A new semester and like a new year, I start with all the best intentions. After 18months in this gig I am feeling the stress from no upper limits to work, only vague instructions as to what is needed for tenure etc. but mostly: everything started to blur
together. Refereeing papers while taking small people to swimming lessons, sort of picking at my laptop while watching netflix etc.
And over the summer I read the book “rest” on how productive and creative people build in periods of deliberate rest into their schedule.
I did not latch on the rest part per se. A lot of the examples were people in the British aristocracy: they could take a break or a long walk or what have you, all the chores were being done by servants. Pwish!
But the deliberate part resonated. No more blurry lines between work and downtime. Delibrate downtime! No open laptop and watching “making it”! (Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman are National treasures!)
Deliberate breaks, deliberate parenting, deliberate work.
I mean the first week of the semester was still filled with starting issues but hey. I dod them deliberately. Ahem.
And one more deliberate thing: off my phone and one morning a week to sit down and write. Not at work of course. Far too many interruptions. Undisclosed location (coffee shop)
