Lollygagging in the intermission

on purpose

This fall has ushered in a wild collection of opportunities and obligations outside of my regular job such that I have to organize my time tightly and in ways not seen since the year following my teaching award. In the past, I’ve tried lots of strategies, from the pomodoro work-time organizer, to endless apps with check-off lists, to turning off email notifications, to my favorite: sticky notes on the wall. But these techniques aim to make my time work for me, not to attain work-life balance. It’s like the difference between taking a migraine pill and just not getting a migraine, however you might figure out to prevent them.

I’ve written about this before, how my own work-life balance is often not so great. I tend to over-commit, and then I don’t have good self-discipline. I like to lollygag in the mornings, and then I’m tired in the evenings. Then, under pressure and unhappy, I finish all the tasks. I’m not really a procrastinator; it turns out, I just like my bed a lot, and I like my patio even more, and a good book seems like the perfect excuse to do nothing disagreeable. I know people like authors who protect a certain time period each day for working; now that so many people WFH, ensuring protected time has become a whole art. I have not mastered it.

But a few weeks ago, I determined a new course: I would not work after dinner. “Work” consists of anything I must do, like grading papers,¹ or writing out contracts for my business. I allow other computer activity such as writing these newsletters, or gardening, or reading a chosen book, because I like it and I choose to do it. Some nights I don’t eat dinner so I’ve set 7 pm as the cut-off time on those days.

This gorgeous barn spider and I share patio time in our after-dinner intermission, her in her lovely orb web and me in my blue chair.

Y’all, this has been life-changing. I don’t know what it is, some psychological effect I suppose, but knowing there is a hard stop to my work time makes me feel way less stressed. I work more during the day like over my lunch break and after my actual work day ends, sure, but it’s worth the effort because of the guaranteed relief later on.

I realized too that I always give myself until 7 am before my work day begins to do nothing but don my fleece housecoat,² sit outside to drink coffee, and write my daily pages. Twelve hours of work time, 7 to 7, might sound like a lot but of course I don’t dedicate that whole period to working. I eat meals. I take walks. I work very little on weekend days. And there are plenty of evenings when I do no work, just maybe nap and cook myself dinner, go shopping perhaps or have my kids over.

I’ll never stop saying yes to opportunities, so the best I can do is figure out ways to create space for myself inside of all that extra. This one’s a keeper.

I love hearing about other people’s success stories and brilliant ideas. What are some ways you have managed to maintain quality of life in the face of too much to do? Let’s hear about it.

1. I’m teaching 3 online classes, so yeah. Lots of grading.

2. I am a strong proponent of the housecoat. I’ve done research on housecoats. They are not the same as a nightgown, a robe, or a duster. LL Bean has plush housecoats though they are incorrectly calling them robes.