I am finished with teaching for the semester and now have two weeks of exams and grading ahead. I am likely to take my usual approach: rather than pushing through the grading, I dole it out until the day all grades are due so I can start enjoying other diversions as well as getting caught up on service and dabbling in research & writing.
I have done a horrible job of checking in to TLQ lately. It took me all semester to realize that maintaining this “just in time” strategy means that I have been in a perpetual state of TRQ. Why I ever thought that would be a good way to manage multiple projects…
With my own bad history late, I’m resolving to check in, show up, do better. Goals from last week are posted below. If you didn’t check in (like me), please post a goal or two or five for the coming week. Hope to see you in the conversation here.
Allan Wilson: 1) complete all work on the WHK draft, including revised abstract. 2) revise abstract TET paper and other promised revisions. 3) measure required animals for a new TLQ paper. 4) clean up spreadsheet for the new TLQ paper. 5) do the logistic regression for FS. 6) exercise 3x
Amstr: 1) consistent bedtime; 2) exercise 4x; 3) send off 2 drafts to 2 readers for critique; 4) read 2 diss chapters; 5) get caught up on finances + declutter 3x20min.
Contingent Cassandra: No check in.
Daisy: Work on other paper A LOT!!
Der Modell Wissenschaftler: No check in.
Earnest English: No check in.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell: 1) Revising the article. 2) Get through medical tests. 3) Get through husband’s surgery.
Good Enough Woman: No check in.
humming42: No check in.
Ivy: read through paper and send to postdoc advisor.
JaneB: No check in.
KJHaxton: No check in.
Matilda: 1) Work on the book and the book plan. 2) Write for at least 15 minutes a day. 3) Exercise for 5 minutes everyday. 4) Prepare for Christmas and 2015.
Susan: 1) Finish tragedy! Start comedy. 2) Walk three days. 3) Prepare for research trip. 4) Trying to get a little bit prepared for the holiday season. 5) Weed and maybe harvest the lemons.
I try so hard not to do everything 'just in time' but still there are some things... I've been a bit better using WunderList to set deadlines in advance of deadlines so that I can stay ahead rather than panicking in the zone of important and urgent, but by week 11 everything is starting to break down and be consumed in the tidal wave of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMy last goal in week 9 was pretty much to survive at work and to start getting Christmas sorted. I've just about done all the shopping (I mainly shop online - found a fair group of nice wee shops while on holiday so order from them). I've still got the Christmas cards to tackle but have made some tactical decisions about who is getting them!
Goals for this week: finish the Christmas stuff; tackle filing and tidying both at work and at home so that I can be productive in the lull between Christmas and New Year.
That's productive in the 'the marking mountain arrives this week' but thanks to sensible scheduling, I have a little longer than the usual deadlines to get it done.
This week is going to largely feel like the last few miles of a very long hike - the end is in sight but not yet close enough for the celebration that is taking the boots off and sinking into a nice warm pub with a large glass/mug of something tasty.
I like your term "sensible scheduling." I hope the celebration at the end of the hike is just close enough to look forward to!
DeleteYour analogy offers a beautiful image of saying "ahhhhhh" at the end of it, and the end is in sight. Very long hike indeed!
ReplyDeleteMy week 9 goals were to do serious grading, write an abstract and submit the tiny project, and write/research 15 minutes/day. These things are done, but still need doing...grading continues. I submitted the abstract. Tiny project was accepted but in draft form so I will be working on that in the coming week. I am delighted to be doing research and writing, but much of it needs to be directed to a class research paper due on Thursday. I’m enjoying that too, as the stakes are low and I can learn and try out new things.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is that while I sit in my living room on the weekend and imagine the week ahead, I tend to forget the time, energy, and mindfulness that goes into getting it all done.
I have two weeks to go until teaching ends. I am exhausted and disillusioned and Very Grumpy and I don't feel well, and all I want for Christmas is a week of lovely silence, with no demands on me apart from those I choose (writing my NaNoWriMo this year put me into the right frame of mind to do a reorg/rewrite of the first one in the series which might then almost be ready for someone else to read over, and I like the idea of getting down to that by a fire with furry company. or just sleeping) - instead I get to visit my parents, which will be hard work just trying to act reasonably in control of things and fitting in to someone elses routine and all that stuff. In the tiny house with the uncomfortable bed and the basic lack of privacy which comes with retired parents who do everything together). BIG POUT!!! They love me and I love them but it's hard when we don't have so much in common, and I WISH they lived close enough that I could come home and sleep in my own bed at Christmas!
ReplyDeleteStuff all those other goals. They're from a different point in the semester etc. My goal for this week is to get all my remaining classes completely prepared - photocopying, VLE shenanigans, everything, all done, so ALL I have to do is pick up the right pile and walk to the classroom, so that next week I can do some damage control on research type stuff. Oh, and clear off my desk in the office. It would definitely help if my physical space wasn't one solid mass of Obligations pressing in from all sides! I bought cinnamon caramel ice cream today, and will be doling it out every evening as rations on this last uphill drag of the year.
And I got promoted this week - no raise, but a new title, at least, and it was a formidable process to go through (including letters from international persons in my field with whom I have never collaborated and all that stuff), and most people take multiple attempts to succeed and I got it on my first try, so it's really a good thing. I'd like to get to a point where I can at least enjoy that a bit (I ordered in a pizza to celebrate but I'm so stressed it gave me indigestion, and the darn pizza place stopped having olives as a topping, who DOES that all pizza needs olives, so I don't think it should count as my proper celebration because right now my emotional functioning level is somewhere around 4 or 5 years old).
Excuse me for being a downer. I don't even have good life-event reasons, just the bloomin' Weltschmerz and post-viral blahs. Even the time of year is not an excuse, as I if anything have ANTI SAD - I find the Spring the most depressing time of year, always have.
Despite everything else, congratulations on your promotion! I think you need another pizza to correct the shortcomings of the previous pizza.
DeleteI love visiting my brother, but after two or three days I am totally over all the intense people time. At Thanksgiving I escaped to the library for a day, and I realized really I just wanted quiet.
DeleteCongratulations on your promotion! I'm glad you and your work are being recognized by your institution.
DeleteYes, congratulations on your promotion! And I hope you DO have time for working on your writing by the fire with furry company. That sounds wonderful.
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ReplyDeleteWell, last week I had lots of ambitions, and I got about 80% there. I finished the tragedies, and got myself ready for the week at a real library. I did NOT walk three times, just two; my excuse is that the remains of a cold and heavy rain got in the way. I ended up with far more meetings than I expected, and all took more time than I expected. The only smart thing I did last week was cancel one evening obligation -- I just needed to curl up on my own and not see anyone. In addition to this, I did start on Christmas preparation. Most presents purchased, just a few to go.
ReplyDeleteThis week I'm in former home city, which is also the site of a really good research library. I've got some manuscript/rare book work to do, some note checking, but will also just pull ahead with reading stuff I need to read. I will also visit with lots of old friends, so take care of myself that way. I'm hoping to do some walking (walking in to the library a few days, maybe?), but nothing too strenuous.
I don't have the rest of the semester stuff, but I am feeling time pressure.
Despite the time pressures, it sounds like you have some lovely things on the agenda in former home city.
Delete1) consistent bedtime: half success
ReplyDelete2) exercise 4x: ha!
3) send off 2 drafts to 2 readers for critique: not yet, but progress
4) read 2 diss chapters: nope
5) get caught up on finances + declutter 3x20min: half success
I’m not sure what happened this week. The first half of the week went really well, and I made good progress. The second half, my sleep and eating got messed up, and it was sort of a disaster. I did make progress is a lot of areas, but got sidelined by a not-totally-wasteful side project.
This week will be crazy (and things will just get crazier during the month). I’m going to have to revert to my old dissertation-writing strategy of fitting in 15 minutes whenever I can and not waiting for big long uninterrupted chunks of time. My goals are pretty much the same.
For this week: 1) consistent bedtime, 2) exercise 4x (even 5 min. counts), 3) send off drafts to readers, 4) read 1 diss chapter, 5) get caught up on finances + declutter progress.
That "just in time" strategy is my default. My husband and I were talking about what we want our kids to learn about learning, and a huge thing for us is that hard work and great ideas need time to percolate. In elementary school, that time is built in--you don't spend an entire school day on math, cramming everything into 6 hours and then calling it done. You do math a little bit every day. Somehow when I became more independent in my schoolwork no one taught me (and I didn't figure out) that I should pace myself. Thus, my natural predilection for procrastination took a firm foothold in my academic practice. At this point it's pretty much a life strategy. That's one reason this TLQ group is so helpful for me. So thanks to all for practicing pacing with me.
Oh yes--we had much-needed rain this week, all week long! That wrecked exercise. I just wanted to curl up with hot cocoa and read and write.
DeleteYou've touched on a point that is really important to me. A significant example came a few years ago, when Barack Obama was asked a question about foreign policy. He did not answer immediately, and was critiqued for not being smart, lacking leadership and direction, hesitation, and so forth. I could only think that I would much rather have a president who is thoughtful and deliberate.
DeleteThis is the long way around to say that living in a culture that favors and rewards productivity and completion over deliberation and tenacity makes it difficult to pace ourselves.
I’ve been having difficulty keeping up with TLQ as well, and even TRQ is becoming difficult to manage. I did hang on through the medical tests and my husband’s surgery, but ended the week with a cold/cough that has me flattened. I’m not terribly surprised, as hospitals are cesspools of germs, and stress makes me more vulnerable than usual. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side, I took the afternoon off, despite having a ton of things to do at the day job, so that I could avoid the worst of the storm that has upstate New York in its sights.
As for last week’s goals:
Revise the article, on Thursday and Friday. No, I spent Thursday caring for my husband, and Friday working and sleeping.
Get through the tests. Yes, and the good news is I will avoid surgery for the moment.
Get my husband through his surgery. My husband did well and is feeling much better--better than I do now, ironically!
This week’s goals:
Revise the paper.
Hydrate and exercise.
Inch into the holiday spirit.
Thank you all for the support you've offered me the past few weeks. I truly appreciate it.
I'm so glad you've made it through your tests and your husbands surgery. Good luck with the cold!
DeleteThank you, Susan.
DeleteGlad for the good news! Now I hope you feel better quickly.
DeleteI hope you and hubby are both on the upswing by now!
DeleteCount me among the overwhelmed-by-TRQ-and-general-exhaustion (though I've actually taken some time off in the last week; the problem now is getting going again on the TRQ stuff, which is in-the-next-10-days-urgent rather than tomorrow-urgent).
ReplyDeleteGiven that, goal for this week: weave at least a bit of exercise, cooking, apartment-tidying (mucking out is more like it) and/or attention to financial stuff in between bouts of grading (and accomplish some substantial bouts of grading).
I really ought to be able to reach that one, huh?
You are definitely singing my song this week! I am hopeful that I can scheme to weave those other things in as if they are breaks from grading, and get it all done.
DeleteLast week's goals:
ReplyDeleteWork on paper A LOT - managed to work on paper a little, so better than nothing.
Spent days sorting out grant stuff, and grading and students and grading and exams and grading. I have three more days till the last exam, and then a couple till grades are due, so the end is in sight.
The new grant has been great, but the one slight problem is that it was an addition to everything else, none of the previously agreed on work or anything went away... So I'm struggling with redoing my work plans and schedules and really struggling with TLQ. Join the club, I know :) Good to know there is a club!
Next week's goal (which is really already this week and half over so I do not have high hopes!):
Finish all grading
Get rid of lingering accounting
Send away first paper
I hate the tendency towards just in time work that I fall into this time of year. It does not produce good results, it makes me feel half-assed with everything and it is really only a temporary solution to time management issues. But, I'm getting better I think. At least better at putting off the less important things to focus on the crucial ones, for me, not always for somebody else. Anyway, work in progress...
Good luck everyone, December is underway with craziness, but at least there are twinkly lights!
All in for the twinkly lights! I appreciate the observation that a marvelous opportunity doesn't erase everything else already on the agenda.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI am very late this week, again.
Last goals:
1) Work on the book and the book plan. - a little. At least I do something.
2) Write for at least 15 minutes a day.- 3 days.
3) Exercise for 5 minutes everyday. - 3 days.
4) Prepare for Christmas and 2015.- nothing!
Analysis:
Suddenly there were two meetings I needed to attend, both very important. An administrative related project consumed my energy to do my TLQ things, and I overslept two days. Perhaps I was too tired. Anyway, things do happen and I have to face them everytime.
Next goals: being modest again.
1) Work on the book of Chapter 1 and Introduction.
2) Write for at least 15 minutes a day.
3) Exercise for 5 minutes a day.
4) Prepare for 2015.