It's a gorgeous day outside, beautifully sunny although too cool for this Texas girl. I think it's supposed to only get to 60-ish, and then a cold front comes in sometime tomorrow.
Still, days like this make me generally happy with the world. I love the bright sunshine and crystal clear blue sky. Even though everything is brown or bare and dormant, the sun never fails to lift my spirits. If it's sunny, I'm happy. Plus it makes me want to do odd chores around the house.Today my odd chores are including things like, going through all my books and pulling out any I won't re-read. I'll give them to charity. I'm also doing random straightening of shelves and counters, putting things away, throwing things away. It's like a weird nesting instinct, to putter around the house and clean up and make the house just right. It hits me occasionally.
I've gotten through the first week of the new year at work, and damn, I have a lot to do. Periodically I get a mild panic-attack feeling, of not being able to get it all done. Then I have to take a deep breath and calmly consider how things are going. I did finish one manuscript this week, so we'll make the deadline on that. And I finished one out of 7 lectures that are due by February 1st, and started the second. And there's good news in that next Monday the installation is scheduled for the first new amino acid analyzer. The second one will be installed a week later. Then validations will proceed as quickly as possible. The bad news is that I have a manuscript that's now past it's deadline. That's the bad news about having a co-author. Even though I met the deadline with my half, he didn't, so our manuscript is now late. I'm going to have to nag him this next week and hope for the best. Another one of the million and a half reasons I'd rather do things myself than trust other people to get them done.
Over-functioning, over-functioning. That's what the lab administrative director calls it. I should delegate and hold people responsible. Only if they're not responsible, it becomes my problem when things don't get done. This is my toughest dilemma as a boss. If I do it myself, I know that it will get done, and get done right. If I delegate it, I then have to make sure the delegee performs, because ultimately it's still my problem, with me getting the blame if it's not done. The dilemma? How do you make someone perform? I've tried so many tacks: what can I do to help you? what can I do to make sure you have time to get this done? daily emails asking for progress on the issue. And still it's not done, and comes home to roost on my desk.
I will say, I've developed a new personality to deal with some of the people in my lab. The trick seems to be not just to do my job, but to do it loudly and ostentatiously so that everyone is aware of every aspect of what I do. It seems that all some folks understand is that the person who they see making the most noise = the person getting the most done. I took a long time to learn this basic 'truth'. When I just quietly go about my job, some people really think that I'm not doing anything! Thus all my hassles back in September. So my new personality goes by the name of "Diva" and she's an in-your-face, look-what-I've-accomplished-now personality. She gets along well with my other alter egos, and is invaluable in dealing with people. They really seem to think that I'm doing a whole lot of work that I wasn't doing before. Sadly, I am doing more work, but most of it is in sustaining Diva's personality. Yes, it's true. I'm working hard to show people that I'm working rather than just doing my job like I used to.
*shakes head* Here I am complaining about work again. Considering all that, it's amazing that I still like my job, isn't it? Weirdly, I'm no more fond of certain people, and less fond of a few, but I still love my job. And even more weirdly, Diva is fun. She's so outspoken and so 'blow-your-own-horn'. I didn't even realize I had that type of personality in me. Maybe I should change my name to Sybil, huh? That's four personalities now. Me, ET (evil twin), cst (chibi-shopping triplet) and Diva. *laughing* Probably normal people deal with things as a whole person rather than splitting themselves into different egos to deal with different aspects of their lives. Sounds boring.
At any rate, guess I'll go back to puttering around the house and see what I can actually manage to accomplish.
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