The Twitter of the birds

I take a week off from all technology and next I know I'm behind in my Rudai23 course, video and live streaming have passed me by and reflective practice appears again asking us questions about time management!
To be honest I'm not too upset about missing video and live streaming, yes it's good to know how these things work but I really have no interest in participating in such exercises.  I've decided to keep certain technologies at arms length and perhaps in time experiment with them when the need arises. At least I'll be aware of the basics now thanks to the course.

'the real Twitter in the morning'

As for reflective practice with continued professional development and time management as key topics I see the difficulties people have in juggling personal and professional lives.  I'm finding it difficult to embrace technology on an everyday basis.  I have all the gadgets and gizmos needed to have 24/7 access but I just don't want to.  I have business commitments outside of the library service, live in a rural area with responsibilities to equine and farming life also.  I love nothing more than the solace of an early morning with just the twitter of real birds and Sammy, the German Shepherd for company.

I work on any email/LinkedIn issues when the house returns to quiet after my little one goes to bed and I limit myself to one hour of my time to all things social media related.  Then it's off to a quiet corner with a book and a cup of tea and I'm a happy bunny! I think we all to often let technology dictate our lives instead of letting technology enhance our life and make it easier.  We shouldn't be tied to our smart phones waiting for the next email/twit or Facebook like. We see all too often now that teenagers and youth are more comfortable online than talking and engaging in person, this leads to communication issues, isolation and defeats the purpose of having technology in the first place.  The important thing to remember is technology is a tool and should be treated as such.

As for professional development, cutbacks in organisation mean that there are limited funds to attend courses and conferences but I do like to attend events just to keep my toe in the water.  I attended the 10th ENROAC Conference in NUI, Galway recently which is the European Network for Research on Organizational and Accounting Change. It was an International conference with lecturers from USA and Italy leading the discussions.  While the conference is a reflection on my MBA (corporate accounting),  it also had strong presentations on the importance of quality information in real time for businesses to achieve market dominance.  Interestingly, information professionals were seen as key to economic advancement.  I'm heading to the Irish Academy of Management Conference in September with the theme 'Towards Socially Responsible Management'. Looking forward to some interesting presentations.

As for every day time management?
My day does start early as I rise at 5.30am, this gives me time to have breakfast, do outdoor chores and prepare evening dinner (then all I have to do is pop things in the oven later) I'm so lucky that my daughter sleeps through the night and has to be called for breakfast - mum's out there are now killing me because I have it so easy.  I know colleagues who have a busy household from first light.

Any tips I'd give colleagues? I've no fail safe ways to time management but these work for me.  Prepare things the night before - lay out your outfits with accessories and shoes, buy a coffee machine with a timer and then fresh coffee awaits you in the morning when you stumble into the kitchen. Set aside one hour for yourself to do this course and all things social media related and when the hour is up, walk away.  After a few days, you'll get into the hang of been focused online and might even steal in a bit of online shopping...it can be classed as research, can't it??