The semester’s over. If you’re anything like the academics I coach, you feel like death warmed over. Those last stacks of grading got done on sheer will, determination and fumes. And this is before considering your writing deadlines, committee responsibilities, and other demands. You are suffering from Academic Exhaustion Syndrome. Academic Exhaustion Syndrome (an advanced, more scholarly state of burn out) is a state of emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, ending with grading, over the course of the semester and academic year. As the stress continues, you begin to lose interest and motivation to work, you have fantasies of standing up and screaming in the middle of a meeting, and you wonder what temporary loss of reality testing made you decide to become an academic. This dreaded Syndrome can: Reduce your productivity and saps your energy Make you irritable and have thoughts of strangling an undergraduate Make you feel like you have nothing more to g
but if i resist the internet...how can i check this blog? :)
ReplyDeleteaye... there's the rub.
ReplyDeleteHa, I am terrible about googling everything and everyone! My best friend teases me all the time about it ("did you google it, Kathryn?"). The other thing I've been doing lately which is, I suppose, productive procrastination, is going to the blogs of writers I like and making brief comments about their work. What amazes me is how many of them respond to my comments and how some of them have even emailed me. It's a very cool thing, but I have to be careful not to let that be a form of procrastination, too. Ha! And here I am, blogging on YOUR blog, after checking my email and finding an advertisement from you, and all this AFTER not being able to sleep because I wanted to get up and write. This academic distraction disorder is a sneaky thing.
ReplyDelete--Kathryn (I have emailed you before--and the blog address is from the blog I kept last year for my classes.)
Hi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a sneaky thing. I sometimes feel like I'm coming out of a trance when I realize what I've been doing.
I agree that there is something like productive procrastination, if you don't let it run away with you. You are a pretty prolific writer, and have been doing a good job of moving towards your goals, so I guess you're allowed!
Hi Gina, one thing I do is to write in places where I would otherwise have to pay to surf, like Barnes and Noble or Starbucks, although you have to watch out for overlapping free zones. When I know I can surf for free at home or at school, it keeps me from paying.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, Jon. In the future, when there is free Internet access everywhere, it will take much longer to get a Ph.D.!
ReplyDeleteI've already thanked Gina personally for this cartoon--it's hilarious and a little sad for those of us living in this reality! But it gave me some perspective on how prevalent this problem is.
ReplyDeleteI have a suggestion that could be time-saving or time-consuming, so use with caution. If you use regular Google, you are likely to waste time wading through spam and scrolling through irrelevant content. A much more helpful resource is scholar.google.com, which is still in beta form but is a vast repository for finding scholarly articles and books, esp for those of us writing away from our home campus.
Hope this helps, but set a timer before going there (telling myself this advice also!).
oh, i went back and found the accompanying article in gina's newsletter--not sure if i missed the link in the blog, but i thought it would be helpful for anyone who can relate to this cartoon. some very sound tips--going offline to practice them now :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.academicladder.com/ezines/index.htm#SUB
Thanks for the link and the reminder about Google Scholar, Nan! You've encouraged me to try my hand at another cartoon.
ReplyDelete