Hello! I'm sorry I wasn't really present in comments this week. Things have been busy, but I've now knocked out a few big things, so maybe life will get a little easier. Or maybe it would be pretty to think so for a day or two!
At any rate, since the plan is to go for 14 weeks, this week we're halfway through this session, so it's time to check on goals and how you're doing with them. What can you jettison from your pack, to lighten the load as you finish the race? Or to use our story metaphor, what extraneous plot events and interesting-but-inessential characters can you cut in order to tighten the structure of the whole work?
First I'm going to list last week's goals (sometimes from longer ago than that---I did remember to look for hold-overs this time), then collect session goals below those.
Let us know how you did, what your plans for the next week are, and how you want to adjust session goals. Would it be helpful to revisit some of the themes from our first week, like using leisure time mindfully or making five- or ten-year plans?
Daisy
1) Write fancy future talk
2) Do actual thinking about paper that goes with fancy talk
3) Do some thinking/writing for book project, lots of small paragraphs would be fine...
4) Sit down with both my grad students based at this university and get a good handle on their progress and what they need me to help with.
Dame Eleanor Hull
Daily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep.
Finish and send article; read Thing to which I am soon to be a respondent.
Update online quizzes; meet with other independent study student; some other class prep.
At least one of these: finish dealing with all the stacked-up mail; gather tax documents; do some house-market-prep.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Really finish peer review.
Read three articles for class paper.
Finish the first presentation.
Call the co-editor to discuss scope.
Meditate at least once a day.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks a day.
Good Enough Woman (held over)
Work:
1. Get next week's Brit Lit reading done by Sunday.
2. Do most of the prep for next week to clear the way for heavier grading.
3. Find short stories for independent study student. Create first few assignments for her.
4. Research/write for 1 hour.
People:
1. Send at least three cards/letters to people.
2. Have lunch with my mom.
3. Float like mist through all four of my son's 4-H activities this week. Support him.
Wellness:
1. Walk 4x
2. Meditate 4x
3. Skip late-night treat 3x. Fast at least 13 hours 2x.
4. Reschedule appointment that got cancelled.
heu mihi
1. Read/write x 4
2. Check in with big project in writing once
3. Language x 3, please
4. Start revisions for edited collection proposal
5. Grade the pile
6. Revise draft of application stuff
Humming42
1 write and submit short essay about film
2 revise and submit conference prospectus
3 write 2000 words for DQ revision
JaneB
1) take one day COMPLETELY OFF next weekend
2) take the time next weekend to clean the kitchen and do meal prep properly, so I have good food to get me through the following week. For THIS week, I'll aim for 5 fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, no bread, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff (there is now a 90% cocoa chocolate bar available on campus/at the petrol station which is not tongue-curling-ly bitter, so I have an option that meets this rule when my inner toddler gets screamy).
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it
4) answer three emails to research collaborators this week, and otherwise not worry about research things, just put them onto a list for future reference (ugh)...
Karen (held over)
-clear 2 boxes (the ones next to the bookshelf)
-start all course F draft documents
-run x 2, yoga x 3. Wondering if I can fit in a weights session somewhere in my schedule because I realise I need to work on upper body strength, but can't see where.
-order wind sock, book in 4 field recording days.
-write up notes from this mornings library trip
KJHaxton
- prepare assessment guidelines for article assessment
- mark group projects, send materials off for moderation
- aim for 30 minutes per day on professional development application
- collate sustainability paperwork
- aim for 2 x 2 hours of data analysis for engagement project
- work on draft of sustainability paper ( 2 hours minimum)
Oceangirl101 (held over)
1) write/work on book, but mostly Ch 7 3x a week, for 2 hrs each- will involve some number crunching, creation of figures, writing and some revision of Ch 3
2) exercise x 3
3) meet with undergrad students/grad that I am advising on lab projects/independent studies etc.
4) finish syllabi, start BB sites for two courses
Susan
1. Do required reading, and revise Race/Patriarchy
2. Follow up on last bits for Big Book (we've got 28 of 30 contributors!!!)
3. If time, figure out next steps on Famous Author
4. Take a day off
5. Keep sleep going, and start reading at bed time instead of playing games.
6. Exercise
7. Keep up with healthy eating
Waffles
1. NY job talk
2. T32 draft
3. NJ job talk
4. Qual analyses
5. Relat ID methods and results
6. YRBS paper
7. Maybe PTSD paper
Session goals:
Daisy
1)Keep teaching in its place, do not let my 200 students take over every part of my week.. . . limit teaching (prep/lecture/admin/students) to two days of each week. I have my schedule set up to have two days completely devoted to teaching stuff, with one morning extra for overflow.
2)Finish 2 papers as first author – those projects are completely mine and I need to get them done because they are holding up other projects.
3)Prepare for possible sabbatical by thinking about long-term goals and projects and funding. One of those is easy, I have projects that will keep me busy from here to 2050, but need to think about strategically funding some of them, and I need to think about how I want my work to go over the next 10 years… Also think about sabbatical logistics and how to balance work and renewal? I heard that’s a thing…
Dame Eleanor Hull
Live with uncertainty and work the process w/r/t selling the house.
Complete one conference paper; plan it as an article from the beginning.
Send out another essay, about half done now.
Make some progress on book.
Manage teaching, grading, and admin efficiently.
Get tax stuff taken care of in a timely way.
Make arrangements for spring and summer travel.
Regular exercise, daily stretching, good sleep hygiene, and cooking to accommodate dietary restrictions.
Have some sort of social life.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Move about for ten minutes of every hour.
Continue to streamline the work office. I have less space in my far more congenial office, so it is time to be unsentimental.
Draft Elzevier.
Begin editing special issue.
Edit the Illuminated project.
Good Enough Woman
Work:
1. Write/Research 2 hours per week (in 30 or 60 min chunks)
2. Work on hacks and strategies to avoid being crushed by grading
People:
3. Send 3-5 letters/notes/cards to people per week
4. Meet my mom 1-2 times per month for breakfast or lunch
5. Meet two friends per month for coffee/walk/meal
6. Prioritize my son’s curricular/extra-curricular/college prep needs
Wellness:
7. Walk 4-5x per week (40-60 min per walk)
8. Meditate at least three times per week (3-5 minutes each time)
9. Get enough sleep (in bed by 11:00-11:30 most week nights)
10. Schedule and keep necessary med appointments for the kids and myself
heu mihi
1. Daily writing/research. 30 minutes/day, M-F.
2. Language work: maybe not 5x/week, but continue to make progress.
3. Writing projects to complete: 1 conference paper, submit Wonder (which I've had kicking around forEVer). Ideally, draft Kzoo paper (which is for a pedagogy roundtable and so not too high-stress).
4. Prepare preliminary materials for promotion--reference names and personal statement.
5. Prioritize research and wellness over teaching and service.
Humming42
1 complete and submit five book reviews
2 prepare for and attend April conference
3 write and submit abstracts for two (maybe three) conferences
4 make steady progress on Squares paper
5 work on developing a consistent writing practice
JaneB
A) get back into good self-care habits.... these centre around eating mindfully and sensibly for my current middle-aged body rather than my teenage, sleeping enough (at times that suit the wider world, not my body clock, which is totally messed up), moving/stretching so my joints only dislike me rather than hate me, not letting my environment become a chaotic mess, and making the time for guilt-free recreation.
B) TRQ things. Main goals here are to do what is necessary without too much embellishment (I easily get drawn in to making classes the best they can possibly be, and that's just not realistic when carrying an overload and writing new material, so aiming for every session to be good enough is the priority (especially the topics in my own field where I could easily spend a week or two just reading around and getting up to date, I'm sooooo behind on literature). I'd also like to keep decent notes every time a task related to my new admin roles comes up, so that I have one source for "last time this is how it worked" - no guarantee it will be that way the next time I come to it, see "ongoing crisis state", but at least I'd have a concrete source for checking to see if I'm losing my mind when someone says I did things wrong...
C) TLQ things - research, which divides into four areas, grant writing (we have high targets - of course the crisis, understaffing etc. does not excuse us from being held to those!), paper writing (main ones this session are likely to be FlatPaper1, ProblemChild1, LikesMath2), current projects where I am actually part of the group doing the research (key ones are FlatProject, FavouriteIslandsProject, one I've vaguely mentioned before which I will rename FluffyProject, and CommercialProject) current projects where I have a role in supervising others (I didn't actually officially win funding, but I got roped in to be part of a team delivering a very large multi-site project, and have a new post-doc arriving end of January (who I will be lead supervisor for) - BrownProject, a one year project including a part time RA to tend - EdgeProject - and a PhD student to recruit for September - who will get their own nickname in due course)
D) A key goal for me this year is about kindness and being open, about building community in the face of adversity... So I will be setting goals around community building and collegiality.
Karen
-have 3 x course amendment, 1 x course development paperwork in to next level up committee
-submit expression of interest for promotion
-do text install of grass prelim work
-write each day to Scrivener word target on might-be-book
-have vege garden set for winter
-build and maintain habits of run 3 x week, yoga 2x week
KJHaxton
finish and submit the sustainable chemistry manuscript
Analyse data and draft a feedback project manuscript
Write new lecture course, deliver, evaluate
Modify sustainable chemistry lectures with decolonisation in mind
Present at national STEM education conference
Submit sustainability benchmark documents
Complete SFHEA application
Oceangirl101
complete Ch 7 of the book,
plan for summer fieldwork,
remain balance in my personal life with exercise 3x a week and doing social things 1-2 x a week,
continue healthy eating and weight loss.
Susan
1. By mid- April, have 20,000 words on Writer
2. Revise Race/Patriarchy to give it in early March
3. Write essay on weird and interesting plays for conference
4. Get all contributors for the Big Book lined up
5. Regular exercise
6. Read books
7. Aim for 7 hours of sleep
Waffles
1. Submit IRIE paper
2. Resubmit intersectionality paper
3. Resubmit PTSD paper
4. Draft hate crimes paper
5. Draft relationship identity paper
6. Release Latinx survey into the wild
7. Have reviewed all articles and have intro and methods written for MST review paper
8. Have a funded NIH K!!!
Some judicious forgetfulness, or at least delaying action, tends to encourage many problems to solve themselves.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, though, they mutate into a different sort of problem. Charlotte was waiting for me when I opened my door for office hours. “Good morning! I have two i.d.s, a job, a credit card, a room in a shared apartment, and a phone that works in this world, and I’m figuring out what apps are the most useful for me. Are there any you recommend? Oh, and I re-wrote my notes and filled in some of the bits I remembered; it really does help to go over them.” She dug in her backpack and offered her notebook again. Now the notes looked tidier, and some details were spelled out: “γ 317 A. Trollop _The_Bishop_of_Barsetshire_, A 713 J. Trollop _The_Girls_and_The_Men_.” I dismissed the thought that I’d love to read both, especially if the Joanna Trollope were really a distinct book from The Men and the Girls, not just an artifact of Charlotte’s shaky note-taking technique, and queried Charlotte’s spelling of the surnames. If books vary from world to world, why not authors’ names?
“Good point,” she said, “but for some reason, they’re usually stable. Thank you,” and she added the e’s. “Now that I’ve done everything you said, will you sign my forms?”
I sighed. “No, Charlotte, I am not the Librarian-in-Residence or in any way affiliated with any library, and you still need to work out what world this really is. Even if you can by-pass finding the real Librarian-in-Residence here, I presume you’re trying to find a unique-to-this-world book before you return, and for that, you’re going to need to know what is unique to this world, right? Possibly you could walk into the campus bookstore and buy a copy of Joanna Trollope’s latest and just go back.” That would be too convenient, I thought, but sometimes the obvious solution really is the simplest way out.
I love your inner thought of wanting to read the books that Charlotte has (sort of) cited, since I constantly fight that impulse.
DeleteI like the use of Occam's razor at the end, although it would be too convenient for the story, as well as too convenient for how our lives usually work.
Topic:
ReplyDeleteMy overwhelming feeling recently is of being the pilot of a small airplane, spiralling toward the earth, with a screeching alarm of “STALL! PULL UP!” resounding through my brain. I have overextended myself in trying to thread the needle of learning the parts of my new department that I did not already know, and proving myself worthy of the trust in my abilities that my new department showed by taking on the dented can that I had become.
Therefore, I think creating a five-year plan is a very good idea. I am spreading myself too thin, and I need to make sure I am concentrating on what research I need to do for the job and publications. It is clear that I need to do some soul-searching, but that is a very good thing.
Also, thank you, Linda, for the link to the post on internal dialogue. It was fascinating reading. I remember horrifying my second-grade teacher when I told her that I heard voices in my head. Considering she was a Catholic nun in her fifties, I’m surprised she suggested a psychiatrist to my parents, and not an exorcism. (My parents were horrified at her advice, and ignored it completely, telling me to stop sharing such things with non-family members).
Last week’s goals:
Really finish peer review. Not quite. Insert massive sigh
Read three articles for class paper. Only two. Repeat massive sigh.
Finish the first presentation. Yes.
Call the co-editor to discuss scope. No. Insert third massive sigh.
Meditate at least once a day. Yes.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks a day. Yes.
Analysis of last week’s goals:
This past week proved the saying that one has to plan for lots of flexibility in any project, and I didn’t. I knew there would be a lot of work involved in going through the book collection, but I didn’t fully appreciate what we found, like the huge collection of pre-1800 Hebrew religious texts that my student could not read, and therefore could not search. *facepalm* Just because they were not supposed to be in the stacks clearly did not pertain, because there were over 100 that were there.
Then there was the substantial class assignment that was not in the syllabus, but the professsor put on Blackboard three hours before class. I feel I can complain because I taught for ten years, including graduate level classes, and that is not cool.
What I did accomplish was the meditation and the walking, partly to calm down from the stress of the above, and partly to be able to report accomplishing something.
Next week’s goals:
Read articles for class.
Finish peer review--now TRQ.
Prepare for colleague’s term review.
Spend 15 minutes a day clearing space in the office.
Ask for a key to the locking file; if not, use one of the patrons’ lockers.
Put together the coat tree for the office.
Go through how the archival system works before desk duty.
Email co-editor to find good time to discuss scope on the phone.
Contact research library in big city for time to do Illuminated research.
Meditate at least one a day.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks.
Float like mist, everyone.
It's exciting that you're finding things in the book collection! I know it's one more thing for the list (Find helper who reads Hebrew), but cool all the same. And well done on the meditation and walking.
DeleteHere's Mirya's piece on 5-year plans. I'm thinking . . . it's helpful to have specifics like "What do you want your CV to look like?" and concepts like "how will your teaching evolve?" https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=d50101fa4524ffc556bc1243e&id=d8ace69754
I created a little worksheet to help make a 5-year plan. There's no way to embed an image here, is there? If anyone wants to get a copy, email me at wallywaffles27@gmail.com and I'll send it!
DeleteThank you both for the link, the advice, and the worksheet, Dame Eleanor and Waffles.
DeleteSession goals:
ReplyDeleteMove about for ten minutes of every hour. Meh.
Continue to streamline the work office. I have less space in my far more congenial office, so it is time to be unsentimental. Again, meh.
Draft Elzevier. Nope.
Begin editing special issue. Not yet.
Edit the Illuminated project. Also, not yet.
Analysis of Session goals:
My activity is more sporadic, and usually heavier work, shifting volumes, putting them on trucks for my student, that sort of thing. I’m still moving, though, which is good.
Unfortunately, I have the ability to see clutter as part of the landscape, so the office has not progressed as it should. I have class tomorrow, so cleaning the office is on the docket for Tuesday.
Elzevier fell off the map, as so many things do when priorities change. I need to concentrate on efficient use of my student while I have her; since she is a freshman, it is unlikely she will be working during the summer semester.
The special issue is running into the common thread of “my collaborator is also very busy, and lives in a different time zone” problem. It is squeezing into TRQ space, so it has to move up in priority.
Illuminated is also starting to infringe on TRQ, so it's one more thing for the priority list.
Revised session goals:
Think hard about next five years.
Walk at least three tours of the stacks daily.
Organize the work office.
Plan the outline and begin editing special issue.
Edit the Illuminated project.
Plan the research trip for Illuminated.
Get through class reasonably unscathed.
Congratulations to all on being halfway through this session. Excelsior!
Ugh. Goals right now are survival. I ended up taking a day off last week - I claimed a stomach bug, and I actually was having an unhappy gut day but not enough to be unmanageable whilst teaching. What actually happened is that I drove to work and couldn't make myself get out of the car, started to get panicky, and after a few minutes drove home, had a cry and went to bed. Felt quite a lot better by mid-afternoon and did about 4 hours of work, and was back at work the next day, but... oops. Survival - as in actually meeting my teaching and service obligations adequately - is still a not-easy goal.
ReplyDeletegoals from last week:
1) take one day COMPLETELY OFF next weekend yes. On Friday. I slept a lot and read a rather good novella and slept some more. It was nice
2) take the time next weekend to clean the kitchen a little bit and do meal prep properly half - I prepped a big pan of roast vegetables and a lump of vegetarian protein stuff for lunch, but I usually also do some breakfast and snack prep, so I have good food to get me through the following week. For THIS week, I'll aim for 5 fruit and veg a day yes, apart from today, plenty of watermostly, no bread four days out of seven, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff four days out of seven.
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it a bit under an hour, today, when I also went OUT to a coffee shop to meet a fellow NaNo-er for a catch up. Social life, I haz a pale imitation of one!
4) answer three emails to research collaborators this week, and otherwise not worry about research things, just put them onto a list for future reference (ugh)... yes, I think that one worked
Goals for the coming week:
1) take one day COMPLETELY OFF next weekend
2) take the time next weekend to clean the kitchen and do meal prep properly, so I have good food to get me through the following week. Continue to aim for 5 fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, no bread, and sugar only in high cocoa dark chocolate type stuff apart from one small thing per day (which needs eating up - good excuse eh?).
3) spend an hour with my NaNo writing, because I enjoy it
4) answer three emails to research collaborators this week, and otherwise not worry about research things, just put them onto a list for future reference (ugh)...
Oh, goodness, poor you! But what a good idea to just go home and go back to bed when you felt so awful. And you did get half a day's work done just the same. You're also meeting your healthy-eating goals more than half the time. So it may feel awful, but I think you're doing well. And you even had some social life!
DeleteHow I did last week:
ReplyDeleteDaily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep. MOSTLY: sleep is improving, daily stretching is often sketchy but at least five minutes is better than nothing. As usual, I'm best at the exercise.
Finish and send article; read Thing to which I am soon to be a respondent. YES!!!! And yes, and responded effectively.
Update online quizzes; meet with other independent study student; some other class prep. YES, YES, and SOME.
At least one of these: finish dealing with all the stacked-up mail; gather tax documents; do some house-market-prep. NO BUT I opened some new mail and did a few useful things like mending and returning about 30 books related to the now-sent article, so I feel like there is progress on Life Stuff.
Next week's goals:
Daily stretching, exercise, 8 hours sleep.
Daily writing (or writing-adjacent activities) toward conference paper.
Grade/respond to one set of papers.
Prep for committee meeting; re-design forms.
Do some house-market-prep.
Session goals and how I'm doing:
DeleteLive with uncertainty and work the process w/r/t selling the house. So far, not a lot of working the process, but I hope to make that change this week. Keep.
Complete one conference paper; plan it as an article from the beginning.Discussed plans with my writing group and got useful suggestions which I plan to work on starting this week. Conference is soon after our session ends, so it has to get done. Keep.
Send out another essay, about half done now.Done!
Make some progress on book.Not yet, but I have hopes of doing so this session. Keep.
Manage teaching, grading, and admin efficiently.So far, so good, though there's one admin task I'm a little behind with. Keep.
Get tax stuff taken care of in a timely way.Better get on this one. Keep.
Make arrangements for spring and summer travel.In progress: one major piece booked, others yet to come. Keep.
Regular exercise, daily stretching, good sleep hygiene, and cooking to accommodate dietary restrictions.Doing well, and I want to keep listing this goal to remind me of the time it takes to do these things, even though they are pretty well integrated into my life.
Have some sort of social life.Doing well with this one; have attended 3 gatherings and 4 cultural events in the last two months. Keep.
So it looks like my goals might be manageable as they are. House stuff will need more time, and I have various Life Stuff items, some involving phone calls, that I have been putting off for weeks if not months. However, getting that years-old R&R off my plate feels very freeing. I expect the book-progress goal will be the most challenging, and I should probably refine it to something specific like reading/noting a certain set of works, or filling in a spreadsheet begun some time ago. I'll think about this.
Wow, halfway already? That’s hard to believe…
ReplyDeleteI had a wonderful week in the lab, everything got done, late nights were fun and rewarding. I had time with my grad students too, one is doing fantastically well and is writing paper drafts, and the other is struggling. I hope I managed to give both something useful to help with where they are right now. Also had a fun little interlude, I got interviewed as an expert for a NASA science story on land-sat imagery, which happened to be of one of my study areas, so I got to write about one of my favourite places and explain the origin of the land-sat image patterns. That was really enjoyable!
Session Goals so far…
1)Keep teaching in its place, do not let my 200 students take over every part of my week.. . . limit teaching (prep/lecture/admin/students) to two days of each week. I have my schedule set up to have two days completely devoted to teaching stuff, with one morning extra for overflow. DOING REALLY WELL MOST WEEKS, TEST WEEKS HARDER BUT OK
2)Finish 2 papers as first author – those projects are completely mine and I need to get them done because they are holding up other projects. PROGRESS BUT NOT ENOUGH
3)Prepare for possible sabbatical by thinking about long-term goals and projects and funding. One of those is easy, I have projects that will keep me busy from here to 2050, but need to think about strategically funding some of them, and I need to think about how I want my work to go over the next 10 years… Also think about sabbatical logistics and how to balance work and renewal? I heard that’s a thing… NOT EVEN A BIT – I’m GOING TO SHELVE THIS TILL APRIL, NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON 2 ABOVE INSTEAD…
Goals to ditch – the long-term thinking one… I can’t really decide anything until a number of big decisions on funding etc. come out in April, and I’ve done nothing at all about this goal anyway. So it is officially removed, and replaced with:
Do fabulous job of fancy future talk, and finish the paper that goes with it.
Help student through writing and submission of masters project papers.
Last week’s goals:
1) Write fancy future talk PROGRESS MADE, WILL CONTINUE
2) Do actual thinking about paper that goes with fancy talk YES
3) Do some thinking/writing for book project, lots of small paragraphs would be fine... LITTLE BIT
4) Sit down with both my grad students based at this university and get a good handle on their progress and what they need me to help with. YES VERY USEFUL
This week’s goals:
1)Continue working on talk, it is coming along nicely
2)More small paragraphs for book project
3)Run off pizza dinners from lab week – 3 should help!
4)Set up teaching topics for rest of term with snow day back-ups
5)Set lab exams
Good progress last week, and it's great to hear that you're having fun and getting asked for your expert opinion on things you care about!
DeleteI think that my session goals are *generally* working, even as I'm not meeting all of them. I'd still like to try to meet them, at least. And being clear about my priorities has actually helped me to make some decisions about how to spend my time this semester, which is nice. I want to continue developing and strengthening that habit.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Read/write x 4—I think that I actually did this!
2. Check in with big project in writing once—Not sure, but maybe
3. Language x 3, please—x1
4. Start revisions for edited collection proposal—started
5. Grade the pile—graded
6. Revise draft of application stuff—revised but not finished
Session goals:
1. Daily writing/research. 30 minutes/day, M-F.
Probably not, but I’m doing a lot better than I was in the fall, so I’ll keep this as an aspiration.
2. Language work: maybe not 5x/week, but continue to make progress.
Not doing so well with this; probably 1-3x/week. But that’s progress, so we’ll keep it. Try to find space for 3x/week here on out.
3. Writing projects to complete: 1 conference paper, submit Wonder, draft Kzoo paper
Conference paper is drafted and will be re-revised this week. I have some feedback on Wonder to take into account for another round of revisions. I’ve begun collecting some notes for Kzoo.
4. Prepare preliminary materials for promotion--reference names and personal statement.
Reference names have been collected. Personal statement is un-begun.
5. Prioritize research and wellness over teaching and service.
Wellness—yes, definitely. Research—well, I’m actually doing some of it, so it’s not de-prioritized to the extent that it was last semester. But I would like to push it more into the foreground (as always! Who wouldn’t?).
I’m going to keep these as they are; the “product” goals are manageable, and the “process” goals remain good aspirations.
This week is the second-to-last week before our two weeks in India, so I’m going to try to knock a lot of stuff out, since I’m pretty sure that the last week pre-trip is going to be a chaotic mess of preparations.
This week's goals:
1. Revise & complete conference paper
2. Work on proposal revisions and send them to co-editor
3. Look at Wonder revisions and consider what might be done
4. Language x 3
5. Acquire a bunch of stuff for trip (e.g. flip-flops for Son, Neosporin, tissue packs, Gold Bond for bug bites, rupees)
6. Revise & complete application essays
I think it's wise to focus on what you can do: if 3x/week is workable, while the ideal 5x/week isn't (or only rarely), then celebrate the 3x rather than feeling you've failed because you're not getting 5x.
DeleteGood luck with the pre-trip prep, and I hope you are able to knock everything out so you're ready to go!
My department was allegedly considering a new policy for NIH Ks that meant that if my K was funded and if I stayed, I would be paid less than half of what I had been told when I applied and would continue to be considered a postdoc (as opposed to a faculty member, which is what I had been told as well when I applied). This has been extremely stressful, confusing, and upsetting and has interfered with my productivity because if I can work as hard as I have been (I just hit 30 pubs) and still just make the NIH stipend rate and be considered a postdoc, why even bother? The dean asked to meet with me last week and promised I'd be grandfathered in, but I am still worried. People keep saying I should look elsewhere for a position - which is what I have been doing, but my job search hasn't been particularly successful - and all around me people are getting interviews and announcing their amazing new jobs. It's so disheartening. To top it off, my faculty interview at my current department was pushed back a month. I had thought that I could use that interview to negotiate my salary and title if my K is funded - but this just puts off any kind of resolution.
ReplyDeleteLast week
1. NY job talk - WORKED ON
2. T32 draft - DONE
3. NJ job talk - WORKED ON
4. Qual analyses - WORKED ON
5. Relat ID methods and results - WORKED ON
6. YRBS paper - WORKED ON
7. Maybe PTSD paper - NOT WORKED ON
This week I am keeping it fairly modest because I have an all-day interview this week and I will likely be completely worn out the day after that. Someone with whom I am interviewing wants to talk beforehand about their concerns about the department - so that is fun and definitely isn't making me excited about this. UGH.
THIS WEEK
1. Maturing out hypothesis refs
2. NJ job talk
3. Prep for NJ interview
4. Move YRBS paper along
5. Results for relat identity paper
6. Work on Latinx survey
7. Respond to email about longitudinal paper
8. Keep working on qual analyses
Session goals
Delete1. Submit IRIE paper - submitted as preprint awaiting co-authors' comments on version to be submitted for publication.
2. Resubmit intersectionality paper - DONE!
3. Resubmit PTSD paper - WORKING ON IT!
4. Draft hate crimes paper - NOT STARTED! Our symposium at which I was going to present this was rejected, so this will take a slight backburner for other projects.
5. Draft relationship identity paper - STARTED!
6. Release Latinx survey into the wild - IN PROGRESS!
7. Have reviewed all articles and have intro and methods written for MST review paper - IN PROGRESS!
8. Have a funded NIH K!!! - FINGERS CROSSED
Wow, I see why you're stressed and frustrated: you have reason. Here's hoping that all your hard work and achievements will finally pay off, despite these set-backs.
DeleteSession goals are OK with the exception of getting writing done. I am hopeful.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone has recommended resources on coping with burnout, I’d be grateful for some enlightening wisdom.
Session goals
1 complete and submit five book reviews: I think I’ve only had one thus far.
2 prepare for and attend April conference: see conference prospectus. Still planning to attend.
3 write and submit abstracts for two (maybe three) conferences: First one comes up this week.
4 make steady progress on Squares paper: Not a thought in that direction. Good to have the reminder.
5 work on developing a consistent writing practice: Nope.
Last week
1 write and submit short essay about film: yes, and was returned to me for revision
2 revise and submit conference prospectus: no, and the not quite good enough form was distributed to all of the panelists
3 write 2000 words for DQ revision: not a word
This week
1 host conference. That should be enough, it seems, but there are other obligations
2 submit film essay revision
3 write and submit book review
4 write and submit conference abstract
There's a lot of discussion of anti-burnout strategies here:
Deletehttps://www.askamanager.org/2019/04/ask-the-readers-how-do-you-bounce-back-from-burnout.html
Thank you. Realizing the problem is definitely the first step to figuring it out. A benefit of living in the digital era is easy access to strategies that come with the knowledge that you're not the only person in the universe with this.
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