Hello!
We’ve finally made it past commencement over here–campus is empty, grades are turned in, etc etc. I’m now staring down into the abyss of twelve weeks of completely unstructured time. In the past, my brain has simply shut off the moment summer starts, and I wake up in August full of shame about how I wasted all the time I could’ve spent doing X, Y, Z.
So, how do you handle it? How do you structure your time to balance rest with making progress on all the things you put off until summer?
Comments
By getting virtually none of my to do items done.
Any time that isn’t teaching is research. I simply continue that with less teaching.
Coursera, coding, volunteer work, passion project?
Summer is for R&R– research and relaxation. I try to keep a fairly consistent schedule, M-F, with morning gym time, shower, and then research. I usually find a coffee shop and try to work a few hours in the morning. I typically call it by noon and then take the rest of the day off. I do better with some structure, and daily writing time in smaller chunks works best for me. But I also need a break, so I take my afternoons, evenings, and weekends off. Consistency is key for me.
Plan research trips ahead of summer. Write a certain amount every day when not doing research.
This summer is different for me though because I’ve also agreed to run a small summer program.
I take the first week or two completely off. No adulting. Then I reorganize my office for fall. I make a schedule for the work I have to do for Fall semester and work for about 2-4 hours 4-5 days a week. My husband and I take 10 days to 2 weeks vacation and do several day trips. And I read, a lot, for pleasure while sitting on my deck enjoying the brief summer we get in Montana.
Do the people here not have jobs 😅 I work minimum 3 days a week between 2 jobs on campus, unrelated to my program. The rest of the days are spent working on my research 9-5, i usually take ~1.5 days off per week to chill.
I can get really bad productivity-wise if I’m left to my own devices though when I’m working on my research from home (social sciences). Sometimes I just sit at my desk doing nothing, or I end up hitting my weed pen and working on something menial lmao. Once that starts to happen, I’ll get my shit in gear the next day and have a more productive day (usually lmao).