Productivity Where Art Thou?: The Search for a Routine Between Semesters

In the past two weeks my workload has come to a screeching halt. No more conferences, a dissertation chapter is drafted, the handful of job applications I sent off are gone, and yesterday was the last day of my #REL100 class. I still have some things on my plate-like you know, that whole dissertation thing. I’ll also have final exams to grade in a week and a half but that’s about it. But the hardest part is the loss of my routine. I had a good thing going. Three days a week I taught. Those afternoons I worked on dissertation stuff. Then on the days I didn’t teach I prepped for the next lesson. It was a nice rhythm. It was a great dance before the god Productivity. But now the band has packed up and left town and I’m struggling to find a new dance step.

It’s tempting to do nothing from now until the spring semester starts, but that’s not an option. I need to be productive. Oh god Productivity, where art thou?

I have sat down and made a list of things I should do. More blogging, a journal article that needs to be polished and submitted, revising that chapter, starting a new one, and a bunch of books on my “to read” list. The key is to find a new routine, a new rhythm, a holiday dance step. Oh, god Productivity where art thou? If I find you, Productivity, perhaps my Muse will come too.

[Image: Workers on the Cathedral of Learning, 1934, oil on canvas by Harry W. Scheuch courtesy of Flickr user cliff1066™ CC licsensed]