Recharging when getting away is not an option
Posted: Mon 07.16.2012 Filed under: Balance, Tips | Tags: advice, inspiration, lifelong learning, motivation, tips Leave a comment »
“Swap Meet” image cc license from Flickr user LukeJNovak: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2715/4030129420_ece87539ce_b.jpg
I remember when I used to look forward to summer — warmer weather, longer days, no homework, family vacations and time with friends. Even when I started working during the summer breaks, there seemed to still remain ample time to read and relax after work was done in those long months between school terms. Even when I had summer school, it would last only a fraction of the whole holiday period, leaving weeks to relax and recharge.
Now, I look forward to summer for some of the same reasons — the warmer weather and longer days — and some new ones — travel takes a bit less time without the traffic of parents driving children to school and fewer colleagues in the office means a slightly lighter load of internal requests.
Although I miss the family vacations, the biggest loss in the transition from school to work was the chance to decompress and relax that those summer months offered. That time was fairly sacred and it was unlikely it would be scheduled over or co-opted by classes or meetings; one would dread catching a summer cold that seemed to suck up those valuable days of summer holidays, but never thought about a time in the future when unexpected work events or deadlines would force retraction of vacation days and a premature return to work.
As I cannot take off the several months I dream of to rest and relax during the summer, I’ve been trying to take advantage of the “Five Ways to Recharge During the Summer” recommended by Jamie Corcoran in her June post at Gradhacker. Read the rest of this entry »
Grandiose Challenges
Posted: Mon 06.04.2012 Filed under: Lived Experience | Tags: graduate school, hobbies, motivation, work-life balance Leave a comment »An alternative title for this post could be, “How we make futile attempts to exercise control over the universe.” I’ll explain…
PhD Comic: “Outside Interests”
I have had a few conversations with colleagues and friends lately that have me thinking about the sometimes irrational, obsessive hobbying that crops up amongst graduate students. Even if you do not have your own, you certainly know a colleague or friend that has has taken their “outside interests” to the extreme. From the friend who was going to dress up for opening night of the Hunger Games (I’m looking at you @LizzyErwin) or the colleague racking up marathon mileage on their bicycle, I know more people who are not just taking up a hobby, but taking it to the next level. Hobbies and interests are constant through society, but there is something about graduate students who like to kick up the intensity.
Escape from the Library Echo Chamber
Posted: Mon 03.19.2012 Filed under: Balance, Libraries | Tags: advice, community, inspiration, libraries, motivation, tips 1 Comment »
Image cc license from Flickr user Nicolas Nedialko Nojarof, some rights reserved: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4100/5433459369_5a55c06b06_b.jpg
It has fewer explosions and fight scenes than Escape from New York. Sadly, it does not feature Steve McQueen, James Coburn, or James Garner. But the argument could be made that this escape is no less important than the adventures described in either film.
Sally Pewhairangi’s post “20 Everyday Ways to Escape the Library Echo Chamber” at Finding Heroes has some great ideas about how to escape the library echo chamber. As had been discussed in a previous post here are Research Salad, there are dangers to being stuck inside an echo chamber, sharing ideas only with individuals of similar opinions and experiences. Instead of talking only to other librarians and information specialists about issues facing us and how they might be addressed, Ms. Pewhairangi suggests that much can be gained by looking outside our domain. The first step to escaping the library echo chamber, she asserts, is to take an interest in what is happening outside libraries.
The list’s recommendations are diverse and intriguing: watching TED talks on subjects with which you have little to no familiarity and examining interactions in retail settings, checking out signage in supermarkets and conversing with “the weirdest person” you know about what he or she is working on. Using what is learned and the responses received, policies can be better devised or revised and practices for serving library patrons improved.
One supplement to this list which I would recommend is to travel. While leaving the region or country may not be a practical or everyday activity, adventuring outside the city in which you and your library are located is easy enough and can give you new and additional insights. As the list already includes going to a park and talking to fellow plane passengers about their library experiences, travel farther afield simply takes things one step further. To illustrate this point, I will present three travel destinations to which I escaped from the library and a few insights I gained while there.
Dissertation Boot Camp: Not for Sissies
Posted: Sat 02.04.2012 Filed under: Dissertation | Tags: motivation, writing Leave a comment »
Photo courtesy of cowgirlshoes.com
It’s billed as a distraction-free writing time. There’s a pledge to sign, a basket to park your cell phone, and a vast silence broken only by the clicking of computer keys, the turning of pages, and the occasional clink of shifting ice as some poor soul tries to unobtrusively pour a glass of water from one of those diabolical plastic jugs. (A great goal, but impossible.) It’s Lehigh’s dissertation boot camp and one of the best of many activities organized by the Graduate Life Office. After a full breakfast, replete with plenty of protein, fruit, and grad student fuel (read coffee) there’s always a motivational speaker to kick off the day. This morning, Greg Skutches, Lehigh’s Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator, spoke to the group. I collect quotes, so the one he started off his presentation with made me laugh out loud, “You either wrote today. Or you didn’t.” His advice was practical and included such commonsense tips as organizing one or two writing spaces where all you do is write, resist temptations to clean up your writing site instead of writing, limit your social interactions, write every day, and give yourself permission to write an awful first draft. He even referenced one of my go-to researchers on scholarly writing, Robert Boice.
Distractions
Posted: Mon 01.09.2012 Filed under: Balance | Tags: advice, cats, lived experience, methods, motivation, organization, time management, tips, tools Leave a comment »
Image cc license from Flickr user pjmorse: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/212/500139740_5046965fa3_o.jpg
My distractions at this moment:
- Cars passing and the fact that, though the streets are dry, it sounds like the roads are wet
- Someone playing video games in the other room
- The cats, one trying to sleep on my lap between me and the laptop perched at my knees, the other staring at me from the floor by my feet
- The plethora of other things I’m supposed to accomplish today
- The Internet
The cat in my lap has now moved to sleep on my wrists. Obviously, she doesn’t see this as a distraction; in her mind, it’s the computer and whatever I’m typing that must be distracting me from what I should be doing, namely, paying attention to her. When she gets really irritated, she puts her paws across my hand and flexes her claws, then turns to stare at my over her shoulder with that look that cats have perfected, a cross between boredom, disdain, and eye-rolling irritation. This post, ladies and gentlemen, is apparently less important than this furball.
In the book The Secret Miracle: The Novelist’s Handbook, on the topic of distractions and handling them, the responses from two different authors express very well the delicate balance in dealing with distractions.
Out-thinking Writer’s Block
Posted: Mon 12.05.2011 Filed under: Writing | Tags: advice, inspiration, motivation, tips, writing 1 Comment »“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.” — John Rogers, Kung Fu Monkey, 06-25-11
Image cc license from Flickr user colemama: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2796/4370709585_ecdcd3eef6_b.jpg
Everyone gets writer’s block — although the phrase’s Wikipedia entry suggests that it’s a condition primarily associated with writing as a profession, writer’s block can afflict anyone. Trying to write a message in that birthday or holiday card, but unable to find the right words? Spent so much time researching for your dissertation that you’re unable to figure out where to begin? College students, journalists, CEOs, and writers of jingles, letters, and blog posts, writer’s block is a dangerous and frustrating malady that can strike any person, at any time.
To help combat this condition for which modern medicine has not yet found a cure, we have compiled a list of selected resources to fight and demonstrate that, while writer’s block might last a little or a long time, it does not have to be a permanent condition.
Thinking Big Thoughts: Blogs to Watch
Posted: Thu 11.10.2011 Filed under: Balance | Tags: 21st Century Skills, innovation, interdisciplinary, motivation, reading 1 Comment »
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Infidelic
While I get mired in the details of qualitative research and the intense focus of a dissertation, it has occurred to me that I need to find ways to keep current with the world at large. I’m a voracious consumer of information, so this is not anything new to me. But I was thinking about how you can so easily get lost in the details and forget the big picture. Why am I doing this research? What do I want to accomplish? How does this fit in to the world around me?
For me, the purpose of my research is hopefully to find new ways and refine traditional ways of engaging students in the learning process. I hope from what they would learn from my courses or curriculum is not what to think, but how to think. By developing a critical eye, engaging in the world around them, and practicing 21st Century Skills, they are poised to tackle the critical problems and opportunities that face our world today. From this base, they can go anywhere, and can see that they are truly an influencer as a global citizen. While discipline-specific knowledge is essential and will be the crux of innovation, there is something to be said for keeping an eye on the big picture, seeing the opportunities when they arise, and being open to interdisciplinary collaboration. So, in short, the purpose of this blog post is to talk a bit about those resources that help you to think beyond your discipline-focus and shake off the tunnel vision that sometimes comes when working on a project like a dissertation.
Contestants, hands on your buzzers!
Posted: Mon 09.26.2011 Filed under: Lived Experience, Schools, Teaching, Tips, Tools | Tags: Back to School, exams, games, lifelong learning, motivation, teaching, tips, tools Leave a comment »
Image cc license from Flickr user: sparetomato (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparetomato/4336014364/)
Research has demonstrated that short breaks can increase overall productivity. Next time you take a break, instead of playing Angry Birds, try Sporcle. Sometimes, playing ten rounds of Angry Birds feels relaxing, but at other times, it can seem too mindless and not fulfilling. Using Sporcle, one could instead spend five minutes matching countries and flags, identifying elements of the periodic table from their symbols, and determining which lines of dialogue come from Space Balls and which come from Star Wars, which can feel like time well (or better) spent.
Sporcle has the appropriate tagline “Mentally Stimulating Diversions”, which seems very appropriate. Use of Sporcle will not bring you any closer to finishing that paper or blog post you’re supposed to be writing or knocking items off your lengthy to-do list. However, when combined with self-control, it can provide a few much-needed minutes of entertainment that won’t leave you feeling as though you’ve killed brain cells unnecessarily. You didn’t waste time, you tested your general or subject-specific knowledge and improved the likelihood that you, too, will have what it takes to more successfully compete in pub quizzes.
Motivation: How to Get it, How to Keep it
Posted: Wed 08.31.2011 Filed under: Lived Experience, Reflection | Tags: inspiration, motivation, organization, TED, time management 1 Comment »Apologies for the half-finished post that made its way up on the internet. Ah, the start of a new academic year!
Motivation is a fickle friend. I started this post about a month ago and have let it sit as new and more fun tools and trends passed through my mind. Such is the way of things. But as I sit here hunkered down as the winds of Irene keep beating at my window, I am motivated by the threat of losing power to finish this post. I am also motivated by looking at the week ahead and knowing what my schedule holds. I find motivation when I’m forced, oftentimes. While I am very intrinsically motivated as a human being, I find myself having difficulty closing if I do not have a deadline, or an impending natural disaster. Motivation is a tough issue to negotiate and wrestle, but in his TED talk, Daniel Pink gives a great summary of motivation, motivators, and expectations.
Thinking about… Work Space
Posted: Mon 08.29.2011 Filed under: Libraries, Reflection | Tags: environment, libraries, motivation, organization, reading, research Leave a comment »
Bibliothèque de la Communauté de l'agglomération d'Annecy, Bonlieu.
While playing tourist this weekend, I passed one of the city’s larger libraries and peeking in, saw the sight that inspired this post. The wind had picked up and a sunny day had turned grey, blustery and chilly, decidedly unsummery. Just inside the sliding glass doors of the library entrance and past the check-out machines, however, was a little piece of summer. Patches of astroturf lay on the library’s linoleum floor, beneath brightly coloured garden umbrellas. Folding plastic chairs and small tables stacked with books were arranged around the space.
And unlike in the other study and work spaces scattered throughout the library, every chair in this little oasis was occupied. Read the rest of this entry »
