the grid

the grid

Saturday 29 October 2016

Week 7: Mid-Session Check up/ Check in

We are half way through our 14 week session, and it is always useful to look back at our original goals, see how we are doing, what needs to be added, deleted, or modified.  This is a reality check. I can tell by the drop-off in postings that several of us are sick, stressed, overwhelmed, or dealing with life that sometimes suddenly becomes too complicated. We all often aspire to do more than we can manage, and one of the things this group has helped me do is realize when I'm being unrealistic, when the context has changed enough.  So, to help you re-calibrate your expectations of yourself, pasted below are your initial session goals, followed by the goals you set last week.  (Or the week before, as is my case because I didn't manage to check in last week!)  If you want to drop a goal, or modify it, say so!

Session Goals:
Allan wilson
1) to be fitter and stronger physically than I am now, by doing exercise consistently - I find this has enormous benefits for my mental wellbeing, and energy levels
2) to be calm, especially as Christmas draws closer. Not sure yet what my strategies will be here.
3) to resubmit two papers that I have previously completed with the help of this group - both are complete mss, but need reformatting after recent rejections
4)to work on drafts of three other papers, so each has a complete manuscript form

Contingent Cassandra

Self-care:
--increase exercise (walking, weight-lifting, gardening) enough to increase the amount I can do
--make/eat more homemade food
--get enough/more regular sleep (in particular, try to establish/maintain a regular bedtime/bedtime routine)
--do more long-form reading (keep up w/church Bible-reading project, + some additional professional & recreational reading)

Household/financial:
--accomplish enough in the garden plot to meet the standard of “active gardening” and to move as much gardening paraphernalia as possible to the plot itself (make fence out of rolls of wire currently occupying part of my living space; assemble storage box ditto & fill will tools ditto)
--make progress on putting up shelves (including temporary assembly of ones that will eventually be painted/permanently installed)
--get financial paperwork in shape for mortgage applications
--gather data for a budget
--research 2nd home/investment property/storage solution

Professional:
--Follow up on grant project (attend conference, prepare reports, look into addtl funding, maybe write a bit)
--Continue to think about research/writing priorities

Personal:
--do what I can to keep up/reestablish contact with friends and family, without getting too tied up in whether/how people (especially those in difficult/complicated situations) respnd.
--scan at least an album’s worth of family pictures; move pictures to new, archival album (which will be a birthday/Christmas present for my brother)

Daisy
write three new papers and finish the hideous revise and resubmit from the last session! The three new ones are for projects that are now slowly maturing and producing things worth writing about.

Dame Eleanor Hull
Goals, though: I want to have sent out two R&R projects and done some serious reading/note-taking to provide some theoretical underpinnings for my book-in-progress. (The state of the book is that I've basically done all the writing involving the primary text---or all I can do for now---and now I need to work on theoretical and historical background, with some literary comparisons.) I also need to do some translation-revising (we've achieved a complete rough draft, which is a big milestone). I need to keep up with teaching, which is less challenging than usual (low enrollments = smaller classes). Usually things I consider basic (exercise, food providing) aren't too tricky, but my teaching schedule and recent discovery of some food intolerances means that over the next few months, both of these need more attention than they used to. Finally, there's the house-related sorting/tossing/giving away/storing that I don't really want to do but really need to do. We will both be much happier in a newer, lower-maintenance place, and the only way out is through.

Earnest English
Gardening/herbalism: don’t forget about the garden, but do some fall planting, winter gardening or whatever/planning or herbalism learning weekly

Writing: five hours/sessions per week (reading counts!); 6x

Health: sleep!!! (in bed by 11 or earlier on worknights), supplements, good food

Mental health: journal, meditate or yoga and RELAX, listen to audio books during commute; planning instead of panic; create and communicate boundaries

Cooking: one nice meal a week (plan over weekend)

Weekly and birthday/holiday planning: Keep on top of holidays and other events with planning on weekends

Spirited!: keep checked in to his education: at least check notebook every weekend and check in with him; even better? ask daily

Work: be an intentional, slow professor who plods through work

Elizabeth Ann Mitchell
Session mantra: Live purposefully and deliberately
Continue my habit of writing every day.
Finish the neverending commentary for the Prudence book.
Move more--use the brand-new variable desk, walk more, get out of the chair more.

Good Enough Woman
1. Health-Exercise more regularly. 3x a week with walking, swimming, and yoga in the mix. More veggies for the whole family.
2. Home--Get bills, and passwords, and Powerschool, etc. under control. Help kids with various things that are important to them.
3. Research--Submit conference proposal by October deadline. Submit one article. Read 1-2 articles/chapters each week (to stay fresh and ready for the viva).
4. Finish the Slow Professor, and choose various principles and practices for weekly goals (from time-to-time).
5. Family and Friends--various weekly goals as I try to be intentional about doing things for family and friends that will really help them or make them happy.

Humming 42
1 Submit book manuscript
2 Submit two late book reviews
3 Finish and submit Ungloomy article
4 Finish and submit Venus article
5 Read a novel
6 Get grading done in a timely manner
7 Set and maintain a schedule to manage household responsibilities
8 Consider possibility for writing every day

Jane B

1) survive and deliver my classes acceptably, if possible without needing sick leave from teaching
2) Have full drafts of two (closely related) papers from the project I call Problem Child. This requires actual data generation (from simulations) as well as writing
3) Be up to date with refereeing, reviewing etc. (current queue is 2 papers, one book) and minor writing (one 2000 word chapter for an encyclopedia thing, conference talk)
4) look after myself - eat reasonably, spend enough time in bed (sleep is erratic and sometimes elusive, but I can at least rest my eyes and feet for the right amount of time), exercise gently, be kind to myself
5) probably this should be my number 1 - act deliberately. Act with purpose and intent, NOT reactively, and as if I am a person who matters as much if not more than all the things around me. this is the best way I can currently codify in a few words the ideas that have percolated up from continuing to think about the 'Slow Professor' principles, and ideas we talked about in the summer like 'move like water'... I talk a lot in previous iterations about balance, but it strikes me that that metaphor is troubling as it implies an inately precarious situation, something like walking across a narrow beam, high up, whilst carrying many objects. I want a metaphor which makes me feel intrinsically grounded, gives me more feeling of control and agency than of continually just avoiding the brink of disaster, and which helps me do wood-and-forest thinking, switching smoothly between the immediate and the longer term (which reaction, fire-fighting, wobbling on a beam, really doesn't favour).

Karen
1. Explore writing rhythms till I get something I can hold
2. Write one conference paper
3. Review co-authored conference paper and knock it through to a complete article draft
3. Get ethics approval up for 2017 SOTL project
4. Find energy that doesn't rely on chocolate (so sleep, mindful eating, movement)
5. Work with co-teachers on 2017 curriculum development to the point where there's defined plans and time allocations for being ready for semester 1.

KJHaxton (Katy)
Goals for the session
1. incorporate regular writing/editing sessions for several projects interspersed with writing fits (1500 words in a couple of hours).
2. Make progress with two research projects: scary and house, mainly by revising and using the research tools on cohorts.
3. Submit one paper and get another one 'nearly there'
4. Make stuff!
5. Be more present in this group - I swing by to check in and keep track but I want to find more time to comment.

Susan:
1.  I have a paper to finish for a conference with pre-circulated papers.  It's due this week, and it will be done.
2.  I have a long overdue book review that needs to get done
3.  I have footnotes to check.  Once I've finished  the book review, I want to do as much of this as possible.
4.  I have a paper I wrote a year ago for a conference/essay collection, but the essay collection has not found a home, so I'd like to publish it.  It needs a bit of polishing, so if there's time, I'd like to do that.
5.  Return to reading fiction: I keep thinking this will happen, and I'm hoping that as my mind gets free of the book, I will do this.
6.  Sleep: I work best when I get about 7 hours of sleep a night.  One of my feline alarm clocks does not like this, but I'd really like to get to bed early enough so this can work
7.  Exercise: I go to an exercise class three days a week; I'd like to add walking twice a week.  That depends on the sleep.
8.  Friends and family: I need to stay connected to people, just hanging out and talking.  

Waffles:
1. Approximately 5 grant applications for project #1 (actual number will depend on my fellowship app currently under review). Most due in November.
2. Intersections paper
3. Discrepant paper
4. Stress Model paper (this may wait as it's complex)
5. Aging paper
6. CS paper
7. Stigma paper
8. 2 grant apps for project #2

Goals from last week

allan wilson
1. Eat healthy foods 85% of the time. 
2. Finish revisions to FS and send off. 
3. Draft rough revision for WHK paper. 
4. Abstract for conference

Contingent Cassandra
--Get as close to caught up on grading as possible (the better to concentrate on workshop/conference)
--Finish reading for next weekend's workshop
--Finish travel arrangements for week after's conference (get train ticket & sign dept. paperwork once it's ready) 
--Catch up/take care of some business with stepsister
--Follow up on grant-related financial task
--At least cover parsley & greens(harvest & make pesto if time) 
--Try to enjoy weekend workshop (which will be my first night away from home in almost a year. I'm not a huge traveler, so the lack of travel hasn't been a hardship, but I do look forward to the shift in perspective that getting away can bring)

Daisy (from 2 weeks ago)
(Flood/life recovery). So, I'll be back in about 2 weeks when the giant grant application is finished, visiting grad students have gone home, two more conferences (on my weekends) are done, and I can sit in my office and not want to cry...

Dame Eleanor Hull:
1. Self care: sit 4x, yoga 4x, basic stretching 3x, gym 3x for weights only, walk 10-15 minutes 5x provided the ankle's doing well enough. Go to bed by 10:30 7x.
2. R&R #2: 4 hours. Finish paper?
3. House/personal: do one of those financial things, 1 hour basement sorting, 1 hour filing, 1 hour garden, organize estimates on gutter cleaning, survive window-measuring visit. Maybe try again on having a single day devoted to house and personal stuff.
4. Teaching: plan the rest of the term for undergrads; do fast turn-around on grads' research proposals.
5. Plan something fun.
6. Take care of TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ.

Earnest English
Mental Health: Planning, stretching, mental discipline for inner freedom, meditation when needed, breathe. Try not to invest a lot of energy in hating hateful people.
Gardening: 1 hour of gardening this weekend (clean up? plant garlic?)
Writing: 3 sessions of writing/revising; respond to others’ work; read for project; send off to deadline!
Health: sleep, rest, relax, take supplements, eat well, make sure to bring and eat lunch.
Cooking: one meal this week 
Planning: Figure out Halloween; grade day by day to prevent weekend-stealing
Spirited!: therapy and connect when I get home. 

Move like water, grade like tortoise, everyone!

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Health
Eat things that won’t make me sick, even while at the conference. 
Continue physical therapy exercises x 10
Yoga x 3
Writing
Write one story. 
Prudence x 3 
Pierpont x 3 

Move like water, float like mist, everyone!

Good Enough Woman (from 3 weeks ago)
Health: Exercise 3x. Make at least one overdue unpleasant doctor's appt. for myself. Making an appointment is SO hard. :( 
Home: Follow up about that dentist bill.
Research: Read one thing. Review submission requirements for article.
Family: Complete ~80% of Halloween party shopping and prep, including costume stuff. Order costume stuff for son. Get son started on Code Academy.

Humming42
1 write 4x
2 read 5x
3 online course 3x

JaneB
This week I'm going to try and referee a paper, eat sensible food in the evening (I've been getting in, shattered, eating a couple of pieces of toast or some crackers, feeding the cat, and either going to bed or sitting around surfing the 'net until I fall asleep. At least I should heat up a tin of soup...)

Karen (held over from three weeks ago)

This week (including another road trip): Theme - Attend to Now
1. Clean up bedtime transitions - electronics curfew, choose one intentional activity (sewing/knitting/music practice/yoga) for each night.
2. Read and note 2 x articles.
3. Use sit/stand desk transitions to cue stretching.

KJ Haxton (Katy)
This week (probably my last week 'in work' for the academic year)
1. get lecture notes to the people covering my late semester teaching
2. update my 'who is covering what' and ask for more helpers
3. tidy up home office area and work out what needs bringing home from work
4. try to deal with the appointments and paperwork and everything else being sick seems to create.

Susan (from two weeks ago)
1. Write two paper abstracts -- one based on the paper I gave last week, one for a conference in March. 
2. Make plane reservations for next conference
3. Grade papers
4. Go through MS and check all citations to printed books in period; do printed primary sources if possible.
5. Do small admin task for department so it's DONE.

Waffles
1. NSF grant (get full draft done)
2. RSA abstract
3. religion paper - work on edits



44 comments:

  1. This is a really good point to update these goals!

    Goals for the session
    1. incorporate regular writing/editing sessions for several projects interspersed with writing fits (1500 words in a couple of hours).
    - not done, been too busy trying to get as much teaching done as possible before going off 'sick'
    2. Make progress with two research projects: scary and house, mainly by revising and using the research tools on cohorts.
    - done for one cohort, another house cohort will be done for me by a colleague in a couple of weeks. I couldn't risk missing out on a years data in all the chaos.
    3. Submit one paper and get another one 'nearly there'
    - not done
    4. Make stuff!
    - quite a bit, knitted 10 tiny hats for a charity (keeping busy keeps head quiet)
    - got lots of stuff in for Christmas cards and other crafts so I can keep busy once the 'sick' bit starts.
    5. Be more present in this group - I swing by to check in and keep track but I want to find more time to comment.
    - I need to do better but, you know, chaos.

    In the way of things, I now have another full week at work before the working from home starts. As for what I get done once off, it all depends how sick chemo makes me and for how long (get it every 3 weeks). Accounts vary hugely. So I'm not going to add any more session goals at this time other than a huge category of self-care.

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    1. This last week:
      1. get lecture notes to the people covering my late semester teaching
      2. update my 'who is covering what' and ask for more helpers
      3. tidy up home office area and work out what needs bringing home from work
      4. try to deal with the appointments and paperwork and everything else being sick seems to create.
      1 is still a work in progress, as is 2 but both are getting there. At the point I realised I'd have this coming week in work, I decided it wasn't so urgent. Been doing 3 and 4 as I have time/energy and the need arises. I did get the paperwork related to absence done on Thursday which was a good thing.

      This coming week:
      1. finish prep for and run outreach event
      2. pass on lecture notes, finish teaching cover plans
      3. do as much prep for late November outreach event so it's easy for those doing it
      4. tidy work office so it's easy for husband to find stuff if I need it
      5. try not to get ill!

      Thanks for all the well wishes - I too hope for the best possible outcome but it's a long road. 6 months chemo, surgery then probably radio. So by next summer...

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    2. Yes, as I was writing this, I was thinking that you might want to revise or trim. Life happens. Not only do the different chemo cocktails vary in their impact, but individual responses vary: my husband was told the most common side effect was diarrhea, and he was constipated instead! Good luck! Thoughts with you.

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    3. Crafts are wonderful for distracting the mind even when the body is cranky... and with the bonus of a Thing Achieved (my current 'meeting craft' is crocheting pieces for a blanket for a local animal charity, who always need more bedding - since meeting crochet is in cheap yarn and needs very boring patterns so I don't have to think about it/count/look at a pattern, and is a bit prone to having dropped stitches anyway, an animal sanctuary seems like a good destination - dogs and cats don't care about that!

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    4. A revised goal of self care sounds entirely reasonable! And while I'm sure any help you have for those covering you will be appreciated, it is also a gift to simply give people a chance to support you by taking things on.

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    5. Susan - yes I've heard so many conflicting accounts of chemo that I've given up expecting anything at this point!
      Jane - and the great thing about crafts is no one can tell you off for doing it! I'm struggling a lot with people telling me how I should and should not be spending my time/feeling at the moment.

      Karen - thanks for this, in the last line you've articulated something I was struggling with. Accepting help and support is difficult but thinking about it this way helps a lot.

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    6. Thoughts are with you, taking care of yourself is the primary goal for now. I second Karen's point - when friends are struggling it is a joy to be able to help in any small way. Let them do chores, errands, food prep, anything!

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    7. My thoughts are with you, Katy. And I will third Karen's point. Those who care about you will feel better when they are able to help.

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    8. I am thinking of you as well, wishing you the best during the treatment process. Will love "seeing" you here at TLQ.

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    9. Another set of belated well-wishes, and another confirmation that people actually *like* having something concrete they can do to help. Of course you want to minimize them needing to ask you questions and such (because chemo is unpredictable, and they'll feel bad about needing to ask), but beyond that, handing something to someone with thanks and some indication of the essentials and assurance that, beyond those, it's fine for them to accomplish it any way that makes sense to them, should work just fine (there may also be a learning curve in terms of identifying colleagues who work well under those parameters and those who need repeated thanks and/or assurance, but I'd be inclined to lean on the former to deal with the latter if necessary).

      Delete
  2. my semester goals:
    1) survive and deliver my classes acceptably, if possible without needing sick leave from teaching

    well, I've just about done that so far. I did take one work at home without speaking day and get someone else to cover a class, but we co-teach the module, and I was going to be rewriting a lecture that person wrote and gave last year anyway, so I'm not counting that as sick leave (I WORKED ALL DAY, for a start). Still totally stressing about who will teach some heavy classes I'm writing for the second half of the semester, which I was promised I wouldn't have to deliver (6 hours straight talking in a hot, very dry classroom which always strains my voice to the utmost even when it's perfectly healthy, and some weeks followed by a second 6 hour day in the same place... not going to work out well), but the goal remains the same.

    2) Have full drafts of two (closely related) papers from the project I call Problem Child. This requires actual data generation (from simulations) as well as writing

    Yeah, this one is kind of TRQ. I'm actually getting a teensy bit of traction on this this week - at least, I've worked out what I DON'T need to do and written 350 words of discussion which is badly written but has a rather neat new idea which ties together the part written by our co-authors and the part written by former-PDF and me in a way which makes the paper seem much more coherent. This one can stay too.

    3) Be up to date with refereeing, reviewing etc. (current queue is 2 papers, one book) and minor writing (one 2000 word chapter for an encyclopedia thing, conference talk)

    HAH ha ha. Well. The chapter is submitted, but the queue is now 5 papers and one book (1 paper came in and was done in between), and three papers with co-authors and two lots of revise-and-resubmits are added to the pile. It's a vaguely worded goal, it gets to stay, but it's ouchier than it was!

    4) look after myself - eat reasonably, spend enough time in bed, exercise gently, be kind to myself.

    Ugh. Well, I got the lurgy, and I still HAVE the lurgy (3 weeks & 1 day) but it's evolving. This goal is really important but also elusive...

    5) probably this should be my number 1 - act deliberately.

    This is DEFINITELY a goal, it's a shift in mindset which seems to be working. ASsuming the best of people, trying to name and then turn away from 'feeeeeeelings', accepting that sometimes you just don't get much done, trying to work on one thing at a time even if only for little chunks... One of the really useful things from the Slow Professor has been to frame this sort of thing, which can feel selfish or low-priority (like many other aspects of self-care), as an act of rebellion and resistence against the corporate university, and thereby an act of solidarity with other Slow Professors (like you lovely people in this group). If I'm doing it partly FOR other people, it's suddenly easier to do. Interesting...

    so the tl;dr is - no changes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sick leave is such a stupid concept for academics who work all day anyway. It should be called 'no contact leave' or 'leave me the hell alone leave' or 'what did you expect leave'.
      I've been trying to only teach in rooms with radio mikes - I think next year I will insist (and probably hassle the IT people to get more rooms sorted with them - I'm sick of straining my voice through long teaching days). If colleagues are allowed to request flat rooms or rooms with desks not arm rests, I think I can request a mike.

      Good luck with the rest of semester :)

      Delete
    2. Indeed! Unless one is actually in bed unable to think, one is working for at least part of the day. I'd far rather call it "not-speaking leave". And that's where the problem lies - our estate is pretty good about having audio systems with both a general pick-up mike and a clip on radio mike for most teaching rooms that seat more than about 35 people (and we can request those rooms if we choose), but any kind of talking is bad for my voice once it starts to deteriorate, so mikes can help postpone the problem but once it arrives, it's still a problem! Sigh...

      Delete
  3. last week
    This week I'm going to try and referee a paper, eat sensible food in the evening [and then I didn't even finish the sentence]

    what happened
    I'm still lurgified, but getting used to it, and had some spots of feeling better or at least less completely overwhelmed, so hopefully things are improving (or maybe it was just FINALLY having a couple of the cold/bright Autumn days when I always feel so much healthier anyway, it just suits me).

    I did referee the paper. It was one of those awful papers that is very, very hard work to referee (a bad paper in so many ways, and I was tempted to just reject it as not-ready-for-submission-in-this-form - it had a useful dataset and perfectly sound science, but was poorly written with actual substantial mistakes in the theory and methods description AND was trying to get more out of the data than is actually there to make it sound 'sexy', so...), but ended up writing at least a paper's worth of comments and notes on the darn thing. I did eat a bit better (ready meals and prepared soup mostly, but it was actual non-toast food).

    the coming week
    this coming week should not be TOO bad, work-wise, I have a lot of prepping of stuff to do. The one after that is reading week and BOY have I postponed a lot of stuff into reading week... including my external examining, for which I have to read a decent number of master's dissertations (GAH)). So, this week's TLQ is actually about stopping TRQ getting too big...

    1) prepare 2 weeks ahead on new stats classes :-(
    2) make a detailed list for 'reading week'
    3) do simulation stuff for Problem Child (4 simple things, one fiddly thing with five parts)
    4) IFF the cough continues to diminish, begin to walk a little more. IFF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, this semester is completely killer. My house is a tip, I'm a wreck, I have so much work to do. The LAST thing I should be thinking about is taking on something else.

      But I really, really want to do NaNoWriMo.

      What think you, TLQers? Mad? Self-care?

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    2. It actually sounds like you are doing an enormous amount *especially* given the three week lurgy.
      And my house would be more of a tip but I have it cleaned every other week, so I *have* to sort the mail and throw things out.

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    3. Is modified NaNoWriMo an option - so committing to a month of writing for your own pleasure but with a lowered word count to drop the pressure?

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    4. I really want to do NaNoWriMo but I always do at this time of year and I give up by November 7th. I'm always very envious of your ability to get it done in one of the worst months in northern hemisphere academics! You seem to incorporate it into your Novembers and you also seem to get quite a bit of pleasure from doing it. I'd file it under self-care because the whole point of self-care is not to do harmful stuff. If it causes hassle you have to stop or modify the goals :)

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    5. Do it!!! But on your own terms like karen said, lower word count, short stories maybe? But you will have fun and enjoy it so that alone is a good reason :)

      Delete
  4. It’s funny, I thought I knew what the semester would bring, and it’s been full of surprises. And I realized that I left off one key task from my list!

    Session goals update

    1. I have a paper to finish for a conference with pre-circulated papers. It's due this week, and it will be done. THAT IS DONE, conference attended

    2. I have a long overdue book review that needs to get done -- DONE
    3. I have footnotes to check. Once I've finished the book review, I want to do as much of this as possible. I’ve done what I need to – ideally I would have checked more, but I think I’ve got the big things
    4. I have a paper I wrote a year ago for a conference/essay collection, but the essay collection has not found a home, so I'd like to publish it. It needs a bit of polishing, so if there's time, I'd like to do that. This is moving down the queue, as a conference panel I was part of in August has now turned into a Journal forum.
    5. Return to reading fiction: I keep thinking this will happen, and I'm hoping that as my mind gets free of the book, I will do this. Not yet, but I keep hoping
    6. Sleep: I work best when I get about 7 hours of sleep a night. One of my feline alarm clocks does not like this, but I'd really like to get to bed early enough so this can work Hah! Still a goal though.
    7. Exercise: I go to an exercise class three days a week; I'd like to add walking twice a week. That depends on the sleep. I think I’ve generally been able to add at least one workout to the three, but not yet two. Slow and sure
    8. Friends and family: I need to stay connected to people, just hanging out and talking. Pretty good. I really visit with my mother at least every other week, though I see her more often; I have dinner with friends, and I talk with them.

    ***Added goal: 9. Copyediting and proofreading book, complete index *** (Not sure how I forgot that one!)

    Reflection: well, this term is pushing me from two different direction. I’m teaching a new course, and while it’s related to my primary research field, it’s much broader. So I’m reading new stuff, and working pretty hard. It’s even harder because it’s an upper division course with no majors, so I’m backtracking and explaining stuff I thought I could take for granted. In addition, I have a campus leadership role (head of academic senate) and that takes time if you take it seriously.

    Goals from 2 weeks ago:
    1. Write two paper abstracts -- one based on the paper I gave last week, one for a conference in March. YES
    2. Make plane reservations for next conference YES
    3. Grade papers YES
    4. Go through MS and check all citations to printed books in period; do printed primary sources if possible. YES
    5. Do small admin task for department so it's DONE YES

    Well, the fact that I didn’t post last week says a lot – I was behind, working desperately hard to catch up, and (oddly enough) life didn’t stop. In all this I was exhausted – there were several days when I could hardly keep my eyes open at 8 PM. Between teaching and grading and multiple meetings, I was wiped out. Sigh. I am not sure it will be the hardest week.

    Goals for this coming week:
    1. This weekend is the weekend to “do all the things”: I’ve done a bunch of administrative/organizational/service tasks for the campus on various levels. Still two do:
    A letter for a friend who is a finalist for a great job
    A letter for a colleague’s promotion
    Clearing off my desk so I’m not confronted by chaos (made worse by the cats) when I sit down

    2. On Wednesday I get my copy-edited ms. I was supposed to get it last week, and it got put off. I’m panicked about this, because from next Sunday afternoon, I have uninterrupted other obligations. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed I can get the work done in the time I actually have to do it.

    3. Keep sleeping, exercising, and eating relatively healthfully while working my tail off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope that doing all the things turns into a snowball of satifying ticks off the list.

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    2. It's amazing how many academic jobs take a lot more time when you take them seriously...and how few people seem to.
      Good luck with doing all the things :)

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    3. It's difficult for me to imagine maintaining a research agenda in the face of a new course and the leadership of the academic senate. Best of luck with doing all the things! And so great of you to get those letters done for people.

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  5. I think the novelty value of checking in speaks about how I've been going so far this session - a combination of travel times and then catching up, a severely diminished number of colleagues for various reasons that means a lot of picking up and covering, simply the end of semester rush (one more week of undergraduate assessments to go) and trying to keep time clear in the evening and weekends for family. So in light of knowing some of that will change while some won't, it is a good time to revise.

    1. Explore writing rhythms till I get something I can hold
    Worth keeping on - though it has been weeks since I have done anything about this.
    2. Write one conference paper
    Ditched - already cancelled the panel, not attending the conference (I'd have to self-fund anyway).
    3. Review co-authored conference paper and knock it through to a complete article draft
    Worth keeping on - this can grab more time as co-author and I fiished assessments
    3. Get ethics approval up for 2017 SOTL project
    also worth keeping
    4. Find energy that doesn't rely on chocolate (so sleep, mindful eating, movement)
    Trying
    5. Work with co-teachers on 2017 curriculum development to the point where there's defined plans and time allocations for being ready for semester 1.
    I'm hitting an ethical issue here - the co-teachers are at this moment sessionals (adjuncts) who subject to budget approval will be on contract next year. But budget approval isn't likely for a while and I don't think I can ask for their unpaid time with a clear conscience. So I'll put this one on hold and go back to mentally scripting ultimatums about the dire need for staff and what I will do if it isn't forthcoming.

    From the past few weeks:
    1. Clean up bedtime transitions - electronics curfew, choose one intentional activity (sewing/knitting/music practice/yoga) for each night.
    Intentional activities haven't really happened but I have reeled back the bedtime at the cost of evening work.
    2. Read and note 2 x articles.
    Does printing them out count?
    3. Use sit/stand desk transitions to cue stretching.
    Not doing formal stretches, but I am doing a blend of sitting and standing.

    With this week as the last week of assessments, marking is going to be first priority, along with helping PhD applications that have been given a one-day notification of the deadline and on the side talking with staff involved in that deadline notification about the problems inherent in the inadequacy of communication.

    This week:
    1. Drink water before caffeinating
    2. Set timers when marking to stretch and rest eyes.
    3. Read and take notes on 1 article in scheduled time on Friday.
    4. Make counselling appointment



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    1. Oh, yes. The ethical issues about relying on sessional staff. Good luck!

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    2. I say you definitely get some credit for printing the articles! And kudos for getting to bed earlier. I have not been doing well on that front.

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  6. This is a potentially a big week for me - I may find out if my mentor and I will be making a huge move (or if she is moving without me :( ) and my NIH grant gets reviewed this week, and I may thus have my scores for it (and thus may know whether it will likely get funded). In anticipation of this big week, I apparently have decided that being sick is a great way to start it. Ugh. I had a rough weekend last weekend (can't remember if I talked about this previously - but I visited my aunt who has Alzheimers - she is 65, has had dementia/Alzheimers since her early 50s and is in very bad shape. I also learned two of my uncles are now showing signs of memory issues) - so it was kind of a rough week.

    Last week's goals:
    1. NSF grant (get full draft done) - DONE except for the weird NSF biosketches
    2. RSA abstract - STARTED, but now may change completely
    3. religion paper - work on edits - DONE

    Session goals:
    1. Approximately 5 grant applications for project #1 (actual number will depend on my fellowship app currently under review). Most due in November. - ONE IN PROGRESS, THIS WEEK WILL KNOW IF I NEED TO APPLY FOR THE OTHERS
    2. Intersections paper - STARTED
    3. Discrepant paper
    4. Stress Model paper (this may wait as it's complex)
    5. Aging paper
    6. CS paper
    7. Stigma paper
    8. 2 grant apps for project #2 - ONE DOWN

    My analysis is that my goals are doable, but I am just not writing. Instead, I am getting distracted by doing admin tasks for my mentor. I really like helping her, but she has admin support - so sometimes I get confused as to why she asks me to do certain things for her. But, I am letting those things take precedence over my own work - which isn't good. That said, I think (as I've mentioned before) not knowing if we might be moving (or if she might be leaving me) has had an effect on my productivity, and that's not okay, but it is understandable. Hopefully this week I get some good news and feel better and that will help my productivity.

    This week's goals:
    1. NSF grant - full final draft
    2 RSA abstract (if we can figure out what we will do)
    3. Aging analyses

    I also need to get the energy to go to Target today. It is cold and grey outside, so this is not going well, despite my love for Target! :)

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    Replies
    1. One reason I might ask a post-doc to do things for which I have admin help is that I trust the post-doc more than the help. But that said, it's not good, and you do need to say so!

      And I think we all find that uncertainly makes it harder to write.

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  7. I have missed check it because I've been buried under TRQ and have also been in a post-submission recovery period that was more intense than I anticipated. For a few weeks all I could do was either handle urgent teaching/grading stuff (b/c I had to), help the children with things (also necessary), or lie on the couch. Now, I'm starting to feel the ability to walk the dog, do chores, etc. I'm also started to get rather anxious to hear something about when the viva might be.

    Session Goals:
    1. Health-Exercise more regularly. 3x a week with walking, swimming, and yoga in the mix. More veggies for the whole family.--NOT AT ALL. Well, eating a bit more salad, but that's it.
    2. Home--Get bills, and passwords, and Powerschool, etc. under control. Help kids with various things that are important to them. VARIOUS LEVELS OF SUCCESS.
    3. Research--Submit conference proposal by October deadline. Submit one article. Read 1-2 articles/chapters each week (to stay fresh and ready for the viva). YES TO CONFERENCE PROPOSAL, WHICH WAS ACCEPTED. Haven't submitted the article yet and have only done a bit of scholarly reading.
    4. Finish the Slow Professor, and choose various principles and practices for weekly goals (from time-to-time). NOT AT ALL.
    5. Family and Friends--various weekly goals as I try to be intentional about doing things for family and friends that will really help them or make them happy. GOOD WITH THIS, I think.

    I really have been just playing catch up with TRQ. Time to get more into viva prep, and I really do want to submit that article. Must also exercise more.

    From 3 weeks ago:
    Health: Exercise 3x. Make at least one overdue unpleasant doctor's appt. for myself. Making an appointment is SO hard. :( NOT DONE.
    Home: Follow up about that dentist bill. DONE!
    Research: Read one thing. Review submission requirements for article. DONE.
    Family: Complete ~80% of Halloween party shopping and prep, including costume stuff. Order costume stuff for son. Get son started on Code Academy. DONE (except Code Academy.). Halloween has been a lot of work this year, it seems. And it's lasted for weeks because of daughter's activities.

    This week:
    Health: Make one appointment for kids, one for myself. Exercise 3x.
    Home: Pay bills. Finish tidying study.
    Research: Read or copy all ILL stuff before I have to send it back on Friday. Definitely read at least one chapter/article. Read more about viva.
    Family: Make it through Halloween. Get son started on Code Academy.

    Special category: Send my absentee ballot in to VOTE!

    P.S. Lots of thoughts about last week's thread on "potential," but as it's almost 1:00am, I'll save that for another time.

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    Replies
    1. The need for post-submission recovery is normal! But it sounds as if you're slowly rejoining the world!

      I hope you get word on your viva soon.

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  8. Midterm evaluation of original session goals:
    In short: send out R&Rs, keep up with teaching, keep focus on self-care, keep goal of working on house repairs/sorting/etc. Drop book-related reading, translation review.

    More detailed analysis:
    I want to have sent out two R&R projects: on track to succeed with this goal.

    some serious reading/note-taking to provide some theoretical underpinnings for my book-in-progress: Not managing this one; I’ll drop it to focus on the R&Rs.

    I also need to do some translation-revising: also will drop this, for now; it will assume a larger focus in the winter, after the R&Rs go out.

    I need to keep up with teaching, which is less challenging than usual (low enrollments = smaller classes). Doing well here!

    Usually things I consider basic (exercise, food providing) aren't too tricky, but my teaching schedule and recent discovery of some food intolerances means that over the next few months, both of these need more attention than they used to: I’m doing okay. Still working on the food issues; ankle flare-up means I’ve had to reduce my usual amounts of exercise; I think it’s appropriate to keep these goals front and center rather than letting them go back to “standard daily life” as they once were (and I hope will be again).

    Finally, there's the house-related sorting/tossing/giving away/storing that I don't really want to do but really need to do: Progress here is slow, but there is some. It definitely helps to report to the group. Keeping this one.

    Goals from last week:
    1. Self care: sit 4x, yoga 4x, basic stretching 3x, gym 3x for weights only, walk 10-15 minutes 5x provided the ankle's doing well enough. Go to bed by 10:30 7x. SAT 3x, YOGA 3x, STRETCH 2x, GYM 2x, WALK 4x (ankle a little wonky), BED 2x.
    2. R&R #2: 4 hours. Finish paper? TIME YES, finish no. Also 2 hrs other research.
    3. House/personal: do one of those financial things, 1 hour basement sorting, 1 hour filing, 1 hour garden, organize estimates on gutter cleaning, survive window-measuring visit. Maybe try again on having a single day devoted to house and personal stuff. NO, NO, NO, YES garden, NO, YES. And no single day for personal stuff, because of work on R&R plus a bit of OBE (see below).
    4. Teaching: plan the rest of the term for undergrads; do fast turn-around on grads' research proposals. NO, YES.
    5. Plan something fun. YES (a low-key evening out; a jigsaw puzzle; some fun reading).
    6. Take care of TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ. YES

    Next week’s goals:
    1. Self care: sit 4x, yoga 3x, stretch 3x, gym 3x, walk 5x, get out light box.
    2. R&R #2: at least 4 hours; try to finish; find someone to read it/make suggestions.
    3. House/personal: bills, do a financial thing, 1 hour basement sorting, organize gutter cleaning estimates, get/set up new plant shelves and light.
    4. Teaching: plan the rest of the term for undergrads; write a letter of recommendation.
    5. Do something fun.
    6. Take care of TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ.

    Comments: Though I usually run my weeks Sunday-Saturday, in the Friday-Sunday range I took a couple of days off, and spent all three days without making lists or looking at my calendar. I had one campus day that was non-stop people/events, requiring considerable performance of energy and enthusiasm, which wore.me.out. So I spent a full day doing nothing more demanding than reading for pleasure and working on a jigsaw puzzle. I don’t think I can completely avoid “performance days,” but I can plan for recovery time after them. I think I’d rather have one intense day followed by rest than space out a lot of those events. Better to get it over with.

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    Replies
    1. I imagine adjusting to new medical conditions takes more time than we expect. Glad you took a day off!

      Delete
    2. Last Friday, I celebrated my birthday (a date late) by spending most of the day on the couch reading Stacy Schiff's "Witches: Salem, 1692." I felt SO revived after doing that. Your "work hard / rest hard" theory might be spot on.

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  9. I didn’t meet last week’s goals, so I’ll just jump into the midpoint check in:
    1 Submit book manuscript: still planned before the end of November
    2 Submit two late book reviews: still planned before the end of November
    3 Finish and submit Ungloomy article: yes
    4 Finish and submit Venus article: no, and then no response when I asked for an extension
    5 Read a novel: not yet
    6 Get grading done in a timely manner: yes, actually
    7 Set and maintain a schedule to manage household responsibilities: not scheduled, not not-bad maintenance
    8 Consider possibility for writing every day: gearing up for AcWri commitment for November


    These goals remain good for me for the next seven weeks. I can’t figure out if that’s a whole lot of time or just a tiny fragment.


    Week ahead:
    1 I’ve made an AcWriMo commitment to writing 30 minutes a day, every day, starting 1 November.
    2 Write abstract for Cool Thing with beloved co-author.
    3 Write and submit abstract for Yes That.


    ReplyDelete
  10. Last goals:
    (Flood/life recovery). So, I'll be back in about 2 weeks when the giant grant application is finished, visiting grad students have gone home, two more conferences (on my weekends) are done, and I can sit in my office and not want to cry...

    DONE :) Everything got done, and I made a very sensible decision to pull out of one conference because I just couldn't do everything. Felt kind of funny to make that decision, I've never pulled out of anything like that before. I wasn't presenting, but I really wanted to be there for my students. But they managed and had a great time on their own.
    I'm SOOOO happy October is done!

    This week's goals:
    1) Dig out papers and work on actual writing
    2) Plan rest of term
    3) Do daily writing challenge with my IRL writing group becasue this is fun!

    Session Goals:
    write three new papers and finish the hideous revise and resubmit from the last session! The three new ones are for projects that are now slowly maturing and producing things worth writing about.

    HAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah, about that...
    Actually, it is not that bad - I think two of them are doable, the third is not, and the R+R is going to have to wait a little longer...

    Updated Session goals: 2 papers... R=R over break maybe? Will see...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love it when you can't do something and it turns out other people do it quite well! Will revise your session goals to drop a paper..

      Delete

  11. Much like Humming42, I did not meet last week’s goals, and this late into the week, I will fold the analysis into the session goals analysis.

    Session mantra: Live purposefully and deliberately. A mild win so far here.

    Continue my habit of writing every day. No, but I am using NaNo to get back into the habit.

    Finish the neverending commentary for the Prudence book. Probably not on track to finish this session, but I will keep working on it.

    Move more--use the brand-new variable desk, walk more, get out of the chair more. Yes, this one I am doing pretty well.


    This semester is proving difficult for me. I have had one of my staff on sabbatical, so I had to pick up all her work. Then my other librarian decided to move to a different position within the library, so I have had to pick up the majority of her work as well, as I have no one else at that level. It makes me cranky, as well as wearing me down. The Dean says I might be allowed to hire someone in about a year, and reminds me that another department chair works 50+ hours a week--”a truly dedicated person.” Although I am as dedicated as the next person, I would need to receive a much larger salary to work those kinds of hours, considering that all my writing, conference attendance, and national committee work is on my own time.

    Also, my personal life is difficult right now, although I feel self-indulgent saying that. I finally had my last interaction about my father’s estate with my eldest sister, who was nasty to the last, so at least that stress is done. I am trying to identify the foods that make me sick, and am realizing that most are things I like to eat (until they make me sick) and that my family enjoys as well. It will be an exercise in self-discipline that will be, umm, interesting.

    Add to the above an Achilles tendon that has decided to burn as though it is in flames most of the day and night, and I am not getting any organization done, or anything else. I am married to a very social fellow, and the fact that I never want to do anything these days is wearing on that relationship as well.

    I plan to be a NaNo rebel in several ways, by working on the commentary, and by not trying to make it to 50K words. The best I have ever done is 13,000 in a month, but I’d be happy to get to that.

    The remaining part of this week’s goals:
    Health
    Make at least three of the five outstanding doctors’ appointments
    Write one story.
    Write 250 words on Prudence x 4

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why feel self-indulgent about current difficulties? THey are difficult, even if ultimately manageable. I think adjusting to a new diet (especially if it involved not eating foods I loved) would be *very* hard. And at least for me, it would involve new cooking strategies. And those things mean that there's a whole level of life that is not on automatic pilot.

      I hope the dietary shifts get easier, and the achilles tendon gets less painful.

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    2. I hear you on the food problems! Solidarity. We'll figure it out and feel much better.

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    3. Thank you, Susan, for pointing out a ghost of my childhood ("don't whine about small things when children are starving in China"). The changes do involve new cooking strategies, and buying all new staples such as different flours and sweeteners, which all feels a gargantuan task even before figuring out what will be palatable when made with these things!

      Solidarity indeed, Dame Eleanor. I thought of your tribulations often during the past week.

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    4. I know I'll be dealing with dietary changes at some point because I am not great at eating healthy food, and I have a lot of inflammation problems. I will be eager to be how it goes for you. You and DEH can be my inspiration!

      And I have some *words* for your Dean and his/her comments about the other department chair. Words.

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    5. I have increasing little patience for the management strategy of assuming everyone can be superhuman all the time. All it does is demonstrate across the bodies of broken and burnt out staff that everyone is human.

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  13. I'll deal with (bi)weekly goals in the present week's post (thanks for carrying over,Karen; given my travel schedule, I should just have specified that the goals were for two weeks0. But revisiting session goals is definitely a good idea. So here are my goals, with comments/some paring down (I think I'll bold the stuff I especially want to emphasize, italicize stuff of secondary importance, and leave the disposable/postponeable stuff plain):

    Self-care:
    --increase exercise (walking, weight-lifting, gardening) enough to increase the amount I can do
    --make/eat more homemade food
    --get enough/more regular sleep (in particular, try to establish/maintain a regular bedtime/bedtime routine) [I'm doing pretty well with enough sleep, wondering whether a regular schedule isn't somewhat overrated]
    --do more long-form reading (keep up w/church Bible-reading project, + some additional professional & recreational reading)

    Household/financial:
    --accomplish enough in the garden plot to meet the standard of “active gardening” and to move as much gardening paraphernalia as possible to the plot itself (make fence out of rolls of wire currently occupying part of my living space; assemble storage box ditto & fill will tools ditto)
    --make progress on putting up shelves (including temporary assembly of ones that will eventually be painted/permanently installed)
    --get financial paperwork in shape for mortgage applications
    --gather data for a budget
    --research 2nd home/investment property/storage solution [actually did a bit of this in conjunction with travel last week; may not have time to do more in this session]

    Professional:
    --Follow up on grant project (attend conference, prepare reports, look into addtl funding, maybe write a bit) [have done some of this; need to do more; exactly what will be determined in part by a work group meeting, which I need to schedule]
    --Continue to think about research/writing priorities

    Personal:
    --do what I can to keep up/reestablish contact with friends and family, without getting too tied up in whether/how people (especially those in difficult/complicated situations) respond. [doing reasonably well on this; need/want to keep it up and expand a bit, especially as holidays approach]
    --scan at least an album’s worth of family pictures; move pictures to new, archival album (which will be a birthday/Christmas present for my brother) [haven't done much on this, and it's important; will also tie in with above. It's harder to accomplish with my apartment still over-full and under-organized, but I probably need to forge ahead regardless]

    That looks pretty good, actually: a reasonable set of high-priority (mostly)TLQ goals for a busy time of year, plus some other things that I'd like to get to.

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