/pessimist meter may have swung from one side to the other overnight and any judgments that I make on the fly will be swayed by these and other factors. But this is the real world we are working with, and one thing to marvel at in some ways, is the fact that I did manage to keep at it for yet another month, so at least I do have this messy, subjective data of limited accuracy rather than none at all or just a hopelessly skewed impression from medium term memory. I took the three main categories, relating to three quite separate life goals, and reflected on them individually, using the first two as a warm up exercise for the third really, which is the Action Log proper. I’ll try not to bore you with the details but I did pretty well on the fitness front, taking exercise on 29 out 31 days. Yes, I do actually muddle in some basic exercise records alongside my publishing actions, it suits me to do that. I wondered if I should have taken slightly more complete rest days than 2, but I know little about these things at present. I wrote a bit of a reflective splurge about it all too, which makes interesting reading looking back, with a few insights I need to keep at the forefront next month, so I’ll need to extract them from out of the private reflection document and put them somewhere more enduring. Music is on the back ring for a few weeks, but still bubbling away. It’s important to me to keep an eye on that one too, in time for January. =October Action Log=
1) Description Describe as a matter of fact just what happened during your critical incident or chosen episode for reflection.
I continued to record an action log every day during October. It's on the wiki. Mostly I did this in the morning, pertaining to the previous day. As well as Actions - pieces of content published - I also tracked Exercise, Music, and some other URLs to bookmark. I recorded these categories and some others into Joe's Goals as well. The definitions and categories tend to creep as the weeks pass. DATA: 77 actions of one type or another. Self criticising, I would ask - how many are really genuine articles of original content published?
I think 20. So out of 26 working days, only 20 articles. But out of 31 days, 77 actions of some type. 2) Feelings What were you thinking and feeling at the time?
At the time I was mostly feeling that I wasn't getting enough done, but I enjoyed the ritual of updating my action log each morning. Rituals, good habits that stick, are to be nurtured. 3) Evaluation List points or tell the story about what was GOOD and what was BAD about the experience.
It's good to keep it up for a whole month. Good to try to categorise actions, to revisit definitions. But bad to let it slip.
Bad that I still can't count easily the exact number of genuine tight definition actions that have been taken, or unique top quality articles shipped. Bad that I haven't progressed the main project much.
Good that the number 77 is actually higher than I thought it would be. 4) Analysis What sense can you make out of the situation. What does it mean?
It's still hard, I'm struggling with it, but I have by no means given up. The data is sloppy, there's still plenty of potential to become a lot more productive, way more. 5) Conclusion What else could you have done. What should you perhaps not have done.
I could have taken more actions by avoiding the distractions better.
I could have stuck to a strict definition of Actions Taken instead of letting the definition drift.
I shouldn't have introduced the T=Trivial code.
Are URLs and Actions getting mixed up when they shouldn't be, as a result of trying to dual purpose the action log?
Dual purpose as in recording Actions for Action Logging, while also bookmarking URLs for link posting? 6) Action Plan If it arose again, what would you do differently. How will you adapt your practice in the light of this new understanding?
I shall continue Action Logging for November, revising the category codes and the dual purposing ASAP.
