I realize the UK members still have some time ahead of them, but here in the US I am very much mired in oh-shit-it's-August syndrome. So my totally self-serving request this week is for recipes (incantations, mantras, approaches) for warding off panic, avoiding thrashing, and actually tackling the to-do list instead of zoning out and refusing to do anything other than the most basic and most required tasks.
I hope the rest of you did better than I did last week! Let us know in the comments.
Daisy
Write documents resulting from giant meetings
Finish web articles
More awkward meetings
Finish much overdue newsletter
Work on student projects with all of them
Process and send away samples
Finish overdue review
Dame Eleanor Hull
- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office
- swim x 3, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume
- take more notes on articles read last month
- create syllabus for one to-be-proposed course
- finish organizing the guest room closet and shelves OR start on my study
- think about fall courses
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W)
- do some other Life Stuff and/or tedious work tasks
heu mihi
1. FINISH uncle's memoirs. Yesterday I spent a really long time integrating all the photos, so I'm very close now. 600 pages!
2. Read book for upcoming course; work a little on syllabus
3. Figure out August travel plans, such as they are
4. Questions for student's upcoming exam
5. Dissertation defense (this morning--not optional--but I'm putting it on here anyway)
6. Pick up some supplies for beer brewing; my stash is alarmingly small!
JaneB
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play or prepare for D&D
2) environment: Sort out post pile of doom. do simple financial chores/make list for complicated ones. book gutter fix. at least three house chores. Decluttering person at last (I hope). Car service.
Julie
On holiday!
Susan
1. Get whatever I can out of archives today
2. Try to figure out what shoes have dropped that I have to pick up re admin jobs
3. Start planning events for year
4. Finally get back to microfilm
5. Enjoy theatre, meeting with friends, etc.
6. Figure out last working week here.
Hum. How to stave off panic? Good question!
ReplyDeleteI tend to operate in two modes at once: 1) denial mode and 2) chipping-away mode. On the one hand, we have a month!! until classes start, and months are really long! I have so much time! School doesn't start until it's actually started! On the other: I covertly sneak in little bits of getting-ready work until I'm reasonably prepared for the fall. But really, it's the denial that holds me the best and encourages actually enjoying the time remaining.
I also try to find things about cold weather/fall/winter/over-scheduled time to look forward to...but that's harder right now!
Last week:
1. FINISH uncle's memoirs. Yesterday I spent a really long time integrating all the photos, so I'm very close now. 600 pages! - YES!!!
2. Read book for upcoming course; work a little on syllabus - YES, a little
3. Figure out August travel plans, such as they are - YES, pretty easy; we'll be visiting my family again this week
4. Questions for student's upcoming exam - YES, on Sunday
5. Dissertation defense (this morning--not optional--but I'm putting it on here anyway) - YES
6. Pick up some supplies for beer brewing; my stash is alarmingly small! - NO: Brewing supply store has closed! So my brewing is on permanent hiatus. That's fine, in a way; while I like brewing, it's a lot of work, and honestly I don't drink that much beer anymore. (Plus, buying beer is very easy.)
This week--I'll be visiting family, so trying to keep the list short.
1. Teaching prep: Read 2 articles that I may assign for upcoming course
2. Fix basement closet door??? (I would have to do this today, and I'm not sure that I want to)
3. Start on anniversary book (select pictures)
4. Read grad student's prospectus
More than enough. I'm taking the week off of workouts because my lower back has been tight, so that's off the agenda, too.
Sigh. That was me, heu mihi. I really hate it that my name doesn't show up automatically anymore! And I seem to have forgotten how to fix it!
DeleteOK maybe I fixed it? Here's hoping!
DeleteIt looks like you fixed it! I think you need to be signed in to a Google account to be recognized on Blogspot.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that your brewing-supply store has closed. Even if you're okay with not brewing for awhile, it's a loss to the community, and it is so appropriate for a medievalist to brew beer! I hope the defense went well, that you have a good time with your family, and that your back appreciates the rest.
Blogger is just... stubborn sometimes. Sigh! A lot of yes on the list though!
DeleteSometimes I have to log out and back in, b/c it doesn't recognize me but also says I'm logged in!
DeleteI have to use a different browser for blogger...
DeleteOh, we might not actually have students back until mid to late September, but the "oh no it's August" feeling is very real - summer is rapidly running out. Here, we have resits to mark in the first couple of weeks and timetables to check, then Clearing (when we actually get to find out how bad our student numbers really are for the year), then the meetings and requirements start, so it feels like "summer time" is being squeezed out already.
ReplyDeleteRecipe - doing braindumps, making lists, focusing on the essential minimum, ignoring everything - it's a really rubbish recipe! But it's reality most of the time. Last year was much more calm and controlled, but the summer went very differently, partly because I had been on sick leave so entered summer feeling a lot less embedded in overwhelm. Aiming to do ONE SMALL THING every designated work day helps with the anxiety, and I've learnt to trust that at some point the brain-squirrels will kick into high gear and I'll have an insanely productive day and tick off a lot of small items (they are inspired by panic). Not much help here!
Our new Organisational Entity launched on the 1st, so started today. We have no interim head - interviews are the end of this week - and no clear executive team. I am trying hard not to think about it as I am on leave this coming week as well. But I'm sleeping badly and having work-related anxiety dreams already (they never really ended this summer), so that isn't working too well. SIGH. Last week started well, then I got rather overwhelmed and my sleep pattern started to come apart, and I'm feeling like a fat failure right now so I'm glad I have a bit more time to regain some equilibrium before dealing with Work Things.
LAST WEEK
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play or prepare for D&D yes - more paint-by-numbers mess-making. Yes - a new Penric and Desdamona novelette (they're mostly more novellas than novels at the moment) came out, and I found a new author I really enjoyed, so my reading mojo is fully restored and I am currently diving into a history of China. No. Not much. Yes to both
2) environment: Sort out post pile of doom. do simple financial chores/make list for complicated ones. book gutter fix. at least three house chores. Decluttering person at last (I hope). Car service. yes, yes and set in motion one very significant financial task, yes (and had the technical check of measurements/feasibility done), did house chores mostly with decluttering person (who was FINALLY able to come! We got a lot done, and it was rather overwhelming), car service - well the car was delivered for the service, but it needs some substantial work, is currently in the garage waiting for parts, and is going to cost quite a lot - the work is replacement of worm parts which is entirely reasonable given the age of the car and a good thing in that said parts did not fail dramatically at a busy time of year, but oh the STRESS of worrying about the car! But I'd still rather fix this car than go through the complexities of getting a new one...
So the week was moderately
successful.
DeleteNEXT WEEK: still on leave.
1) building better habits: one creative thing with the hands, keep reading for pleasure, start a new yarn project, journal, play D&D, prepare for future D&D (arc 3 of the large ongoing story my nibling and I have been playing since 2020 - currently on a break after a dramatic ending to the second arc, so we're playing a smaller scale adventure out in the pirate isles at the moment)
2) environment: Complete Large Financial Chore, work on simple financial chores/make list for complicated ones (including planning to pay for the car repairs). do serious investigation of sofas, cat litter box furniture, and shelving for the living room, do at least three house chores, keep the kitchen immaculate (the decluttering person worked miracles...). hopefully get the car back.
3. Work - ONE THING - do email triage mid-week to pick up some researcher-issues and reduce the overwhelm when I start back (because I will have to do a load of marking and timetable checking the day I start back, so having an unknown email mountain too might be a bit much!).
That is a lot of stuff done! Glad the decluttering person was a help and you get to enjoy the results, an organized kitchen sounds wonderful! Hope car repairs get done well and not too expensively!
DeleteOh, I'm sorry you also have the summer-rushing-to close feeling, as I was vicariously enjoying the idea that someone still got to enjoy summer! Well, I know you don't so much enjoy summer weather etc., but the time away from teaching. That sounds like a very successful week to me, and I'm glad your de-clutter-er is feeling better, kid better, and so on, but I can imagine that changing your environment is stressful in and of itself, never mind the emotional aspects of considering items you haven't seen for awhile and have some sort of attachment to. I was able to recycle or shred a whole lot of documents to do with real estate we no longer own, but OH MY the feelings that came with reviewing those! Anyway, I hope you have an even better week this time!
ReplyDeleteAlso when you're used to looking for things in this pile or that pile it is disconcerting not to have the pile any longer. It's so easy to lose things that way . . .
DeleteI sometimes make lists . . . and then can't bear to look at them. They're too long. Priorities? Well, what do I feel most guilty about not having done yet? How much of a problem is it going to be if I don't do X right now/today/this week? Has Sir John just asked me to do something and is *in the room* looking at me? Am I going to meet with someone today/tomorrow/this week and Y has to happen before I see this person? (All this is reminding me that I need to pay bills and remind myself of what reading I assigned the grad student I'll be seeing tomorrow.) I feel like there was a time when I could make lists, but for the last few years they mostly make me feel overwhelmed and panicked. "Three things" works pretty well, and I can often go on and do another three. Getting something, anything, accomplished is also inspiring. But, this being summer (still!) it's very easy to load another round of SpellBee or pick up a mystery novel and pretend none of the Things exists or matters.
ReplyDeleteToday was actually a pretty good day, so maybe I am turning over a new leaf with the new month! Or maybe it's that I had to be up to let the plumber in, and then had a couple of hours before I had to leave to swim plus was feeling guilty enough about an easy task that I did it and then started another thing, and I had a late-afternoon Zoom meeting-with--writing-date so that forced me to do something.
And this is why I need this group!
How I did:
- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office: YES
- swim x 3, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day: YES (almost 3 miles), x3, x2, about half the time. ALSO killer workout with my trainer.
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume: NO (shoot me now)
- take more notes on articles read last month: YES! Finished this afternoon, but I will count it for last week since I'm checking in on Monday night, why not?
- create syllabus for one to-be-proposed course: NO, but that's something I worked on today, so again, I'll take it.
- finish organizing the guest room closet and shelves OR start on my study: NO (but it's not worse . . .)
- think about fall courses: YES, nothing written yet, just thinking
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W): YES for small amounts of "measurable."
- do some other Life Stuff and/or tedious work tasks: SOME: made appointment for Morgana's teeth cleaning, dropped two boxes and a bundle of curtain rods at Goodwill, picked up cat meds, did that small guilty task this morning.
ALSO: Zoomed with friend/collaborator and talked about current work as well as plans for the next conference and a potential co-authored piece; got massage; read 6 Commissario Brunetti novels (that might be too many, as they have been getting darker, but it speaks to my refusal to face lists and work); went to a museum exhibit with friends and had dinner afterward; phoned plumber when bathtub suddenly refused to drain.
In my own defence, last week was also difficult b/c Basement Cat wasn't feeling well (I think he is starting to perk up a bit), and one night a power line near our house came down and was sparking for over an hour before it finally stopped, and I didn't get to sleep till 3 b/c despite all the rain we'd had that day I was afraid it would set something on fire (rain, and the 911 operator sounding very bored, kept me from loading up the cats and getting the hell out, but I am from a fire-prone area of the country and I was so anxious). So that really messed up my sleep again. And the air has been bad b/c of Canadian wild fires, for days, so I'm not getting outside much and I think that is also bad for me.
Way to go for the actual research progress and the thinking about courses. Thinking totally counts, it actually does pay off in the end!
DeleteApologies on behalf of northern neighbours for the fires... we do notbhave any yet but all my field worknfor the next few weeks just got cancelled because there is a total ban on all activities in woods right now...It is scarily dry here. Your sparking power line would have had me terrified and out the door! Glad that did not do anything!
Hope Basement Cat is ok!
So, right, new goals:
ReplyDelete- one campus day, meet with grad, spend 30 minutes tidying my office
- swim x 3, yoga x5, cardio x 3, do PT exercises 2x/day
- identify and contact reviewers for edited volume
- finish syllabus for one to-be-proposed course AND start a syllabus for one fall course
- finish organizing the guest room closet and shelves OR start on my study (preferably both)
- make some measurable progress on 2 research projects (M and W)
- try to get Basement Cat to the vet
- reschedule the eye exam that I totally forgot about today!
It helps to look at one's calendar . . .
The "It's August" panic is real and underway. I have no recipe for avoiding it, the admin stuff is already there, and soon I need to start on syllabi...
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Get whatever I can out of archives today YES (one was useful in discovering there was nothing useful there, but photographed a fun ms. for a friend and it was interesting to read!)
2. Try to figure out what shoes have dropped that I have to pick up re admin jobs YES/ NOW starting the work
3. Start planning events for year NO
4. Finally get back to microfilm NO
5. Enjoy theatre, meeting with friends, etc. YES
6. Figure out last working week here. NOT REALLY
I had a very useful research day, because even figuring out there isn't stuff is helpful. And I enjoyed doing the work for my friend, who loves the manuscript. Who knew a library catalog could be so interesting! I'm trying to get back into the admin mode, but not getting responses from people is hard.
THe real thing is that I'm waiting for comments from my editor (on the ms that I sent in on June 2!) and he said early this week and ...I'm having trouble focusing on other things. But I saw 3 friends on Friday (2 planned, one fortuitous) and got an idea for rescuing a paper that stalled, so that's good. And I spend all day Saturday comfort reading. Yesterday I met with a person who works at a key organization related to my work, and got not only some new evidence, but links to the internal files on things.
Goals for this week:
1. Catch up with all the admin stuff
2. See if I can sketch the article I want to write
3. As soon as I get anything from my editor, go into revision mode.
4. See friends
5. Prepare to leave... pack, organize, etc.
I'm probably forgetting something, but. . .
Hooray for fun in the archives! I hope all the things to be packed fit where they should and that your trip home goes smoothly. Have fun with your friends!
DeleteArchive fun sounds so cool! Glad it was productive and enjoyable, especially with friend time included. Good luck with last week and packing and traveling!
DeleteHeu mihi’s stealth/double mode resonates with me! I try my best to ignore the passing of days in August, but end up doing at least a couple of term things to get ready, mostly in gaps between other bits. It seems to work, so I’m going to call it a process. I leave the big stuff like final course outlines and assignment scheduling until the last week before class when I teach a field school and always have a few days where students are independent so all I have to do is watch their locator signals and pick them up, so I have big blocks of time with half a brain occupied which works well for low-intensity organizing work.
ReplyDeleteFor now, trying to fit in as many summery things as possible… Had a great long weekend away with kid in fancy big city, so we’re tired and full of musicals, so definitely a success.
Last week’s goals
Write documents resulting from giant meetings DONE
Finish web articles DONE
More awkward meetings DONE
Finish much overdue newsletter NOPE
Work on student projects with all of them MOSTLY
Process and send away samples PROCESSED, NOT SENT
Finish overdue review NOPE
This week’s goals
Work on student projects
Send away samples
Finish depressingly overdue review
Write conference abstract
Write one section of new paper
Hmm . . . maybe I should re-frame what I've been doing this summer as "chipping away at" rather than "failing to complete" tasks! It's a much nicer way to think of it.
DeleteYou've done a lot, and I hope this week goes well and also that you keep having some summery fun. The weekend away sounds great!
Chipping away gets lots of things done... Today I did one schedule for one course and put all my major time blocks in my Fall schedule and I am totally calling that a teaching prep win for the day! Mind you, it was done purely because I could not stand the thought of doing my associate editor task that has been looming over me for a week... But, as far as displacement activities go it was kind of useful, so I am not going to feel too guilty... Tomorrow I will bribe myself with nice coffee to do the EA task...
Delete