How to: Have a good summer vacation
June 3, 2013 6:49 PM Subscribe
I'm in academia and during summer my workload goes down quite a bit. I'm earning enough money through a part-time appointment and a grant stipend so that I don't necessarily need to work extra to make ends meet, and as such I anticipate having a great deal of free time. I have a few projects lined up with deadlines far in the future, and I'm looking for advice on ways to structure having a lot of free time without wasting it getting stuck in a social media / video game k-hole.
Some other details:
Some other details:
- No big vacation plans, but enough money set aside to take 1 or 2 weekend long road trips,
- I'd like to get in about 20 hours of work per week,
- I usually manage my time fairly well, but that's because I'm specifically going to campus for class and to work. Without this structure (and mostly working from home to save money on gas and car maintenance) I've found myself falling in to bad habits like endless TV marathons while dual-screening some sort of social media,
- Other personal, non-work goals include: getting back in to a regular exercise routine, reading more often, and prototyping a board game I designed a while back.
- Current academic career status: done with a very productive first year, have a conference presentation, a whitepaper, and a secondary authorship on a journal article under my belt... currently working on putting together the lit review for what I'd like to be my first solo-authored paper
Do you work well at a particular time of day? For me, morning would be ideal because it frontloads the work and leaves the rest of the time guilt-free, but you'll know your energy levels best).
I'd look at getting up early, working (say) 8-12 on your career-related work (broken into the smallest unit of tasks possible so that you can alway chip away at something), make a list for the next day from 12-12.15, and then put it away for the day. During this time, just ignore email, social media, tv, human interaction, etc – it can almost certainly wait until 12.30.
The reason I'm suggesting every weekday is because it keeps you connected with your work, but if that's not an issue, you could certainly do four five-hours days (or four five-hour days and one work-related but unstructured session, maybe reading peripherally or noodling around on other potential papers?) or just a two-and-a-half day week in total. I've found that going somewhere internetless for my work block (usually six-eight hours with lunch and one coffee break) and then emerging into daylight at lunchtime felt really good.
Then, figure out the optimum time to exercise. Is the pool/gym/whatever super busy at lunchtime but nice from 3-4? That's your slot. How about reading from 12.30 to 2.30, or prototyping the game, or how about a nap or a walk or lunch with a friend? How about just deciding day to day?
Similarly, I'd try to stay screen-free until 6 or 7, but the evening's another unstructured slot where you can do what you like. Do something relaxing before bed, and then go again the next day.
In short, I'd fix commitments to the things needing commitment (I'd pick work and exercise) and then stop nagging myself about the rest so that you're actually enjoying this free time after your big year (congrats!). I'd keep the weekends entirely commitment-free, and spend at least a few of them immersed in something fun and absorbing like the game prototyping, or some other hobby project that won't get much space back in the academic year.
posted by carbide at 11:57 PM on June 3, 2013
I'd look at getting up early, working (say) 8-12 on your career-related work (broken into the smallest unit of tasks possible so that you can alway chip away at something), make a list for the next day from 12-12.15, and then put it away for the day. During this time, just ignore email, social media, tv, human interaction, etc – it can almost certainly wait until 12.30.
The reason I'm suggesting every weekday is because it keeps you connected with your work, but if that's not an issue, you could certainly do four five-hours days (or four five-hour days and one work-related but unstructured session, maybe reading peripherally or noodling around on other potential papers?) or just a two-and-a-half day week in total. I've found that going somewhere internetless for my work block (usually six-eight hours with lunch and one coffee break) and then emerging into daylight at lunchtime felt really good.
Then, figure out the optimum time to exercise. Is the pool/gym/whatever super busy at lunchtime but nice from 3-4? That's your slot. How about reading from 12.30 to 2.30, or prototyping the game, or how about a nap or a walk or lunch with a friend? How about just deciding day to day?
Similarly, I'd try to stay screen-free until 6 or 7, but the evening's another unstructured slot where you can do what you like. Do something relaxing before bed, and then go again the next day.
In short, I'd fix commitments to the things needing commitment (I'd pick work and exercise) and then stop nagging myself about the rest so that you're actually enjoying this free time after your big year (congrats!). I'd keep the weekends entirely commitment-free, and spend at least a few of them immersed in something fun and absorbing like the game prototyping, or some other hobby project that won't get much space back in the academic year.
posted by carbide at 11:57 PM on June 3, 2013
I am also a professor trying to save gas by not going to campus in the summer who then sometimes struggles to get stuff done with the unstructured time. I have tried a few different strategies. As mentioned above, I use Health Month to make sure I do the bare minimum of feeding myself healthily and getting some exercise. I generally have a "6 hours of meaningful work" a day rule, which includes research, teaching prep, and freelancing, but also includes reading stuff that is useful but not directly relevant to research, house cleaning, music making, going to museums or the aquarium, and, this summer, refreshing my rusty Spanish skills with DuoLingo. This is to cut down on binging on Netflix and internet for the entire summer.
Last summer, I had a few specific things I had to get done, so I tried naming tasks for each day of the week: Evolution Monday (teaching prep), New Research Tuesday, Non-majors Wednesday (teaching prep), and Old Research Thursday. The goal was to get something done on those projects on the specified day, to get them all done in the end and prevent one of them from taking over the entire summer. I wasn't perfect at this scheme. Sometimes I would spend exactly five minutes on the project at hand before abandoning it for something more interesting, and sometimes an interesting task begun on the previous day would bleed over into the next, but it helped at least remind me to work on all 4 of them.
Finally, to help hold it all together, I have a private (non-Googleable) "accountability blog" with some friends who are freelancer-types. It is as simple as listing everything we've done on a given day. We comment on each others' posts with lots of support and encouragement. I know that there are several online fora aimed at academics that are similar, especially for writing projects. Or you could get together with colleagues at your current job or friends from grad school and make your own.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:18 AM on June 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Last summer, I had a few specific things I had to get done, so I tried naming tasks for each day of the week: Evolution Monday (teaching prep), New Research Tuesday, Non-majors Wednesday (teaching prep), and Old Research Thursday. The goal was to get something done on those projects on the specified day, to get them all done in the end and prevent one of them from taking over the entire summer. I wasn't perfect at this scheme. Sometimes I would spend exactly five minutes on the project at hand before abandoning it for something more interesting, and sometimes an interesting task begun on the previous day would bleed over into the next, but it helped at least remind me to work on all 4 of them.
Finally, to help hold it all together, I have a private (non-Googleable) "accountability blog" with some friends who are freelancer-types. It is as simple as listing everything we've done on a given day. We comment on each others' posts with lots of support and encouragement. I know that there are several online fora aimed at academics that are similar, especially for writing projects. Or you could get together with colleagues at your current job or friends from grad school and make your own.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:18 AM on June 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Would it help psychologically if you schedule your time-wasting? Put an hour of video games on the schedule, along with your other projects/exercise/etc. Sometimes it helps me not to get all sucked in if I know I am "allowed" a specific chunk of time, then I stop.
posted by CathyG at 7:19 AM on June 4, 2013
posted by CathyG at 7:19 AM on June 4, 2013
Another professor here, with summers mostly off. I'm at a smaller liberal arts institution, with more of a teaching focus, and I just got tenure, so quite honestly I probably won't get so much academic work done this summer. :) But keeping myself occupied in a reasonable way is something that I've given a lot of thought too. It's amazing how such a great perk can have a downside if you don't keep some structure.
This is too late for this year, but I've personally found that it helps for me to teach a class in the Maymester term, right when Spring gets out. I stick to an evening or hybrid class that meets once or twice a week, but it allows me to gradually move from full year to summer better. It also funds a longer vacation later in the summer.
I get up at a regular time each day, between 8-9, and go ahead and take a walk/run while it's cooler out. I plan on working on work stuff at least 3 days for 4 hours each day. It might happen more, but I won't be bothered if it doesn't. I have an ongoing list that I make at the end of the Spring for things that should be done (data analysis projects, working on a grant, revamping a class, etc.) I also have lists for things that need to be done around the house, and then things that I just think it would be cool to do. Each summer I pick a few projects that I plan to devote time to. They aren't work-related, and in the past have been things like reading Infinite Jest, learning to make Kimchi, teaching myself contact juggling, and so on. These are the things that I end up talking to my coworkers about when we get back on campus.
I try to do things that would be tricky to get done during the regular school year. That means all the healthcare appointments and home maintenance visits. I go visit museums and historic sites when they're less busy, and I go have lunch out by myself with a nice book. I certainly waste a fair amount of time, though. To me that's part of enjoying the break, but like CathyG suggested, I think it works better if you include that in your planning. I'll take a day and just watch 90's movies or British period miniseries because that was what I'd planned to do, and I feel just fine about it.
posted by bizzyb at 8:12 AM on June 4, 2013
This is too late for this year, but I've personally found that it helps for me to teach a class in the Maymester term, right when Spring gets out. I stick to an evening or hybrid class that meets once or twice a week, but it allows me to gradually move from full year to summer better. It also funds a longer vacation later in the summer.
I get up at a regular time each day, between 8-9, and go ahead and take a walk/run while it's cooler out. I plan on working on work stuff at least 3 days for 4 hours each day. It might happen more, but I won't be bothered if it doesn't. I have an ongoing list that I make at the end of the Spring for things that should be done (data analysis projects, working on a grant, revamping a class, etc.) I also have lists for things that need to be done around the house, and then things that I just think it would be cool to do. Each summer I pick a few projects that I plan to devote time to. They aren't work-related, and in the past have been things like reading Infinite Jest, learning to make Kimchi, teaching myself contact juggling, and so on. These are the things that I end up talking to my coworkers about when we get back on campus.
I try to do things that would be tricky to get done during the regular school year. That means all the healthcare appointments and home maintenance visits. I go visit museums and historic sites when they're less busy, and I go have lunch out by myself with a nice book. I certainly waste a fair amount of time, though. To me that's part of enjoying the break, but like CathyG suggested, I think it works better if you include that in your planning. I'll take a day and just watch 90's movies or British period miniseries because that was what I'd planned to do, and I feel just fine about it.
posted by bizzyb at 8:12 AM on June 4, 2013
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posted by k8lin at 9:04 PM on June 3, 2013