Monday 11 June 2012

Moving forwards

Following inspiration from Dave Lee King I decided to stop planning and writing posts, and just post them!

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This year I will be 30-mumble and I've still not done so many of the things that I want to do with my life. Some of these are to a greater or lesser extent beyond my control – having a family, for example, but others are not. So, having been subjected to a full course of The Pacific Institute psychology*, I thought I'd make some constructive use of it! I am a prime procrastinator so it's probably no surprise that I'm not much closer to achieving this dream now than I was 12 years ago when I graduated…

So my 'affirmation'** is this (they have to be written in the present tense):

I am enthusiastically studying at the university of my choice for an MA in Medieval Studies / Medieval History, and confidently getting the best grades I can so that my tutors will be happy to recommend me for a funded PhD place.

So, I'm not going to stick a definite time limit on this, because I don't know whether I will be acceptable as I am now, but I AM moving things forward. My plan:

  1. Identify where I definitely want to study – must be either distance learning, evening classes or with a possibility of some sort of sponsorship
  2. Write letters to the tutors in charge of the programmes I am interested in outlining my background (degree in another subject but with a strong history element, MA LIS, professional librarian, evening classes at Birkbeck in Palaeography and Latin a few years back) to find out whether I can apply straight away or if they would prefer me to take a course such as the one offered by Oxford here: Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in Local History as a sort of conversion course.
  3. Apply! (and hopefully get accepted)
  4. Work my SOCKS off

3 has a subsidiary to it – especially if I apply and get accepted to Birkbeck. I need to be working somewhere which pays more if I am to be paying course fees as well. So, the subsidiary, which I am working on, is Get a New Job. I have two applications in and three others I am seriously considering…

Baby steps but moving forwards.

If you are interested, which I doubt, but just in case… I am considering applying to Birkbeck (evenings, part time), Trinity Saint David's (distance, part time), Leeds and possibly KCL (if I could get at least a fees remission).

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As an aside I do have another affirmation I'm working on, this one a domestic one. It might seem silly but to be utterly frank the state of our home in the last few years would be best described as gross…:

I have a clean and tidy house to which I am pleased to invite friends and family to visit.

Well it's not perfect yet, by a long shot. But we have got 2 rooms clear and another almost complete. I'm not going to consider the garden yet though – only problem with being up here is the amount of rainfall makes the garden rather, err, lush!

~~~

Notes:

* AKA as TPI training, and known affectionately amongst colleagues as 'Brain-washing', 'happy clap', and 'turning you into a pod person'… J

**
An affirmation is a written or oral expression that represents a belief about ourselves. Affirmations are built on the theory that people's beliefs in their own self-efficacy mobilize them to accomplish goals. http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/files/pdfs/CurriculumFoundations.pdf [PDF]


 

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