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Laughing Out Loud: Find something funny everyday

I’ve been told my whole life that I have a great laugh. It is very distinguishable. It’s got some cackles, some wheezing, and some big boisterous belly laughs. I love to laugh. It’s rare to not see me with a smile on my face, ready to tell you the dumbest joke I recently heard. My laugh is so very recognizable when I’m in public. Once I went to see a movie in an old timey movie theatre in my college town. The theatre was called The Lyric and it had this really cool balcony. Once I was seeing a movie, and a friend later told me, “I knew you were in the movie theatre with me, because I heard you up in the balcony laughing.”

People whom I haven’t seen in person in YEARS remark on social media how much they love my laugh. It’s nuts. Well it’s even more nuts now because I have a permanent reminder on my arm. 

That’s right, I got a tattoo of my laugh. 

Here’s a brief backstory

In 2018 I was on skype with my roommate and she made me laugh. It was a complete surprise and she totally caught me off guard. She was literally in the other room and she was helping me troubleshoot some recording software. I was recording our conversation from skype via audacity for a podcast interview later that evening. 

And there in the recording was my laugh. 

Not a set-up manufactured laugh, but a pure, natural, laugh. 

I thought omg, I have to get this tattooed. So I did. Like an hour later Jen (the very same roommate, who has many tattoos) took me to a tattoo parlor to make my appointment. And then exactly 24 hours later I was getting the stencil of my spectrogram (sound wave) inked onto my forearm. It still seems unreal to me as I look down at my arm.

Every time I look at my arm it reminds me to smile. It reminds me to take a moment to find joy and laughter in everything. It reminds me of the positive impact that I have on those around me. It’s an everlasting reminder to laugh. To laugh often. To laugh loud.

With everything going on in the world today I especially need that reminder now. I’ve been trying to stay off of social media lately because it’s been…well A LOT. Between Coronavirus, the 2020 election, climate change, and the stock market my head starts spinning after 10 minutes online. 

Be intentional about the content you’re consuming. Step away from things that actively make you feel bad. And remember to laugh. 

Find any excuse to laugh, and laugh LOUD.

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How I’m learning to overcome writer’s block & procrastination

Photo by bongkarn thanyakij from Pexels

I wrote this post in January when I was dealing with a bit of writer’s block and procrastination. I decided to try and write about how I was feeling as a way to process and solve the problem. The following blog is the result of that endeavor.

One More Time

Sometimes I wonder why I have so much reluctance to start writing. It’s like there are moments when I feel like I have to create something spectacular; and that scares me. It doesn’t terrify me; but makes me just weary enough to balk. Enough to check my email one more time. Log on to facebook one more time. Scroll through twitter, text someone back, read a blog post, go get a cup of coffee or tea one more time. Just real quick. One last thing before I get started. 

But before you know it, it’s been 10 minutes since you returned that text, 15 minutes since you checked your inbox, and 20 minutes since you last looked at social media. If I’m not proactive, I can go in this loop over and over and over again. And it’s not because any of these matters are particularly pressing or important. Nope. None of these things really matter at all. Deep down I know it. Yet still…I delay.

Here’s to breaking the cycle and just getting started despite my fears. I wish I knew what I was really afraid of, because I can’t quite pinpoint it. I know I’m a good writer. And generally with every blog post or research manuscript draft that I set out to write, afterwards I end up very happy with it. So what’s the problem? Where’s the disconnect? 

I think deep down I worry that I’ll “run out”. 
Out of “what” exactly I couldn’t say. 

Out of luck, out of good ideas, the magic, the good stuff that helps me create great content. I don’t know, maybe if I write more consistently I’d wring out all the talented bits that I have. It’s all nonsense, and I know this, but somehow this feeling quietly sends me into a doubt-and-delay hamster wheel. 

So no more. I’m just going to keep showing up. I was greatly encouraged by something I heard Seth Godin say in an interview. He is quite a prolific writer and has been for some time, and he does it by showing up consistently. The interviewer asked him how he writes so many books (one every other year on average) and he mentions that he just writes constantly. He’ll be writing a bunch of different essays or pieces or works with several different lines of thought or main ideas, and then eventually a theme or topic rises to the top. He doesn’t set out to write a certain theme or book title, it just kind of happens naturally. He writes what is on his mind and the thoughts begin to organize themselves and coalesce into an idea he can package into a book. 

When I heard that I said, that’s it! This is my key to showing up to my blog regularly. I write every day, and by the end of the week, I’ll have something noteworthy to turn into a blog post. I’m actually just realizing that this “word gumbo” can also serve as a catalyst for microcontent on social media or even newsletter content for the 2 truths.

My blog posts have been impactful because I wrote them as the muse struck. When I had something deep in my belly that I wanted to say or something I desperately wanted to reflect on. But I was afraid of the idea of having to give Stephen (my editor) something every single week to edit. In the past it scared me to write a blog every single weekend. Now I don’t have to fear anymore.

I show up. Every day. No matter how I feel. And I write something, anything really. And I’ll worry about making it a blog post later. No more doubt. No more delay. Just me, showing up for myself and putting in the work. 

And that’s something I can be proud of.

[By just sitting my butt down and showing up, I was able to write 635 words in 17 minutes]

Maybe you’re not writing a weekly blog, but you’re delaying on a different project. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but I know the fear is ultimately unfounded. You can do this. Keep showing up.

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Acknowledge how awesome you are

Photo by ᒷ⟁⨃.ᖇ.ᕮ.∥.ᕮ from Pexels

When I was driving back to Ithaca after the holidays I was listening to The School of Greatness podcast by Lewis Howes. He was interviewing Felicia Day, who I think is one of the coolest female content creators on the internet. Seriously, she’s awesome. Definitely go check out her work if you’ve never heard of her. Towards the end of the interview as things were wrapping up Lewis said, “Hey, I just want to take a second to acknowledge you.”

This threw me off because I’ve listened to this podcast on and off for the past few years and I had never remembered the host doing this. He literally took the next 2 – 3 minutes to acknowledge the body of work Felicia has created. Then he mentioned explicitly the impact that her work has had on him and other creators, and truly thanked her for art and her unique contribution to the world. Whoa.

I was stunned by his candor and then totally delighted by Felicia’s reaction. This wasn’t one of those Hollywood, super fake, flattery fests. This was real. It was genuine and, as a listener, I could tell that Felicia was really touched.  

I then started to think about how rarely we do this for other people that we admire. And then it really struck me that we never even give this gift to ourselves.

So here’s my challenge to you: Who can you acknowledge this week? Maybe it’s a co-worker or lab mate that has mentored and trained you over the years. Maybe it’s a neighbor that always offers a kind word and a smile when you bump into each other. No matter how close you are to the person or the scale of your interactions, let people know that they matter to you. Let them know that you see them, their presence makes a difference, and you’re grateful to share the world with them. Seriously, do it.

And then for yourself

Take some time to acknowledge what you bring into the world. There was a song I really liked that had the lyrics:

“I have to keep reminding myself, I’m not like anyone else
……no one exactly like this, no one with my fingerprint”

How quickly do we forget? It seems like we are always so focused on improvement and productivity and efficiency that we don’t take a moment to breathe. A moment to just exist and be totally present. And maybe within these quiet moments we could simply reflect on the goodness we bring into the world. To honestly acknowledge the impact we have on others and the awesomeness that we create. It’s real, and it’s right in front of your face if you’d only slow down to acknowledge it.

You are fucking awesome. Acknowledge it. 
Believe it.

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Making space for the work that matters

I saw this on Seth Godin’s blog recently. Immediately the last question struck me. What if we actually had time to do the work that we really found meaningful and important?

What if I could focus on the work I get to do rather than the work I have to do?

Get to vs. Have to 

The “get to” mentality is something I learned from the culture in my Crossfit gym. We see the workout of the day (WOD) and we groan, “Ugh, we have to do burpees?” My coach then replies with a grin, “No! You GET to do burpees!” Cheesy as it seems, this actually worked for me. Instead of complaining about my least favorite movement, I was thankful that my body was capable and athletic enough to perform such a movement. The fact that I get to train daily with awesome coaches in a challenging yet fun atmosphere is humbling, and I welcomed the idea of embracing gratitude. 

Eventually I translated this type of thinking to my work life as well. The dreaded “death by meetings” instead felt like taking advantage of opportunities to be collaborative, inclusive, and collegial. Shifting my mindset did soften the blow, but let’s keep it real. At the end of the day the tedious upkeep and the administrative side of science is not why I get up in the morning. But what if? What if I could spend a decent chunk of my day doing what I want to do? What if my day was filled with the stuff I actually GET to do, not just the repackaged have-tos?

What if?

Settling & Sacrifice

I started thinking about Seth Godin’s question to us about making sacrifices rather than settling. When I look at my day-to-day there’s probably something that feels extremely urgent that can actually wait. There are very likely a few fires that I was intending on extinguishing today, that will not set the world ablaze or destroy my whole career if they burned for another 24 hours. Even though I feel like I have no time, I could likely create the time to do something important, something meaningful.

What if?

Isn’t all work meaningful? We don’t spend our days filled with meaningless tasks (I hope). Each item on our to-do lists should have a good reason for being there. They have some meaning and still ultimately need to get done. Should we make the necessary sacrifices to change things? I say, Why not? Functionally, we’re already sacrificing now. We are sacrificing potential times to do fulfilling work whenever we settle for doing something that must be done. “Well, I didn’t get to work on the manuscript or the grant like I wanted, but I extinguished nine fires!” That’s something! We can call that a win! And it’s true, that is a win.

But what if we slightly changed the objective of the game? What if a true win was making the tiniest nanoscopic progress toward work that really mattered to you. (Not just work that you get to do, but the kind of work you’re begging and itching to do.) 

What if you moved some things around and you started TODAY?!

Just 15 to 20 minutes is all you need for a true win. What if you let one small fire linger until tomorrow and fought for the opportunity to do something important today?

Schedule it now. Then keep scheduling it.
Keep showing up for yourself.
Keep showing up for your important work every day. 

Imagine the type of change this could create in your work life. Think of the effect it would have on you to know you’re doing the work you love. Think about the ramifications if you’re able to garner that feeling of purpose and satisfaction day after day after day. Then think about the resulting cascade of confidence and all the other potential positive effects just compounding on each other. 

What if…

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My 3 favorite personal development books of 2019

I’m a sucker for self-improvement. If I have some free time, more often than not, I choose to consume some sort of content about bettering myself. This genre is now called “personal development” or “lifestyle design” which both sound soooo much better than “self-help.” I don’t know who was in charge of the name change, but I’m very grateful.

If I’m reading/watching/listening to something it’s gonna either be about 1) personal development, 2) murder, true crime, serial killers, or 3) on occasion Shark Tank. (That’s seriously it. I know what I like, okay?!) I made a goal as 2017 ended that I wanted to read more, and it’s taken this long to finally make the habit stick (with a lot of false starts). Ultimately, I learned that I really don’t have time to read physical books. But I can absolutely listen to audiobooks while I’m already doing something else. I listen while I’m driving, or washing the dishes, or taking the bus to campus. It has really been great. I was able to stick to my goal, while also learning so much about myself at the same time. Win – Win!

I decided I wanted to share a few of my favorite books that really helped me this past year. As graduate students, we’re constantly focused on professional development and how to be prepared for that next step in our careers. What often ends up getting much less attention is personal development. But I firmly believe that the more we can show up daily as our whole selves and as our best selves, the more fulfillment we get out of our careers and the greater our professional impact.

Pro-tip: I listened to these books for FREE. I used the app Libby or Overdrive. These are amazing systems used throughout the US and are connected to your local public library. You get to check out each audiobook for 21 days, and you don’t even have to pay for an audiobook subscription service.

Okay. Finally now to my favorite 3 books. This list is not ranked in any order.

1. The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

Not gonna lie, I expected that I wouldn’t like this book. At first glance it’s a social experiment where someone tries not to buy any new items for a year except to replace things that break. I thought, “Oh here we go. Another super sheltered and privileged millennial living at home rent free, so they can do ‘edgy’ experiments.” I could not have been more wrong.

Cait is in her late 20s, and she opens up immediately about being a recovering alcoholic, that’s dealing with crippling student debt, and trying to manage mental health issues. Cait gets so real so fast and lets you as the reader know how everything with this experiment fits into the context of her life. Through discipline, diligence, and self-love she has created systems for herself to get her life in order. And this newest 12 month commitment was to help her evaluate the role of “stuff” and mindless consumerism in her life.

Each chapter opens with a running ledger of the number of months sober, amount of debt paid off/ income saved, and the number of items she has purchased. She quite literally brings receipts. As you read Cait’s journey you can’t help but evaluate your own lifestyle and choices. It’s not like I turned into a minimalist, but I did strive to ensure that everything I do with my life is actually intentional and chosen with purpose. 

2. Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland

Okay this isn’t technically a personal development book. It’s a memoir. When I first made my new reading goals in 2017 I aimed to prioritize memoirs/autobiographies of women of color. Though it is a different genre, these books have the same functional effect on me. There’s a lot of knowledge to glean from these successful women and I try to implement it in my life.

This book was so profound for me in the areas of mindset, mental toughness, and identity. Misty Copeland was the first black ballerina to reach the rank of Principal Dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. Like many other people, the first I heard of her was when she made this landmark achievement and it made international news in 2015. But Misty is anything but an overnight success and has been grinding for over two decades. I learned how grueling, technical, precise, and demanding ballet is on your entire body. And on top of that Misty was carrying the burden of being a brown person breaking barriers in a world where many simply didn’t feel she belonged. If you’re someone who is an “other” in your area of study you’ll find much of Misty’s struggle relatable. And you’ll find her sheer grit, persistence, and determination in spite of so many obstacles down right inspiring.

On top of it all, I really related to Misty’s passion and dedication to pave the way for people who look like her. Throughout her career she has become a champion for outreach, diversity, and inclusion in ballet. During some of her toughest struggles she reminds herself why it all matters, and why she must keep going. The powerful refrain she repeats in these moments that is echoed throughout the book is “This is for the little brown girls.”

3. How to be a Bawse by Lilly Singh

Full disclosure; I’m not even finished reading this book yet. This is a physical book that I bought so I’m reading it at a snail’s pace. But wow is it good! And the visuals are incredible, so I’d definitely recommend grabbing the print book in this case.

Lilly is one of my favorite YouTubers and she is one of the hardest working people in her industry. This book is written in a series of essays, each on a particular topic that will help you be a boss BAWSE. I like that each chapter is concise, and packed with such a motivational punch. Each chapter ends with a specific call to action, so you can commit to making a lasting change right then and there. I keep the book out on my dining room table or on an end table in the living room. This way when I see it in the morning or come home and walk by it in the evening, I’m compelled to take a few minutes to read and reflect on a chapter. 

What I like most about Lilly’s advice is that she focuses more on systems than goals. She is extremely organized (I am not) so I learned very specific ways to implement new processes that can make me more successful and productive. Lilly is all about being focused and consistent in the little things which add up to big results in the long run. And because she is a ridiculously entertaining person, each chapter is packed with quips and jokes that keep me laughing throughout. I’m thoroughly enjoying this book and I plan to continue slowly savoring it one bite at a time.


These are my faves from this past year. If you have any good recommendations feel free to leave a comment below. I’m always looking for something inspiring.

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What is your fuel?

I came across this post on twitter recently and I’ve been reflecting on it ever since. It’s from Katy Peplin who runs the company Thrive PhD. She creates awesome content to help PhD students well…thrive duh. Following her on twitter (@ThrivePhd) has definitely made a positive impact on my weekly productivity and overall well-being. You should for sure be following her too.

This tweet really resonated with me because I’m in a high producing, high pressure season right now. I’m finishing up my dissertation and ramping up to begin my postdoc. I’m balancing writing grants and fellowships for additional postdoc funding while also completing data analysis and writing papers for my thesis. In short, every day is busy and there are a lot of different balls up in the air I’m attempting to juggle. I don’t feel burned out, but I am weary. This tweet got me thinking, am I running low on fuel?

What is fuel anyway? We talk a lot in grad school about passion, motivation and staying consistent. Nevertheless, the conversation is always about maintaining motivation and it’s usually really vague. The current prescription is focusing on “keeping hope alive”and other cliche maxims. What’s really lacking is taking an account of all the energy inputs and outputs in your life at any given moment. No matter what season of output you’re in, the essential question is whether your various inputs can sustain your level of production. 

First you’ll need to determine what inputs give your energy. I like how Katy lists a bunch of different categories that can work as fuel. I’m annoyed when the only suggestion for motivation that is given in professional development seminars is to “Think about why you do this research and remember that you love it”. There’s nothing wrong with that advice, but it’s annoyingly inadequate and I’m tired of it being touted as the only solution. There are plenty of other ways to fuel your work. Maybe it’s prioritizing your time in the mornings and refusing to schedule meetings during those protected blocks of time. Or maybe it’s cooking dinner with a roommate or going hiking on the weekends. Whatever it may be, take some time to discover what things are draining you and what things are giving you energy.

After re-evaluating my habits, I realized that I need more alone time and more time connecting with my family. In the past week I’ve be more intentional about calling and texting my family and catching up with them. They keep me grounded and I gain so much peace from talking with them regularly. I also have been less responsive to friends and colleagues about hanging out. Yes I’m an extrovert, but I desperately need long periods of time alone to think and just be. I’ve turned down a lot of plans and muted a bunch of group chats and I couldn’t be happier. It’s hard because I genuinely love connecting with my friends (and the FOMO is real!) but in this season I need to be a bit less connected for my sanity, for my fuel.

Overall this exercise was extremely helpful for me, and I was able to make some changes that improved my productivity and mental clarity. So I invite you to ask yourself these same questions.

What is your fuel?  AND Do you have enough of it?

And if the answer is no, what are you gonna do to get more of it?

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It’s okay to cry

This is actually the first blog post I wrote (well technically the second). It was 2 years ago and I was so excited to start writing about all the ideas I had in my head. I had envisioned how I wanted to help people by writing about finding mental clarity in grad school. And I was so stoked!  In a burst of inspiration I wrote a great post, and then it got deleted (didn’t sync between devices). I was so upset. I forced myself to write through my feelings, thus the post below. 

I’m finally sharing it now because I re-read it recently and realized how much I still needed the lesson. We often are pressured to immediately shake things off and move on when we’re upset. We are trained to optimize everything, every moment in our lives, even our “unproductive” emotions. But there isn’t anything unproductive about being a whole person. Sometimes we need to sit with what we’re feeling in order to really process it. We need to know that it’s okay to cry.

12/21/2017

I’m super pissed right now. And just a moment ago, I was very upset on the verge of tears. Yesterday I started blogging. Like for real, actually getting this Find Mind Space thing off the ground. I made a goal to write at least 250 words a day, and on my first shot I wrote 998. Yes, nearly 4 times as much. And I just realized it’s all gone. All of it. All nine hundred and ninety eight words, just gone.

At first, I didn’t believe it. I stood up from my chair. Because for some reason if you change the plane of your body, that will get technology to work. (Listen, it makes sense. Sort of). But there I stood, staring at a page without my wonderful blog post. Then I decide to log in to Evernote from my desktop computer in my room. (Again, I know this logic is dumb, but I felt like I had to do something). Anyway, it seems no matter what computer I login to the Evernote cloud has no record of my 998 words. Gone. Even as I write this in google docs, I take these paranoia pauses to see those beloved words above, “All changes saved in Drive.” But I’m getting ahead of myself talking about the solution, let’s get back to the crisis.

Now, in my room, denial washes away and the flood of despair rolls in. I want to just give up. I want to cry like a baby. And for a brief moment I could feel my rational self trying to say, “It’s okay, we gotta move on, no use crying over spilt milk.” But I said No. I won’t suppress this. I want to own it. Sit in it. Feel it. So I shut off the pragmatic counselor and decide to lean into my feelings and let my emotions guide me. I take off my shoes, and curl up on my bed, head on the pillow. I start to cry. I quietly pause and allow the tears to free fall down my cheeks. And I just say to myself, 

Why? Why did I have to lose it? Why does it have to be gone? Why didn’t I make sure it saved? Why didn’t I make a back up? 

Why…..

Why…am I so upset? 

Is it REALLY about the blog post? I mean those 998 words were really quite good, but was it my magnum opus, of course not. So what now? Why are you really crying? This incident struck at something deeper, what is that?

And for the next few moments I lay still and really tried to be introspective. And I realized that it was what this deletion represented, more than the erasure itself. I have felt less than productive as of late. I have been beating myself up a bit about consistent progress and seeing tangible gains. See, in academia you toil all day long, and at the end of the day, week, month, semester, etc. you feel like there’s nothing to show for all your effort. Like it was all for naught. And yet somehow you’re more behind than when you started. But yesterday was a rare victory. I accomplished something. 998 somethings. A thing I could see and point to and say, “Look I was consistent, focused, and driven.” Or to put it less elegantly, “Psst I made dis.” And then it was suddenly snatched from me. I felt the blow was extremely personal. Like Haha Guurrrl, YOU THOUGHT!!! And in that moment staring at my empty blog post, I felt like a failure. Like I had taken 1 step forward, and 2 steps back.

Once I knew what was actually happening, I could then really process how I was feeling and how to move forward. In fact, I started planning this very blog post. I first off, had to be practical. I decided that I wouldn’t draft anything in Evernote EVER again, as long as I stay black. Because I already noticed that it hadn’t saved my work a few times in the past. And so, I’m reclaiming my time. I decided Google Drive was safe, because I’ve never lost anything here. Next, I decided to take a deep breath and show myself some compassion. I chose to remember the energy and excitement I had yesterday. And tell myself that I can still harness that now, despite the setback, because now I’m wiser. I’ve learned a valuable lesson, and I can move on stronger and smarter.

At this point, I can allow my rational pragmatic negotiator back in the room. I am ready to process just how small and insignificant this setback was. And here I am, delivering on my promise to myself, 788 words and counting.

We’re so trained to “handle” everything. We’re told we need to suck it up buttercup and keep moving cause life is hard, yada yada yada. But life IS hard, and sometimes it makes you cry. Don’t fight it. Allow yourself to cry, scream into a pillow, put on your boxing gloves and go to town on that punching bag in the garage. Let it out, and then let yourself in. Really dive in and find out what is the root of all this. Most likely it won’t be the trivial thing that started it in the first place. But don’t trivialize your feelings and assume because the eliciting incident is small that nothing lies beneath that you need to address. 

It’s okay to cry. Give yourself the permission and the space to work through your feelings. Try to find the truth. And as always, find your mind space.

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4 tips for making the most of summer (Part Two)

Here I continue my list of 4 things that helped me make this summer one of the best I’ve had since being in grad school. Previously I’ve really struggled with productivity around this time of year but implementing these strategies made a huge difference.  It’s kind of funny that when I focused on things beyond the lab, my life improved in all areas (including academics).

Part Two: Soaking up sunshine & sweet new skills

3. Make a deliberate effort to enjoy the perks of summer

I don’t know about where you live geographically, but I truly hope that it is as beautiful as my city is in the summer. I live in Ithaca, New York where it’s very cold, grey, and snowy from October to April. So the few months where it’s actually warm and sunny are so much more precious to me. I’m fortunate to live in an area with lots of nature trails, gorges, waterfalls, lakes, etc. There’s so much to do outdoors, and I want to make sure I get the chance to experience it while the weather is so cooperative. 

This is the reason why I started to make deliberate plans each week to do at least one thing that is “totally summer”. A totally summer activity is anything that allows me to be in the sun, get some fresh air, and take in nature. Currently, I’ve been gardening with a friend on Sunday afternoons. It’s something where I’m a total novice and I love every second of it. I have so much fun learning this new skill, all while my hands are in the dirt and the sun is on my back. This is a protected time, and I look forward to it every week. When my gardening plans get rained out on a sunday (which has happened more times than I hoped) I make other plans to enjoy the lake or go for a hike. The whole point is that I prioritize having summer experiences.

In the past when I was swarmed with work, it was easy to let the summer slip by. I said no to so many “totally summer” opportunities because I was “too busy”. In my mind I had too many deadlines and just too many tasks to complete to be able to spend three hours at the lake. But you know what? The work was still there. The work will ALWAYS still be there. Summer won’t always be here though. So take a few moments and go soak up a little sun. Even if it’s just going for a ten minute walk each day around lunch time, do something. This small action had a tremendous effect on me in that now I truly felt like I enjoyed and maximized my summer rather than (feeling it was fleeting/drifting past me) it just moving on and passing me by. 

 

4. Optimize your learning potential

During the school year I’m a part of a journal club that meets every Tuesday afternoon. For those unfamiliar, this is basically like a book club but instead we discuss a paper/research article published in a scientific journal. One of the professors that runs this particular journal club has a phrase he uses whenever a meeting is canceled or we end things for the semester. He proudly proclaims, “Enjoy your newfound hour!”. It’s such a great saying and has really shaped my perspective about recovering time. Once he said this, I made a point to do something meaningful with that particular hour block rather than wasting it. 

Summer affords a lot of “newfound hours” because all the classes, meetings, journal clubs, etc that normally take up our time have been suspended. When this suddenly opens up your schedule how do you capitalize? I’ve decided that I would specifically use some of these newfound hours to learn new skills. I have wanted to learn to code for many years, but I always made excuses that I couldn’t fit it into my schedule. Well with formal class instruction having officially ended, I now know for a fact that there are hours available. Thus I’m making the time to learn coding.

You may be thinking “that’s easy for you to say Marissa” but during the summer is when I’m actually the busiest. Maybe you have field work, or you’re running a ton of participants/experiments, or you have joined a competitive juggling league (I don’t know your life). Regardless of the circumstances, I think this is a tip you can utilize. Try to dedicate one “newfound hour” a week to learn something new. And it doesn’t need to be all at once. Maybe it’s 3 times a week for 20 minutes. Also, what you choose to learn doesn’t have to be something strictly related to your research. I’m learning a programming language mainly for research reasons, but I know it will have many other benefits. Maybe you want to use a language learning app like DuoLingo or perhaps you’d just like to read more. It doesn’t matter what you choose I’m just urging you to learn something. 

This tip is partially about being productive and feeling really efficient, but it’s mostly about improving your sense of self and motivation. As academics we love to learn and tend to get excited about new information. Grad school can really make us forget that. We can get so swept up in the day to day and constant deadlines that we neglect to do things that nourish our intellectual curiosity. So spend an hour a week doing something that mentally stimulates you and re-stoke that flame. For every single hour that I “wasn’t working” but instead dedicated to this pursuit it has paid immense dividends many times over. The return on investment is so high because I returned to my work with more vigor, more motivation and with a newfound spark. So seriously, do it. I mean, what do you have to lose?

All in all, these 4 things made my summer absolutely amazing. My hope is that you can utilize some of these strategies for summers to come. Best of luck, go enjoy the sunshine while you can.

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4 tips for making the most of summer (Part One)

I’ve always found summer to be a tricky time as an academic. Once I explain to well meaning family and friends that I don’t “Get the summer off” and I’m finally done grading, it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Or at least that’s how I’d like it to go in my head. In reality, there’s typically some putzing around between the end of the semester and really getting into a summer flow. Then there’s the incredible expectation that you’re going to complete ALL THE THINGS now that so much time is freed up from instruction ending. And not far behind is the wonderful guilt and dread that you’re not maximizing your summer productivity the way you should. Oof. It can be a lot. And then you look up and the fall semester is about to start again. 

This year was the first time in a long time that I handled the transition pretty smoothly, and it finally feels like a summer that will be filled much more with anticipation and excitement than anxiety and existential dread. So cheers to finally figuring this summer academic thing out! Naturally I want to share some of the things I’ve learned in the hopes that you’ll be able to get the most out of your summer. This piece ended up being longer than anticipated so I’ve broken it into two parts. Enjoy!

Part One: Starting Over & Setting Intentions

1.  Execute a Hard Reset

Traditionally I see a dip in my productivity and motivation right after the semester ends. I think I’m just really tired; physically, cognitively, and emotionally tired. So I struggle to just jump right up and start cranking out summer tasks, because I feel drained. And then that creates the aforementioned guilt about not doing enough. The hardest part for me is contending with the long unstructured days. During the semester I need to be on campus every morning by 9 or 930am. In the summer I might have a meeting in the afternoon but that’s it. As a result my mornings tend to extend longer and longer at home. This is a trap. And luckily this year I did something different that broke the cycle and gave me a clean slate. I went home.

I went home to Virginia Beach the first weekend in June. It was lovely to see friends and family and relax, but more than anything it helped me create a clear boundary between the end of spring semester and the start of my summer. I returned to Ithaca with more clarity and focus, and was prepared to start tackling my summer goals. 

The second part of this hard reset involving completely rebuilding my daily routines and plans. It was no longer effective to try and edit my spring schedule because too many things had changed. I decided to craft a schedule and routine that best fit my new goals and expectations. Here’s the key part. Define your summer goals based on the real YOU. Not the fantasy super productive summer hero version of you from your dreams. I don’t know what it is about summer that makes us all think we’re suddenly the productivity version of the hulk. “Hulk SMASH this deadline! Hulk conquer ALL of to-do list!” Nah. We’re Bruce Banner on our best day but with 0 of his 7 PhDs. 

Create systems and habits based on the current version of you, not the ideal version of you. Make realistic goals based on who you are and what will make you the most satisfied at the end of the summer. What amount of work or things accomplished would make you say, “Aah job well done. I did that!”? Figure out what THAT is and then reverse engineer your routines to meet those standards. 

2.  Start each day with intention

I watched this video on YouTube about how Benjamin Franklin structured his day and I was greatly inspired. During the summer when schedules are in flux, it can be tough to nail down a good routine. There were many parts of Franklin’s daily tasks that were worth copying, and the most impactful one for me was how he started each day. Every morning he’d take a moment and ask, “What good shall I do this day?”. 

I think it’s a very succinct and direct way to inquire how you will utilize the day before you. It’s so easy in grad school to just feel like you’re running around putting out fire after fire. Oh…and your bucket has a bunch of holes in it. Oh…and an accelerant was used so new fires keep popping up despite how many you’ve put out. I learned that I needed to take a moment to pause. I couldn’t keep rolling out of bed and grabbing my bucket and sprinting off like a mad woman. I needed clarity, focus, and intention.

So I set an alarm every morning on my phone. It doesn’t wake me, it’s programmed to go off after I’ve been up for around an hour. The alarm says “Set Intention”, mainly because “What good shall I do this day?”, is too long for the text limit. Now this is different than a to-do list. My daily intention is never a group of tasks. It’s always something a bit more abstract, more of an attitude or mindset that will influence how I will tackle the tasks of the day. For example, if I have a bunch of writing to do my Intention is something like, “Be Diligent & Disciplined.” This sets the tone for everything I do during the day. So if I’m scrolling social media on my phone during a block I’ve dedicated to writing a manuscript a little voice in my head will ask, are you being diligent and disciplined? And it’s the nudge I need to refocus on my goal. In a way, it’s really about making a commitment to myself in the morning and then following through.

This exercise provides the boundaries that I need to have a productive day. And it’s also important at the end of the day to re-evaluate how well I stuck to my intention. It’s day to day motivation and accountability rolled into one; a win-win. 

That covers 2 out of 4 tips, stay tuned for more.
To be continued in Part Two.

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Talking to myself: Seeking the right solutions

Recently I finished reading Grit by Angela Duckworth. She is a professor and psychological researcher at UPenn. Her work identifies what makes people resilient, determined, and unwilling to give up on their goals. Reading her book has taught me so much about myself. Well, listening to this book technically, since audiobooks are really the only way I manage to finish any books. (Everyone’s always saying, “Ugh I wish I had time to read for pleasure in grad school.” I said the same, and had resigned myself to the idea that I didn’t have time for books. Then I realized that if I have time to listen to podcasts then I could listen to audiobooks. Game changer.) Anyway, there were numerous times where I had to pause the book and really dig deep to investigate how I fit into her research findings. One of the most dramatic moments was when I learned about problem solving. I was forced to ask myself an important question…

When I encounter a problem do I:

a) focus on my character & capabilities

OR

b) focus on my actions

It was highlighted in Grit that essentially your answer will help bring to light whether you are an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to solving problems. According to Duckworth, pessimists (i.e. fixed mindset/ low grit) believe that problems are “permanent and pervasive”, whereas optimists (i.e. growth mindset/high grit) see issues as “temporary and specific”. For example, let’s say that at the end of the day you’re frustrated with the tiny amount of work you have actually completed. When confronted with this issue you ask, “Why wasn’t I very productive?” When I heard this example in the book I immediately thought, “Because I wasn’t efficient with my time.” And I was quite pleased with myself because my response aligned with the optimist response. However that satisfaction was short lived because next Duckworth shared the pessimist response and it stopped me dead in my tracks. That response was, “I just can’t seem to do anything right. I’m never productive.” Whoa. I might not have used those exact words but I’ve definitely repeated very similar negative scripts to myself over the years. This shocked me because I’m known to be a very positive person. How could I line up with both the optimist and the pessimist? What was going on?

Duckworth explained that how we viewed our problems fundamentally shaped our ability to solve said problems. When individuals think the issue is permanent and pervasive it often mirrors having a fixed mindset, and leads to people giving up prior to finding solutions. They feel like the problem is bigger than their abilities, and always will be, therefore there’s nothing they can do. They show very little grit or resolve. Alternatively, by viewing difficult situations as temporary and specific, individuals adopt a growth mindset. The problem is specific to whatever conditions led to it arising, not due to some deep character flaw of their own that “ALWAYS” seems to conjure it.

As I began to explore my patterns of behavior more deeply, certain themes began to emerge. Whenever I was frustrated about a past decision that put me in a tough spot in the present, I used that moment to berate myself. I adopted the permanent and pervasive narrative and I weaponized it to rebuke my poor choices. Shortly after reading about all of this in Duckworth’s book, I randomly came across this oddly motivating twitter screenshot on facebook. To be clear, it wasn’t odd to see something like this posted on my social media, but it was oddly specific to what I had been thinking about. (fear the robot overlords!)

This really hit me hard. Even if you’re not a person of faith like I am, maybe think of it as your inner self or inner voice. It’s all the same. After seeing this post, I began to catch myself saying negative things in more subtle ways; and it scared me because it meant I was constantly absorbing these harmful narratives. For example, last week I desperately needed to stretch my shoulders after a workout, but was running short on time. I had just finished doing a bunch of heavy bench press sets (yes I’m talking about crossfit again) and, due to an old injury in my right shoulder, I always try to spend extra time in recovery. Well, I was out of time and had to leave the gym. I could either do half the amount of time for both shoulders, or do the whole amount for just my right shoulder. I chose the latter. And the next morning my right shoulder felt great, but my left shoulder ached. I sat up in bed and said, “Why did I think only doing one shoulder was a good idea? I’m such a moron.”

Record scratch.

I couldn’t believe it. I had been awake for about 14 seconds and I was already talking to myself horribly. I took a deep breath and corrected the situation. I said, “You are NOT a moron. You were tight on time and had to make a decision. Now you know for the future that it’s probably better to stretch both sides even if you have to cut the time.” I transformed the script from permanent & pervasive (a me problem), to temporary & specific (a regular ole problem).

How often are you turning run of the mill, super ordinary, mundane problems in life into harsh critiques of your character and capabilities? Anything above zero is too many. So stop that.

I think a big part of it for me is that when I’m frustrated with a situation I take it out on myself. And that’s problematic because grad school is VERY frustrating. Maybe your experiments aren’t working or, more commonly, you simply have too much to do and seemingly not enough time to do it all. When that sense of overwhelm and frustration builds, remember to stick to the temporary & specific scripts.

I noticed that I would be upset about my productivity on certain days of the week. It was typically on days where I had lots of meetings, seminars, journal clubs, etc fragmenting my time. By shifting the perspective from the permanent & pervasive (Ugh. Why can’t you ever focus?) to temporary & specific (These interruptions make it hard for you to do deep work.) I could arrive at a workable solution. Now, on days where my time is fragmented, I plan to do more administrative tasks that don’t require a ton of focus, but also still really need to get done. I even started keeping a list of these tasks with an estimated amount of time to completion. So now, when I only have 35min between meetings, I can pick something off that list and knock it out. These small changes have made a world of difference; but I had to frame the problem properly in order to arrive at a meaningful solution.

“Productivity” is the source of so much angst in grad school. There’s always that nagging feeling that you’re not doing enough; so we’re all chasing this elusive sense of accomplishment or validation that we’re putting in the “right amount” of work. This situation isn’t going away anytime soon, so in many ways, it’s quite helpful and healthy to implement strategies to optimize your workflow. However, what isn’t healthy or helpful is the permanent & pervasive mindset. So my advice is to avoid blaming yourself at all costs.

You are not the problem. You are the problem solver. Therefore speak to yourself with kindness and love so that you’re empowered to find the right solutions.