At my university the work week is traditionally 60 hours. When I got here there were still TIME CLOCKS as relics; now we are not thinking of things in terms of time spent as much. Part of the 60 hours was working on your broader formation. Time spent reading things related to field but not one’s own teaching or research assignment would count. So would time spent at a relevant art exhibit. Community service in which you used your professional skills also counted at about 5%. Also, failed research counted. If I sent in a journal article and it were rejected, I still wrote it and sent it, so it would still be work I did, albeit unsuccessful work so far.
For these reasons the 60 hours were really more like 50. The next 10 hours, for which we get no particular credit but which we must put in if we want things to function, are the unpredictable ones. For example if you have extra committee meetings because you are involved in summer study abroad, or there is a job candidate in, or you suddenly have to host a speaker, or you are simply tangled in inefficient bureacracy; or if you must travel to collections or do acrobatics to get basic books, or if you are doing extraodinary work such as ADA compliance logistics so as to follow the law in the absence of dedicated staff, all of this is where the next 10 hours go. It is not realistic to just say no to these things because they will arise, so they are your next ten hours and you must plan for them. That is why there still is, realistically speaking, a 50 hour work week.
Now we get down to the real 40 hours, the ones we can control. This is what I want to imagine it possible to do with them this semester.
Monday: 25 minutes writing, 2.5 hours reading, grading and preparation for each of three courses for the week, total 8 hours. All of this time is alone. Yoga and maybe art studio time that night.
Tuesday: 25 minutes writing, 1 hour e-mail, 6 hours of class, total 8 hours. Work out with weights that night.
Wednesday: 25 minutes writing, 1 hour research, 3 hours office hours, 3 hours meetings or bureaucacy, total 8 hours. Running and maybe art studio time that night.
Thursday: 25 minutes writing, 1 hour e-mail, 6 hours of class, total 8 hours. Work out with weights that night.
Friday: Research day. Physically go somewhere. Have dinner with friends, or otherwise take the evening off. Take a long walk during this day. Organize it in four blocks: 25 minutes writing (before leaving), 2.5 hours reading and writing, walk, 2.5 hours again, total 5.5 hours.
Saturday: This is mostly a day off but it does have one research block of 2.5 hours, in the afternoon or evening. It is a day for nature. Go to yoga and run on this day.
Sunday: This is also mostly a day off but it has a reflective and planning period, probably in the morning, and e-mail and blogging. It is a day for recreational reading and nature. Get some form of vigorous outdoor exercise on this day.
This would be feasible, I think. I might need more time for class preparation and I know already we have Monday meetings to fit in, so my dream Mondays must be adjusted somehow. But I do not want to let anything eat into research time so it will have to eat into something else, as I have given myself only 11.5 research hours.
I am supposed to spend 30% of my time on research which is 12 of 40 hours, and magically my plan includes exactly 12 hours. I am not including all of the e-mail and extra class preparation I may do — these go to the unstable 10 hours described above. The problem I have always had at my present workplace is that it is always in a state of emergency. The challenge is to sail around the turbulence and not got caught in the Bermuda Triangle; those 10 hours are the time I am allowing for this.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 