the grid

the grid

Friday 24 July 2015

Week 10: Rejuvenation

I'm slogging my way through final grading for my summer course right now, while looking ahead to a brief break from email, blogs, et al. next week (so host feedback may be a bit sparse, for which I apologize; please talk among yourselves).

For many of us, one of the goals of summer is rejuvenation.  But many of us have limited time to spend on that goal (and for some of us, it isn't even summer, or summer seems to have barely begun even as it's coming to an end, or we don't get the summer off anyway).  So I'm thinking we might discuss what activities, time-consuming or not, we find rejuvenating.  What do you do when you realize you're exhausted, and really need at least a brief break? What about if you have time for a longer one?  How much time does it take to rejuvenate (or, to echo advice from last week, how much, and what kind of,  leisure do you need to schedule on your calendar to be at your most productive)? 

Or, on a somewhat related note, we could discuss the ideas for getting out of unproductive funks accumulating in a post and comment stream over at Grumpy Rumblings (many of the suggestions, at least at the time I'm posting this, seem to involve taking a break -- even an unplanned one -- as a "reset"/get back on track strategy). 

Here's a reminder of the standard format for check-ins:

1. comment on the week's topic, when there is one
2. report your progress against last week's goals
3. analysis (optional): analyse what happened, what went well, what came up to derail things, note what you learnt/want to change, ask any questions of the rest of the group if you want some tips or suggestions
4. planning (optional): something about the coming week: what the priorities are, what issues are going to present challenges, what the framework for your goal-setting is
5. goals for the next week (or multi-week period until your next check-in)


Last week's goals:


 allan wilson
(from week 7)
1. drink lots of water (I loved this one - I think I feel better)
2. finish conference talk post colleague critique
3. enjoy my life
4. do wildly overdue ethics app- added because of my comments below!!

Amstr
1) plan food and exercise (and do it!)
2) send queries to writing group
3) write in the mornings
4) declutter 4x30min
5) spend time writing down to-do lists (GTD strategy)

Contingent Cassandra
Overall, get grades done and other activities at a stopping-point to allow for a week or so's vacation, including:
(1) get basics working on new phone
(2) make sure necessary bills are paid
(3) move (exercise/garden) at least a bit
(4) plan rest of summer 

Daisy
1) Start grant application and do electronic prep on CV system
2) Finish neglected paper's methods and discussion and figures
3) Reading project
4) Project report, doubles as outline for paper

Elizabeth
Read one more article for the literature review.
Schedule one more doctor’s appointment and a trip to the dentist.

GEW
(Goals from Week 9)
1) Walk to and from institute location whenever it's safe enough to do so (i.e., not dark).
2) Write for at least 30 minutes per day on chapter draft.
3) Say no to socializing if I really don't want to do it.
4) Be a good listener during the training. Don't raise hands to make too many comments or questions.
5) Each evening, write lists of "intentions" for the following day so that I'm not just spinning wheels during any open times.
6) Enjoy and be grateful for this week of time during which I get to work on things that interest me. 


humming42
1. stay relatively current with grading and comments on student assignments
2. write book review
3. make progress on Upcoming Article

iwantzcatbocl
1. Exercise daily.
2. Make list of things to do.
3. Don’t dawdle with household chores.

JaneB
1. Finish writing talk for cancelled conference by Tuesday, send to PDF
2. go back to the gym at least twice and Bugge Spray the 'you should do more!' voice firmly when it tries to make you do more than you plan - regularity is more important than the overall amount of exercise this week.
3. do a pile of proofreading for one of my admin roles
4. continue with Smart Paper - rough out discussion points and figures
5. make a plan for grant writing
6. Bed before midnight without electronics! some nights


Karenh
1. Make a planned routine of work time for the semester that gives realistic space for teaching and supervision, but also dedicated TLQ slots.
2. Read/notetake one article for Embodied article.
3. Make contact about P1 site permissions
4. Set up meeting with P1 collaborators.

kjhaxton
a) Scary project: continue re-analysing data for conference presentation and read new literature on project. Draft presentation and research tool for phase 2.
(b) Gemstone Paper: play around with data, write the next 1000 words and finish the figures
(c) continue list making and cross off some small items from the various lists.  

Let's Do This
(goals from week 7)
1. Finish the article that I wanted to finish last week. Email it before I leave town for the holiday weekend. This gives me three days, ACK!.
2.Do the dreaded bills.
3. Fix the captioning and the video summaries on the two videos that have been uploaded thus far. This will ease me into finishing, uploading, and captioning the remaining videos next week, so I can get started on that article before my parents arrive on the 10th.
4. Pack for the weekend trip. Something I love to put on the list because then I can cross it off later!
5. Enjoy extra time with my daughter, who has a break from the gym this week. 

Matilda
(goals from week 7)
1) To revise Chapter 1 on the articles I have read recently.
2) To exercise for 3 minutes at least three times a day.
3) To have good sleep, and do not think that I should have worked instead. Sleep is important.   

Mercy
a. read 1 HA-related article per day every workday
b. freewrite for 15 minutes each day
c. 1 fun/excercise thing w/kids each day
d. 1 home/yard task each day (kids can help)

Susan 
1. Book: revise introduction and first three chapters following advice from awesome editor; read other chapters to know what she's thinking. (Intro is a fair bit of work, so may not be finished, other three are in fairly decent shape.)
2. Finish book proposal
3. Exercise in some way daily.
4. Do bibliography stuff 

22 comments:

  1. I was texting with a graduate school friend, saying how I can’t seem to allow myself to do collaging, which I really crave, because I have these academic projects I need to work on. She said how difficult it is to find those things fun and freeing when she feels she should be doing something else. So that’s one of my challenges with rejuvenation--letting it be what it can be. I know yoga is the best thing, but don’t make space for that either. And I know that even if I sign up for a paid class, I’ll still not go. Working on this.

    Last week’s goals:
    1. stay relatively current with grading and comments on student assignments: somewhat
    2. write book review: no
    3. make progress on Upcoming Article: no

    I’m not sure where the week went. I know a lot of it was devoted to domestic stuff. The push is definitely on to do as much as possible before summer ends, both home-related and research-related. This is probably a good thing to motivate me on all fronts. I admit I got distracted shopping for a new planner and messenger bag. I’m also waiting until August to buy a new laptop, as technology prices in the US drop for back-to-school sales. But I do find myself dropping an hour here or there getting caught up in shopping for a laptop too.

    I’m rolling over last week’s goals since they are still the most important TLQ stuff I have going on. Adding the ever-important and wonderful #4 from Allan Wilson.
    1. stay relatively current with grading and comments on student assignments
    2. write book review
    3. make progress on Upcoming Article
    4. enjoy my life

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your comment at the top made me think of this article I read recently (Knitting My Way into Vacancy: http://www.sarahselecky.com/2015/how-knitting-made-me-a-better-writer/ --scroll down to the third section) about using rejuvenating/relaxing practices to get into the frame of mind to write.

      I hope you can enjoy your life this week! :)

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    ReplyDelete
  3. topic: this is a great topic - I spend far too much time trying to work and not achieving much due to funk or lack of rejuvenation/burnout, or sleeping (then staying up late to 'catch up'...). Definitely a work in progress for me! Giving in to a funk is often effective, though I still struggle to know whether that's because the giving in helped, or because the decision to give in to it was caused by being close to the low point (my funks tend to be saw-toothed, with me slowly becoming less and less on top of things, but with a fairly rapid return to functionality from the lowest point).

    Later this week I am off to my sister's place where my niece plans to educate me on Pokemon movies, which I guess counts as rejuvenating (or at least A Change...) - nothing to share really tips-wise, apart from a hope that others have good suggestions!

    goals from last week:
    1. Finish writing talk for cancelled conference by Tuesday, send to PDF done, with some last minute scrabbling (very late comments from a collaborator. Sigh)
    2. go back to the gym at least twice and Bugge Spray the 'you should do more!' voice firmly when it tries to make you do more than you plan - regularity is more important than the overall amount of exercise this week. once to the gym, once for an actual walk outside (which would have been nicer without my stupid anxiety kicking in, but hey, apparently it wanted to go for a walk too I guess)
    3. do a pile of proofreading for one of my admin roles just finished it and mailed it off now
    4. continue with Smart Paper - rough out discussion points and figures nope
    5. make a plan for grant writing a sketchy sort of plan, but I did actually make a start...
    6. Bed before midnight without electronics! some nights that would be a big fat nope. Largely owing to getting up later and later, then messing around or reading novels, then napping, THEN starting actually doing stuff...

    analysis: bad week. Stressed, upset, grumpy, obsessing rather about the conference I am not at and about being a failure and all the usual sort of nonsense, very tired, hayfever-y, which of course leads to bad sleep, little exercise, bad eating and round and round we go. Perhaps I should have expected it, as I was in the office quite a lot (and pretty stressed) for the few weeks before and this is the start of Not Going In month, so possibly this was just a touch of unseasonal end-of-term-itis? I can hope...

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  4. This week is more active (which I am currently stressed about, but hey, gotta stress about something I suppose) - tomorrow the car goes in for a major service and it's annual testing, and I have a loan car because it will be in most of the day, so I have lined up various errands since I'll be driving there and back and there and back anyway. Tuesday i have to catch Furball, box her up, deliver her to the cat camp, then go over to my sister's place, where I am staying overnight (so niece, sister and I can have a movie night - my niece gets to pick the movies, we'll do some snack making in the afternoon, and niece gets to stay up until, oh, maybe as late as 10:30..., so there will definitely be Pokemon, her current obsession. My sister says she's trying her hardest to make it not ALL Pokemon!). Furball is booked in until Thursday, so I am considering finding myself a hotel room for Wednesday night, rather than just coming straight home - a mini writing retreat would be nice and if it had air-con I might get an allergy break too! Then Thursday I have to retrieve Furball. The conference I'm missing will be on, so following it on Twitter will also take up some time (I'm very pleased to say that people are already tweeting steadily about the very hot and humid weather and tweeting pictures of the city which are lovely and exotic - and very, very urban and crowded and not my cup of tea - as well as all the meet-ups and excitements planned, which along with the anxiety flares I've had this week have convinced me I made the right call). So this week's focus is more on me than on work! Work can come the following week.

    goals for the week:
    1) an hour of work on the grant application draft
    2) another unit of crochet on the afghan (it's being made in a slightly polished cotton yarn so not too hot to work with in summer) since Amstr has reminded me of the importance of handwork, again...
    3) some decluttering
    4) some planning-of-rejuvenation, e.g. looking into and maybe booking places to stay for my trip in September, perhaps a writing evening on Wednesday etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enjoy your movie night. And I think the idea of staying in a hotel for a night is great. I often do really good work in a hotel, because I have no domestic obligations!

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    2. Agreed. Hotels are my favorite place for writing retreat.

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    3. And mine! Ah, the emptiness, the stillness.allan wilson

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  5. Hello,
    I have missed two weeks, I regret it, and this is very short post, but I am coming back, anyway.

    Topic: when I feel exausted, I usually sit up late not working but reading something totally different from what I am researching, with some nice tea or coffee at hand. This can help me to get some fresh air to my brain, but the bad point is I feel sleepy next morning.

    Last goals:
    1) To revise Chapter 1 on the articles I have read recently- I have been working on it, and still I am working on it.
    2) To exercise for 3 minutes at least three times a day. – I have tried to do, when I realise it. This is better than nothing, but I hope to do more. I feel good after doing some exercises, even so short as this.
    3) To have good sleep, and do not think that I should have worked instead. Sleep is important.- I have slept very well for this weekend. I had a family trip and I did not bring my working materials, so I slept enough. I feel better now.

    Next goals:
    1) To continue to revise Chapter 1, part 2.
    2) To exercise for 3 minutes at least three times a day.
    3) To have good sleep.

    Have a good week, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations on all the sleep! And welcome back! It seems like you made some good progress.

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  6. Rejuvenation: a long lie in tops the list of rejuvenating things for me. Also, reading good books, knitting, watching TV shows or movies (I'm partway through Bomb Girls on Neflix right now and enjoying it). I ended up focusing a fair amount of my week toward sleep. I had one day where I felt totally rested and got a ton done! I think my lack of sleep this summer has really worked against my productivity. I followed JaneB's advice to plan to take Fridays off this summer, and I was really able to relax by the poolside this Friday, instead of feeling guilty.

    Last week:
    1) plan food and exercise (and do it!)--exercise okay. Focused on SLEEP!
    2) send queries to writing group--DONE!
    3) write in the mornings--big fail, but I did catch up on sleep!
    4) declutter 4x30min--some, but not all
    5) spend time writing down to-do lists (GTD strategy)--tried 17 hats, a few paper lists. I’m getting closer.

    I've had not enough sleep and kids crying a lot this summer. It's a terrible mixture. Swim team is over now (it produced most of the tears), so this week should be a lot more relaxed for all of us. I'm hoping to use the mornings to get work done while the kids get unlimited screens. Win-win.

    I do need to plan on the end of the week being shot. We're heading down to GEW's neck of the woods for my husband's high school reunion. It will involve in-laws, a cousin staying with her that my husband hasn't seen since he was six, and a bunch of other unknowns. Must wait to panic until Friday.

    Goals for the week ahead:
    1) nightly check in (food, to do list, daily celebration ["celebration" sounds so much better than "assessment"])
    2) write daily (practice, drafts, exercises, whatever)
    3) declutter two boxes from room
    4) menu plan/grocery shop
    5) progress on writing down tasks (try new programs)

    ReplyDelete
  7. The topic is very appropriate, but I am struggling because all the things I would do for rejuvenation (which I desperately need) I can't do because I am in mega-caregiving mode and won't be free of it for at least two more weeks. What I really love to do is go off to our local national park with a friend and hike for a day. I pay no attention to email, get exercise, fresh air, etc. It clears cobwebs out of my brain. Right now, that's not an option. I can read a book but I don't always find that relaxing, and I do lots of reading for work. I do little bits -- watching dumb tv, knitting -- but that is unwinding more than relaxing.

    As for getting out of funks -- once I recognize that I'm in one (which often takes longer than you'd expect) I find the "one step at a time" thing works: just doing *something* makes it easier to do more the next day: doing something defeats the funk voice that "I can't do anything".

    Goals from last week:
    1. Book: revise introduction and first three chapters following advice from awesome editor; read other chapters to know what she's thinking. (Intro is a fair bit of work, so may not be finished, other three are in fairly decent shape.)
    Introduction, half way through chapter 1
    2. Finish book proposal NOT TOUCHED
    3. Exercise in some way daily. 4 days?
    4. Do bibliography stuff - NO

    Analysis: I'm deeply tired, and I have very little intellectual energy, so I find myself stymied when I have to solve a problem my editor has noticed. I can do one or two a day, but then. . . I am visiting my mother daily, and doing laundry for her every other day; Saturday night I spent at the emergency vet with my mother's cat, who died; I got home at 3 AM (Ruptured growth on the spleen.. . I had just said, yes, they could euthanize her when she died.) I'm grieving about all sorts of things, work and my mother, and. . . I really needed a vacation this summer after my work on the book, and I've had to cancel them all. Until my mother gets into a place where she's safe and reasonably independent, that's the reality. I hope that at the end of August I can get away for a weekend, and maybe manage my cancelled research trip across the Atlantic in September, but we'll see.

    Goals for the coming week: (These may be optimistic: my sister is arriving on Thursday, and while it will take some of the pressure of dealing with my mother off me, I'll need to do things with her, and we will have to do stuff together in my mother's house. She's been sick, so I'm not sure whether she's here to take care of me, or whether I have to take care of her.)
    1. Get through first three chapters, and maybe chapter 4.
    2. Book proposal
    3. Exercise -- something -- daily





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan--your rejuvenation plan sounds wonderful! I'm so sorry you can't do it right now. I hope your sister coming ends up being helpful.

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  8. 1. Topic: rejuvenate--hmmm, I don't think I know much about this topic--will read your comments first.

    2. The week in review:
    a. read 1 HA-related article per day every workday ONLY 2 (days/articles)
    b. freewrite for 15 minutes each day NO
    c. 1 fun/excercise thing w/kids each day YEs
    d. 1 home/yard task each day (kids can help) YEs

    3. Analysis: not a good week work-wise. Most of the week got eaten away by stress and anxiety about a potential job opportunity (or not)--this made it hard to focus on anything, but especially work, and especially TLQ writing.

    4. Planning for next week:hoping the stress will abate somewhat as I do my research about this opportunity. This will involve mostly talking to many different people, which will cut into my TLQ writing time, as I don't have much childcare hours set up. So again, MODEST goals, and hoping that even the small-small steps will add up to something over the course of the summer.

    5. Goals: trying the same goals from last week again ;-)
    a. read 1 HA-related article per day every workday
    b. freewrite for 15 minutes each day
    c. 1 fun/excercise thing w/kids each day
    d. 1 home/yard task each day (kids can help)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's astonishing how much time job opportunities take. . . good luck!

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  9. And I'm late...

    Busy week, with not much success except for things that were not exactly TLQ. Good things, lots of work on a bunch of figures, good work on program development, but also a bunch of faffing around and thinking in circles for new projects... Some weeks are like that.

    Last week's goals:
    1) Start grant application and do electronic prep on CV system DONE
    2) Finish neglected paper's methods and discussion and figures FIGURES DONE, rest, PART DONE
    3) Reading project FAIL
    4) Project report, doubles as outline for paper FAIL

    I will be away for the next 4 weeks, back to the field! YAY!!! The only things I absolutely have to get done before I leave is a grant application (initial stage only), an article proposal (maybe, optional), and ordering little one's birthday presents (totally non-negotiable!). I have 2 days :)

    Topic:
    Field work is actually my best rejuvenation strategy - getting out into any field area, even ones close to home, and all of a sudden I'm inspired again. In last week's funk even a day of local site recon helped to get me back on track mentally.

    Another strategy that works for me is to find a way to discuss work and projects with a mentor or collaborator. It always helps to remind me why we do things, and that everyone has days where they don't know what they are doing, even the ones the rest of us look up to because they look so together!

    Good luck for the next few weeks everyone!
    Bye for now!

    PS: no papers from ex-supervisor... Of course not... That would be way too easy... Taking a moment from Frozen to "let it go...." better than cursing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have a great trip, Daisy! I hope the field work is productive and inspirational.

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  10. Allan wilson-
    sorry for the long silence- hello again everyone.
    Last posted goals:
    1. drink lots of water
    2. finish conference talk post colleague critique
    3. enjoy my life
    4. do wildly overdue ethics app-

    Well, I am back from two weeks away at the conference and everything else, and I can report the first three goals as finished, but not the last thing. Still, I feel much better, in a better space, and have ticked off a few urgent things as well as drinking and exercising and other healthy stuff. So rejuvenation is definitely holding up for me.

    Next week's goals:
    1. the ethics app - now pretty much urgent
    2.exercise 4 times
    3. work on any one paper that I WANT to work on, that is not immediately urgent, for 2 hours.
    4. write emails to friends JB, LA and AH

    Bizarrely, I feel rejuvenated by some recent things that have been happening - like, putting some organisation into action. I came home, and first read fiction for a whole day. Wow, that was great. Then I organised a cooking roster, and this week its working and i really really appreciate it! We also made a shopping list on the weekend, with all the ingredients everyone needs to cook, syaing " we will NOT be shoping again this week, until next weekend, so make sure your ingredients are on, because otherwise you will have to cook without them". Anyway, I feel much lighter, that I don't have to worry about other people's stuff, and what is happening with cooking any more, and its really helpful. Although, to be honest, it was being away and having a space to think that allowed me to understand what I needed.

    I have found visualisation a comforting and powerful tool for rejuvenation as well, eg that when i cannot physically be in the place I need to be mentally. Sometimes i do this with my husband, speaking aloud together, imagining a place where we are, what we are doing - eg walking up a mountain, looking at the snowy peaks, etc, and it can be really relaxing and also comforting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry I am so late. It was an unaccountably crazy week. A work situation imploded, and even though it did not affect my department, the shock waves travelled swiftly through the libraries.

    If I am alone, I find meditation, walking and handwork--knitting,more often than not, rejuvenating. I do have the double edged sword of finding conferences very tiring and very rejuvenating at the same time, with the extra fillip of jet lag thrown in. If I can manage to connect with like-minded scholars without travel, that is always a plus.

    If I have a brief break, I promise myself a 10-minute walk, or knitting. If I’m completely exhausted, it can take several days of hibernation-like solitude to get back on track. To keep myself sane, I send a half-hour every day on walks, if the weather permits, or handwork, if it does not. I also strew one hour of social handwork into my week--it is sanctioned by our Employee Assistance Program, surprisingly enough.

    Last week’s goals:
    Read one more article for the literature review. No. The above-mentioned work situation grew horns and terrorized several departments, sucking energy from everyone in the vicinity.

    Schedule one more doctor’s appointment and a trip to the dentist. Yes, and no. I’m a baby about the dentist, so I need to just buck up and do it.

    Next week’s goals:
    Try again on one more article for the literature review.

    Declutter the living room, for clearer thinking.

    ReplyDelete