I have had the hardest time finding and keeping a routine this summer. (Which partly explains my absence from the blog over the past week, too.) I've been waiting for my schedule to settle down a bit so that I can figure out the ebbs and flows of my summer work day and schedule things accordingly. The problem is that my schedule hasn't settled down yet!
First, there was the school year that would not end. The end of the year stuff drags on way too long around here. Even after my teaching responsibilities end, there are other responsibilities that need to be fulfilled before summer "officially" starts--grades to submit, reports to file, way too many events to attend (graduation-related, departmental, you name it).
Second, there is the whole getting the research students up to speed thing. I'm working with undergrads again this summer, which I love, but I always forget how much time and energy it takes to get them started on a project.
Third, there are a few obligations coming up that I agreed to take on months ago that I really should have passed up. As strange as this sounds, knowing that these obligations are coming up and that they will disrupt my schedule for a week or so has been a mental block of sorts to me setting up a schedule--why set up a schedule if it's going to be thrown away in a week, my brain asks.
And last but not least, my social life has really exploded lately. I have some close friends who are leaving within the next couple of weeks--some for greener pastures, some for other visiting jobs and postdocs, some because the two-body problem never got resolved and they decided that they didn't want to do the distance marriage thing anymore. So, lots of goodbyes to say and lots of hanging-out to do. This will calm down soon enough (and sadly enough), but it does also lend to the whole schedule-up-in-the-air thing.
I really do need to figure out a schedule and start sticking to it. So, dear readers, I ask you: what tricks and strategies do you use to figure out your summer schedule and stick to it?
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6 comments:
Weird. This really sounds so similar to my summer, from the damn semester that wouldn't end to the uptick in social engagements. However, I can't otherwise answer your question because right now any routine I might have had has been completely derailed by jury duty. Maybe I'll try to get back to you in a week when this time such is over.
Summer schedule? I try to stay in work when it's raining, and play when the sun is shining. In my climate, that works surprisingly well.
I'm terrible at schedules, but I'm good at lists. I have a little journal of weekly items with check boxes after them. "Swimming": two check boxes. "Biking": two check boxes. I also have check boxes to do productive work 6 hours per day, but at no particular time. Every week, I check things off as I go, and most everything is checked off by the end of the week. It works okay enough. It at least forces me to hold myself accountable for the things I think are important: taking care of my body and getting the heck outta here.
Good luck with your summer.
Oooh, boxes and lists, good idea. The sun/rain thing won't work where I live, but perhaps above 90 degrees/below 90 degrees might. ;-)
I have no suggestions, because I am also lousy at this. My summer is heart-stoppingly full already. I try to write in time for fun stuff or work on my calendar, but that just results in me always feeling busy even when I should be enjoying whatever it is I've booked. Mr. Skookumchick and I need to have a good conversation at protecting our time, especially in the summer. When we both get back from our respective conferences...
Good luck...
FCSGS, I like the checkboxes idea! That's an interesting way to have a schedule-of-sorts without having a full-fledged schedule...as jo(e) reminds us, maybe we need to be less scheduled in the summer anyway. :)
Oh, I so suffer from this, too! The checkboxes idea is great, though I think I kind of need a routine myself... am still working on it!
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