Swinging between useless and burnout
Apr. 18th, 2017 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11Well, Easter has come and gone, and that means I have completed my Lenten resolution to give up procrastination during that time. I actually celebrated the weekend by NOT SPENDING THE WHOLE THING WORKING for once, which has not been something that I've been able to do in weeks, and it was refreshing. I held to my resolution quite well actually, and I stayed on top of my work with very little time wasted screwing around before actually getting to my responsibilities.
Unfortunately, that level of focus and self-discipline has left me worn out. My rest this past weekend was helpful and very much needed, but now I've gone into the following week unsure of whether I can keep up that level of effort. I'm already off the grading schedule I made due to having a much more chaotic Monday than I expected to, and an outside project deadline I set for myself has eaten up a lot of time today. I generally find I can't focus on essay grading for very long-- it is sooooo focus-intensive and boring, easily the worst part about teaching --so I break it down into grading a handful a day until the due date. But maybe I should try setting aside a chunk of time and just trying to power through. I usually hate doing that, but perhaps the shakeup in my routine might help, and I'll actually have longer chunks of time to get other things done.
A continual problem I have is that the most efficient way to run my life is also very exhausting. I get good results but can't maintain it without burnout for long. But when I ease up, I find other things crash down on me, like work piling up that starts to feel like a crisis. I'm not sure what the right balance is.
Unfortunately, that level of focus and self-discipline has left me worn out. My rest this past weekend was helpful and very much needed, but now I've gone into the following week unsure of whether I can keep up that level of effort. I'm already off the grading schedule I made due to having a much more chaotic Monday than I expected to, and an outside project deadline I set for myself has eaten up a lot of time today. I generally find I can't focus on essay grading for very long-- it is sooooo focus-intensive and boring, easily the worst part about teaching --so I break it down into grading a handful a day until the due date. But maybe I should try setting aside a chunk of time and just trying to power through. I usually hate doing that, but perhaps the shakeup in my routine might help, and I'll actually have longer chunks of time to get other things done.
A continual problem I have is that the most efficient way to run my life is also very exhausting. I get good results but can't maintain it without burnout for long. But when I ease up, I find other things crash down on me, like work piling up that starts to feel like a crisis. I'm not sure what the right balance is.
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