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On the power of IM, Priorities, ...and Sleep

No Bruner post tonight. I've spent time playing with new software (which I always enjoy and haven't been able to do nearly enough this past year). A former student (who's planning to become a teacher) also contacted my via IM, so we chatted a while. We'll be meeting for coffee next week... and, naturally, I'll be helping him with a recommendation.

For several years now I've appreciated the power of instant messages to help me communicate with my students (and former students). Now, at the OCDE, I find it helpful for my professional development students, too... other teachers and tech coordinators.

It is also the only reason I have stayed as close as I have to old friends from college, and even from high school. My closest friends for the past several years have been those I could chat with on a regular basis anytime I was online.

Naturally, my coworkers and I also get a lot of work done via IM, and sometimes... it's what keeps us sane in the office.

So this time I've spent tonight gets logged (in a spreadsheet... no joke... resolutions folks) as "nurture friendships" time. After spending the first week of the year as a hermit, setting goals, prioritizing them, and making plans to reach them... I've found this profoundly powerful in helping decide how to spend my time. Strangely, I feel I am no longer letting my phd research fill up huge spans of time to the detriment of my other priorities and relationships - and yet I feel I am probably accomplishing more when I do study.

Another thing this has helped me to do is to continue to move toward a more regular sleep pattern, which turns out to feel surprisingly healthy, even for a night owl. This week, though, I've been getting to bed a little later each night. So, tonight, I crack this off and turn in instead of doing the heavy lifting necessary to finish the Bruner post tonight.

I'm not even staying up late for iPSP. :)

So, as I save and post this, my IM status goes from "Walden University" to "...and Sleep."