Behavior
The behavior I picked for this assignment is “extended breaks” during work. It often happens that I end up taking 3 or 4 times longer breaks than I initially plan to during work. This hampers my productivity in unpredictable ways. Therefore, I wanted to find the root causes of this behavior.
Logging
On weekdays when I have a lot of classes, I am usually more productive. I am least productive on the weekends or the days when I am done with my classes early in the morning. Therefore I decided to start logging in on Sunday (01/15) evening until today (1/18) noon. Although Monday was MLK day, I had meetings on the day which gave data on meetings affect my schedule. I had one deadline in the duration which provided me with data on my behavior near deadlines. Another interesting factor that I was fortunately (or unfortunately) captured is the impact of stress because I was stressed about something (which eventually had a good outcome) during the time that impacted my behavior as well.
Experience and future changes
I should mention that this is something I have been trying to figure out and change for quite some time now. I was never actively looking at the specific causes, however, I had a general idea of what was causing the issue. I was not successful in my attempt of changing the behavior and I understood the causes of failure to change after I drew out the models. If you look at the connected circle diagram, you will see that there isn’t any activity that is completely helpful in avoiding extended breaks. I enjoy coding a lot, and anytime I code, I lose track of time or other stresses which are visible on the diagram. Therefore, in my prior observations, coding was something that only had the positive side of the coin. However, I noticed from the models and logs that being consumed in coding leads me to missing meals, which leads me to taking a nap. I don’t mind short naps, however, I end up using my phone before and after the naps which makes the breaks longer. The relationships between the factors are quite intricate. However, I found that napping, social media usage, and frequent breaks are the main reasons. One way I can approach all of these three issues is by staying out and working outside in a place where I am not sitting alone. Being around people will provide me with some accountability and lack of comfort to waste time.
