We had a hectic week, followed by a semi-productive weekend. Rain and light snow—and a whole lot of mud—kept us inside for the most part. I was about 19 days behind on laundry, which meant that I spent a lot of time with Spray ‘n Wash and basket of clothes Saturday and Sunday. I couldn’t really remember the last time I put much thought into meal planning for the upcoming week, so I devoted a bit of time there, too. For the most part, we are catching up—the fridge is stocked, errands are done and aside of a bit of gift shopping, things are relatively under control at home this week.
Work, however, is another story. Working in higher ed makes you think of the year by semester. You start in the fall, take winter break, resume in the spring, and tie things up over the summer. I do my best to focus my unit’s work in the spring and fall semesters, leaving December and part of January somewhat light. The summers are open for program planning, project work, and of course, a couple of long vacations.
February, March and April are brutal. I know from experience that productivity is of the utmost importance, and yet often, extremely elusive, especially by 4 pm. I keep a task list organized by day, but find that six hours of meetings with only 20 or 30 minutes in between doesn’t lend itself well do doing much more than email. To move a project forward, I seem to require a chunk of time. (A Diet Coke and a quiet office don’t hurt either.) I usually find myself feeling frantically far behind.
It’s stressful, and unfortunately, I am not particularly good at leaving that stress at the office, which probably explains why I am equally far behind at come come most Saturdays.
I don’t know that I would change it, though. I love the pace that comes with working in communications. I love the ever-evolving and expanding priorities. I love the camaraderie that comes from working with a team through the details of major events and initiatives. I love how every day is completely different and often unexpected.
And, like Dagny has Mondays to look forward to, I have July.
I am sure it will be here soon…
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Rebecca on February 8, 2010 at 2:05 pm
It occurs to me that I could have used my lunch hour more productively… 😉
Posted by Jessica on February 8, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Very enjoyable post. I will look forward to ?? I guess just warmer weather!
Posted by Nicky on February 9, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Patrick told me shutting off his email program for a few hours during the day makes him more productive. I can see how so many meetings really breaks up your productive time though! Good luck 🙂
Posted by Lori Strelow on February 9, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Amen sister. I worked at home today and started with 15 tasks, completed 2 and ended with 20. hmmm….good thing I’m not in math.