The work and research experience has been interesting for me. It started off very exciting, but the excitement wore off fairly quickly when I realized how much I disliked sitting in the office for multiple hours every day, just reading through papers. Don’t get me wrong, I like my research topic and I do think that it is interesting, however, I just got bored of sitting in the same place for an extended period of time. This boredom was definitely one of the most unexpected challenges I faced. However, I have found a way to overcome this challenge because now I work at the office in the mornings and then go to an internet café in the afternoons. I feel like having this change of scenery has been really good for me because it has kept me from being bored and it has also helped me be more productive.
Another challenge we have faced for our project is that its been difficult for us to find current information on our topic. We are doing a comparative study of social protection programs in Zambia and Namibia, and while we have been able to find a lot of good information for Zambia and we have also been able to interview a lot of relevant stakeholders and government officials for information about Zambia’s social protection system, the same cannot be said for Namibia. We have found that most of the information we can get for Namibia is online and we have found it difficult to get interviews for information on this part of our paper. We tried going to the High Commission of Namibia, but they told us that they don’t have anyone we could interview and that we should go to Windhoek to get the information we want. Obviously, they didn’t understand that we are unable to leave Zambia. Just hearing this answer repeatedly was pretty discouraging and it made me feel helpless and irritated that people were unable to help us. However, I took this rejection as an opportunity to be creative with sources I could interview because I realized that government officials were not the only people who would know about Namibia’s social protection programs. I started emailing and contacting researchers, specifically the authors of various papers I had been reading, in order to get my questions answered. This turned out to be a really good idea and I was able to get a lot of the information I needed using this method of communication.
I definitely think that due to the short timeline of this research project, I have had to be very diligent about my work and maximize my efficiency as much as possible. Usually, I like to take my time to complete assignments and give myself enough time to get distracted. However, with this timeline and the amount of work that needs to be accomplished in less than eight weeks, I feel like I had to change my working style to be as focused and efficient as possible. This change in my work style has resulted in me feeling very stressed about finishing my project sometimes because I usually try to work in a manner that allows me to budget my time well. This time, however, I feel like I haven’t gotten the opportunity to budget my time at all because I had to start rushing as soon as I started the project. I do feel that this is a good learning experience for me though because I think that it is important for me to become used to working on short deadlines because it will be a very useful skill for the future.
In terms of tolerating discomfort, I feel like the best thing for me has been just coming home and relaxing and taking my mind off work for a little bit. I try to make it a point to do as little amount of work at home as possible and just be very focused and efficient during work hours. I feel like having a designated period for work and a designated period for relaxation during the day has been one of the main ways I have been able to acclimate myself to and deal with the stress of this research project. Every day, I look forward to coming back and just talking to my friends, or reading my book, or watching a movie I downloaded. This designated time I reserve for myself has really helped me deal with the discomfort I have been facing.
No comments:
Post a Comment