It's All About the Plan

I'm working on some personal issues, one being my propensity to procrastinate and put off tasks I find distasteful. Unfortunately, that list of tasks includes nearly every housekeeping job and most of the projects I need to do at work (the "why" behind this attitude is an entirely different issue that I'm not going to tackle right now).

I'm beginning with some things at work, particularly on a relatively easy task I've put off for over a month. I've started working on Saturdays when no one else is in the office and I don't have any public responsibilities. So, here is the plan for tomorrow:

It may be too complicated to execute, but here are the timers that go along with the plan:

Notice the positive self talk on the plan? That's my Adult Ego State trying to get buy-in from my Child Ego State to go ahead and get the long-procrastinated task finished.

The plan requires only 3.5 hours of work for a 7.5 hour day, but the idea is that once I get into something I'll build momentum and want to keep going. There are a few production goals and one "bonus" task at the bottom of the page to help focus my efforts. And once I've completed the required 3.5 hours, I earn a trip to Sonic.

I'd like to say the Sonic trip is a special event, but it's in fact a regular occurrence (also another issue for another day). I don't ALWAYS get a sundae, however, so this trip will be sort of special.

So here's to the Plan. I think it's a good one, though purple ink would have made it even better!

This Week in Auntie K Land

• Tuesday: Was accepted to East TN State University as a non-degree seeking student (no exams required). Will probably take Philosophy of Public Health and Epidemiology I in the fall, but I have over a month before I can register.
• Thursday: Volunteered at Cub Scout Day Camp. Got to spend all day at the first aid tent. Woo-hoo! Yes, as a volunteer, not as a patient. I cleaned several wounds and attended to two nosebleeds. Now I'm ready for a shower.
• Friday: Spending the day with the two youngest nephews while the rest of the family visits an amusement park. I think I got the best part of that deal.

My Debut

A coworker and I are giving an hour long webinar today. I didn't think it would be a big deal until we started practicing. Turns out, this is much more difficult than speaking in front of a live audience. With no visual connection to your audience and a mic right next to your mouth (they can see my slides and hear me but not see me), there is no margin for error. Kind of like moving from the piano to the organ--you know the basics, but there are so many new subtle differences waiting to trip you up, and the new medium is much less forgiving than the familiar one.

For those in the know, this is the same presentation (about new and remodeled library classrooms) we gave in Columbus at the beginning of the month, repeated online for a new audience.

Needless to say, I'll be glad when this is over. Too bad I have all kinds of other overdue task waiting to be completed when this is done.

Really?

I am apparently so pathetic that I just watched this entire Slinky on a treadmill video. Twice.

The Plan

Twenty years (and one month!) ago, I finished a bachelor's degree in art history. After a relatively lucrative but soul killing career as a contract administrator, I earned a master's degree in library science and moved to Tennessee to live the dream as an academic librarian.

I like my job most of the time. Among (lots of) other things, I answer research questions at the reference desk and teach about 60 library instruction sessions a year to classes in all disciplines. Many of the classes are freshman English classes, and over the past 5 years, my enthusiasm for working with first-year students has waned. I'm not interested in most of their research topics, and many of the students are not interested in what I can teach them. However, I do enjoy working with nursing, biology and nutrition classes. The students are often more invested in the research process and their research topics are usually pretty interesting.

So, my new dream is to reinvent myself as a health sciences librarian, preferably at a university or medical school (Vanderbilt would be convenient!), and to do many of the same things I do in my current job, but to do them more exclusively with students in medical and health disciplines.

To be hired as a health sciences librarian, however, I'll need work or educational experience in a health-related field. I'm probably not cut out for nursing school, which was one option I considered. Thankfully, however, my brother mentioned public health, and that's when the light bulb came on.

Public health is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses not only health and medicine, but also communication, education, and other social sciences. To me, that's the best of all worlds rolled into one. I like reading about and studying medicine and health, but I'm not interested in being a medical practitioner. Research and education, however--I can do that!

As fortune has it, East Tennessee State University has a Master's of Public Health program that is taught completely online. Thus, I could complete an MPH program while continuing to work at MTSU. I missed the March deadline to apply to the program this year, so this month I am applying to ETSU as a non-degree seeking student. If accepted to ETSU, I would take public health classes this fall and next spring. If then accepted into the public health program next summer, I could transfer up to nine credit hours earned as a non-degree student and apply the hours toward the MPH degree.

Even if I never end up working as a health sciences librarian, a second master's degree is a good thing for an academic librarian to have. Many schools require a second degree for employment or for promotion, though my current employer doesn't care.

The one huge hurdle in the plan, besides paying for everything and doing well in my classes, is that I need to take and earn good scores on the GRE before I apply to the public health program. I've taken the exam twice in the past, but scores are only good for 5 years. Also, my previous scores in the quantitative (MATH) section never put me above the 50th percentile rank, something I'll need to improve in order to be accepted into the program.

So, that's the plan. Thanks for reading.