At least, that's my perception. I don't like binge working followed by periods of slacking off. A major theme of this blog is that I believe working at a consistent, sustainable pace is best.
Today reinforced this ethic. I worked a whole bunch of hours last week and I had a great, work-free weekend as a reward. Today I had a doctor's appointment (no big deal, just my annual Lady Inspection which they didn't end up doing because it hasn't been quite a year since my last one) so I stayed home. It was impractical for me to drive to my normal workplace, but I could have gone to campus, since my appointment was at the university health center. I rationalized that I never get anything done there ; I'm there so infrequently that I spend the whole time catching up with people and running errands. But I know that the real reason was lurking in the back of my mind: I worked extra hard last week, so I deserve a day to loaf around. To clarify, I would not have just taken a spontaneous day off for this reason, but since half the day was going to be at the doctor anyway...you know the rest.
This is the trouble when I put in extra time. There's a backlash. Like the writing book says, only a fool rewards writing with a break from writing and I think it's the same with all the rest of our work. I'm a tortoise, not a hare.
2 comments:
Those "rewards" are always tempting, but risky. (I read two lines of a paper. Can I read two blogs?). I agree with you and would also think that I function better with regular work. Sometimes there's just no escape from the deadline!
I do much better with consistent work, too. If I work too much, then I just really want time off. I've been struggling a bit with that this week.
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