I realised something about myself over the past week. It’s a character flaw which presents itself as a kind of ‘Type A’ humblebrag.
I’m an adult who doesn’t need to ask permission from anyone to do anything. I don’t have an employer to please, nor do I need to achieve anything more in my life to be deemed ‘successful’.
And yet, I rarely give myself a day off. In fact, it’s worse than that: I ‘beast’ myself physically, mentally, and emotionally to to a point where I struggle. This gives me an excuse to engage in self-medicating behaviours (which are almost certainly less exciting than the ones you’re imagining).
For example, I walk too far and too quickly and do far too much work for a single module. This leads to periods of time when I’m unable to function at my usual level, so I can actually do things for my own enjoyment rather than perpetuate a system I’ve designed for performance rather than pleasure.
Perhaps I should follow Morrissey’s advice to do your best and don’t worry. Easier said than done when the permission slip you’re seeking is from yourself.
I’m tired. It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m watching Man Utd vs West Ham on TV instead of taking my son out for a driving lesson. He’s nursing an injured ankle from what sounds like a somewhat fractious match against a team who have always been known for their spicy tackling.
My wife and I had to divide and conquer as he and and my daughter had games at pretty much the same time. She also injured her ankle in while playing for a mixed team. I heard the contact from a flying slide tackle by their centre forward over at the other side of the pitch. It quite rightly earned him a yellow card. I think she’ll be OK, as will my son.
On Thursday, I managed 280kg on the leg press at the gym, which is three times my body weight. While I was impressed with myself for achieving it, I found it difficult to sleep that night as my lower back was hurting. Perhaps I’ll ease off a bit now that I’ve proved I can do it. According to Strava I’m 16.6km ‘ahead of plan’ to run 1,000km this year, which I’ve achieved by adding short 2.5km treadmill runs before my weights sessions.
Last week, I mentioned that I’d asked for an extension for my latest MSc module assessment. I’ve started on this after finishing the activities from Part 2. It’s not easy, but then that’s the point. I like that I can immediately apply it to client work we’re doing — and, indeed, my ‘situation of interest’ (i.e. case study) concerns work we’re doing with the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC).
We ran a Theory of Change workshop with the DCC on Tuesday. Having run these with multiple clients, I’ve written this up as a post for the WAO blog. I’ll publish it when one of my colleagues has had a chance to review it and give feedback. I’ve also been doing client work for our collaborations with Participate, the Toro Impact project with CSUDH, and a digital integration project with WEAll. Laura and I also managed to record another episode of our podcast which will go live at… some point.
After much postponement, on Friday we finally had gigabit fibre broadband installed courtesy of Virgin Media. What. A. Difference. Not only should I have the lowest ping out of my gamer crew this evening, but I shouldn’t have Zoom calls flake out on me. Thankfully, although we’re planning to be moving within a matter of weeks, we should be able to take our account with us to the new house.
On Tuesday, we went e-karting again, this time with all of Team Belshaw getting involved. Hannah got absolutely taken out by a rando on the circuit meaning she had to apply ice to her shoulder and sit out the second session. There were some on the track at the same time as us with their own helmets and suits, so we weren’t really racing against them.
Not being competitive at all, I’ll just point out that I beat my son by over a second (in terms of our fastest lap). I’m sure he would point out that I span out several times and perhaps that you’re supposed to let the birthday boy win. Whatever.
Next week, my MSc assignment is due so that’s going to be top of my mind over the next few days. We’ll also be starting a new user research project, running a second Theory of Change workshop with DCC, and continuing with other work.
I’m recording an episode of the Artificiality podcast with Helen and Dave Edwards on Tuesday, after they mentioned some of my thinking on the concept of a ‘serendipity surface‘. I’m also going to get back to posting regularly at Thought Shrapnel, but that’s probably going to have to wait until I’ve submitted my assignment (due midday on Thursday).
Yesterday, I was pulled over by the police for “driving without due care and attention”. Apparently my crime was “late signalling” onto a slip road after my wife mentioned that she needed something from the supermarket. It’s probably a good job I had my family in the car, as arguing with a police officer isn’t likely to end well.
This week, for the first time in my academic career, I asked for an extension to an assignment for my MSc in Systems Thinking. I was given an extra week, which will take the pressure off quite a bit. Here’s what I wrote as a result of my studies since last time:
I’ve got a busy time coming as work ramps up after an always-quiet January and we get ready to move house. Our offer on a place we really want was accepted on Monday, so we’ve been wrangling estate agents and solicitors so that we can exchange and complete as soon as possible. The vendors have already bought the place they’re moving to next, and we’re currently renting, so we’re hoping to be in by Easter.
On the work front, I’ve been collaborating on projects for Participate, the DCC, and WEAll. Having narrowly missed out with the invitation to tender NCS put out around customer journey mapping, we’re still talking to them about doing some work around Open Badges / Verifiable Credentials. We’re going to do some user research for Participate over and above the work we’re doing with them already, and I’ve had a couple of conversations that might lead to other projects. One in particular could be quite fun.
There have been cancelled training sessions for sporting activities this week, and our two don’t have a football match today. Yesterday, my son’s basketball team won and he scored a fantastic 3-pointer; my daughter’s football team won 5-0 in windy conditions on a heavy pitch. It’s the first match she hasn’t scored in… maybe this season?
Next week, we’re going e-karting again and we’ve got a meeting with the bank in which we’ll need to decide how much we want to borrow for the various improvements we want to make to the house we’ve bought. A new kitchen is a given, but there’s also an opportunity to convert part of the garage into a room and add an extension. We’ll see.
Image: Coach Marc Steutel addresses the Newcastle Eagles basketball team on Tuesday night during their 100-92 win against Liege Basket. See if you can spot me in the photos on the Eagles website! (clue: in the audience on the second and fourth pics)
