I hope you've all had a satisfying week in some way or another. I've been thinking a bit about what humming42 wrote last week about finding goals like 'write 4 times a week' to be unsatisfying and leading to thoughts about time spent but what is there to show for it. I tried the write an hour a day approach this last week and I found it simultaneously satisfying (yay! time spent), and unsatisfying (boo! whole heap of half written stuff). So I think we can go back to basics a little this week. How does the way we frame our TLQ goals for the week impact our sense of satisfaction at completion, and more tangibly, our progress towards them? Are there ways you've found of writing your goals that actually inspire you to work towards them?
Goals from last week:
Contingent Cassandra
--list teaching prep & response to-dos at least through spring break (preferably the whole semester), and at least keep up; try to get ahead.
--walk and lift weights at least once each (preferably more); return to short stretches, stair-walking, etc. during breaks from work
--get back to evening schedule that has me in bed between 9 and 10 p.m., and preferably reading for a while before that on nights I don't have a meeting to attend
--actually set up blog and finish/post at least 2 posts (preferably 3); continue w/ other class activities
--continue financial stock-taking; begin taxes
--make pesto and oatmeal(and maybe chili and/or soup)
Daisy
- on break
Dame Eleanor Hull
1. House: 3 hours de-cluttering on Tuesday afternoon. (Let's see if a slot on the calendar helps.)
2. Research: carry on with the “touch” project; try to read/note three items this week.
3. Teaching: update Blackboard, grade 2-3 sets of short assignments, track down that story.
4. Health: exercise of some kind at least one-half hour per day; ankle rehab exercises daily; weights three times; at least one yoga class at the weekend. Sit 3x.
5. Fun/social thing: do something pleasurable every day (read, eat raspberries—doesn’t have to be a big thing but has to be consciously enjoyed).
Earnest English (From week 4)
-Grounding: get adequate sleep! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga or stretching twice this week.
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; get book from library; schedule music lessons when we get the money
-Gardening: check artichoke seeds; find saucer and take mint to work
-Plan and plod: look at and record journals; look up some things for class; recommendations; work on annual report; schedule Big Meeting; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2) and do something nice for Imbolc!
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research
-Big Continuing Project: figure out what needs doing on Tuesday and do it
Elizabeth Ann Mitchell (From week 4)
Finish grant application.
Finish staff evaluations.
Compile questions for Orthopedics
Finish staff evaluations.
Compile questions for Orthopedics
Good Enough Women
1) Pay bills
2) Make X-ray appointment (or, better yet, get Xray).
3) try to find a new primary physician (I don't have one right now)
4) Draft conference paper (which shouldn't be difficult because I'm pulling it from a diss chapter)
5) Walk dogs a lot.
6) Attend one yoga class (it's been SO long).
7) Clean/tidy the study.
heu mihi
1. Finish research book, including notes. That's about 25 pages/night.
2. Schedule meeting with relevant Dean re. second project.
3. Exercise: Not daring to plan. Just do what I can to get back on track once I'm feeling healthy enough.
4. Outline ch. 4 section/conf. paper 2.
5. Complete draft of book proposal.
Humming42
1 Read 4x
2 Write 4x
3 Write a full draft of Scary Conference Abstract
4 Use morning writing to decide about whether to write The Thing about Things (which is due at the end of the week, so a quick decision and action required)
JaneB
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos. I'd like to keep up the sugar-ban and the gratitude journalling (which for me affects the rest of the day more than you'd think, because I start to register stuff like, say, the colour of the sun on the tops of the bare trees at sunset, or a student saying thank you that helped, and think, oh, maybe this could be a gratitude entry, and that makes me take the time to actually be grateful and enjoy the moment). And also think a bit more about what deliberation looks like more widely, in a highly reactive job.
2) an hour on Ferrett - keep plodding!
3) TWO hours on the grant (I wish I'd never started) - I finally got trained on the new grant recording and approvals system last week (another new computer system) so I'll aim to do an hour of setting up all the little boxes in that, and an hour on the text, hopefully leading to sending the text bit out for the first round of internal review.
4) get to Friday with all of the following week's teaching prepared and some bureaucratic paperwork started
6) write and give unexpected internal seminar (OK that's more TRQ but it's going here as it's research...)
5) declutter something noticeably (preferably one side of the kitchen. The kitchen is EMBARRASSINGLY AWFUL, it's not just messy, it's becoming unhygenic
Karen
1. Don't check email until after writing - start on residency application for 10 mins at the start of each work day.
2. Go to yoga class at least once, make time to focus on breathing each day.
3. Corral managerial stuff into a designated timeslot.
4. Write very short high priority list for each work day.
KJHaxton
- an hour a day writing
- three sessions of manuscript editing
- three sessions of course prep/adminfrustration
- continue the crochet and knitting projects
Susan
1. Tidy desk. If I do this, I'll be at January 1.
2. Write abstract for my outside paper
3. Control use of social media, which so easily sends me into a tailspin.
4. Read?
Waffles
1. Draft study design for grant
2. Finish analyses and results section for relat paper
3. Finish report
4. Review and add to combo paper
5. Draft huffpo piece
On topic - this is why my goal setting is very variable. Sometimes I find it useful to devote time to a project - it helps me fit it into my diary, and also helps me plod through the tangly bits where you are basically taking stuff away until you see what's left, when a word goal is meaningless (word counts going down are not motivating for me!) or a product hard to define.
ReplyDeleteI also do that sometimes for blogging-on-a-weekend reasons - on the actual document, part of my 'parking downhill' practice is to try and jot down what I should do next - e.g. rerun Method 72 on dataset 37 without point 3, or do a lit search using these terms, or have another go at that particular paragraph, but when it comes to goal setting I won't remember the details (part of the reason "parking downhill" this way works for me is that it lets me put down the holding of these details in working memory, knowing that they are safely externalised somewhere where I HAVE to find them when I next open that project).
Time goals also feel more concrete and less daunting than more product-oriented ones - we've all probably used the 'I'll just do five minutes then I can stop' method to bribe our inner toddler into doing something we don't want to do, be it dusting or exercise or grading. The difference between a bad hour and a good hour of work is palpable, but both are successes, whereas 250 words are either there or not there.
I've also found through doing NaNoWriMo that word count goals are actually not very effective for me - whilst entering the new word count is a nice coda to the writing session, what keeps me going in the sticky bit around days 10-20 is mostly time goals like "I'll write whilst I listen to this album" or "for the ten minutes until the oven timer goes off", with a bit of writing very concrete small pieces of product that I actually want to write (again, mostly from where I parked downhill - about half a page down from where I'm writing, I jot bullet points of things that might be funny or relevant or just "why DOES Johann always drink beer if he doesn't actually like it?" sorts of thoughts, and when I can't start I just write for five minutes on one of those. Another reason why my NaNo efforts are zero drafts - even if some of my favourite bits come from "I wonder if..." moments, they aren't coherent - or I start by describing something ("well I'll need to know what the kitchen looks like sometimes so let's start from the stove...")). I keep a bullet point list of points for the discussion going at the bottom of any piece of academic writing too, I realise... and can get myself going by describing something I've read or a figure or graph in my own words, even if none of that makes it into the final document.
But basically I keep switching it up - at some stages "edit 5 pages" or "write section 3.2.6" works well as a goal, especially when my diary is more open so it's easy to let time slip away. It's also about mood - at the moment I'm doing quite well with the argument that an hour a week is more than none a week, and I can see progress of a tiny sort on Ferret (which is still a growing draft, even if it's got to the very slow sentence from an hour stage of growing), whilst the Grant I Wish I Never Started is at that horrible stage where one is up against the word limit so every new thing in means tweaking every other sentence. There'll come a point when that doesn't work and I'll go back to one page, or one figure, or one specific task.
What matters, I think, is that your goals make sense to you - they're hard to cheat on, they're achievable, they help you get where you're going - and sometimes that means you change the goals, sometimes it means you change your mindset...
Back tomorrow to do reporting in, have to DO something before I report on it... sigh!
I often forget how helpful music can be. It seems to give the distractable, cranky part of the brain something to focus on while the rest gets on with the job.
DeleteSo much wisdom here, JaneB. Thank you! I also find word counts to be uninspiring...and eventually discouraging. I decided not to do AcWriMo last year after finally realizing it doesn't work for me.
DeleteI remember once writing a paper on W.B. Yeats's poem "Byzantium" (in my MA program) while listening to Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon" over and over again. I'd write for most of the album; then, for the last three songs, I would for the first nine songs, dance for the 10th, sing for the 11th, and get a snack or drink during the 11th. It was a great cycle. I did this for 3-4 days until the paper was finished.
DeleteBut now I find it difficult to write and listen to music at the same time.
I definitely can't listen to music with words while writing. Maybe instrumental, but I've never been a big music listener, just a music maker (singing in a church choir).
DeleteI find music helpful, but it has to be instrumental, and even better, very familiar. I'll have to try dancing to music with lyrics as a break, though.
DeleteApologies for missing last week's check-in. Not one to do anything by halves, I have managed to fracture my elbow in two places, and my shoulder in three. I am out of work for at least a month.
ReplyDeleteKaren asked about funny voice to text substitutions. Beyond the usual homonym problems of “to, two, too,” “by” is always “bye,” “find” is always “fun.” My “um” always is transcribed as “ duck,” “doubling” is “Dublin.” I think my Southern accent is to blame. English is such a trial, I cannot imagine how Latin or French would survive the transmogrification!
Topic: I have much the same reaction to the topic as JaneB. I like time goals rather than word count goals, yet I do find that I am frustrated by the lack of proper progress. For creative writing, like NaNo, I also find that working for small periods of time is productive. It doesn't work as well with academic writing, unless I have a very detailed outline. Like JaneB, if I am writing section 3.2.1, I don't need word count or time count as long as I have allotted enough time to do the section and have an extensive outline available as underpinning. I tend to put enough time aside as I think it will take. However, writing often takes longer than I ever budget, especially when it is the mortar between the bricks of my day. I have tried doubling what I expect without much success. Nonetheless, that approach works better for me than word count or time alone, both of which leave me feeling unfinished and unsatisfied. Eureka! I have had an epiphany!
Last week's goals:
I did write and submit the grant application. While it is only a regional grant, writing on pain medication is interesting.
I did ask the orthopedist my questions. The shocker was that I cannot return to work for at least a month, and perhaps two. Since my dean was expecting me back within a week, it has been a flurry of activity to adjust.
I did not complete my staff evaluations.
Next week's goals:
Do rehab exercises three times daily.
Resurrect my outlines and rework them with more detail, including time estimates.
Figure out what I can write effectively with voice to text.
Glory in being able to write without being interrupted by meetings.
Plod like tortoises, everyone. I'm bringing up the rear, but still plodding.
Wow, what a lot of damage! I think you have an excellent excuse for not doing staff evaluations. I hope you can take the month to concentrate on yourself and your physical and other needs.
DeleteAre these breaks all from the same fall?! You blew by this crazy news so quickly in your comment. My goodness. I hope you aren't in too much pain and that this time will be good for you and that it won't just be added stress as work piles up while no one else does it. And I hope your prognosis is good. Hugs.
DeleteWell, I should say very CAREFUL, DELICATE hugs that don't involve too much squeezing.
DeleteYes, wow. Good luck with the pain and the rehab. A month is a long time off work in this country, so it's serious. But it's always best (things I know) to be fully recovered before going back to work and perhaps exacerbating the injury.
DeleteOh, my. That's a lot of injury. I hope you can, indeed, turn the doctor's orders into at least a bit of time for yourself/your own work. That would be a silver lining.
DeleteThanks, everyone. I think there is so much damage because I fell in a face plant on a concrete floor, and have osteoporosis. I landed squarely on my shoulder and my elbow.
DeleteI am hopeful to refine the voice to text soon so I can get some writing done. I am certainly catching up on my reading!
I’m not really sure it is the framing of my goals that helps me get things done - I think it is rather, and I mentioned last week, making daily goals that helps me. I do my best work when at the end of the workday, I make my goals for the next day - and then if I actually look at that list the next day. :)
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals:
1. Draft study design for grant - NOT DONE, BUT STARTED
2. Finish analyses and results section for relat paper - DONE
3. Finish report - DONE
4. Review and add to combo paper - REVIEWED, DIDN’T ADD TO IT YET
5. Draft huffpo piece - NOT DONE
In spite of the fact that I didn’t do most of the things on my list, I felt very productive and accomplished this week - which is really nice. I am part of a symposium proposal that was just accepted this week - that means 3 oral presentations at national conferences this spring/summer - which is really cool. I'm meeting with my mentor this week who has been mostly out of the state/country since September. She’s back in the country for 4 days before leaving again for over a month. I need to talk to her about needing more training/mentorship - her extended absences and the associated lack of communication have been hard on me (which I’ve whined about ad nauseam here before). She’s talking about hiring a second postdoc (the offer has been made already, I think) - and I’m not sure why she thinks that is a good idea since she doesn’t seem to have time for me (and it feels like she isn’t interested in me either - which I know isn’t true). I’m nervous because when I sent her a draft of a manuscript, she complained she was too busy to look at it. I don’t know if telling her I need more time and need more training/mentorship is going to go over super well. But it needs to happen because me just working all on my own isn’t really working in terms of me getting the skills I need to get a faculty position in a couple of years. Also, unfortunately, since it has been so long since we last met and she has been without internet access for some time - I have a lot on my list to discuss.
This week’s goals:
1. HuffPo piece
2. aging paper analyses
3. Grant methods drafted
4. Equality paper - make outline
5. Review and add to combo paper
I'm impressed by your clarity about what you need from your mentor: you don't think there's something wrong with you or feel like you should just go figure this out on your own; you can say clearly what you need, and that is significant. She may think of you as farther along than you feel---admitting to you that she is too busy for your MS draft might seem, to her, like treating you as an equal rather than as someone who needs something from her, though it would not feel like that from your side. It will help a lot that you can state your goals. Could another postdoc help you? Could your mentor recommend someone else who could take on some of her role, since she's gone so much?
DeleteThanks! I'm the only postdoc, and I have a lot of mentors - this is just my primary mentor, it's her study, and she is my only on campus mentor - so she is it! Our convo went really well and we are going to talk more frequently.
DeleteGlad it went well. One possible upside to a 2nd postdoc: you've been saying you could use more peer community as well. Maybe another postdoc would provide a bit of that?
DeleteI'm glad your mentor heard you and is planning to meet with you more often. Kudos for being clear and open about what you wanted.
DeleteTopic:
ReplyDeleteI don’t think I’ve got as far as writing goals in an inspirational way; I’m still at the “recognizing a problem” stage. Not so much with work—I mean, I always feel I should be doing more, but I recognize that as the academic’s usual lament and I do think I do okay with work. The problem is adding anything else to that: as in, this whole get-the-house-to-market project, which I seem to make only rare and sporadic progress on. Someone might suggest that I don’t really want to move, but I don’t think it’s that. It’s more a problem of available energy, mainly physical but partly emotional. I need to find a way to do one or more of the following: break tasks down into smaller bits; divide the purely physical (shift this, pack that) from the emotional (make decision about whether this is a Keep or a Give Away, a Pack/Store or a Need Out); find a system that works (set a weekly “appointment” to de-clutter, or a goal of x hours/week, or allow myself to pick an appealing [or manageable] task from a list).
I’m not entirely sure how I did this week, because I left my Moleskine notebook at work on Friday. Last week was harder than usual because I had a fourth day on campus, with extra driving, and I was making a lot of announcements about a summer program, trying to drum up interest, so I had to be “on” a whole lot more than usual. On the plus side, one of my classes has such enthusiastic students in it that it gives more energy than it takes, which is unusual and lovely.
How I did:
1. House: 3 hours de-cluttering on Tuesday afternoon. (Let's see if a slot on the calendar helps.) NO. Too much else going on this week; I hadn’t thought about that extra campus day when I set this one.
2. Research: carry on with the “touch” project; try to read/note three items this week. MOSTLY. I think 4 days out of 5, and two items.
3. Teaching: update Blackboard, grade 2-3 sets of short assignments, track down that story. YES, YES, YES.
4. Health: exercise of some kind at least one-half hour per day; ankle rehab exercises daily; weights three times; at least one yoga class at the weekend. Sit 3x. YES, YES, YES, NO, NO. I skipped yoga because after this week I really wanted to be home and not among people.
5. Fun/social thing: do something pleasurable every day (read, eat raspberries—doesn’t have to be a big thing but has to be consciously enjoyed). More YES than NO, although a lot of the pleasure was either very small things (admiring late-afternoon sunlight creating striking color effects on sky and red brick, outside my office window) or submerging into fantasy reading this weekend (one old favorite, one new to me). That felt a bit like addictive behavior.
New goals:
Delete1. House: find 2 hours, somewhere, to work on this; ½ to 1 hour on mental aspects (make lists, think about approaches), 1 to 1.5 hours on actual decluttering.
2. Research: carry on with the “touch” project; try to read/note two items this week, which will complete a stack of books on my desk, and move on to free-writing about a conceptual issue.
3. Teaching: more BB updating; grade 3 sets of assignments; scan and post the story.
4. Health: exercise of some kind at least one-half hour per day; ankle rehab exercises daily; weights three times; weekend yoga if I feel like it.
5. Fun/social thing: keep doing something pleasurable and/or restorative every day; social gatherings Wednesday and Saturday.
Moving house is such a huge undertaking. I can understand the inertia and the sense of overwhelm.
DeleteAnd, yay, for enthusiastic students that increase (rather than drain) energy.
I think you've anatomized the difficulties with house-moving (or, in my case, dealing with storage) very well. It takes both time and energy, and both estimating and balancing the two is difficult, and of course has to be balanced with everything else.
DeleteMoving house is such a pain. I found it helped slightly to frame things in terms of making the current place more comfortable, rather than working toward the future house. I guess for me, the future house was too nebulous? So sending old clothes away was to make my closet more efficient, not decluttering for the move.
DeleteI very much appreciate the extended conversation on goal setting. It’s interesting to see some shared perspectives and feelings, and I’m relieved to have company in disliking word counts. My approach for the moment is to have general goals for habitual writing and reading as well as specific goals...but not too many of them. Trying to do too much, failing at it, then feeling like a failure is a pattern definitely worth breaking.
ReplyDeleteLast week
1 Read 4x: according to my tracking, I read every day
2 Write 4x: yes
3 Write a full draft of Scary Conference Abstract: I have half a draft and am OK with that
4 Use morning writing to decide about whether to write The Thing about Things (which is due at the end of the week, so a quick decision and action required): Decided I really don’t have time with it, even though it would be due at the end of next week
This week
1 Read 4x
2 Write 4x
3 Submit Scary Conference Abstract
4 Select and caption photos for rbp
5 watch film for research project
I like your idea of establishing habits beyond the specific goals. I'm a bad one for setting too many goals, too, and that way lies disappointment and dismay.
DeleteWell, I seem to be in the minority here, but word counts and outcome-based goals have been good for me, I think, especially when I was drafting sections of the thesis. Without those goals, I probably would have spent more time dodging writing in order to do additional reading. Or the perfectionist side of me (which has started to atrophy, thank goodness), might have taken over. Also, because a lot of my recent goals have been health and self-care related, identifying specific tasks has been useful.
ReplyDeleteLast weeks' goals:
1) pay bills. DONE.
2) make X-ray appointment (or, better yet, get Xray). DONE! Had the X-ray.
3) try to find a new primary physician (I don't have one right now). DONE! Made an appointment with a PA for March 1. (It's difficult to find physicians in my area who are taking new patients, and I really wanted a woman to be my primary physician. I figured a physician's assistant would be fine since I have other specialists in place.)
4) Draft conference paper (which shouldn't be difficult because I'm pulling it from a diss chapter). DONE! Not sure it's great, and I need to cut about 500 words, but I have a draft.
5) Walk dogs a lot. DONE! (after the rain slowed)
6) Attend one yoga class (it's been SO long). NOPE.
7) Clean/tidy the study. NO, but I purged five bags of clothes from my closet and drawers. This made me happy.
Analysis: My daughter got sick this week and missed four days of school. This slowed me down quite a bit (with grading, especially), and it's one reason why I didn't get to a yoga class. On the plus side, we started watching Gilmore Girls together (which I've never watched before and which has been quite fun).
This coming week will be focused on grading, family, and a conference. Valentine's Day is important to my daughter (as are ALL holidays, sigh), and my mom and step-dad are returning from a three-week trip to India. And I'm behind with grading and I have a follow up with my urologist on Wednesday morning, and I drive to the conference after classes on Thursday, so . . .
This week:
1) Finish conference paper by Thursday night in my hotel (this is really TRQ, I guess).
2) Don't abandon grading while I'm at the conference (as much as I would really like to).
3) Run errands Monday evening to get Valentine's balloons, etc. in order to present proper festivity for my daughter when she wakes up Valentine's Day morning.
4) Exercise 3x
5) Take guitar to conference? (I feel like it's time to start playing again . . . )
I think you got a lot done with a sick daughter! And good for you getting some health-related things done--those are my bugbear, certainly!
DeleteThe goal setting conversation is really interesting. I tried setting time goals last week which I've done a bit of in the past but nothing quite so general. I quite liked it, but it felt less satisfying than more specific goals even when completed. But then I feel like I set up more goals to miss when I'm overly specific.
ReplyDeleteI think word count goals have some usefulness for very specific tasks (e.g. draft the 800 words for the box on the grant application that requires 800 words). I'm also contemplating a 'edit down 7000 words to 3000 words for manuscript' goal this week. I need to think more...
Last week:
- an hour a day writing - managed 2 out of 5 week days
- three sessions of manuscript editing - didn't get onto it
- three sessions of course prep/adminfrustration - more than 3 sessions
- continue the crochet and knitting projects - a bit
Analysis:
If last week had a theme, it would have been derailment frustration. I managed to fall down the stairs in our house (Monday - bruised but OK), deal with credit card fraud (Wednesday I think - new card), get tangled up in work related drama (Tuesday/Thursday) and so by Friday I was just so glad the week was nearly over, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. My goals didn't really endure all these minor teacup hurricanes - can't settle to write when head buzzing with stuff. I need to think about some better strategies to put that kind of stuff back in it's box and get on with the stuff I wanted to do.
This week:
- get one paper submission worthy
- 3 sessions of course prep/adminfrustration
- work on research tool for other paper
- avoid email
That sounds like a really bad week, and I know what you mean about head-buzz derailment. I hope this week is calmer.
DeleteI'm not particularly good at goals. Some of this is that with everything else, I'm not good at switching gears. So reading for 1/2 hour is not satisfying. I've tried the "write for an hour before anything else" and then other things come up -- meetings, or my mother needs something, or. . . One of the things I"m trying to work out in this group is what process DOES work for me.
ReplyDelete1. Tidy desk. If I do this, I'll be at January 1. A GOOD START< thought not perfect
2. Write abstract for my outside paper NOOOOOO
3. Control use of social media, which so easily sends me into a tailspin. SOMEWHAT
4. Read? NO
Reflection: My sister was with me most of last week and I love her dearly but she drives me nuts. I was recovering still from my cold. I had a fair number of meetings; I took a half day (well, more like 10 hours, but it started at 1:30) to drive to another campus to hear one of my mentors/academic heroes speak. She's 88, and still lively, provocative, and smart. She's slowing down, but given her energy level 20 years ago, she's now more normal. It was a lot of time, and tiring, but also a reminder of how thinking matters.
The week ahead is a good one: two days with no meetings, and a long weekend so no grad class next Monday: it really clears out the weekend.
Goals:
1. Write abstract finally
2. Start writing paper
3. Submit forum essay to journal for review
4. Finish clearing desk and paying bills
5. Get back to exercise: 3 mornings a week, and also walking and/or yoga on the other mornings.
6. Keep social media under control
7. Read. No more excuses.
Are you, perhaps, a binge worker who needs to submerge in a single task (or type of thing) for a whole day or more? Despite all the recommendations to do a little at a time, I do think that some people are better/happier working in large blocks and that some tasks are better done that way. The key is to figure out what you need and provide it.
DeleteYes, I'm definitely a binge worker. It makes it really hard when there are lots of little tasks (like today!)
DeleteI fall in that category, too: bad at switching gears, happiest when I can do one thing for long stretches. So days where I need to switch gears a lot aren't very productive, and are exhausting even though they aren't very productive. If you figure out what works for this style, please do let us know. I somewhat envy people who feel energized by checking off long lists of little things (but I also find them exhausting to be around for long).
DeletePowering through today (and late to check in), so I'm going to skip the prompt.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Finish research book, including notes. That's about 25 pages/night.
DONE
2. Schedule meeting with relevant Dean re. second project.
DONE
3. Exercise: Not daring to plan. Just do what I can to get back on track once I'm feeling healthy enough.
EH. Managed 1 yoga class; the second was cancelled because of snow. Didn't run but did carry my 35-pound preschooler on my back through knee-deep snow for the better part of a mile. That was a workout.
4. Outline ch. 4 section/conf. paper 2.
DONE
5. Complete draft of book proposal.
DONE
This week:
1. Read for kzoo (2 essays)
2. Read papers for response
3. Yoga x 2, run x 1? (Weather permitting)
4. Get on top of graduate student writing
Wow, look at all the DONE! You rock.
DeleteThanks! The draft of the book proposal is really very drafty, so not wildly impressive or anything, but DONE is very satisfying all the same.
DeleteI like the image of you and the pre-schooler in the snow.
DeleteAnd well done on the drafty draft AND the book proposal. Kudos.
As far as goals here recently go, it might help if I thought about them more than once a week (it's turning into one of those semesters, where I just barely keep my head above water. I'm not sure exactly why, but some combination of getting a cold at a bad time and the distractions of the political situation and taking on some new responsibilities/activities, including the class that connects to the grant project, are probably to blame. I'm still hoping to get back on top of things, but it's an uphill battle.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm in a more productive mode, committing to writing several times a week (it's been a long time since every day, or even week day, was a realistic possibility given my teaching schedule) seems to work. I easily get discouraged by goals (not reaching them as expected, to be exact); focusing on ongoing progress works, and eventually brings results.
Last week's goals:
--list teaching prep & response to-dos at least through spring break (preferably the whole semester), and at least keep up; try to get ahead.
--walk and lift weights at least once each (preferably more); return to short stretches, stair-walking, etc. during breaks from work
--get back to evening schedule that has me in bed between 9 and 10 p.m., and preferably reading for a while before that on nights I don't have a meeting to attend
--actually set up blog and finish/post at least 2 posts (preferably 3); continue w/ other class activities
--continue financial stock-taking; begin taxes
--make pesto and oatmeal(and maybe chili and/or soup)
accomplished: 2 blog posts and some class activities, a bit of financial stock-taking, more or less kept up with teaching. Otherwise, it's been a bit of a trainwreck, for no single reason (but see above).
Goals for this week (which is 2/3 over):
--list teaching prep & response to-dos at least through spring break (preferably the whole semester), and at least keep up
--do class reading/watching for week; 1-2 more blog posts
--walk or lift weights once (preferably both, but let's be realistic)
--make parsley pesto if time