I’ve been thinking about all of the transitions that most of us experience--the semester ends, classes end, summer break begins, tenure is earned (!), house moves are made, conference papers are drafted and presented, articles and books are submitted then published...how do you celebrate and mark those events? It’s my own lack of doing so that leads me to raise the question. When I was writing my dissertation, I would order a book from amazon for each chapter I sent off to my advisor. And then when I earned tenure? Nothing. I’m also interested to know if some kind of ritual can help stave off the “bleeding over” that can be a distraction--for example, how we’re still pondering the goings-on of the last semester, weeks into summer break. Any rituals or other ways to mark transitions? To celebrate successes?
Goals from last week:
Allan WIlson
1) finish draft and send back to MR
2) resubmit W
3) exercise daily
Contingent Cassandra
1. Work in some sort of exercise regularly, especially during time off.
2. Take time off Thurs.-Mon.
3. Continue planning for summer (and finding a balance between planning and then disappointing myself by deviating from plan and playing it by ear week by week), knowing that more complete planning, whatever form it takes, will come after long weekend (so, the week after this coming one)
4. Continue working on contact with friends/family
5. Work on chaos reduction if I feel like it over break; otherwise leave it 'til afterward and just read, eat, sleep, and exercise.
6. Stay mostly off internet and read some long-form stuff (mostly leisure reading at this point)
Daisy
1) Accounting
2) Data organization for local project
3) Data organization for far-away projects
4) Contact lab collaborators and arrange end of summer visit
Dame Eleanor Hull
Talk to Sir John about selling the house.
Keep 9-1 office hours MWTh.
Finish Revision #1.
2-3 hours' worth of Administrivia, personal and professional.
Plant the plants.
Four hours basement sorting.
Get back to translating.
Earnest English
- Health: Try to be lovely to self. Watch movies and shows but do leg lifts or crunches while watching. Try not to eat quite so much ice cream.
- Scholarship: forget about this for the duration. I have too much grading to think about writing, research, or sabbatical applications. Enough said.
- Farmstead project: take care of animals, take care of plants, try to plant three new seeds.
- Family: keep up on Spirited's therapy. Call Piano teacher and leave message on her VM about summer plans. Spend some time with family. Clearly communicate about workload without becoming histrionic or stressed or bitchy.
- Work planning: So.much.muchness. Must grade this weekend without destroying family time or sleep. Must continue grading at a decent clip without making myself sick. Am so behind and pissed about impossibility of it all.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Keep the house tidy and clean
File some papers at work. ½ hour x 5
Do the [expletive deleted] final project for the course.
If course allows, ½ hour x 5 on Pierpont or Prudence.
Walk ½ hour x 5
Good Enough Woman
1) Finish revision of Chapter 1
2) Finish text revision of Chapter 2 (perhaps leaving some footnote work for next week).
3) Read 200 pages of primary text.
4) Help daughter finish dress by Tuesday night. Attend school performances, etc.
5) Exercise 3x
humming42
1 Write to Mercury editors for clarification
2 Read another 50 pages for Mars
3 Read parts 1-4 for Mars
4 Open and read through existing RPB outlines
5 Type up notes from two RBP books
JaneB
1) 500 words on the special issue paper draft
2) gym at least twice
3) decluttering whilst on strike!
4) review summer calendar
5) make some sort of measurable progress on admin task before it becomes TRQ
karen
1. Exercise x 3 (gym, swim, yoga)
2. 1 hour of finding SoTL readings to prep for writers retreat.
3. Reward marking progress with moving/stretching not chocolate.
KJHaxton
Marking
Meetings
- it's just one of those weeks!
Matilda
1) Read materials for Section 2 of Chapter 2, and make a plan of revision, again.
2) Re-read the book for the review and revise the outline, again.
3) Writing exercise 2 of Goodson’s revised book.
4) 5 minute short exercise three times a day.
Susan
1. Revise chapter 1 and 2. (The revisions are very minor, so I should be able to do this.
2. Start reading for chapter 3, which needs some interpretive work.
3. Keep going on the giant desk clearing exercise. (I'll work on some of it as soon as I finish writing this!)
4. Garden: deal with the field of weeds at the edge of the garden. Finish planting new creeping thyme. (The plants have to be watered daily, and if I'm out there and can do ten minutes of clean up, it will be great!
Waffles
1. Draft research strategy for F32
2. Draft sponsor's section for F32
3. Finish analyses for relat paper
4. LOI (due June 15, not critical)
5. Finish summer institute app
6. revise LOR to add in more about diss
7. revise stats in Science paper
Topic: I am very, very bad about celebrating any accomplishments. I am borrowing a page from Dame Eleanor’s suggestion to self-promote with accompanying food. I have a staff member coming back from maternity leave in a couple of weeks, with a staff meeting to catch her up and celebrate her return. I will fold my announcement of tenure into that meeting, bringing lots of food to soften the self-promotion.
ReplyDeleteI do try to reward myself with a book or a new knitting project, but often I let it slide. As for transitions, I tend to clean--I just realized that, and it is just odd. When I finished my master’s thesis, I spent days cleaning my apartment, which desperately needed it. After each qualifying exam, I scrubbed every surface in my apartment. How very odd.
The only ritual I do have is for writing. If I am at home, I light a candle and make tea. I have to forego the candle at work, but I do turn over the reeds in the little oil holder, which gives me a brief scent. I have to check the ink in the pens and then I can start. Oh, and at work, the headphones go on, and the music (soundtrack or classical, no lyrics) starts.
Last week’s goals: Keep the house tidy and clean. Yes.
File some papers at work. ½ hour x 5.Yes, even more like 1 hour x 5.
Do the [expletive deleted] final project for the course. Yes. HATED EVERY MINUTE!
If course allows, ½ hour x 5 on Pierpont or Prudence. Not at all.
Walk ½ hour x 5 Some--½ hour x 3.
Analysis: Despite the realtor being a bit unhappy about the boxes about the place, it was clean and relatively uncluttered. I do have the willies about people in my house, but I’ll just have to hope interest in the house wanes quickly.
I do hate filing, but I did it. I do love the clean desk and easy-to-find papers and such. If I am totally honest, it was also a way to avoid the coursework I had to finish. Goodness, I hated that course. Although I was a curmudgeon, I had a pretty good small group for the final project. The earlier group project was a group of 26, and it was just handled all wrong.
The course (and cleaning house and cubicle) was all consuming, so although I did think about Prudence and Pierpont, I did not work on them. Oh, and I uncovered my idea file, with a couple of great ideas for sabbatical.
Also, I did indulge myself by reviving a novella I wrote a couple of years ago. One critique that was all too true was that my female protagonist was lying limply on the page. While I tidied and cleaned, I tried to get into her head, and it worked. I’ve started putting little pieces on my blog, toe in the water sort of thing, but it is exciting.
Things are going pretty well. I just have to get through a long-overdue meeting with my Dean next Tuesday. We have not met since she submarined me last fall. Although we are supposed to meet every month, she has cancelled meeting after meeting. I won’t be surprised if she cancels this one, but I have to have my defenses aligned just in case.
Next week’s goals:
Keep my Irish under wraps if I end up meeting with the Dean.
½ hour on Pierpont x 5
½ hour on Prudence x 5
½ hour walking x 5
½ hour WWII novella x 5
Thank you all again for your kindness in celebrating my tenure. I cannot fully express how much it means to me.
I love your idea of lighting a candle when you work. I would like to try this one. I too make tea as part of my writing ritual. allan wilson
DeleteWe'll have to raise teacups to one another virtually, Allan. The candle helps delineate that I am in a different space, but it also has the benefit that I am still thinking when I stare at it, instead of panicking when I stare at the blank screen or page.
DeleteI hope, too, that this past week went better for you.
I am a post-event cleaner as well! I don't do it quite as much these days since as soon as I finish one thing, I have immediate demands of another kind, but I remember after my MA exams, I cleaned out bathroom cabinets and other such things. Also, I used to like to get new bedding to mark such changes. Now that I have to find bedding my husband agrees with, its not such a celebratory act anymore.
DeleteI might have to try the candle.
Congrats on a productive week, and best of luck with the dean.
I too like to make an appropriate drink - sometimes I go off tea/hot drinks, but making a drink properly still seems to be a useful ritual (so I go for a smoothie or a non-alcoholic cocktail with fruit juice and sparkling water or similar).
DeleteI used to do the candle thing too, but after a couple of near misses involving a messy desk, my tendency to flip through paper notebooks at speed, and a cat who thinks all spaces belong to her and has flammable fur, I decided to quit before there was an accident...
Good luck with the Dean!
Why fold your announcement of tenure into someone else's party? Are you discouraged from having work events, so they have to be saved up? I think you're worth having your own celebration. But you could also think of it in terms of your co-worker who is coming back from leave: if she deserves a party, then why don't you?
DeleteI'm a bit nervous about real candles, too, but I've found that the newer battery-operated ones can be quite convincing (at least if you place them at enough of a distance that you're viewing the "flame" through the side of the candle; the flickering is pretty realistic; any attempt at a "flame" less so).
DeleteThe at-work tenure celebration sounds nicely calibrated to me (somehow welcoming someone back to the work "team" and celebrating another member of the team's promotion feels about right, and tenure feels like one of the moments when it's right -- though not required -- for the person celebrating to provide the hospitality).
You could also, of course, have a later combination housewarming and tenure celebration, once you're at least somewhat settled in the new place (but before you've been there so long that you feel that you "should" have the place completely organized).
In the Twitter feed from a conference earlier today, someone said that while they don't necessarily *write* every day, no day passes without somehow working on or thinking about their project. So the musing on Pierpont and Prudence, while doing the Dreadful Work of Filing Things, should be considered double duty. I'm terrible about filing, although long ago it was a point of pride to have my papers just-so.
ReplyDeleteExcited to hear more about the novella! Good for getting that out and spending time with it.
Thanks for pointing that out, humming. Some of writing is prelude--I always told my students that they had to let things percolate before they could write, but then forget that for myself.
DeleteI hope you have had a great week.
Transitions...
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting question! We tend to forget them I think, partly because the stuff we do takes so long that by the time we're done with it we are so sick of it that celebrating is not on the top of the list! I got coloured Sharpies for submitting my papers last session, does that count?
During my PhD I often thought about buying a piano, kind of a big thing, when I finished and got a job, then I got a job and moved, finished the PhD and totally forgot about it until a couple of years later when I had an epiphany one morning that said wait, I have the PhD and the job and I never bought it! So I went to the showroom in the (relatively) big city and bought one right away. I really enjoy having it! Of course half the time it sits there and looks at me and I feel guilty for not playing more... But that is normal I think!
Last week's goals:
1) Accounting DONE
2) Data organization for local project DONE
3) Data organization for far-away projects NOT DONE
4) Contact lab collaborators and arrange end of summer visit DONE
Pretty good week. I did lots of work on a paper for a local project, but while going through the data I found giant software bug in the program I use, and started doubting everything I ever did with it... So that necessitated some redoing of stuff I had done before, I think I caught it in time note to send out anything truly terrible.
This is my last week before going off into the wild for three wonderful weeks of field work. This week's goals will all be focused on TRQ things for collaborators and preparation, but I'll put them here anyway.
This week's goals:
1) Get all field gear ready and packed
2) Get data write-up and interpretations to collaborators for local paper
3) Get computer and all files ready for going away
4) Take last stab at getting hideous paper to ex-supervisor so she can ignore it while I'm gone :)
5) Set up summer student with project and data entry jobs
Have a good week everyone!
Although I am a qualitative researcher, the idea of a software bug is terrifying to me! I can't imagine being able to address that so calmly and matter of fact as you did.
DeleteI hope you enjoy your piano tremendously. Just being an entirely different creative space seems like a really good thing to have in your life when things get monotonous or blocked.
I shake in my boots at the thought of a bug, too, and admire your calm reaction.
DeleteI also agree with humming about the piano. Lots of writing coaches suggest doing some other creative pursuits to keep the well open and flowing.
Your comment, "so she can ignore it while I'm gone," made me laugh out loud. So true, sadly, but thank you for the laugh.
Here's to you getting everything in place before your fieldwork.
Congrats on a very productive week. I hope your fieldwork prep goes smoothly!
DeleteRedoing analyses just seems to be part of the routine to me now. I pretty much approach every project assuming I'll find a bug or a quirk or a problem with the data and have to redo all the analyses several times (and that I'll have a panic or two about past work too...).
DeleteWhat I find frustrating about my current work is that I keep realising we did stuff imperfectly on fieldwork, and that I have no resources to go out and address that, and that every paper I write finds something new... I mean, I guess my knowledge is accumulating, and I don't make the SAME mistakes, but still, it's very frustrating, especially with how little resource I have to do anything...
Hope everything goes well this week and you have a great time in the field - so good to have only ONE thing to think about!
DeleteTransitions
ReplyDeleteI certainly celebrated tenure. I bought a new car within two months of the time I turned in my tenure materials. And we went out to dinner when I actually got the word. But generally, I'm bad at marking these transitions and the little accomplishments that really should be celebrated. This is probably because there's always so much else to do. I wish I had a writing ritual, though maybe it would up the ante if I did. I'd like to try it when I get back into writing (because at this point, I'm just trying to huff and puff my way to the finish line).
Last Week's Goals
Health: Try to be lovely to self. Watch movies and shows but do leg lifts or crunches while watching. Try not to eat quite so much ice cream. I GOT SICK. I PUSHED MYSELF OVER THE WEEKEND AND DURING THE WEEK AND GOT SICK. I ACTUALLY THINK MY WORKLOAD IS UNSUSTAINABLE AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M GOING TO DO ABOUT THAT LONG TERM, BUT SHORT TERM I JUST NEED TO GET THROUGH THIS.
Scholarship: forget about this for the duration. I have too much grading to think about writing, research, or sabbatical applications. Enough said. DONE!
Farmstead project: take care of animals, take care of plants, try to plant three new seeds. DONE, DONE, AND DONE.
Family: keep up on Spirited's therapy. Call Piano teacher and leave message on her VM about summer plans. Spend some time with family. Clearly communicate about workload without becoming histrionic or stressed or bitchy. DIDN'T KEEP UP WITH THERAPY OR CALL PIANO TEACHER.
Work planning: So.much.muchness. Must grade this weekend without destroying family time or sleep. Must continue grading at a decent clip without making myself sick. Am so behind and pissed about impossibility of it all. EPIC FAIL. I DID GET THE PAPERS GRADED LAST WEEKEND, BUT GOT SICK. AM NOW SO BEHIND.
Analysis
I got sick to the point that I couldn't push myself to do one more paper, one more whatever. I had to send out one of those horrible I suck and now I'm sick emails to both of my hard classes. I will say that sitting with the ducklings outside is very soothing and healing when I can't do anything else. I'm sure I'll be out there today with a stack of papers, which is also pretty nice.
This Week's Goals
Health: Dear lord. Get healthy already. Really try to not overeat or eat too fast. (I ate too fast on Friday and went catatonic on the couch for 30 minutes while I swear my body was on too-much-to-process shut-down-now mode. Of course I also went to work and taught for 5 hours while sick.) Be lovely to self.
Farmstead: water seeds at least twice a day. Take care of animals. (There's all sorts of weeding and seeding that needs to be done, but I don't see how I'll get any of it done.) Maybe think about where to plant what in my down time.
Family: Therapy! I think we may have to forego the piano stuff for now. Too much muchness on the farm front. Spirited hasn't been complaining -- and he's got a whole bunch of projects that are supported by regular trips to the library.
Work planning: I have an insane level of marking and grading at this point. I can only do my best at this point, which is not very good in terms of getting things finished, but is all I can do. I think my goal here has got to be to moderate emotions/not freak out, keep at a good clip, and do what I can.
About starting the Slow Professor discussion. I'm clearly not ready to begin this. I'd like to wait until I've put this quarter to bed, which I think is June 24. So do we want to start it the very next week on June 27 (which is fine for me), or do we want to start it after the July 4 weekend, which would start us on July 11. Personally, I don't do anything for July 4 weekend (and I assume those of you who are not in the US don't either), so I'm happy to start right on the heels of the quarter myself. Those of you who are interesting in the Slow Professor discussion, what say you?
Oh EE, I hope you're feeling better! And that you can get through to the end of the quarter without too much undo stress, frustration, and illness. You note that you can only do your best at this point, and that is always the truth. We forget that we are not unbreakable creatures and put so much weight on ourselves to be awesome. I read once that on his deathbed, Buddha was asked for his enduring advice. And he said, do your best. Because really, that's all we can ever do. Also do best to be lovely to yourself, as ever.
DeleteFourth of July weekend is a great time for me for Slow Professor, since it's the end of my summer teaching.
I'm so sorry that you got sick, EE--you had so much on your plate already.
DeleteI think your plan of moderating your emotions and taking care of yourself while working toward getting things done is smart. My Achilles' heel is thinking I have to be perfect, so I have to remember that good enough is often good enough.
I can do the Slow Professor on the 4th or the 11th, whichever works for everyone.
Take care of yourself, EE.
Either weekend sounds fine to me, too
DeleteIt's very very hard being 'sensible' isn't it? Much empathy...
I'm on vacation in July, but could probably jump in the weekend of the 11th, though I'm hosting a large family get together that Saturday. But I can at least drop in!
DeleteSorry to hear you got sick -- and yes, sometimes identifying when things are simply too much is a step on the road to getting them under control. It sounds like you've been teaching in your current position for a while, but perhaps not while dealing with everything that's currently on your plate? I don't know how much you can say "no" to, but, if you can't say no entirely (e.g. to classes), then can you streamline and/or simplify anything? Easier to say than to do, I realize.
DeleteI'm glad you at least have duckling-companionship; that sounds soothing (if also a bit distracting, in a charming way).
Oh -- and late June/early July works well for me for a start on the Slow Professor discussion. That's more or less when I'll begin teaching my summer (online) class, so I'll be on the computer a lot, and a still-professionally-oriented distraction will be welcome.
DeleteTopic: Like EAM, I am inclined to clean and purge after milestones. After my MA exams, I came home and cleaned out bathroom cabinets. Cleaning felt necessary, and I didn't have to think too much. I also celebrated with new bedding. These days, as I noted in a reply above, I squash these inclinations because 1) I usually have something else (like the PhD thesis) that I need to do, and 2) I can't get pretty bedding because my husband would object.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really mark the tenure milestone because I had just moved into a new house, I was pregnant, and I was planning my wedding. But, boy howdy, I sure plan to celebrate the PhD (if I manage to succeed). There will be lots of house cleaning, a party, and (I hope) a new writing studio/shed in the backyard (along with new landscaping).
Last week's goals:
Good Enough Woman
1) Finish revision of Chapter 1. MOSTLY DONE. Still need to edit and add references as I come across new ones.
2) Finish text revision of Chapter 2 (perhaps leaving some footnote work for next week). NOT DONE. The chapter needed way more work than I though it did. Needs much more focus. I think I found the focus, but now I have to implement it.
3) Read 200 pages of primary text. HALF DONE: 100.
4) Help daughter finish dress by Tuesday night. Attend school performances, etc. DONE. The dress turned out great. I was proud of her for doing it all, and proud of myself for carving out the necessary time and staying calm and helpful throughout the process.
5) Exercise 3x. PARTLY DONE. 2x.
I also had some quality time with my son yesterday: fishing and fro-yo. It was nice.
This week's goals:
1) Read 200 pages primary source material.
2) Finish revising Chapter 2 (text and footnotes).
3) Be selfish with time and ask for one day next weekend to myself for writing.
4) Spend the other day next weekend with daughter for birthday and end-of-school-related preparations.
Analysis: I really wish Chapter 2 was more complete so that I could work on the intro this week. I need to be diligent and maybe even go stay somewhere else for a couple of days this week. I can't let these self-imposed deadlines get a away from me.
I hope you find a way to carve out that piece of time you need for yourself. Although Amstr isn't in the discussion this session, I'm reminded of her taking a retreat away from family toward the end of finishing her dissertation. Committing to something like that can be a great push.
DeleteWould it be useful to set aside the Chapter 2 revision and work on the intro instead?
humming42, Yes, little retreats away from the family are good for me, and I think I might need a fairly big one right towards the end. I am going to get one night at a hotel tomorrow night, and I did negotiate for one work day this weekend, so there's that!
DeleteI think I will feel best if I keep bashing away at Chapter 2. I've started the intro, but I'm finding that the chapter revisions are giving me clarity about my true focus (just as my draft of the intro did that for the chapters!). I'm in a weird loop that I hope works in my favor.
But at some point, I will just have to STOP editing the chapters and finish the intro draft. Difficult to just STOP.
I'm not particularly good at celebrating things. I had thought seriously about possibly gifting myself a trip to NYC for getting my PhD, but I got some news that meant I needed to save my money (I did, however, get tix for myself to Hamilton and Fun Home in my city this fall - so yay!).
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals
1. Draft research strategy for F32 - NOT EVEN STARTED
2. Draft sponsor's section for F32 - PARTIALLY DONE
3. Finish analyses for relat paper - DONE BUT NEED TO BE RE-DONE
4. LOI (due June 15, not critical) - NOT DONE
5. Finish summer institute app - ALMOST DONE (WILL BE DONE TODAY)
6. revise LOR to add in more about diss - DONE
7. revise stats in Science paper - DONE, BUT MENTOR WANTS MORE DONE
This week was good, but exhausting. I spent almost 2 full days with my postdoc research mentor and her team, and it was fantastic, but exhausting. I got reviewer comments on an article back this week, and they were so vague, it's been hard to edit the manuscript (like one comment is literally, "More detail is needed in the background" - where? On what?). I did the best I could and sent it to my mentor.
Goals for this week:
1. Work on getting relat paper in good shape
2. Work on F32 app and make substantial headway (am meeting grants person this week, which should really help)
3. Do new analyses for Science paper
4. Try to come up with research question for foundation grant app
5. Work on measurement
6. Organize my articles in my ref manager
7. Finish up specific aims
Hope you're getting some time to rest and re-energise this weekend.
DeleteOpen-ended referee comments like that can be good, as they allow you to make some changes which are relatively easy/painless then explain in the letter to the editor that these address that point... Actually, for me, the distance I get when a paper goes off my desk for a few weeks/months to the referees often means that I can see for myself where the gaps are (or where they might think they are) when it comes back (and feel waves of embarassment at having let it out in public in that state), but I guess that's an experience thing (as in having refereed a lot as well as having BEEN refereed a lot)... Don't fret too much about vague comments like that, they mostly mean "this isn't quite right but it's not wrong enough that I can actually pin it down" or "you didn't cite me/my buddy/my fave theory/that historical paper I think is the Root Of All enough, and you should know those things if you're any kind of X-ologist, so I won't tell you", i.e. that actually your paper is pretty OK!
What an awesome amount of work you got done. So many things moving forward should feel very satisfying.
DeleteAnd, you get to see Hamilton!
JaneB - thank you for the comments about the R&R - that really helps. I think part of what is confusing is that this was the second round of reviewer comments. The first round were super positive and gave very specific things to change. So the vagueness of this second round (and the relative largeness of a couple of them) was confusing. But, I'm wholly unpracticed in this realm.
DeleteThanks, humming! I'm so excited about Hamilton, it's not even funny!
Topic: A journal article (which is the basis for Mercury) was published last week and I found it online a few days ago. I updated my CV and baked brownies, which I ate with ice cream and sprinkles. Although I probably would have had the sprinkles anyway, because do lovely things for self.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1 Write to Mercury editors for clarification: No, they were organizing a conference.
2 Read another 50 pages for Mars: Yes, finished the book.
3 Read parts 1-4 for Mars: No.
4 Open and read through existing RPB outlines: Yes.
5 Type up notes from two RBP book: Did one.
Analysis:
I had great feelings of dread about reading through the existing RBP outlines, which are an ongoing revision of my dissertation over many years. The surprise was finding that I had made significant progress on taking the Mercury-related material and turning it into an in-progress manuscript of its own. So now my first task is to separate everything into the two separate projects and decide how to address Mercury things in RPB. It’s still important there, but doesn’t need its own history or extended analysis as part of RPB. I am grateful that I have time to spend with these projects.
Week ahead:
1 prep summer classes (facing up to time for teaching)
2 Read parts 1-2 for Mars (making that a smaller goal)
3 Read 50 pages of Moon Circling book
4 Read 50 page of new RPB book
5 Add new reading notes to outlines (will be an ongoing project)
6 Write to Mercury editors
Mmmm, sprinkles...
DeleteSounds like a good surprise, as well, finding that work is further advanced that you thought...
It's wonderful that you feel grateful to work on your projects (rather than burdened to do so).
DeleteWhat a great feeling to add the article to your CV! And to have sprinkles.
Topic: I'm not good at transitions at the moment, although I used to be. Partly it's because my system doesn't have proper transitions - I've moaned about the long-drawn-out end of semester I'm still plodding through for at least another month, and next academic year stuff is already cobwebbing around the place, though it won't become too intrusive until late July. Everything I achieve seems to come along with half a dozen reminders of other failures and procrastinations...
ReplyDeleteBut the advice I give my mentees and any ECRs I interact with is always to celebrate the small stuff, and for them, I can do it. Heck, the whole 'stickers at writing group' thing is about celebrating small things (and I do love my stickers...). Something I need to bring back for myself...
On which note, Repeater is now published online properly and will be paper sometime this academic year, and one of the two grants I worked on back in January with a group of collaborators (which arose from conversations at the out-of-field conference I attended last September) has been awarded. A small sum of money between a lot of people, and none of it will be processed through my Uni so it doesn't count, and I now have to work out how to meet its obligations in my schedule for the next year or so... but on the plus side, it funds at least two trips for me to FavouriteIslands in the next couple of years for meetings (and as the name implies, being in that landscape always makes me feel refreshed and relaxed, so, that's a good!). And we can hope it'll lead to more...
last week's goals:
1) 500 words on the special issue paper draft no, we were on strike, and I didn't care
2) gym at least twice twice, if Sunday counts as last week...
3) decluttering whilst on strike! not much. I mostly read novels and slept, but I needed the break
4) review summer calendar no. depressing
5) make some sort of measurable progress on admin task before it becomes TRQ made a small start. Fed up with the whole thing! which makes it TRQ I guess...
analysis
Ugh. Should have been quite a good week, but the strike, and the big staff meeting (last official meeting of the current department, due to the re-organisation happening this summer), and lots of small details like marking single pieces of work with very late deadlines, and probably weather and allergies and general mardiness, made it feel very uphill into the wind. SULK. I hate how dragged out the end of semester is, and how tired everyone is, and how the University makes it clear that it assumes we have plenty of time in summer for all the things that will have to be done in order for the new students to have a decent experience, and never says thank you - and is being unnecessarily mean about the strike at the same time.
We're now officially working to rule. I rather think I'm at the point where I might "work" longer hours than 'to rule' but won't be productive, I just need a break, and... no space for one. I'm actually getting that 'hmmm, would almost be nice to be sick' feeling, which isn't a good sign... but all the germy little students are leaving over the next month, so odds of picking up a virus again are dropping fast.
context for this week:
DeleteWell, we're supposedly working to contract. Today was a holiday, and I don't have too much actually in my diary, whilst next week I have to be on the ball as PDF and I have some academic visitors from the project I nicknamed Problem Child (and probably will struggle to keep hours at the office to my official hours, never mind actual hours of work).
goals for this week:
1) review calendar for summer
2) 500 words minimum on Special Issue paper
3) comment in detail on draft of Cruncy-Data-Paper (one led by and linked to the project that brought me Crunchier and Crunchier's Younger Brother, the papers I've sweated over for multiple iterations of this group. So nice to be the one saying 'hmm, I think you should do this, that and the other, and redraw those figures' instead of having it said to me!)
4) gym at least 2x
5) eat mindfully
6) do at least one hard unit of admin task (I did the easiest one last week: 4 remain, 3 easy, 1 hard)
7) spend a couple of hours on paperwork to solve PhD student LikesMaths problem, and try to coordinate their very late committee meeting. SIGH. It's sort of TRQ, but it isn't, in that LikesMaths is very polite and no-one else on her committee cares and the administrator in charge of the paperwork is really busy with exams so won't nag for a month or so, at which point it will all be a crisis).
How I do wish the Uni were more appreciative. Even just acknowledging your diligence, let alone your brilliance, would go such a long way. Wishing you more sprinkles than sulks.
DeleteThe lack of milestones to celebrate, combined with the bleedover problem, definitely resonate with me. It's not nearly as bad at my place (and I'm more insulated, by dint of being more marginal), but still, yes, it seems like the breaks are shorter and shorter, and there's more and more to do during them (and, yes, nobody seems to take the amount of sheer labor involved in teaching, and organizing teaching, seriously, which must be at least a partial explanation for how your place can so blithely try to reshuffle so much at once).
DeleteSo nice of you to help solve LikesMaths's problem. As a PhD student who is losing her supervisor at the last minute and wondering if anyone will help/care, I sympathize with LikesMaths, and I think you are wonderful for helping.
DeleteI feel kind of wierd getting credit for that - I'm her supervisor, it's my JOB to help her solve problems, especially ones with things like paperwork and processes that aren't directly about her research, and where by virtue of being a student she lacks the access to information/people to solve them easily - as in, it's SO much easier to get help/answers if you start a conversation with "I'm a Reader in Beach Studies..." than "I'm a first year grad student...". I'm not even doing the job very well! (It's confusing and stressful and Incoming keeps either ignoring any attempt to get his input or intervening just enough to require me to make lots of changes to my thinking but not enough to actually solve anything - he did a 'drop in at 6pm' on me yesterday AGAIN...)
DeleteGoals/Achievements:
ReplyDeleteTalk to Sir John about selling the house. NOPE
Keep 9-1 office hours MWTh. YES (well, sort of flex hours, but yes)
Finish Revision #1. NOPE (but added another 1500 words)
2-3 hours' worth of Administrivia, personal and professional. YES
Plant the plants. HALF
Four hours basement sorting. NOPE
Get back to translating. YES (minimally)
Analysis:
Talking to Sir John: I am dragging my feet because, although I do want to move, I dread all the disruption of finishing the sorting and packing, and keeping the place tidy, and making this all work around some summer trips. I know we need to have a plan. The longer I put this off, the worse it gets, and the more I feel like I should already have done a lot more packing. Ugh.
Office hours: I tended to "come in late" and stay late, but I put in the time and got stuff done. Not doing so well on the early-to-bed early-to-rise thing. My sleep schedule is all messed up.
Revision #1: that was a stretch goal, anyway, and it was fairly motivating. Considering the limited time I had to work with, I think I did well.
Administrivia: setting a time limit is helpful.
Plants: Those that go in planters are in. I've also partially dug up the area where the ground cover ones are going to go. More digging needs to happen, and then the ground cover can go in, if it's still alive.
Basement: oh, just ugh. It isn't so bad once I get to it, and it goes faster than you might think, but it's hard to get started.
Translation: I did a short session just to say I was "back to it," but that was a deliberately low goal, so yay, I met it.
Goals for this week:
Talk to Sir John about selling the house.
Keep 9-1 office hours WThF.
Get back to a working sleep schedule.
Finish Revision #1.
2 hours' worth of Administrivia, mainly personal.
Finish digging plot and plant the plants.
Four hours basement sorting.
30-60 minutes a day of translation work.
Topic: I'm better at celebrating achievements than at ordinary transitions. I believe in champagne and cake as suitable for all occasions, and when I was awaiting the final word on my tenure application, we cracked another bottle for every stage (department, college, university, board of trustees). I think it's important to reward yourself (and/or gloat a bit) when you've done something worthwhile. Today, for instance, I received a published copy of a festschrift to which I contributed to, and I showed it to my writing group, and I'll show it to Sir John, and I will have a glass of wine and admire it some more this evening. Because there is always more work to be done, we need to notice when some significant piece gets finished. But for transitions like "end of the day," "end of the week," I don't really know what to do. I like the *idea* of going out with friends on Friday to mark the end of the work week, but I don't in fact tend to enjoy such events much: I'm not social enough. At the end of the week, I want to be quiet. A glass of wine in the garden is nicer than going out---but then I notice all the weeding that needs to be done and get antsy about House Stuff instead of Work Stuff.
Celebrating quietly is still celebrating well. I have long struggled with the idea that I should be a more social person but it really doesn't serve me well.
DeleteI am also an advocate for setting a low bar sometimes, to check off that box that says your engagement with translation was good enough. It can keep the mind from all of that shouting and hand waving that minds do to point out what we aren't getting done.
At our house, every Friday, we snuggle on the couch and eat pizza and watch a movie. I hadn't thought about it as marking a transition, but indeed it does. And I can have on my pajamas and not go anywhere. Perfect.
DeleteI must say I like your Champagne and cake idea, and I hope you will continue to admire the published volume.
Transitions:
ReplyDeleteWhat a great question. I am rewarding myself for finishing the book (even if it's not entirely finished) with a month of vacation and (I hope) minimal work. But I don't reward myself for small stuff. I do try to do nice things for myself, but they tend to be linked to travel, and not to accomplishments.
Goals for last week:
1. Revise chapter 1 and 2. (The revisions are very minor, so I should be able to do this.
1 IS FINISHED, 2 90% DONE.
2. Start reading for chapter 3, which needs some interpretive work.
NO
3. Keep going on the giant desk clearing exercise. (I'll work on some of it as soon as I finish writing this!)
YES! DID A HUGE AMOUNT YESTERDAY, ALSO PAYING BILLS.
4. Garden: deal with the field of weeds at the edge of the garden. Finish planting new creeping thyme. (The plants have to be watered daily, and if I'm out there and can do ten minutes of clean up, it will be great!
PLANTING DONE; WEEDING STARTED. THIS MORNING (BEFORE THE HEAT GOT UNBEARABLE) I PUT TOGETHER A NEW OUTDOOR DINING TABLE.
Analysis: well, I did pretty well, but there are still demands from work that take more time and energy than they should. (A full day meeting tomorrow...) My trip over the weekend was great, adn I did not do work!
Goals for next week:
1. Finish Chapter 2, initial revisions of 3, and Chap 4.
2. Keep reading book for fun.
3. Keep working on back yard, which will be slow because it's current *very* hot...
The all caps format is great...like shouting a big Yes! for all the done things. Especially the table and HUGE desk cleaning. I look forward to having actual chapter revisions done on the book project. A month vacation will be a well deserved celebration!
DeleteTopic: I did a pretty good job of celebrating the completion of my Ph.D., despite some complications that came mostly from complicated family dynamics (hard to find a date for a party when your father refuses either to say when he'd be available to come *or* to say he simply isn't coming; I finally concluded the latter). I took myself out to a nice lunch a day or two after I'd turned the manuscript over to the binder (after I'd slept a bit and presented a paper at the conference I was attending), and friends helped me celebrate the day of the defense (and family, including my father, did come to my graduation, and we had a family dinner; they just boycotted the follow-up party I threw back at home). Some longer-term "once the Ph.D. is done" promises to self (parallel to Daisy's piano) got sidetracked in family drama that followed soon *after* the party, but, overall, I think I celebrated pretty well, especially to the extent that the celebration was under my control.
ReplyDeleteSince then, however, there haven't been a lot of milestones. I was promoted (in a making-it-up-as-they go-along non-tenure system) after several false starts, and bought a new car not too long after I realized that the promotion actually did come with a higher salary (which made the false starts, which had been justified on the basis of it not really mattering because no money was involved, all the more maddening), but that was because the old car had literally disintegrated (rusted) to the point where it was undriveable and unrepairable.
And, although semesters and years end, they tend to be followed all too quickly by new terms/semesters, with holdover and/or delayed projects clamoring for possession of the interstitial space.
All of which makes me sound far more put-upon and generally grumpy than I should be, or, in fact, am, but probably supports the conclusion that it would be a good idea to take next summer off from teaching, even if I can't technically afford it yet. I need to catch my breath.
It also probably supports the conclusion that I need to take/make more time in my life for projects that have visible/tangible results (even if they're displayed virtually). That includes both writing/research and household projects. Like Dame Eleanor, I'm not necessarily big on celebrations that involve a lot of people (though I did enjoy that Ph.D.-celebration party), but I will take considerable satisfaction in looking over a project I've completed, whether physical or intellectual. That in itself is a celebration, and I think I need a bit more of that in my life (having the garden nearer my home, or vice versa, would also help).
Last week's goals:
Delete1. Work in some sort of exercise regularly, especially during time off.
2. Take time off Thurs.-Mon.
3. Continue planning for summer (and finding a balance between planning and then disappointing myself by deviating from plan and playing it by ear week by week), knowing that more complete planning, whatever form it takes, will come after long weekend (so, the week after this coming one)
4. Continue working on contact with friends/family
5. Work on chaos reduction if I feel like it over break; otherwise leave it 'til afterward and just read, eat, sleep, and exercise.
6. Stay mostly off internet and read some long-form stuff (mostly leisure reading at this point)
Achieved: pretty good success on #2 (mostly relaxed Fri.-Mon.; Thurs. was spent very slowly tying up loose ends) and #6 (read 4 mystery novels and began a longer nonfiction book). I've also got something of a plan for at least the first part of the summer (#3), though that includes taking things week by week to some extent, at least through June, so as to decrease frustration and increase actual rejuvenation. I took some small steps toward chaos reduction (#5), and read a paper that my niece sent me (but still need to contact her -- so, mixed success on #4).
The only thing that really didn't happen at all is exercise (though I did get a bit out of a frozen-dinner rut, which wasn't listed as a goal, but is still a positive step in the self-care direction). That definitely needs to be high on the list for this week (what remains of it) and next, including taking into account the fact that I'll probably want to sleep/vegetate a bit more than usual the first few days I'm more active (a reaction which I know from experience wanes pretty quickly, but which sometimes keeps me from starting back to becoming more active at busy times of the semester/year). A good deal of the moving this week may happen in the garden, however, since plot inspections begin tomorrow, and I'm not quite ready.
So, goals for the week:
1. Get moving (mostly in the garden, also get into the pool -- which is now open -- at least once).
2. Follow up with other group members on plans for the grant project, and do a bit of planning of my own work on the grant project.
3. Continue work on other summer planning (but don't get too ambitious -- rejuvenation is the first priority; visible/tangible accomplishments the second. Also, include plans for additional short and long periods of time off).
4. Continue work on connecting/reconnecting with family and friends.
5. Begin computer-updating work (get backup computer in good working order/install software as necessary; begin organizing/backing up main computer if time)
6. Additional long-form reading and/or chaos reduction as possible
Your taking stock of all of those steps, achievements, and bits of chaos offers some evidence of overload. When we really at what we do, it can be surprising to see how much it really is. I hope that if you don't manage to take a summer off you can at least minimize your workload to read twice as many mystery novels.
DeleteFor you, I wish for a summer off next year. I hope it can be worked out.
DeleteAnd I like the idea of celebrating the different steps of the PhD submission/defense process. I'm so nervous about all of it.
allanwilson
ReplyDeleteLast weeks goals:
1) finish draft and send back to MR - NO
2) resubmit W -NOT QUITE, but did some work on it
3) exercise daily - YES
I've moved out of my funk and got a bit more focus going, so excited to be back mentally in the land of the living. what a relief to move on.
Next week's goals
1. Finish draft ms and send back to MR
2.Do revisions on CR
3. submit whk
4. organise stats for ppw
5. Eat chocolate more sparingly!
I love rituals to mark endings and beginnings. Morning teas to celebrate family events (including sad ones), getting papers accepted, small successes. Usually with homemade food.
Looking forward to next week.
aw
Exercising every day is excellent...enabling the continuation of chocolate (even if only sparingly). Hope your week is off to a great start!
DeleteSo glad you are feeling more energized. And Kudos for the exercise! Most nights, I have port with a square or two of dark chocolate. Knowing this helps me resist other chocolate (etc.) during the day. Although I am a sucker for Madeleines with my tea...
DeleteHello, everyone, late checking - in, again…
ReplyDeleteTopic:
Well, I don’t think I have any particular way to mark the change. Still, I tend to plan to buy something, when I have a good transition. Also when I have a not-so-good one - a new semester starts, for example, or is this a good one? - I tend to buy small things. They are just a new pen, a nice notebook, even an eraser. However, I think what I do most is to turn a new page of my notebook, writing a new plan.
Last goals:
1) Read materials for Section 2 of Chapter 2, and make a plan of revision, again. - I have started.
2) Re-read the book for the review and revise the outline, again. - None.
3) Writing exercise 2 of Goodson’s revised book. - Not thorough, but done.
4) 5 minute short exercise three times a day. - not three times, but I did.
I reviewed how many minutes I worked this week. I found that I had planned lots of writing sessions during week, but doing this, I ignored other things I do. I forgot setting time to mark, to pick my son up, to have some break with my colleagues and other things. What still I need to do is setting my writing time during my day and keeping it. This means that I am still on the stage of Exercise 1 of Goodson’s book.
Next goals:
1) Set the time to write, and keep it.
2) Do a university project. Anyway, I have to.
3) Continue to work on Chapter 2.
4) Writing exercise 3 of Goodson’s revised book.
5) 5 minute short exercise three times a day.
6) No sugary sweets. Only some healthy snacks are ok.
Have a good week, everyone!
I'm really interested in what else you might have found in tracking your time. Does doing so make you feel overwhelmed, or help inspire you? It seems like it could inspire those so-called five minute tasks, where you just devote yourself quickly to something under extreme time constraints.
Delete