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Adorbs. |
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Take in some inspirational media (of the non-scholarly variety). Here are my go-tos, but your milage may vary
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This essay about how science is SUPPOSED to make you feel stupid, dummy.
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This poem, always and forever. “Practice resurrection.”
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This essay by Aldo Leopold on extinction.
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This poem that will make you want to be a better person. “If you’re handing out flashlights in the night, start handing out stars.”
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Make a plan. I know, you had a plan before, but make a new one. The old one obviously wasn’t working.
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Mer’s Plan involves detailed time breakdowns. Kill the distractions. Is an ill family member nagging at your mind? Call them and ease your worries. Do some large batch cooking so you don’t have to worry about the dishes or food for the rest of the week. For goodness sake, get off Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all the other good things to do with the internet. -
What helps you focus? Do that. Exercise? Yoga? A good night’s sleep? Get those things. Trust yourself. Trust that you know the difference between procrastination and positive self-care.
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Talk to inspired people. You are a very cool person with very cool friends. Find the one who is the most lite up by their current project and parasitize their enthusiasm . I had a super uplifting talk about education leadership with a friend earlier this month. Obviously, I’m not an education scholar, but their passion was infectious (Editor’s note: Rach and I talked about this during our Productivity Meeting last week. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of my first PhD midterms and was NOT available for enthusiasm! I suppose on the flip side of this, when you are feeling on top of your game then you should share your enthusiasm with those who might needs a little extra.).
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My moral support. Freaking talk about it. Get a coffee with your gradschool best friend, call your sister, Skype with your mom, chat with your cat, or anyone else who cares about you. It’s great to be internally motivated and sure of your inherent worth or whatever, but when your best accomplishment from the last two days was getting your inbox to zero, you need someone else to remind you of the bigger picture of yourself. -
Update your CV. This seems like a time suck, right? It can be, but adding all your most recent accomplishments to your resume will remind you of times when all your hard work has paid off for you. The only thing better than having someone else remind you that you are awesome is reminding yourself.
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Hey, you, this is your JOB, remember? Either someone is paying you to do this work or you are paying for the experience yourself. Hopefully it’s the former. Here’s to hoping we never dip below the minimum job performance we need to maintain. Beyond that, would you give you a raise or a promotion? Put on some business casual attire and go sit in your workspace. Put yourself on the clock.
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Make a vision board, write an affirmation. Am I really that much of a hippie? Apparently so. I’ve made some pretty impressive vision boards in my day. First of all, it’s crafting, which is relaxing. Second, if you put it somewhere where you are forced to stare at it everyday, you’ll be surprised how you realign your actions to start actually working toward your goals. If you’re not into pictures and glue sticks, write an affirmation of your intentions and put it on your bathroom mirror, or the fridge, or wherever else you will see it everyday. The important thing is to see it everyday.
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Take an actual break. No, don’t start reading fanfiction at 2am when the whole purpose of drinking that cup of coffee was to get some real work done. I’m talking take a mental health day. Draw a bubble bath, go for a hike, and eat all the freaking burritos. Give yourself a break for goodness sake, then rally rally rally.
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Don’t worry, get muddy. |
Editor’s Note: I think a big takeaway from this blog post is that while graduate school can be a huge undertaking that commands a lot of your time, that doesn’t mean you have to let to rule your entire life. Prioritize yourself and those important people in your life that you want to spend time with. You could work on Grad School Things all day and all night long and never really reach a stopping point. If you wait until you’re completely caught up on everything you want to do, then you’ll run out of hours in the day. However, if you schedule yourself some Real Life Time along with your Productivity Time you’ll be able to enjoy some of what keeps you motivated and happy. I have been hyper-scheduling my days using my Mac’s iCal program, and I find it helps me stay on track while still allowing myself time to chill doing Life Things without feeling guilty about things I could be working on instead. Don’t let the fear and the guilt get you down or keep you from enjoying life.
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