The wonders of sleep
It seems like I always lose the most sleep when I'm feeling pressed for time at work, but this might be the fatal error that stands between me and my academic potential.
I've had a "beef" with an author in the literature review I've been working on, but I couldn't articulate exactly what it was for weeks and weeks. Even though I take lots of reading notes, there is something so slippery about this argument that I couldn't quite put my finger on what was bothering me about it. This morning, after getting a couple of extra hours of sleep and then taking a stab at this first thing after breakfast, I quickly figured out not only what my problem is with this argument, but also how to articulate my critique with supportive evidence from other sources. It feels like a major breakthrough in this manuscript, and it will make it a much stronger piece.
I've always been an advocate of "power-napping" but this is all just reminding me how important sleep is to my productivity. I will have to up my sleep quota to make me more productive. What about you? How many hours of sleep do you get on average? What about when you are swamped with work and trying to squeeze more minutes out of each day?
I've had a "beef" with an author in the literature review I've been working on, but I couldn't articulate exactly what it was for weeks and weeks. Even though I take lots of reading notes, there is something so slippery about this argument that I couldn't quite put my finger on what was bothering me about it. This morning, after getting a couple of extra hours of sleep and then taking a stab at this first thing after breakfast, I quickly figured out not only what my problem is with this argument, but also how to articulate my critique with supportive evidence from other sources. It feels like a major breakthrough in this manuscript, and it will make it a much stronger piece.
I've always been an advocate of "power-napping" but this is all just reminding me how important sleep is to my productivity. I will have to up my sleep quota to make me more productive. What about you? How many hours of sleep do you get on average? What about when you are swamped with work and trying to squeeze more minutes out of each day?
Getting back on the horse that threw me
I recently had a phone interview that I over-prepared for, and I felt that I did pretty well on, but it was cut ridiculously short, most likely because it was lunchtime in the committee's timezone, and they were running far behind schedule. For some reason, I felt so stung by this that over the past several days, I've seriously questioned whether I want to continue putting myself out there as search committee bait. I'm not sure why I had such a strong reaction to this... maybe because I was more excited about this position than most of them.
Having so little control on the outcome of one's labor is one of the more difficult aspects of job-hunting. This is not news to anyone, but the reminders that you are not the one holding the cards are everywhere. Maybe this is more difficult for my personality than most, but I find that extreme denial is required for persistence(denial of all the rejections thus far, denial of all the time wasted on applications that went nowhere, etc. etc.) It is a demoralizing process, and multiple years on the market, (which seems to be the norm in my field since the recession), can lead to severe magnification of any existing insecurities.
So what now? I have been finding ways to gently persuade myself to get back on the horse. Over the past few days, I've been cutting myself some slack on my schedule after the massive disappointment of this one interview. And now is precisely when I have to remind myself that I do have a plan. I have set a limit to how long I plan to continue to apply for positions, and I will stick to that, rather than make decisions from inside the "disappointment bubble," which, let's face it, is not a place of much rational thinking.
Having so little control on the outcome of one's labor is one of the more difficult aspects of job-hunting. This is not news to anyone, but the reminders that you are not the one holding the cards are everywhere. Maybe this is more difficult for my personality than most, but I find that extreme denial is required for persistence(denial of all the rejections thus far, denial of all the time wasted on applications that went nowhere, etc. etc.) It is a demoralizing process, and multiple years on the market, (which seems to be the norm in my field since the recession), can lead to severe magnification of any existing insecurities.
So what now? I have been finding ways to gently persuade myself to get back on the horse. Over the past few days, I've been cutting myself some slack on my schedule after the massive disappointment of this one interview. And now is precisely when I have to remind myself that I do have a plan. I have set a limit to how long I plan to continue to apply for positions, and I will stick to that, rather than make decisions from inside the "disappointment bubble," which, let's face it, is not a place of much rational thinking.
Productivity in writing projects
Write first - This little tip from Joan Bolker's book on Writing your dissertation in 15 minutes is sheer magic. Putting my writing as the first order of business for the day, before checking email, before getting involved in anything else, has created a fundamental shift in my writing habits, a shift that I hope I can maintain for years to come. As part of this, something I learned from Notorious Ph.D., is making a note to myself the night before and getting out the materials I need to do that writing task, so that I'm ready to go first thing.
The Academic Ladder Writing Club - Daily accountability, even though its virtual, seems key to my productivity. I could take notes elsewhere on my progress, but this on-line tracking system ensures that I continue to track my progress daily. It also keeps me from feeling isolated in my writing struggles -- I can see that others have similar things going on, and everyone is encouraging and helpful. I've also learned countless productivity tips from other people enrolled in this club, like the one I'll describe next.
The Sunday Meeting - This came from Kerry Ann Rockquemore, and if you haven't heard of it, go read her own description of it here. Go ahead, I'll wait. It sounds like something ridiculously obvious, and I thought I was a good planner before, but this is a killer system that has completely revolutionized my work habits. I'm much more conscious about how I spend my time, and I'm much less likely to get derailed by an hour watching t.v. or cleaning the house. Though I heard about it a while back, I didn't try it until recently. I mean, this all seems patently obvious, and seems like stuff we all do anyway - make a list of goals and tasks, put them in your calendar, right? Well, there's something about this system that makes it more effective, maybe its the longer-range of the planning and how everything is connected to a semester plan. I first tried this system a couple of months ago, and my productivity has probably doubled since I started this, (No, I'm not exaggerating). I guess this is the academic equivalent of the reason for McDonalds success- everyone knows you're supposed to keep restaurants clean to improve your business, but McDonalds is one of the few businesses that consistently does this. (Hopefully this will translate into McDonalds' level of academic success for me.)
Earplugs - I used to use earplugs while writing, but since I had been writing in a quiet and undistracting place for so long, I fell out of that habit. This week, since I've been reading Wendy Belcher's book, I had to revisit the question of my work site, and what improvements I will make to it. That's when I realized that I need to go back to the earplugs to block out other sounds around me, so I can keep writing. I briefly considered purchasing noise cancelling headphones, but some of the reviews I read of these noted that earplugs were quite effective, which reminded me, yes, they are.
Setting a timer- Timed writing sessions, which I learned from the Academic Ladder, seem to make a huge difference for me. Maybe knowing that there is a finite stopping point helps me to focus on the task at hand for a set time period.
What about you? What's been effective in making you productive?
The Academic Ladder Writing Club - Daily accountability, even though its virtual, seems key to my productivity. I could take notes elsewhere on my progress, but this on-line tracking system ensures that I continue to track my progress daily. It also keeps me from feeling isolated in my writing struggles -- I can see that others have similar things going on, and everyone is encouraging and helpful. I've also learned countless productivity tips from other people enrolled in this club, like the one I'll describe next.
The Sunday Meeting - This came from Kerry Ann Rockquemore, and if you haven't heard of it, go read her own description of it here. Go ahead, I'll wait. It sounds like something ridiculously obvious, and I thought I was a good planner before, but this is a killer system that has completely revolutionized my work habits. I'm much more conscious about how I spend my time, and I'm much less likely to get derailed by an hour watching t.v. or cleaning the house. Though I heard about it a while back, I didn't try it until recently. I mean, this all seems patently obvious, and seems like stuff we all do anyway - make a list of goals and tasks, put them in your calendar, right? Well, there's something about this system that makes it more effective, maybe its the longer-range of the planning and how everything is connected to a semester plan. I first tried this system a couple of months ago, and my productivity has probably doubled since I started this, (No, I'm not exaggerating). I guess this is the academic equivalent of the reason for McDonalds success- everyone knows you're supposed to keep restaurants clean to improve your business, but McDonalds is one of the few businesses that consistently does this. (Hopefully this will translate into McDonalds' level of academic success for me.)
Earplugs - I used to use earplugs while writing, but since I had been writing in a quiet and undistracting place for so long, I fell out of that habit. This week, since I've been reading Wendy Belcher's book, I had to revisit the question of my work site, and what improvements I will make to it. That's when I realized that I need to go back to the earplugs to block out other sounds around me, so I can keep writing. I briefly considered purchasing noise cancelling headphones, but some of the reviews I read of these noted that earplugs were quite effective, which reminded me, yes, they are.
Setting a timer- Timed writing sessions, which I learned from the Academic Ladder, seem to make a huge difference for me. Maybe knowing that there is a finite stopping point helps me to focus on the task at hand for a set time period.
What about you? What's been effective in making you productive?
Shopping in my closet
I'm getting ready to travel for the first of my invited talks this semester. As I've been preparing this talk, which is based on my dissertation project, but framed a bit differently to suit the conference theme, I've found an entirely new angle on my data. This angle has always been there, hiding, under the surface, but I didn't notice it before. This confirms what people say about writing being thinking, because my thoughts didn't get to this place without the writing I did to prep the talk. I'm not going to explicitly present on this angle, but this is certainly a direction that I'll be taking some of my future work, which is really exciting! This feels like going shopping in my closet, discovering a great new outfit from pieces you already had but didn't put together.
Putting off procrastination
Sometimes, the thing you spend all day avoiding turns out to be an enjoyable challenge that takes half as much time and energy as you thought it would. Should I be surprised? Or...does this always happen, but I somehow forget this portion of my procrastination cycle? Either way, I'm marking this happy outcome (and boring the blog world with it) for future times when procrastination turns up, so I'll be armed and ready for the fight.
Out of hiding
I've been joking that my 2012 resolutions are to quit smoking and give up eating meat, but since I don't smoke and I'm vegetarian, I'm sure to accomplish both of those, at least, this year!
What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not I'll get a position as an academic this year. I've continued to put in applications and had a few interviews last year, but nothing has panned out so far. The one position that I was a finalist for last year ended up getting cut at the last minute. I have a feeling, though, that this year I will get a great position.
Though I have been hiding from my blog(mostly in shame of unemployment, I admit), a week into the new year, I'm finally ready to stop blaming myself. Circumstances are what they are, and all I can really do is keep putting in the applications and hoping for the best. I have come to a level of acceptance of this situation that I really didn't have last year.
I'm living at home, which is challenging, for sure, but I do feel fortunate to have my meals and rent covered so that I can focus on giving the academic gig one last shot. I have always been fiercely independent, so this is new territory for me. I have been feeling considerably better since I learned that two distant colleagues are also living at home to conduct an academic job search.
Thankfully, I'm staying active with writing articles, and I have a couple of invited talks coming up to look forward to. Getting these invitations has really gone a long way in making me feel more legit as an academic, knowing that someone is willing to shell out money to hear what I have to say, even when that money isn't tuition!
Belated good wishes to everyone for 2012!
What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not I'll get a position as an academic this year. I've continued to put in applications and had a few interviews last year, but nothing has panned out so far. The one position that I was a finalist for last year ended up getting cut at the last minute. I have a feeling, though, that this year I will get a great position.
Though I have been hiding from my blog(mostly in shame of unemployment, I admit), a week into the new year, I'm finally ready to stop blaming myself. Circumstances are what they are, and all I can really do is keep putting in the applications and hoping for the best. I have come to a level of acceptance of this situation that I really didn't have last year.
I'm living at home, which is challenging, for sure, but I do feel fortunate to have my meals and rent covered so that I can focus on giving the academic gig one last shot. I have always been fiercely independent, so this is new territory for me. I have been feeling considerably better since I learned that two distant colleagues are also living at home to conduct an academic job search.
Thankfully, I'm staying active with writing articles, and I have a couple of invited talks coming up to look forward to. Getting these invitations has really gone a long way in making me feel more legit as an academic, knowing that someone is willing to shell out money to hear what I have to say, even when that money isn't tuition!
Belated good wishes to everyone for 2012!
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