The other day I ran into my academic idol and she gave me some random advice. While we were on the topic of strategizing how to complete scholarship in a timely manner I thought I’d throw her a question I’d been grappling with: what do you do when you have completed about five hours of work, you’d like to put in another three hours for the day, but you’re too restless continuing what you have been working on? Do you spend the next three hours organizing notes, catching up on historiography, or just keep slogging through your current project, even though it’s boring you out of your mind?
She had absolutely no comprehension of what I was saying. She explained, “I just … always work. My schedule isn’t regimented, so sometimes I’ll end up spending an hour writing an email. But I’ll make up that time later, at night.”
I guess this is why she wins so many awards, has a coveted job, and has published so widely at her relatively young age.
I will never be the person who works around the clock. But this conversation confirmed me to that I really need to put in more hours. For the last couple of months, I have just sort of woken up when I have woken up, and regardless of how much work I’ve gotten done, I’ve stuck to a pretty generous work-out schedule that usually interrupts my day. If I’ve had to go to campus, I don’t really change my schedule—I just stop my work sooner to fit in the trip.
So, last week I started keeping tabs on how many hours I worked. It forced me to set my alarm for an early hour so that I could log at least 8 hours of solid work each day and to actually be strategic about waking up extra early on the day I went to campus. Last week was the first time in a long time that I felt super productive. This week I’ll continue to log, but I will also note which project I am working on.
All of this is to say that I thrive on discipline and perish on flexibility and spontaneity.
