2.11 - don't fall into the traps! - summer planning strategies
what's like new year's eve, but even MORE if you're a scholar? the first day of summer - or any time when you're released from other jobs and "get to" focus on your writing!
however, summer can be a trap! and if aren't careful, you can end the summer even more exhausted than when you started - so listen in for my top three strategies for planning a summer that gets stuff done, but not at the expense of your health and well being.
plus find out about my new summer camp - and don't forget to use the code PODCAST for 10% off!
resources:
PS! if you are user "DakotaPlains" you won a free session with me! email at hello@thrive-phd.com to claim your free session!!
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Nothing says summer, like great weather, endless blue skies and a completely unreasonable plan for how much work you'll get done to catch up and start the school year off right. Join me for some tips on summer planning on this week's episode of
📍 Welcome to Grad School is Hard, But... A Thrive PhD podcast. I'm Dr. Katy Peplin and this is a show for everyone who's doing the hard work of being a human and a scholar. And in season two, I'll introduce you to various tools that might make the hard stuff from writing to managing your time to taking care of your brain just a little bit easier.
And if you like what you hear on this podcast, you're going to love what I have cooked up for you in summer camp. More details in the show notes. Now let's get into it.
If you're listening to this podcast, it's probably because you are having some sort of a schedule change in the next couple of weeks. For American and Canadian academics specifically. Although I'm sure that our colleagues around the globe and in various different hemispheres also have a similar situation.
The academic winter term is ending. The seniors are graduating, the campuses are emptying out. You can finally park again. And for most academics, that means that the drumbeat has started. Time to catch up on your writing. Time to catch up on your work. Time to get done. All of the things that you said you were going to do over the school year, and really didn't get a chance to.
So this week, I'm here to share a couple of my top tips for summer planning in the hopes that you won't make the mistakes that I did. And you'll set yourself up for a summer where you not only emerge having done the most important things that you wanted to do.
But you also arrive in September, not burned out, having pushed all summer with no thought about recovery. So let's get into it.
If there's one thing to academics, that's even more seductive than new year's energy. That belief that starting on January 1st, we're going to be a whole new person. It's the idea, belief, traditional system, near religion that almost all academics at some point have subscribed to. That as soon as the semester ends, as soon as the term is done.
You're going to be a whole new person. You're going to write in the morning, you're going to meal prep. You're going to get on top of your reading. You're going to finish all of those journal article drafts that have been languishing. Just everything about you is going to change. And what was hard will be easy again.
Now I have seen that happen. And psychologically speaking, we do know that anytime that you have a big schedule change, For example, like teaching full time during the semester, and then suddenly not teaching once the term ends.
Anytime that you have a big schedule change like that the conditions are ripe for some behavior modifications. It makes sense, right? If your schedule changes, then it means that you have new time cues during the day, perhaps new body cues, maybe new family routines, or rhythms that are going to help you support changes.
When one thing changes, it's easier to change other things too. But I am here to caution you as someone who has gone into many as summer believing that I would be radically different person. The instant that I walked out of class that last day before grades were due. I do have to counsel you that, unless you're really intentional about it, I've seen one or two things happen over the course of the summer.
Option one, that's pretty common and I'm here to normalize it in case it's ever happened to you is: you submit your final grades, yours schedule changes, and you take a well-deserved break. Maybe it lasts for a week, maybe it lasts for a little bit longer. You catch up with all of those friends, you take that family trip and I'm not here to knock any of that.
But very quickly, one week off, it turns into two and then the avoidance monster shows up. . And it starts to feel a little bit harder every day that goes by to get back into those routines and let's face it summer isn't going to throw you back into those routines. There will be places to go and pools to swim in, I hope! I'm an ex lifeguard, so I love pools.
Summer, isn't going to send you an engraved invitation that says, Hey, wouldn't it be great if you got back to your dissertation right now, it's just not in the nature of the season. If you come back, you're going to have to plan for it. So that's option one. Time drifts. And then all of the sudden it's maybe mid July or maybe even mid August, and you're really crunching to get everything done, including prep for the next semester.
Option two are people who hit the ground, running the instant that their final grades are in. They start their new schedule, their new exercise program. They have a rhythm for how, and when they check in with their friends, every moment is scheduled.
And they push, push, push. And in the beginning it feels amazing. Like those first couple of days of January where your resolutions feel really good and really supportive and you're like, yeah, I'm doing this.
What I see happening with these friends though in the option two category is that they push it a little bit hard, a little bit fast, and they ignore the fact that the school year is long.
That they are tired and they need a little bit of time to refresh and recharge and that just replacing one type of work, all consuming, overwhelming for another. Isn't going to get them that kind of sense of accomplishment and rest that they really need. Yeah, it does feel good to get that article draft submitted to get that syllabus done, to get back on top of your email or your reading list.
But all of those things in and of themselves, aren't going to make you any more rested or any less burned out. They're just going to mean that there are new things on your to-do list. Because if there's one academic truth that I know to be true, it's that doing things begets more things to do.
So whether or not you fallen into category a or category B in the past. Or maybe. A unique category. All of your own, here are my top three tips for planning a summer that's going to allow you to be flexible, to be spontaneous, but also give you enough structure so that you're not overwhelmed by all of the things that you could do.
Number one is to book your fun, your recovery, all of your human things in first. Most of us are drawn to this profession because in some way or another we're happier, we get a little bit more done. We enjoy the structure and the routine of the school year.
And while it can feel good initially to completely throw all of that routine and structure to the wind, eventually a little bit of structure can go a long way into making sure that you're the most supported, effective person that you can be. So why not build that structure in with things that are going to help you recharge recover, or maybe even dare? I say it have a little fun this summer.
Maybe you sign up for a yoga class that is a little bit earlier than you might want to, but it gets you out of the house two days a week and you then get to stay at your favorite library afterwards to work a little bit on your dissertation. Win-win it's a structure and it's a movement and it gets you out into the sunshine. We love to see it.
Maybe you set up time to visit your family and take that long lost vacation that you've been talking about. Maybe you set up a schedule where you don't work on Fridays, where you take every Monday off this summer. Work will expand to fit the container that you give it. And so the first step in summer planning that I've seen be really effective is to limit the container of time available for work. If you wait until the perfect moment presents itself, to go on that vacation, to go camping, to do any of your other COVID safe, public health friendly activities this summer, it's never really going to present itself.
There's always going to be something more that you could be doing. So book those things in first and let the rest of it settle in around those blocks of fun and care.
My tool number two is actually to break the summer down into smaller, more comprehensible parts. I'm a big fan of splitting it into two weeks sprints. And I'll tell you a little bit more about that at the end of this podcast, but splitting the summer up into chunks, whether that is an initial phase of recovery after a really tough term, it could be two weeks where every two weeks you focus on a different section of the chapter that's due.
Or maybe you structure it around something like Wendy, Belcher's how to write a journal article book. There's thousands of ways to structure it, but breaking it down so that it's not just summer one giant monolith can really help you because a, it means that you have smaller chunks to plan for. And planning is always more effective and more accurate the smaller the chunk and the closer we are in time to it, just by nature of the unpredictability of life. So go ahead and break it down. This also has the added benefit of giving you a lot of different chances to restart. Say you have one, two weeks sprint this summer that doesn't really work out as planned.
Okay. You've still got a bunch more that you can try, but if you don't really break that summer plan down into different pieces, it's really hard to find that natural reset and evaluation point because it's not built in. You're going to have to wait until there's some sort of anxiety manifested crisis, like a late deadline or a meeting that you didn't expect to force that evaluation.
Better the evaluation, you know about and can do willingly, then the stuff that comes at the bottom of the oh man. I'm so behind valley.
And the third tool that I'm going to suggest is having a tiered system for your goals. It is really easy to say that you're going to do everything this summer and maybe you personally will get everything done this summer. In that case, I applaud you. I'm excited for you. Please tell us all how you did it.
But most of us will anxiety dump a huge long list of things that we even under the best of conditions don't have time and energy to do. At least not in the sport. At least not in the space of that ever shortening time between terms so. Rank that list, maybe it's most important to you that you get this dissertation chapter done so that you can apply for fellowships in the fall.
Second tier of importance is getting a syllabus. Prepped and third tier is starting to work on that collaboration that isn't really doing until the end of the year. Meaning December, but could be helpful if you get a jumpstart on it this summer. It's not that all of those things aren't important. They are. It's just that if you are finding yourself in the middle of a summer push and you know that you've only got two hours, it's going to be so much more beneficial for you to work on the top tier goals. Than it is to sort of spend the first couple of weeks, maybe even months. Either straight up avoiding your work or working on all of the things that are great, but they're ultimately nice to haves. They're not going to be those real powerhouses that make a difference and move you forward in a tangible way.
As I mentioned up top, these tips are coming from my multiple summers of experience where I have really great intentions and it just don't have the structure to support me in making all of those dreams come true. At least not at the expense of my own rest and recovery, that almost all of us need after long draining academic years.
If any of this sounds good to you. I invite you to click the link in the show notes and check out summer camp because summer camp is built on these three and a couple more of my key summer tenets.. There's two weeks sprints so that you can sign up for the weeks that you're going to be working and not feel like you have to pay for the weeks that you aren't.
There's sprint planning and check-in and evaluation courses that you can do on your own time to help you get clear about your goals, small groups, that we're calling cabins, that you can meet friends, hang out with and all of the fun and silliness, that's tied to the theme, which changes every camp session. I would love to have you there. So please use the code podcast for 10% off. You can book a four pack of sessions and get one free. Maybe you book for the whole summer and get two free or just sign up week by week as you feel like you need it.
I'm offering summer camp on a sliding scale, and you can learn all about it at the link in the show notes. Don't forget to use the code podcast for 10% off. Thank you so much. And I can't wait to see you next week. Bye.
📍 Thank you for listening to Grad School is Hard, but... You can find more information and resources in the show notes and at thrive-phd.com. Every month, I'll select one reviewer for a free 45 minute session with me. So please subscribe, rate, and review to help spread the word about the show. Thanks so much and I'll see you again soon!