Transfer-Wk 24,Tues-Up early, but missed practice

Although I have a deliverable for Thursday, another client scheduled a conference call with a partner in a project they are working on. Since I will be the one handling the technical interfacing, they asked me to be there (thankfully).

This really tightened my schedule, but I figured a way to manage it, which promised more time in front of my computer, hopefully resulting in an increase in productivity. It would also provide me with more face time with a multitude of people, giving me more time to practice my targets (fluency techniques).

My planned schedule went something like this :
6:00-Get up early, and do shaping
7:30-Take GO Train (commuter train) to Toronto
8:30-Take Subway to clients office
9:00-Work on Thursday’s deliverable
10:00-Conference call
11:00-Work on Thursday’s deliverable
12:00-Quick bite, 30-40 minutes doing transfers downtown
1:00-Work on Thursday’s deliverable
4:00-Possibly visit another client while in Toronto
5:00-Subway
5:30-Go Train home

By not taking my car, I could work while commuting, so my work commitment was covered. And the a) conference call, b) 5 train rides, c) conversations with at least 5 business associates, d) 2-3 restaurant/coffee shop visits, e) plus any structured transfers I did at lunch, would all assist me in practicing my fluency.

As long as I get up at 6:00, I’ll be fine. It all hinges on that.

Here’s how it went :

2:30am-Woke up early and started working. The day, I thought was off to a great start. Even though Lori, my SLP, told me in our last follow up to do it when ever I got the time, I decided to wait until just before people woke up. 6:00 as planned should be good, I thought … do my shaping, wake up my family, prep for the office, get on the train.

4:00-I considered doing my shaping, but thought it prudent to wait till 6:00am as planned … this way I’ll be fresh.

6:50-Just realized what time it was. Unfortunately (fortunately?), I got a little to caught up in the problem I was trying to resolve, and attempting to deploy it before I left for the train. It felt like 5 minutes had passed between 4:00am and 6:50. When I realized the time, I thought I would miss the train.

No problem … I’ll miss my shaping now, but I’ll do it at the office at 9:00.

9:00-After getting off the subway, I realized that I still had not eaten since waking up 6½ hours earlier. So I thought I’d grab some lunch, I will still get to the office at 9:30 at the latest, have plenty of time to do my shaping before the conference call.

9:30-Got to the office, setup in a spare office, and told anybody within earshot, what I would be doing … just so nobody thinks I’m talking to myself. ;-)

Yes, I am comfortable with this aren’t I? However, I should point out, I wouldn’t exactly do this at a regular consulting gig.

9:35-I got side tracked into another conversation.

9:40-I sat down to do my shaping. No problem, I can still manage it.

9:42-My client comes to my office, and tells me the conference call was cancelled. We’ll just meet now, to discuss the project amongst ourselves. So much for shaping now, I can do it right after this meeting.

11:00-The meeting went longer than expected, I just need to print out a sample then I can get back on track.

12:00-Discussing the sample, went longer than expected.

12:05-I realize the internet connection is down for the office I am at. I need a connection to deploy changes for my Thursday commitment. I spent the next few minutes scrambling to find another place I can work to meet my Thursday commitment.

12:30-Grabbed a quick bite to eat while traveling to another office to do some work.

Eventually, my shaping and transfers took a back seat to work.

Without the shaping providing that solid foundation, any attempts at a transfer, I feel, would only be reinforcing my stuttering speech pattern. Don’t get me wrong, I attempted to use my targets throughout the day, and was for the most part successful, but without the shaping, it’s not the same.

It’s kind of a disappointment since I don’t spend a day in the city very often, and the excessive interaction with other people would have definitely been helpful. It’s not even like you can make up for something like this with an artificially planned day, since the sacrifice to other commitments would be so great.

Perhaps I never should have turned my alarm clock off at 2:30am.

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Not meant as advice, please find a qualified therapist if you are interested in similar therapy.