Waves of work

I don't know if you, my fellow grad students, have noticed, but the work in grad school comes in waves. One day I have a deskful of tasks, and then the next I have a tiny pile of stickies with no pressure to work. This past Sunday something I ate didn't agree with me, so I spent the entire day wasting away in bed. When not annoyed by the discomfort, I worried about all those paper revisions I'd planned to finish. On Monday, I awoke feeling better and motivated to get to it. So, I plowed through the day, working on revisions and a presentation I have to give tomorrow. By 7pm I'd achieved my goals and I sat back to relax with a novel (in case you're interested, I'm reading What is the What by Dave Eggers, a fascinating account of the war in Sudan from the eyes of a boy). Then, I reach today, Tuesday. After class this morning, I find myself with a couple hours to kill before heading back to campus for office hours. But a funny thing is happening: I can't figure out what to do. I have some work: skim an article for my paper, compile my reading list for orals, think more about two suggestions from one of my committee members. The problem is that none of it is pressing. The paper is on semi-hold as I wait for more feedback and a meeting on Friday, the orals list...well, I don't have to actually start on that yet, it's just me trying to stay ahead of the curve, the suggestions...again, the meeting isn't until Friday, so if I think about them now I might forget what I want to say, so I might as well just wait until Thursday to figure those out.

All of this is a long way of saying that we find ourselves under pressure one day and aimless the next. On days like today, I almost stress myself out by trying to figure out what I should be doing. Without deadlines (self-imposed or not) looming over me, I can't force myself to work. And really, I shouldn't spend every waking moment working. On the other hand, I do want to end the quarter with a sense of accomplishment. I guess this all goes back to the whole point of this blog: grad school isn't (and shouldn't be) all about stress. So, today, when I have a light load, I'll get some things done, but I won't get stressed out by the lack of stress.

Today's Grad Gravy: Don't convince yourself into stress.