Huffington post recently published a piece on how professors spend their time (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-wade/what-do-professors-do-all_b_5212149.html). Turns out, most work about 61 hours a week on average, with 10 of those hours occurring over the weekend. That's a lot of hours! Be that as it may, what's a bit distressing is how those hours are spent. Out of all the activities the researcher quantified, professors spend the largest portion of time in meetings, with emailing taking a close second.
This leads me to consider the importance of thinking about yeses and nos. Given that there are finite hours in a day and finite hours in a work week, saying "Yes" to spending time one way means saying "no" to spending that same time differently. I guess that's basic physics: two tasks cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
This week I am living with the fact that I said yes to something which is a low priority and yet high-stress and time-consuming. What that means, I've realized, is less yoga, less academic writing, and less time with my husband in the evening--whoops, there go my priorities!
To help remember that saying yes means saying no to something else, I'm considering making a mini priorities shrine (http://www.katherinefusco.com/1/post/2014/04/a-priorities-shrine-a-powerful-metaphor-post.html) in my campus office, which is the place where I tend to say yes too much. I'm hoping a visual reminder will help me say the nos that mean saying yes to my priorities.
This leads me to consider the importance of thinking about yeses and nos. Given that there are finite hours in a day and finite hours in a work week, saying "Yes" to spending time one way means saying "no" to spending that same time differently. I guess that's basic physics: two tasks cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
This week I am living with the fact that I said yes to something which is a low priority and yet high-stress and time-consuming. What that means, I've realized, is less yoga, less academic writing, and less time with my husband in the evening--whoops, there go my priorities!
To help remember that saying yes means saying no to something else, I'm considering making a mini priorities shrine (http://www.katherinefusco.com/1/post/2014/04/a-priorities-shrine-a-powerful-metaphor-post.html) in my campus office, which is the place where I tend to say yes too much. I'm hoping a visual reminder will help me say the nos that mean saying yes to my priorities.
