Yesterday, I promised myself that today I'd spend an hour on my current class (the one that just started today), an hour on the new class I'm planning for fall, and an hour on writing.
It's now 6:30 PM and the day, though well-spent, has not adhered to anything resembling those guidelines.
Fortunately, my husband is planning to mow the lawn, which means it's not yet time for dinner, so I can squeeze in a little writing -- oh, wait, there's my phone.
Yeah. One of the many reasons my days don't go according to plan but, to be honest, I can't blame family phone calls (the only ones I pick up when I'm working) today.
This afternoon, I spent an inordinate amount of time revamping one single assignment, something I'm trying not to do this summer as this is the last time I'll be teaching this particular class. But, with the advent of AI, the assignment yielded far too many robotically voiced articles the last time I used it, and I don't want to read those papers again this summer.
So, revamping it is. I got a great idea for a different way to approach the assignment, which led me down a rabbit hole of videos, all of which I had to watch before I could assign them.
None of this is terrible. In fact, it's one of my favorite parts of my job. I love learning new things, and I learned something new from everything I watched or read today. It was fascinating, informative but, unfortunately, time-consuming.
It also led me to think about what my reading and viewing habits will look like when I'm no longer teaching. Will I want to learn new things about child development? Will that $1 virtual subscription to Scientific American still tempt me? Will I actually read The New York Times virtual issues I pay for, or just keep playing the games?
There's much to be said for structure but also a lot to be said for flexibility. I've learned that, for me, flexibility is often where creativity dwells. The harder I try to stick to a routine that's not as well-conceived in reality as it is on paper, the less likely I am to come up with something new or to hit that lovely flow state where one idea begets another.
Today was a day well-spent, even if it was a little off-kilter. Now, my brain is tired and ready for some leisure. I wonder what form that will take.
And I wonder what tomorrow will look like.
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