An analogy with, in computer terminology the “priority”, strikes me. Though in aTimeLogger I have listed the daily items that are top of the agenda, I do not execute them in a reflective way. The fact is that I did not truly distinguish which item took priority over the others in the list, let alone the execution of the whole list, which is virtually a failure. The order in which I decide which task takes priority is largely influenced by my past study experiences, that is, I always put literature-related tasks at the top. Now it occurs to me that such arrangement is as self-deceiving as what I did when I was in high school―concentrating almost all my mind on English, in which I could get higher score than in any subject else.
Now distinguishing the most important task, I rearrange the order of the items in the list. In addition I redistribute the hours of a day to my concentration. In this way I have to make full use of my limited afternoon spare-time to improve my foreign language level while addressing the more demanding task in the fresh and relatively adequate morning hours.
I also decide to use the voice-recorder in my phone to improve my morning speaking exercises. Before my pronunciation becomes as similar as the original version, I will listen to my non-standard accent for long to make adjustment.
It is still a hard requirement to overcome all the difficulties that cause interference from outside and within. To concentrating on the item-related tasks on the agenda and disregard the interference requires more deliberate exercises. I can only say that this is because my nerves are still not strained. A long way to go to reach the state of absorption and forgetting the surroundings or even the self.
