Now that I've turned grades in, the rest of the summer I only really have to do about 1-3 hours of work a day on my articles and book project. Once I get the two articles done I will take weekends off and only do that amount of work on 5 days a week. On a few trips I am going to take, I won't do any work at all.
The rest of the time I will work on my scholarly base by reading other things outside my field, relax, and listen to music.
I can afford this very relaxed schedule because I am a full professor and have paid my dues, so to speak. My current project is going well so I don't feel i am behind at all on that. But here's the thing. That's what I've always tried to do. Work a brief period every day on scholarly projects. To the extent that I did not do so in the past, I suffered from it, whether I procrastinated or tried to work around the clock to meet a deadline. In other words, I would have been even more productive before if I had taken the "luxury" to do what I'm doing now, and I would have been much happier doing it. Unfortunately, I didn't have an older version of myself on hand to give me this advice.
2 comments:
It is so hard to believe, but so true!!
that is my plan for the summer too. We will be in Barcelona, so I will write in the mornings, and enjoy the city in the afternoons.
You can write a book in a year in 15 hours a week. This was what the graduate students in the dorm I lived in as a freshman said and it is true.
When I was working well -- that is to say in graduate school and as an assistant professor -- I worked in summer as you do now and got a lot done. Then, when I was told I had "too much control" over my life and was "too happy for someone who had a hard childhood," I became less efficient and started having to put in more time. I have never been as productive since.
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