.............thud

For two weeks i have been overseas. It was a fine break and for those few days the looming pressure of completing my final year at University seemed a distant memory. But this utopian existence was shattered almost the moment i landed in the UK.

I arrived home to a plethora of emails lurking amidst which was a request for an updated dissertation proposal. No problem in itself but the 3 hours to turn it out was a little more problematic. Combine this with receiving the news while being in the day job and this was a deadline that was not going to be met. One cringing email and a busy evening of typing later and it was none the less submitted.

All good then but this sudden change of pace has had quite an adverse affect on my nerves. Suddenly anxiety levels rise along mixed in with seemingly insurmountable self-doubt and a genuine fear that i am never going to do this. Not a good mind set and something had to be done.

Indexical

My solution was to buy some index cards and surely any sane person would have done the same. The aim of these cards was to give me some structure and provide a quick and easy to get my thoughts down on paper. I got the idea from looking at extracts from Dennis Oppenheim's sketch books. In these Oppenheim briefly writes down his ideas in a few short lines. Some went on to be made while others stayed in the book. I did the same and also wrote down a few keys words that embodied the sort of work i wanted to create (similar, if much less dramatic, to Serra's verb list). This was really helpful. My mind felt less cluttered and just by writing a few words i got a much better idea of what ideas might work and which wouldn't.

The second thing i did was work out all the time i have free between now and February. This sounds a bit ridiculous but has proved to be the best way for me to get work done without a constant sense of over whelming panic. Once this is done i then look at my timetable and see what needs to be done when. Each task is given an amount of time and then recorded in iCal accordingly. I have never considered myself a compulsive person but this sort of behaviour make me think again. Regardless it is doing things like this that allow me to function effectively.

Plan in place all i need to do now is the work. easy