I am loving my life lately! I am beginning a new relationship, taking time for yoga and running, enjoying the summer weather (when it stops raining) and generally being happy.
But the dissertation is still hanging over my head. There is nothing I can do but work on it consistently and diligently. The problem is focusing on that and remaining diligent when everything else is so wonderfully distracting.
So I am going back to the basics. The first thing I did was get rid of most obligations and social engagements (I am reserving time for the new relationship and close friendships). I have printed out a calender for the month of July. I put in purple my runs and yoga classes. I put in black my dissertation tasks and in green I put everything else.
Every Sunday I am going to review my progress and set a new intention or work goal for the week. Every Friday I will send a draft of whatever I have completed that week to my adviser. It is unlikely that he will actually review my work each week, but knowing that he might is enough incentive to make some progress happen every week.
We shall see if this makes a difference in my productivity. I am used to burying myself in work when I have major deadlines, but this time around I don’t want to do that and several months is a long time to disappear from friends and family.
How do you manage to maintain balance in your lives?
