We're a week in and I'm already feeling like the summer [in this hemisphere] is slipping away.
For me, one of the (many) nice things about this group is that it can help me to see how much time there actually is and gives me a sense of having made progress on my goals, even if--day to day--it doesn't feel like I am. So here's my (optional) question for the week:
What obstacles--internal or external or both--do you anticipate encountering this session? And how can we help support you through them?
As you'll see when I post my own reply, this question arises out of the anxiety that I expressed in the first sentence: One of my biggest summertime struggles is the very banal and frankly luxurious worry that the summer is gliding past me and I'm neither making good use of it nor appreciating it properly. And I will have questions for you all about how better to address that!
Answer the prompt if you like; don't if you don't. Let us know how you did with last week's goals and what you hope to accomplish this week. And, of course, feel free to check in about whatever else you like in the comments, too!
I hope that everyone is doing well: that surgeries are being recovered from, upheavals being tempered with moments of joy, and everyday habits moving us--however imperceptibly--closer to where we'd like to be in our lives.
Last week's goals:
Dame Eleanor Hull:
1, gym/walk/swim x6, stretch x6, usual low-FODMAP cooking.
2, meet with real estate agent, light gardening.
3, review essay, comments, past plans, books here/needed.
4, read/note two essays in ILL book.
5, continue planning courses, ~ 2-3 hours.
6, read at least 1/2 hr x 3 in a strong language, drill grammar or vocabulary x 5 in a weaker one.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell:
Goals for the coming week:
Get through surgery.
Set up follow-up exam.
If fully cognizent, email associate dean and head of department.
If possible, spend a half-hour on the faculty review document.
If possible, begin article review.
Good Enough Woman:
1) Exercise 3 hours.
2) Write 2 hours
3) Meditate 3x
4) Tidy rocking chair area and dresser top in bedroom.
5) Enjoy some lazy time while husband is out of town and kids are still in school! But read books and watch good shows. DON'T SPEND ALL MY TIME ON TWITTER!
heu mihi:
1. Write abstract due June 3
2. Finish one leisure book
3. Read half of an academic book
4. Wrap up a student's Incomplete
5. If time: read grad student's work
6. Sit x 3
humming42:
1 submit Perform abstract
2 finish current book, write and submit review
3 sort out possible subject list for Tiny Project
4 build online component for independent study
JaneB:
1a: water consumption, setting up bullet journal lists for the summer to track good habits, eating up some things that snuck into the groceries over the last month (sweets, white bread...)
1b: the decluttering woman is coming tomorrow: we will tackle the wardrobe and the last third of the back bedroom...
1c: find out where the squares went (I suspect the decluttering woman had me put them with all my other knitting supplies as they are no longer on my desk which makes me forget about them) (we decluttered my desk! It's ace... but also weird.
2a: Skype with PDF about progress with pulling out data for Fragment, chase up email with FormerFlatProjectPDRA who hopefully was checking the "quirks" I noticed.
2b: start making some lists, send email about recce visit
2c: Find samples for FavouriteIslands analysis
3: extras: half an hour of office decluttering, watch a marvel movie when my marking is done
karen:
- do 2 x running, drink a water bottle each day
- send email to field people
- write and send panel abstract
- vanquish the marking pile!
-spend 1 hour planning WIL workshop 1
KJHaxton:
1. finish the marking: 1 set of exam scripts, 1 set of coursework, 1 set of exams to moderate (I think)
2. pull together engagement project reading and start reading it
3. refine plans for next year's teaching.
oceangirl101:
- write 4,000 words of Ch 3
- meet with student and colleague about ongoing research/article
- organize mid-summer trip to fieldwork location to organize permits/permissions for next year
- exercise 4x
- fun things 2x with friends
- one house related thing (garage door?)
Susan:
1. Make progress on violence
2. Do more desk excavation (1 hour)
3. Get the first set of book orders in
4. Walk regularly
Last week I was mostly calm and in control of things, even though I had a scary outreach event to do (science talk for the public in the pub, without technology) and a dentist check up (first time at the new office. i am really bad at new places when I'm stressed). Then Incoming (who left officially in April, BUT did some travel for his new job in March and April on condition that he did the marking that fell due in May in return. I was sceptical) announced that he hadn't done a big chunk of marking and wouldn't have time for it. Much running around and recruiting of helpers later, that was finally done and all my marks checked and submitted Friday lunchtime (deadline was Friday midnight...). Friday evening I noticed I had a sore throat... yes, I have a LOVELY end of semester cold. GREAT. So my plans for getting started on new habits, particularly moving more, have mostly been displaced by lying on the bed with Fluffball, a blanket (it's raining, and I have a cold) and a frivolous novel (minimal gore detective story in parallel universe. Talking cat has just been added to the cast. Written well enough it doesn't upset my inner editor, but the plot is so simple I know who did what when and pretty much why).
ReplyDeleteI have also used our new Leave Approval System to book myself some Fridays off this month - I can't fit in a week off without missing exam meetings or Required Trainings, but I can do short weeks. We used to be trusted to use our time, and just required to inform people when we'd be out of office. Now we have a fiddly multiple-web-page form to complete for each day off, which then has to be approved... of course, this is more business like, which should be our goal in all things! sigh.
goals from last week:
1a: water consumption, setting up bullet journal lists for the summer to track good habits, eating up some things that snuck into the groceries over the last month (sweets, white bread...) (Good, partly, Good (well it's not as if it was a HARD goal!))
1b: the decluttering woman is coming tomorrow: we will tackle the wardrobe and the last third of the back bedroom... progress made - 6 large bin liners of clothing went to recycling or charity shops - none of which had anywhere near fitted for at least 6 years...
1c: find out where the squares went found, but nothing done with them
2a: Skype with PDF about progress with pulling out data for Fragment, chase up email with FormerFlatProjectPDRA who hopefully was checking the "quirks" I noticed. YES, most productively, and yes, they were not real, phew! We did find another error, but someone's already fixing that
2b: start making some lists, send email about recce visit no and no - marking won...
2c: Find samples for FavouriteIslands analysis I've laid eyes on them, but not passed them on to anyone
3: extras: half an hour of office decluttering, watch a marvel movie when my marking is done YES (whilst waiting for a late Skype), NO (because napping won)
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK:
Next week has icky meetings and paperwork and disgruntled students, but also I'm out of the office on leave on Friday...
1a: water, finish the summer bullet journal set up, if the cold allows do 5-10 minute exercise routines
1b: the decluttering woman is coming next Sunday - I have three possible areas in mind, need to make a decision. Regardless, having a good session with her will advance this goal.
1c: pick up the square I was working on and make some progress
2a: Spend half and hour each on Fragment and FlatProject 2b: start making some lists, send email about recce visit
2c: Find samples for FavouriteIslands analysis and pass them on to technician
3: extras: half an hour of office decluttering, watch my marvel movie treat
Just thinking of having to book a day off. . . it sounds as if the schedule makes it impossible for you to take your (deserved) annual leave. I'm sorry.
DeleteOn topic:
ReplyDeleteWhat obstacles--internal or external or both--do you anticipate encountering this session? And how can we help support you through them?
Both - the demands of ongoing curriculum review, needs of students with resits or doing summer projects, MSc students who continue to work through the summer - I both have my own responsibilities here, and usually am expected to also cover for people who are away. For some colleagues, that's tit for tat and I don't mind at all. For others... well. We all have those colleagues. But papering over their messes isn't sustainable and I need to be better at putting my stuff first.
The combination of mental, physical and spiritual tiredness which comes at the end of another tough academic year, of more changes, of disappointment, of not being a summer-liking person, of seasonal allergies and lack of self care. Plus the combination of natural sloth and the lack of interest in being not-slothful that comes with depression and GAD and their medications.... it is very easy for me to spend a week of holiday mostly napping all day and reading/computering all night! But that is not the best way to recharge...
Bugges, to use Dame Eleanor's phrase. All the thoughts about the inadequacy and pointlessness of both the work and the worker which mostly buzz around research stuff at the moment for me, so they LOVE the summer when research expectations are high. Buzz buzz buzz. And social media and the conversations of colleagues who I do run into will all be about things DONE, of course, whereas my inner dialogue is full of things UNdone.
What can the group do to help? Mostly BE HERE. Be my friends and my journey-companions. Be honest about both the wins and the not-wins, about the continual balancing of life and work and Life and The Work, about how often you fall short of your plans and expectations and start over with a new week or a new plan. Remind me that small things, done often, build into real achievements, and celebrate them. Show my slow-to-learn inner child that it is normal and human to need to constantly readjust expectations and plans, not unique-to-me failure.
Also, remind me that My people are out there in the world. That other people read Diana Wynne Jones and Denise Levetov and are happy to talk about superheros and medieval obscurities and recipes and bees and social justice and leathery-winged avians in one conversation, as long as it's NOT at a large party, and almost-believe that their cats are actively supervising their home offices and recording every sub-par meal and ten-seconds-too-long petting session in some kind of Log Of Reasons To Throw Up Loudly When There Are Visitors.
What do you mean "almost"? Clearly this is standard international cat behavior.
DeleteI have lots of bugges today. I'm in the vicious loop of "if I were any good I would already have done this," which is getting amplified by not having slept well. I'd just go do something fun except that nothing sounds fun! I may wind up settling for a very tedious, prickly, unpleasant but useful garden task.
But about the plans: I think it was Dwight Eisenhower, at any rate some famous general, who said "No plan survives contact with the enemy." If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.
Topic: In some ways I am lucky that there is little difference for me between the academic year and the summer . While I do feel the summer starts to slip away, it is usually due to work issues, not my inability/unwillingness issues. My main obstacles this session are my health issues and a massive shift from one library services platform to a state-wide consortial one, exacerbated by working with several change-adverse direct reports, and dealing with my boss, who is gung-ho “universities are businesses,” so not a great believer in "mollycoddling" staff.
ReplyDeleteI am addressing the health issues as I can, but have to work around when I can be out of the office, given the massive data testing and verification, training and documentation writing that loom before me.
I could use a lot of reminders that things are never as bad as they seem, and that the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Last week’s goals:
Get through surgery. Yes. It was more complicated, requiring the surgeon to repair several tears, but I got through it.
Set up follow-up exam. Yes, despite having a philosophical argument with the scheduler, who insisted that the surgeon wanting to see me “next week” following a May 28th surgery meant June 14th.
If fully cognizent, email associate dean and head of department. No and yes.
If possible, spend a half-hour on the faculty review document. Nope.
If possible, begin article review. Nope.
Analysis: The surgery was much tougher than I expected; so I have been self-indulgent, reading total fluff and binging Netflix. This week, I should feel good enough to get some mental work done. I did speak with the head of the department where I was hoping to help with a rare books course this summer, but unfortunately, the professor has to have cardiac surgery at the end of June, so he had to cancel the course.
I didn’t get any work done on the review article or the faculty review document, but I did get some decluttering done. I also spent some time getting my next few knitting projects lined up, making sure I had everything I needed pulled together.
Next week’s goals:
Half an hour x 5 on decluttering/organizing craft closet.
Half an hour x 3 on faculty review document.
Half an hour x 3 on work email.
Email associate dean to schedule meeting.
One hour x 3 on article review.
Call to reschedule doctor’s appointment.
Call to reschedule dentist’s appointment.
It looks like a long list, but a fair amount is either mindless or short in duration. Have a great week, and float like mist, everyone.
If your boss thinks it's a business, then I think you're justified in adopting the "put in my time and go home" mindset.
DeletePsst: Things are never as bad as they seem.
DeleteThe perfect is the enemy of the good.
Just added that to the top of the document in which I keep daily notes, shopping lists, and needed inspirations.
My obstacle is at once one and two things. I worry that the summer is going too fast and I'm missing it, and in doing so, (I think that) I actually *do* miss some of the summer. This is, I recognize, a highly indulgent obstacle, but it's one that I've nonetheless struggled with for years. I remember at age 12 being so excited about the coming summer vacation that I made myself a schedule of all the fun things I would do every day (this was my way of anticipating the vacation). But by the time I had finished the schedule, I felt depressed--like the summer was already over and hadn't been any fun at all, just a long list of obligations. I still have that scheduling propensity. How can I both do all the things that make a summer a summer (including the work!), and manage to enjoy myself?
ReplyDeleteThe more I write about this, the more neurotic I seem to be.
Anyway, group!: Remind me of the pleasurable sides of life. Prioritize knitting and crafting and spending time with family and reading for fun, so that I can follow your examples.
My gum grafts went well last week and the recovery has been a lot less painful than anticipated, so that's been good. But between a day or two in bed and my mom's visit, I feel anxious about returning to all my many projects!
Last week:
1. Write abstract due June 3 - drafted; finishing it this morning
2. Finish one leisure book - yes (Tracy K. Smith's "Ordinary Light," a quiet memoir which I enjoyed)
3. Read half of an academic book - Yes
4. Wrap up a student's Incomplete - Nearly; just got the final assignment this morning, so this could be done today
5. If time: read grad student's work - Read the Prospectus; I have like 200 pages to go, though.
6. Sit x 3 - x1
This week:
1. Submit conference abstract (June 3)
2. Read/finish two books
3. Revise Amy (due June 15)
4. Wrap up incomplete
5. Read grad student's work
6. Language x5, sit x5, exercise x4, garden 3 hours
That's a lot. Good luck to me, eh?
Yes, good luck! Do you give yourself rewards for getting through items on your list?
DeleteI strongly relate to making lists that turn fun things into tasks and am trying to learn how to reframe that. Challenging!
DeleteObstacles -- as with several others, mine are both external and internal. The external one is my mother's health. She's doing significantly better, but I still need to drop by a bit more regularly than I have done in the past. And really, who knows? She had an MRI last week, and I don't know if her dr will schedule a follow up. Still driving 40 miles to the specialist eye dr once a week. . .
ReplyDeleteThe internal one is that I'm really tired and want vacation. I can't take it now. I also have lots of deadlines. Sigh. Exhaustion & stress have led to just wanting to stay in bed. so. (Writing this on Monday morning is part of trying to shape this week as a productive one.)
Goals from last week:
1. Make progress on violence NO
2. Do more desk excavation (1 hour) YES
3. Get the first set of book orders in NO, but almost ready
4. Walk regularly two times.
I had a bunch of interruptions last week -- my brother came to visit my mother, then I had two dr appointments that together took up one day. I'm not good at switching gears, so I spent altogether too much time on twitter, not working. (I also used twitter to crowdsource destinations for part of my vacation in July.) THe book orders depend in part on other people, and I haven't quite heard from everyone. Etc.
Goals for this week:
1. 2 days on Violence
2. Morning on collaboration
3. Finish book order #1, start #2
4. Walk three times
5. Keep planning vacation
I'm working this week on closing email for chunks of the day so I'm not overwhelmed...
Oh, I forgot #6: Read dissertation draft
DeleteThis group helps by giving me a structure for accountability, and also by helping me think about what gets in my way.
Can you do something like work on the couch with a laptop, so it feels a little less like work?
DeleteHow I did:
ReplyDelete1, gym/walk/swim x6, stretch x6, usual low-FODMAP cooking. 5.5, YES, YES.
2, meet with real estate agent, light gardening. YES, YES (actually heavier than anticipated).
3, review essay, comments, past plans, books here/needed. SOME (but not at all as much as I intended: feeling very reluctant to get into this R&R).
4, read/note two essays in ILL book. SKIMMED: cannot recall why I ILL'd this one. I already have scans of two of its essays. Did I forget that? Did I want other items??
5, continue planning courses, ~ 2-3 hours. NO.
6, read at least 1/2 hr x 3 in a strong language, drill grammar or vocabulary x 5 in a weaker one. More like 3x 10 minutes; YES.
This isn't as bad as it feels like! I'm going to come back when I'm in a better frame of mind to post this week's goals and address the topic---I think it's a good one and deserves better than my current foot-dragging.
New goals:
Delete1, gym/walk/swim x6, stretch x6, usual low-FODMAP cooking.
2, some gardening and other House Stuff.
3, finish reviewing past plans, work on outline, start writing.
4, Finish reading one scholarly book.
5, continue planning courses, ~ 2-4 hours.
6, read at least 1/2 hr x 3 in a strong language, drill grammar or vocabulary x 5 in a weaker one.
Obstacles: probably mainly internal, the usual struggles to start something or get back to it. I wrote a post chez moi about getting back to the R&R: something I really want to be done with, but not so much to do it. Should we get an offer on the house, that would be an external obstacle to scholarly work, but it would certainly advance the goal of getting clear of a too-big, too-much house, so I wouldn't really complain about that one.
What helps depends on my mood. Sometimes it's a help to hear that other people have similar problems. Sometimes it's a help to hear that others are getting all kinds of stuff done, and what's working for you.
Because of chemotherapy, this summer is a mystery to me, but it some ways, my usual challenges--all exactly what heu mihi talks about--do not feel as present. I know that on many of the days, I will just be glad if I can eat and move around. And my first treatment went pretty smoothly, and now I've rebounded, and I'm feeling good and getting things done seems like a bonus! Also, I will have a slightly reduced load in the fall and so all of the THINGS just seem less pressing.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals (really for just the last three days of the week):
1) Exercise 3 hours.--Two hours DONE.
2) Write 2 hours--One hour DONE.
3) Meditate 3x--NOT DONE.
4) Tidy rocking chair area and dresser top in bedroom.--DONE, and more!
5) Enjoy some lazy time while husband is out of town and kids are still in school! But read books and watch good shows. DON'T SPEND ALL MY TIME ON TWITTER!--MOSTLY DONE, but still too much time on Twitter.
Better than usual! It helps that I had plenty of time.
This week:
1) 5 hours of exercise
2) 5x meditation
3) 5 hours of writing
4) 5 hours of prep work
5) 5 hours of house chores per week (pay bills, tidy the Witch Hut, clean daughter's room as part of her b-day present)
6) Finish knitting scarf for MIL
7) Read 300 pages of leisure book (is it still leisure if I set a goal?)
8) Surrender goals when necessary for doing b-day things for daughter, but don't totally abandon them.
It's the last week of school and my daughter's b-day is on Saturday, and weeks like this tend to get totally lost. But I feel good this week, and I don't want to lose sight of my OWN goals. Actually, this is always my biggest challenge: don't let EVENTS, GUESTS, FAMILY NEEDS, LOVELY FRIENDS, etc. totally derail all of the peripheral days and hours. On the one hand, I feel like my diagnosis allows me to be selfish; on the other hand, I know that I have a history of ditching my goals to help my children, and I let that helping of them bleed into my other time, mentally and logistically.
How do I get better at this? Compartmentalizing. Setting boundaries. Any encouragement and wisdom from the group would help.
I set goals for leisure. It helps me to prioritize it!
DeleteWhat I have found from dealing with chronic illness is that if I don't take care of myself first, NOTHING else is going to happen. I don't know if your treatment will work the same way.
DeleteWhen I start to fall into the "help everyone else first" trap, I think of the airplane instructions to put on your own oxygen mask before helping your child. It is much the same as Dame Eleanor's point, but somehow seeing it as not being able to help because I'm unconscious from lack of oxygen makes it stay with me.
DeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteObstacles for this summer: I am writing the part of the book that I tragically lost due to a super computer meltdown right at the time that my Mom was diagnosed as terminal last year. So while I did not love writing it the first time around, the book writing now is tied up with the loss of my Mom. So not super fun. I also struggle with feeling like summer is passing me by, so like others, a friendly reminder to do something fun, like garden or go swimming, can come in handy. My first snap peas are coming in, as are the green beans and cherry tomatoes. The cucumbers are super tiny and really super cute. If only the weeds were not an interminable enemy. I also need to work on being happy that I have met all my weekly goals, not sure if I can come up with some non-monetary form of reward that will work, but it would be nice to relish in it a bit rather than to be ho-hum about all the work getting done. Yet this seems to be the story of my life, nothing is ever good enough! Argh.
Goals last week:
- write 4,000 words of Ch 3, done
- meet with student and colleague about ongoing research/article, done
- organize mid-summer trip to fieldwork location to organize permits/permissions for next year, done
- exercise 4x, done
- fun things 2x with friends, done
- one house related thing (garage door?) no
This week:
- write 4,000 words Ch 3- maybe finish it (I hope)
- talk with grad student who wants to work on my project
- exercise x 4, fun x 2
- something for house- garage door, possibly weed garden
- a few admin bits for trip planned in July
You wrote 4000 words!! That in itself is fantastic. And not only that, but you did everything else except a house-related thing, which looks relatively un-urgent even as you wrote it. I hope that you find some way to celebrate this progress, which is actually quite significant, especially given that June has only just started!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTopic: It’s almost the middle of June which means summer is almost half over! No? No. My struggle as usual is wanting to do all the projects and have all the leisure. Please help me remember that both are possible and balance is good. I also struggle with feeling guilty about working when I should be not working: I have administrivia I need to catch up on but get the vibe that if I’m not “on the clock” (not teaching until later in the summer) then I shouldn’t be working. This rolls into an ugly blend of guilt.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1 submit Perform abstract: yes
2 finish current book, write and submit review: yes
3 sort out possible subject list for Tiny Project: yes
4 build online component for independent study: no, but it’s a 20 minute copy & paste
I have a weekend family event so a short week but also some time on airplanes for reading.
This week:
1 Draft Time abstract
2 Read a review book
3 Build online component
4 Draft one module for online course
That's a lot of yesses for last week--well done!!
DeleteI am joining late - and I missed most/all of the intersession. Brief intro: I am a postdoc living in NYC. I do research on a marginalized group.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was gone, I submitted multiple papers. My diss manuscript came back with an R&R - which is miraculous!
As you may or may not recall - I applied for an NIH K. I got my score this week- not in the fundable range. Now I wait a month for feedback. I'm pretty depressed about this bc it means another year as a postdoc - and I really didn't want that for financial reasons and because of social comparison reasons.
In terms of supports - I realized this week that I have more support where I am currently than I probably have ever had in my life. I have sweet friends, I have multiple colleagues to talk to and to get support from - I have colleagues who seem to care how I am and value me. It's kind of crazy.
My goals for the next week or so:
1. Once get final edits to JAMA paper from collaborator, finish it up and submit it.
2. Once get final analyses from statistician for PTSD paper, finish it up and submit it.
3. Connect with colleague about interactions in victimization paper. Finish writing discussion.
4. Once these three are done -that will be the last few manuscripts I have been dragging my heels on - and I can start working on manuscripts from my own study!!!
5. Draft ppt for presentation
6. Make to do list for R&R of diss manuscript
Welcome back, Waffles! Congrats on the multiple submissions and the miraculous R&R! I'm sorry to hear about the K, though. It's great to hear that you have a lot of support where you are. I remember when you were feeling anxious about your move, so it's great that things have worked out so well.
Deletethis is really nice to read..informative post is very good to read..thanks a lot!
ReplyDeletejudi bola
it was a wonderful chance to visit this kind of site and I am happy to know. thank you so much for giving us a chance to have this opportunity..
ReplyDeleteJudi Online Dafabet