My apologies to those folks whose comments on Thursday didn’t show up right away – I was on vacation last week, didn’t have access to the internet, and apparently my spam blocker was on high alert. So head back to Thursday’s post if you have a minute. There were some great blogs highlighted.
Last week I stayed in a cabin in the woods with 16 family members. Maile and I took turns sleeping in – on the mornings I had to get up early with Sam, he and I usually walked out into the living room, sun streaming through the large windows. It was completely quiet and peaceful. On the mornings I slept in, I usually woke up to the sound of 8 kids under the age of 8 running in frantic circles after eating grandparent-supplied bowls of Captain Crunch.
The week supplied some much needed relaxation – late morning naps followed by lunch and swim time followed by late afternoon naps and dinner, then board games long into the evening.
Mostly I was reminded that sometimes we just need to get away. I didn’t think I had time for an entire week off – lots of major (self-imposed) deadlines looming, too many projects that weren’t getting enough of my time. But I needed that week.
And the world didn’t collapse.
I think last week was also a metaphor for my daily life – I’m not taking the quiet time I need EACH DAY to get refreshed and focused. Just as taking an entire week to relax helped get this year back on track, perhaps taking 30 minutes every morning would do the same for each of my individual days.
What do you do to stay focused?
Meditation — a fairly huge part of my religion, but used in many faith traditions — is key. Also, I’m pretty visual, so just picturing myself working on the project in question (be that a lesson plan, a stack of papers, what have you) is quite helpful in actually getting through it.
Music is a big help, but certain kinds obviously suit different situations much better. For me, doing something verbal requires either instrumental music, or something sung in a language I don’t know. Otherwise I run the risk of commenting on a paper thusly: “Grade: B. You still need to work on making shorter sentences into more complex ones, and I wish they all could be California girls.”
Something that’s been key for me over the past year is making rules about downtime and sticking to them. Unlike so many other commuters I see, I make a rule for myself that I do not have to accomplish anything whatsoever while in transit. Zoning out and watching the Pennsylvania countryside go by is surprisingly effective for being clear-headed when I get where I’m going.
I especially like that last one. Hyper-productivity leads to the wrung-out-wash-rag effect