Bad Faery

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Sometimes you hit a wall

So after taking a study break on Easter Saturday and Sunday I hit the books again yesterday and promptly hit a wall. I sat and read the same page at least five times and barely took in a word. I tried reading really slowly but to no avail. My concentration had gone awol and my mind was flitting unproductively all over the place - what should I have for dinner...oooh Battlestar Galactica’s back in only two weeks...mmmn still some Easter Eggs left, wouldn’t hurt to have a little more chocolate...you get the point.

But! Thing is, I’m behind! I should have finished that unit last week and there I was still stuck on the second page of Chapter 7. I really, really needed to crack on with it. So I thought a change of scene might help. Instead of sitting at my desk I got down on the floor in front of the fire because the floor offers not just a change of scene but a different physical perspective too. That worked for a little while but still...Carol Myers-Scotton’s Markedness Model was definitely not sinking in yet.

Not yet willing to admit defeat I decided that I would do a little work on my glossary (to be hence forth known as the Big Damn Glossary). At least then the day’s studying would not have proved a complete wash-out. But working on the Big Damn Glossary can be more than a little tedious so after 15 minutes of that my brain was screaming “For the love of God and all that is holy, stop torturing yourself!!!”

Another change of strategy was called for! I went upstairs and grabbed a big handful of coloured pens, a few sheets of A3 size cartridge paper and started doing some very colourful mindmaps. And things finally started to stick…

Better still when I woke up this morning it was all still there, I can remember all the theories, the names of the theorists, the studies by other researchers that extend on those theories, hell, even the years of some of the studies...success!

Blocks - we all get them. The important thing for me to remember when I’m struggling like this is that with a little creativity and application you can always find a way through them.

Comments:

Glad you broke through your block and creativity did the trick! Maybe the little bit of chocolate helped too.

Posted by lynn on 03/25 at 07:29 PM

Chocolate ALWAYS helps:)

Posted by Bad Faery on 03/25 at 08:04 PM

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