Please see this post on getalifephd.blogspot.com-- advice that I definitely need to take!
Get a Life, PhD: Do You Need to Go on an Information Diet?: Is it possible to have too much information? Could information overload be getting in the way of important tasks? I am a professor, a so...
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Back to reality....
Well, our Christmas/winter break officially ends today. Kids are back to preschool and day care, husband is back to work. I should be starting my work right about....NOW, but I thought that I would digress before I even started to reflect on the break and try to get myself back in the frame of mind to do work.
In my last post, I vented about all the fun involved in grading final papers (uh, yes, that statement contains some sarcasm). However, in the end (as many of us who have graded papers have experienced), I felt a huge sense of relief, and I realized that overall, the papers were pretty good. I actually learned some things myself from reading various papers. Many of the students did exceptional work. I remember at the beginning when I was glancing over all of the papers, I dreaded what I was going to see when I really delved into them. However, in many cases, I was pleasantly surprised. As I write this, I think about how we might feel this way with so many other tasks in our lives, whether they be academic, household related or something else. At the beginning, we see the task(s) before us as too daunting; we dread even beginning them for one reason or another. Maybe we don't "feel" like doing it; maybe we know it is going to take a lot of time; maybe it is going to prevent us from doing other things that we enjoy and/or would just rather be doing at that point in time; maybe we don't have clear direction; etc. I've been feeling that way with my dissertation proposal. Even though I do have a better idea now than I did a couple of months ago, there are so many other things on my mind and tasks that I have do to that are preventing me from approaching it in a clear-headed manner.
In an opposite sense, I began the break with a great deal of optimism. I somehow thought that I would be able to complete certain household and academic tasks by the end of the break. Well, I did get a few key household tasks done that had been bugging me for months on end. However, I pretty much made NO progress on the academic front. Well, I did end up finding out that I was hired to teach a course at another college; I talked at length with the head of the program about the course, but that was it. I didn't get any work done on my proposal. There were various reasons for this-- hardly any day care; husband had vacation days and it was really hard to get even a few hours alone to focus on anything; preparing for and celebrating Christmas; visiting family and friends either out of state or across the state; etc. Of course, I was frustrated that I didn't take any steps towards finishing my proposal draft by the middle of this month. However, as I look back on the break-- putting my frustration aside-- I see many of the positives. I was extremely burnt out from teaching after I submitted all of my grades. I couldn't even think straight that week, despite having day care. I was exhausted. I've also been having some health issues and had to wear a holter monitor (non-invasive cardiology test, akin to a 48-hour EKG) over New Years. Honestly, I needed that break from academic work. I will have to make up for it now, but I needed that time to rest (well, not all of it was restful, but you know what I mean); to spend time with my kids and my family. That time is extremely valuable. I needed some of those moments to just watch TV and "do nothing." We aren't robots, but human beings who need time to recuperate and reflect. I wish that we even had a few extra days of that break. I'm missing them now. However, I know that I need to quickly switch gears now and get back to reality.
In my last post, I vented about all the fun involved in grading final papers (uh, yes, that statement contains some sarcasm). However, in the end (as many of us who have graded papers have experienced), I felt a huge sense of relief, and I realized that overall, the papers were pretty good. I actually learned some things myself from reading various papers. Many of the students did exceptional work. I remember at the beginning when I was glancing over all of the papers, I dreaded what I was going to see when I really delved into them. However, in many cases, I was pleasantly surprised. As I write this, I think about how we might feel this way with so many other tasks in our lives, whether they be academic, household related or something else. At the beginning, we see the task(s) before us as too daunting; we dread even beginning them for one reason or another. Maybe we don't "feel" like doing it; maybe we know it is going to take a lot of time; maybe it is going to prevent us from doing other things that we enjoy and/or would just rather be doing at that point in time; maybe we don't have clear direction; etc. I've been feeling that way with my dissertation proposal. Even though I do have a better idea now than I did a couple of months ago, there are so many other things on my mind and tasks that I have do to that are preventing me from approaching it in a clear-headed manner.
In an opposite sense, I began the break with a great deal of optimism. I somehow thought that I would be able to complete certain household and academic tasks by the end of the break. Well, I did get a few key household tasks done that had been bugging me for months on end. However, I pretty much made NO progress on the academic front. Well, I did end up finding out that I was hired to teach a course at another college; I talked at length with the head of the program about the course, but that was it. I didn't get any work done on my proposal. There were various reasons for this-- hardly any day care; husband had vacation days and it was really hard to get even a few hours alone to focus on anything; preparing for and celebrating Christmas; visiting family and friends either out of state or across the state; etc. Of course, I was frustrated that I didn't take any steps towards finishing my proposal draft by the middle of this month. However, as I look back on the break-- putting my frustration aside-- I see many of the positives. I was extremely burnt out from teaching after I submitted all of my grades. I couldn't even think straight that week, despite having day care. I was exhausted. I've also been having some health issues and had to wear a holter monitor (non-invasive cardiology test, akin to a 48-hour EKG) over New Years. Honestly, I needed that break from academic work. I will have to make up for it now, but I needed that time to rest (well, not all of it was restful, but you know what I mean); to spend time with my kids and my family. That time is extremely valuable. I needed some of those moments to just watch TV and "do nothing." We aren't robots, but human beings who need time to recuperate and reflect. I wish that we even had a few extra days of that break. I'm missing them now. However, I know that I need to quickly switch gears now and get back to reality.
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