Tag: life

Today’s coping tip is to be kind to yourself today. Remember, progress takes time.

I am usually good at this. I work on many things that take time, so I am always looking at things over time.

However, sometimes I feel the weight of work or life and I forget. I’ve been traveling a lot in Oct (and Sept), being gone almost half the time. That makes it hard to concentrate on some things, and I’m often disconnected.

One of those things is my editing queue. It has crept up a bit, and I know it bothers authors, and more importantly, my queue can sometimes disappear, so I need to work on whittling this down. I have slowly been knocking out items, and I’m reminding myself it is getting smaller, even though it sometimes grows with new submissions.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to be kind to yourself. Remember progress takes time.

I’ve spent most of this year trying to better manage my weight and become healthier. I started the year at around 243 pounds, which for a 6’ person is a lot. I felt quite fat.

I worked through the first part of the year and managed to get down to 215-218. Then a trip to London had me pop up to 222, but I managed to get below 220 again. Throughout the summer and into Q3, I had a lot of travel. I got as high as 230 (likely a lot of water weight), but struggled to get below 220 again.

I’ve had a bit more time lately at home, and I’m better at watching my diet. As I’ve struggled between trips, I have learned to be patient, accept the failings of my travel diet, as well as continue to work to be better.

Hopefully I’ll be below 220 when I head to the Summit in a few weeks.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to find a new perspective on a problem you face.

I don’t face many big problems, but I do face lots of small ones on a regular basis. One thing I’m struggling with is how to keep up with some of the changes in our products at work. They are sometimes rev’ing so fast, and a good portion of my work is non-Redgate stuff, so I’m falling behind a bit.

It’s easy to complain and try to work harder, but those aren’t good solutions. Instead, someone suggested to me that I break down the changes into groups of time, rather than thinking of them as a stream. Don’t try to keep up every week or even every month.

Instead, look at all the changes in a couple months for one product. Spend a few times in a week reading and practicing. Then take another thing the next week (or two) and repeat. I’ll always be a bit behind, but that’s not a bad perspective to talk. I will try this for a bit.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to realize you can’t do everything; what are your three top priorities now?

It’s a few weeks before the Data Community Summit, volleyball starts, vacation planned for Dec. My priorities now:

1. precon code testing – I can talk around slides, but the code and demos need to work.
2. keynote practice – need to know what I’m saying, as my section is somewhat tight.
3. date night – I’m busy, so I need to be sure I schedule date night with my wife every week.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.