This session went fast, even allowing for its being short! This should be our final week, checking in on session goals—but because it was shorter than our sessions often are, if you want to set goals for one more week (or just for a few days), and come back to the comments to report, you can have that extension.
We’ve already had a question about how you know you’re
finished, so I won’t do that again. Perhaps, instead, I’ll ask how you deal
with the inevitable messiness of not really being done, or not done enough. Are
you able to accept that sometimes writing projects get carried over, or that
you need to ask for help with them, or that waiting on co-authors is an inevitable
part of the process? What realizations, strategies, or mantras might make it
easier to deal with such situations?
Here are last week’s goals, and lower down, session goals
(which I’ve tried to modify as in mid-session, but if I missed anything, my apologies!).
How have you done? Congratulations to all of us—we got through A LOT in this session!
Daisy
More undergrad chapters
Data analysis with students
Two concerts and a few rehearsals
Copy-edit thesis
Sort out last few weeks of term for teaching
Book summer conference travel
Dame Eleanor Hull
--1-2 hours research on each of 3 days
--try to finish conference paper
--prep for language groups
--throw together two more sample syllabuses
--gym x4
--finalize plans for seeing friends on Saturday
--remember to look at calendar & lists every day
heu mihi
1. Revise (and present!) mini-talk #2
2. Work on taxes, ugh
3. Read a dissertation and prep for defense; read a student's pre-exam
documents and prep for defense (we have a complicated exam structure)
4. Finish grading lingering papers
5. Wrap up a few conference things
6. Give self permission to drop the ball on creative work, writing, and even
exercise, sometimes
JaneB
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2 - I need to make four Easter cards for
family
c) something gently social x2
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week
e) ask the decluttering person to help me take a digital photo suitable for
applying for passport renewal (we can do that from home so I want to at least
TRY and do it that way!)
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT:
a) 75% of weekly list of chores
b) make a sketch for the new idea for the shelving in living space - and get
the nice decluttering person to help me measure up!
c) list for decluttering person (turning out all the kitchen cupboards is the
main job on the list)
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) do a good job of Tuesday's lab sessions
b) check over lists for after Spring Break (we have three teaching weeks left
before the assessment period)
RESEARCH.
a) continue to progress modelling work - we have a meeting this week. Hopefully
my collaborator will spot whatever is making the results from my old laptop be
peculiar!
b) Have a full near-complete version of the revise and resubmit paper
c) start working on lots-of-pages grant review (sigh. necessary, but oh, a
dispiriting prospect)
d) start methods training for applied thing
Julie
1. Research and writing - organise more material for Big
Article, finish review article (due 1st April), get close to finishing chapter.
2. Read article for post-doc mentee.
3. Grade posters for conference session next month.
4. House/life admin: book haircut, return library books, declutter dining room,
book June mini-break with daughter, book another chunk of summer trip.
5. Self-care/fun: read, journal, exercise, maybe plant stuff, make list of
birthday requests.
Susan
1. DO THE GRADES
2. Set up Interlibrary loan for two articles
3. Reject students we can't admit to grad program (the software has frozen on
me and I have given up until someone helps.)
4. Expenses for last two trips
5. Have fun on my last two days here
Session goals/mid-session modifications:
Daisy
One new paper as first author... seriously, just one, I can
surely do that???
Be effective and kind supervisor for two grads and two undergrads.
Do good job on massive important review committee.
Do something fun with friends once a week.
Exercise!!!!
Dame Eleanor Hull
I didn’t drop any goals, so I will take credit for anything
that was done at any point in the session:
*Research:
--abstract due end of this month for summer conference #2
--conference paper for April travel
--very overdue essay to finish ASAP (currently at 5005 words, so I have made
progress during break)
--regular scholarly reading and language study, a process goal
*Teaching:
--read two PhD exams, consult with student as necessary
--plan out all class prep for the term and keep on top of it
*Personal:
--collect paperwork for taxes
--clean the garage and de-mousify it
--plan/organize travel for April trip and three others (two conferences, one
purely fun)
--replace my ancient i-Pad
--In general, I'd like to do better at managing my time.
heu mihi
1) Finish messy, partial draft of article due in July (I'm
teaching the book that it's about in April, so there's no sense in getting too
far ahead of myself, since rereading it will be helpful)
2) Edit festschrift essays and draft at least part of the intro
3) Maintain exercise
4) Creative writing: average 2x/week, however drafty and silly it may be
5) Add occasional meditation to my weeks
6) Languages: Read one Italian novel7) 3+ good habits a day*
JaneB
(I think all of these were KEEP or IN PROGRESS at midterm):
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement for at least 20 minutes three days a week or 15 for
four days a week (this can be stretching or more active exercising, but it
needs to be intentional and additional to just "doing life"),
b) some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week,
c) doing something gently social (playing D&D online counts, or a
multi-text exchange with a non-work friend, or spending time on a forum a
couple times a week
d) keep up reading for pleasure and read at least one non-fiction book
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) keep doing the weekly list of chores - aiming for 75% done every week to be
realistic.
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes
are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the
clean undies basket. This is not ideal).
d) plus pay more attention to my finances. Not quite sure what that will look
like, but it got dropped last trimester, and I need to be less careless!
TEACHING AND ADMIN: This is a lighter semester, but the first month is full of
grading from the first semester whilst preparing for the second's teaching.
Process goals here for the session because the session doesn't line up with our
academic calendar (which is a mess...).
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the
following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that.
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no
more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO
RESEARCH
I have a lot of balls in the air, but for this session I do have some very
concrete goals, very different for me!
a) revise and resubmit two papers by due dates in early April (one I'm a minor
author on, one I'm leading)
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part - by
the end of the session I would like a clear plan for the little part of the
project where I am the leading expert.
c) complete and submit a first-stage grant application
d) keep up with all the other pieces of research and writing as things come in
and go out (they're all collaborative, so what happens when isn't entirely in
my control).
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing
projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on)
Julie
(I think you only jettisoned a grant application . . .)
1. Research/writing:
(i) Big article, which I am hoping to send to a top journal. Plan is to have a
full draft I can present at a seminar at the end of April.
(ii) Chapter for a local history: I have a 15,000 word draft, and the editor
likes it, but wants it to be twice as long (!) to fit with other chapters, so I
need to pad it out. (IMO this is ridiculous, but I am committed now. And I will
be paid for this.) Due April
(iii) Review article for anniversary edition of a journal, due 1st April.
Teaching
(i) Preparation for new first-year teaching next year (we are redesigning our
curriculum, so I have to participate in this): keep to the bare minimum.
(ii) PhD corrections for final PhD student.
Other academic stuff:
(i) Organising committee for big anniversary conference in April.
3. Life admin/house stuff
(i) Plan big summer trip to celebrate significant birthdays (the actual trip
will be self-care/fun, the planning is too stressful to be).
(ii) Finances: tax return, but also some big decisions to make
(iii) Small to medium jobs: decluttering, new lamps, get pictures framed and
hung, get a standing desk and new chair for study, new chair for spare room
(for reading in the morning sun), touch up paintwork in various rooms.
Kids:
(i) Ongoing parenting stuff, plus school work, final-year assignments,
daughter's driving test.
Self-care/fun:
(i) Meet-ups with friends, especially around significant birthdays.
(ii) Reading for pleasure
(iii) Journaling
(iv) Do more creative stuff.
(v) Exercise
Susan
Research: minimal.
Famous Author: On Sunday night at 8 PM I submitted the corrected proofs and
index for Famous Author, which will be published in March. There are going to
be events and publicity stuff around this. But it's DONE.
Rest of my life project: I have microfilms in the library and I need to scan
them. I have two now, and I'll get the rest.
Other: My department is planning a small conference in honor of my retirement,
but since the person who would have done all the work is now dealing with a
mother who has terminal cancer, I'll probably do most of the planning.
Teaching: I am inventing a new course, mostly because I wanted to teach stuff
that is relevant, so I'm mushing together parts of two different courses that I
think speak to our current moment. The title is stolen from the American
Historical Association's tagline, "Everything has a history". I want
to do a good job, stretch myself and my students, but not kill myself.
Admin: I'm chair of our graduate program, and budget cuts etc make life
challenging. I also need to identify someone to take over. Or maybe I don't.
But I'd like someone good (i.e. both efficient and kind) to do it.
Life: The plan is to sell my house and move at the end of the semester. So I
need to do SIGNIFICANT decluttering, getting rid of academic books that
supported teaching I won't do again, books I won't read, etc. It's a lot.
Learning that things are never actually finished in a way that feels actually kind of positive and hopeful was a very important stage in my academic growth. An early mentor said that a good research project was one which ended with you asking better questions than you started with (more focused, more grounded in reality, more complex, about a bigger issue, closer to the "real issue" - many ways of defining better), and that if you ever thought you'd finished a topic, that meant it was done with you, it needed someone with a different or fresher way of looking at it, not that it was actually finished. I find the "have the questions advanced" way of looking at research a useful frame when I'm trying to be a bit more big picture, it helps me think about when to publish, when it's time for me to set something aside to marinate for a while, or to decide it's no longer part of my active pool of ideas, and where to focus.
ReplyDeleteLAST WEEK: was a week. I ended it very tired and I'm not entirely sure why, and I had a bit of a "I need to eat all the carbs" weekend (with naps and fiction). Spring weather, hayfever and ongoing (albeit improving day to day) tooth/face discomfort made it a fairly blah end to this teaching period.
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4 twice. Partly because I had a couple of back to back to back meetings online on work from home days and they leave me so stick-a-fork-in-me-I'm-done that it's very hard to motivate myself!
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2 - I need to make four Easter cards for family made four Easter cards, with bad seasonal puns. That counts!
c) something gently social x2 one
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day this week yes
e) ask the decluttering person to help me take a digital photo suitable for applying for passport renewal (we can do that from home so I want to at least TRY and do it that way!) she had to reschedule - weather forecast said a cloudy day but she lives on the other side of some moderately large hills from me and is nervous about the drive if the weather is bad, and on her side the morning opened with hail and icy roads, and on my side it was pouring with rain beyond the drains capacity so the road was little rivers... so we rescheduled. it was back to quite warm spring sunshine by lunchtime of course.
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT:
a) 75% of weekly list of chores not quite, more than 50% though
b) make a sketch for the new idea for the shelving in living space - and get the nice decluttering person to help me measure up!as above
c) list for decluttering person (turning out all the kitchen cupboards is the main job on the list) made the list
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) do a good job of Tuesday's lab sessions yes. And I do notice a small improvement in all the health stuff, in that when I taught this set of labs last year I remember needing to do a lot of sitting down as my hip or back did painy spasmy things, and being absolutely drained by the noise and activity level so that I didn't feel very safe driving home (part of the activity involves sieving gravels through large metal sieves. Some students do that from a height because they "like the noise it makes". The room has a high ceiling and the noise/echo levels are terrible!). This year was much less "too much", so that was a good sign
b) check over lists for after Spring Break (we have three teaching weeks left before the assessment period) I noted the marking due dates in my diary, sigh, but not the rest
RESEARCH.
Deletea) continue to progress modelling work - we have a meeting this week. Hopefully my collaborator will spot whatever is making the results from my old laptop be peculiar! still no clue about the weird behaviour of the Naughty Laptop, but we planned the next baby steps
b) Have a full near-complete version of the revise and resubmit paper ish. I've asked for an extension because some of my co-authors are terrible laggards, or say "I'll do that tomorrow" and then do nothing for ten days, or say they'll do it then have their out of office on for a week - and I need to be able to sign off on "all authors have agreed the final version of the paper" to submit it and half of them are away again with it being school holidays for children as well as uni students. And every time I take on a many-multi-author thing I say NEVER AGAIN and yet, here I am. Remembering why it is never again. again.
c) start working on lots-of-pages grant review (sigh. necessary, but oh, a dispiriting prospect) I downloaded the files and made a profile on the special web forum. That counts as starting...
d) start methods training for applied thing completed it. Despite the frustration of the slowly spoken, somewhat patronising training videos with no option for faster playback.
NEXT WEEK:
Since I'm working three days and hopefully wrapping up some other bits next week, I'll set goals regardless.
SELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement 20x3 or 15x4
b) some kind of making (art or craft) x2
c) something gently social x2
d) read at least one chapter (of fiction) every day
e) ask the decluttering person (who should be coming next week...) to help me take a digital photo suitable for applying for passport renewal
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT:
a) 75% of weekly list of chores
b) sketch and measurements for the shelving in living space
c) list for decluttering person (turning out all the kitchen cupboards is the main job on the list)
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
a) check over lists for after Spring Break (we have three teaching weeks left before the assessment period)
b) read boring papers for stupid internal REF grading panel. GRRR. Do not like.
RESEARCH.
a) continue to progress modelling work - write up what we did so far, see what the naughty laptop came up with this time.
b) Nag everyone about the revise and resubmit paper and share new deadline
c) complete lots-of-pages grant review (sigh. necessary, but oh, a dispiriting prospect)
SESSION LIST:
DeleteSELF-CARE: all process goals, for three term time months:
a) intentional movement - most weeks I met this goal and there were no weeks with none, so that's progress
b) some kind of making (art or craft) a couple of times a week patchy
c) doing something gently social x2 patchy, but managed one almost every week, so progress
d) keep up reading for pleasure and read at least one non-fiction book yes and yes. Although timing a history of the Persians with the start of the latest Iran war was perhaps not entirely a good move!
IMPROVING MY ENVIRONMENT: goals carried over!
a) 75% of weekly list of chores over 50% most weeks
b) sort out new shelving in my living space - and maybe a sofa not at all
c) clothes storage solutions (currently all my actually-in-the-rotation clothes are either in the laundry basket, on the airer, or piled on a chair or in the clean undies basket. This is not ideal) this situation is no worse than it was at the start which is... fine
d) plus pay more attention to my finances. Not quite sure what that will look like, but it got dropped last trimester, and I need to be less careless! no. But no worse than it was.
TEACHING AND ADMIN: This is a lighter semester, but the first month is full of grading from the first semester whilst preparing for the second's teaching. Process goals here for the session because the session doesn't line up with our academic calendar (which is a mess...).
a) end each work week (Thursday) with everything set up ready to go for the following week and, if possible, have a solid start on the week after that. yes, I did very well on this one
b) limit working on teaching and admin issues over the weekend (let's say no more than 5 hours) and if possible ZERO yes. Mostly because I had no capacity to do it, but still!
RESEARCH
I have a lot of balls in the air, but for this session I do have some very concrete goals, very different for me!
a) revise and resubmit two papers by due dates in early April (one I'm a minor author on, one I'm leading) minor author one is now published, the one I'm leading we just had to get an extension on but it's made substantial progress
b) be on top of contributions to large project where I have a small part - by the end of the session I would like a clear plan for the little part of the project where I am the leading expert.yes and no, that's still not being taken seriously. I have aNOTHER meeting about the general topic next week...
c) complete and submit a first-stage grant application yes
d) keep up with all the other pieces of research and writing as things come in and go out (they're all collaborative, so what happens when isn't entirely in my control).yes - a set of proofs, a couple of papers submitted, the one that took multiple years to get done is now published, a small grant submitted, a project has moved from data analysis to full first draft of the paper, and we are making steady progress at the on-the-side (unfunded) modelling project
c) make measurable progress with at least three other writing/data processing projects (I'll make a list now of what I'm working on) yes - there were 15 things on the list, of which 12 made some sort of progress
Progress on 12 out of 15 things sounds awesome! And I can't believe you have 15 research things going on--though I know the sciences are different--I'm struggling with my 3 main projects and their subdivisions. And I like your attitude about "it's no worse," which is much more cheerful than just "no." Downloading files definitely counts as starting! Next you just open one. That's a trick I use a lot.
DeleteSo much done this session! Like Dame Eleanor, I am reeling at the idea of 15 projects at once. Even if that's normal in the sciences, it still means a lot of mental effort to switch between them and keep them in play. And definitely agree that 'no worse' is a good benchmark to have sometimes.
DeleteI'm struggling with messiness at the moment, hence the question! I like JaneB's mentor's recommendation, and will think about how to apply it to my work in progress. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the humanities in general, or literature studies, or just me, but I think I rarely have a well-defined research question. It's more likely to be "Why is this weird thing happening? Is it really weird, or are there other examples?" or maybe "what in this text I like fits the CFP for the conference I want to go to?" And then I just chase interesting and possibly unrelated insights all over the map till I round up something that looks like a decent catch . . . I would really like to have a coherent research agenda!
ReplyDeleteHow I did last week:
--1-2 hours research on each of 3 days: YES
--try to finish conference paper: well, I TRIED (I now have a few slides, a few new paragraphs, and the same thousand or so words I've had since last fall)
--prep for language groups: YES
--throw together two more sample syllabuses: NO
--gym x4: x3 (not a great week for exercise)
--finalize plans for seeing friends on Saturday: YES, that was fun!
--remember to look at calendar & lists every day: MOSTLY
ALSO: commented on a set of student writing and recorded grades for notebook writing; baked cookies; got a massage; bought a new i-Pad mini (but see the coming week's goals); read about a dozen essays relevant to two things I'm working on; read one new novel & re-read a comfort read.
This week:
--finish conference paper
--call my cell provider about switching account to new i-Pad
--all the usual languages, exercise, etc
--pack as lightly as possible for trip to UK
I think messiness is very much a humanities thing. I once had a very annoying economist say to me at the end of a seminar presentation: 'So, what is your null hypothesis here?' I didn't even know where to start explaining why that isn't how it works. I did find writing a grant application useful for defining some questions and a research agenda, but even then, it wasn't much more defined than: figure out how much of X was going on, then figure out how important it was (and have some discussion along the way about what we mean by important anyway).
DeleteSession report:
ReplyDelete*Research:
--abstract due end of this month for summer conference #2: DONE
--conference paper for April travel: IN PROGRESS
--very overdue essay to finish ASAP (currently at 5005 words, so I have made progress during break): STILL IN PROGRESS but now with FEEDBACK and OUTLINE provided by kind editors
--regular scholarly reading and language study, a process goal: YES
*Teaching:
--read two PhD exams, consult with student as necessary: YES
--plan out all class prep for the term and keep on top of it: YES
*Personal:
--collect paperwork for taxes: YES
--clean the garage and de-mousify it: SOME PROGRESS
--plan/organize travel for April trip and three others (two conferences, one purely fun): YES APRIL AND JUNE, still need flight/train for pure fun, all arrangements for 3rd conference.
--replace my ancient i-Pad: YES well acquired new device but still need to manage transfer/set-up
--In general, I'd like to do better at managing my time: SOME? I'm more conscious of where it goes, but I'm still doing three things I wish I did not do: take on too much; thrash rather than just starting something, anything; address thrash-panic by binge-reading.
But overall, it does look like I've done okay this session, though I really need to create more writing time.
It looks like a lot of yes. Writing time is really hard to carve out when you have teaching, grading and admin.
DeleteSuch good advice, JaneB, thank you! I like the idea of research leading to better questions. I've also found your advice about 'parking on a downhill slope' invaluable for dealing with unfinished stuff.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm the reason for a short session, in that my kids finish for Easter on Thursday and we have a long weekend away, I do have some goals for this week, mainly of the finishing-up/parking on the downhill slope variety. I was assuming at the start of the session that I'd be taking a longer break over Easter, but now it seems it will just be the weekend. So apologies again to anyone who would have preferred a long session, and if people are around the next couple of weeks, I may check in.
Last week:
1. Research and writing - organise more material for Big Article, finish review article (due 1st April), get close to finishing chapter. - YES, MORE OR LESS, YES
2. Read article for post-doc mentee. - STARTED
3. Grade posters for conference session next month. - YES
4. House/life admin: book haircut, return library books, declutter dining room, book June mini-break with daughter, book another chunk of summer trip. - YES TO ALL EXCEPT HAIRCUT
5. Self-care/fun: read, journal, exercise, maybe plant stuff, make list of birthday requests. -YES, YES, YES, NO (still too cold), NO
This week (3 days):
1. Send in review article (just needs some final references and a read-through).
2. Tidy up chapter - mostly adding examples & references (waiting on one inter-library loan to check one section).
3. Finish reading post-doc's article if time.
4. Organise stuff for weekend away.
5. Enjoy weekend away (early birthday celebration!).
Oops, forgot for this week's goals: figure out if I have something I could get a paper out of for interesting CfP at conference I would love to go to in place I would love to go! (the Dame Eleanor school of research!).
DeleteLong ago, a somewhat younger scholar said to me, "It's all more or less interesting, so what you need to do is figure out where you want to go and then what they have there." She taught Chaucer but had managed a year with her family in Barcelona to do something with Latin manuscripts there, and I was very impressed. I was already fairly committed to my focus on romance, and happy with going to the UK to look at MSS, but I have always remembered her advice!
DeleteSession report:
ReplyDelete1. Research/writing:
(i) Big article, which I am hoping to send to a top journal. Plan is to have a full draft I can present at a seminar at the end of April. - IN PROGRESS (maybe slower than I would have liked, but should be fine for the seminar)
(ii) Chapter for a local history: I have a 15,000 word draft, and the editor likes it, but wants it to be twice as long (!) to fit with other chapters, so I need to pad it out. (IMO this is ridiculous, but I am committed now. And I will be paid for this.) Due April - MOSTLY DONE. I am now at 28,000+ words and should be fine once final examples and tweaks are done. Ordered a book on inter-library loan to check the one section that is still tentative, but could just cut bits out if the loan doesn't come in.
(iii) Review article for anniversary edition of a journal, due 1st April. - 95% DONE, will be in by the deadline.
Teaching
(i) Preparation for new first-year teaching next year (we are redesigning our curriculum, so I have to participate in this): keep to the bare minimum. -MOSTLY (am anxious about the changes, but have stayed away from all but essential meetings).
(ii) PhD corrections for final PhD student. - DONE
Other academic stuff:
(i) Organising committee for big anniversary conference in April. - MOSTLY (may have one more meeting)
3. Life admin/house stuff
(i) Plan big summer trip to celebrate significant birthdays (the actual trip will be self-care/fun, the planning is too stressful to be). - IN PROGRESS (flights and a chunk of train travel booked, some accommodation, have dates and a list of what still needs to be done, so it now feels manageable)
(ii) Finances: tax return, but also some big decisions to make- DONE (some conversations are ongoing, but have made the biggest decisions)
(iii) Small to medium jobs: decluttering, new lamps, get pictures framed and hung, get a standing desk and new chair for study, new chair for spare room (for reading in the morning sun), touch up paintwork in various rooms. - NO EXCEPT SOME DECLUTTERING
Kids:
(i) Ongoing parenting stuff, plus school work, final-year assignments, daughter's driving test. - ONGOING!
Self-care/fun:
(i) Meet-ups with friends, especially around significant birthdays. - PLANNING
(ii) Reading for pleasure - YES
(iii) Journaling - SOME
(iv) Do more creative stuff.- SOME
(v) Exercise - YES
A lot of the goals were things that had to happen and, again, I'm still on leave, so no excuses. Mostly I'm pleased that I have been writing more or less every work day and enjoying it. My brain is very much in writing/thinking about research mode and I had forgotten how good it feels to be that absorbed in work.
I was over-ambitious on house stuff, but the finances and the summer trip (to Canada) were the big things, and there is progress on both. So overall a good session.
It's great to see you using research leave productively! Sometimes it can be hard to stay focused, or life throws something utterly distracting at you just when you were looking forward to intense research time, but you have a lot of done/in progress stuff (and well begun is half done, right?).
DeleteBlogger is being weird, and I'm not sure that this comment won't vanish, so I'll be quick.
ReplyDelete1. Revise (and present!) mini-talk #2 - Yes
2. Work on taxes, ugh - Yes (fed done, state remaining)
3. Read a dissertation and prep for defense; read a student's pre-exam documents and prep for defense (we have a complicated exam structure) - Yes
4. Finish grading lingering papers - Still waiting on one of them!
5. Wrap up a few conference things - Yes
6. Give self permission to drop the ball on creative work, writing, and even exercise, sometimes - Yes
Session goals:
1) Finish messy, partial draft of article due in July (I'm teaching the book that it's about in April, so there's no sense in getting too far ahead of myself, since rereading it will be helpful) - Yes, although I haven't worked on this since about January. I start teaching the book next week!
2) Edit festschrift essays and draft at least part of the intro - HA HA HA no.
3) Maintain exercise - Yes
4) Creative writing: average 2x/week, however drafty and silly it may be - No, not really.
5) Add occasional meditation to my weeks - Verrry occasional. This hasn't really happened.
6) Languages: Read one Italian novel - I should finish it this week!
7) 3+ good habits a day* - Yes, some of these were really easy! I think I hit almost every day. And since one was No Facebook, that became the low-hanging fruit every day and I haven't checked Facebook once this year.
This session has just been a blur. I don't feel like I did much of anything non-urgent; it ALL feels urgent these days. I still have quite a list of things to chop away at in the coming weeks, but one (or two) at a time.... I can't wait until summer.
Thanks to our wonderful hosts, DEH and Julie, for your guidance!
I'm relieved to see that even you have those "ha ha no" results, because I think of you as amazingly efficient and focused. Thank you for that! It does seem like you had to deal with a lot of urgent things this session, and it's good to notice that sometimes that just happens (as it has for Daisy) and that in the circumstances, it's a win to get any of the important-not-urgent things done. Maintaining exercise is definitely important!
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