I am back!!! I say that with joy and gladness in my voice. I love the kiddos, but 11 uninterrupted days without house guests or travel was a long time in cold weather. We successfully navigated the shopping/gift buying/wrapping (the UPS man now thinks I'm crazy with gifts from out of town and online shopping) and celebrating with family. The kiddos loved their presents and Santa had cookies (albeit the kind you take out of a box and bake). We enjoyed local venues for kid entertainment and played in the snow. But, thankfully I now have sometime to focus on work and get something done (which did not happen over the holidays). And, we have 2 blissful weeks until classes start on the 19th.
December was a month of extraordinary craziness (even for me) the perfect storm of travel, end of the semester holidays and unexpected service commitments. I agreed to serve in a leadership role for an important committee and the amount of time spent behind the scenes to get all the ducks lined up was amazingly more than anticipated. Things are moving in a very positive direction, so I am hopeful that it all paid off, but it was much harder than I anticipated when I said yes. The lesson I have learned is that you have to get everyone informed on the same page before the meeting so that they can all feel good about the decision being made and get a chance to things through/process the situation before hand. Not sure how I feel about leadership/administrative roles after all this but I have definitely learned a lot about herding cats.
My goals for the new year are:
1) to have a more organized office
2) work on saying no more often
3) work out at least 2 times per week
4) focus on the big picture and what really matters
And for the next two weeks (before classes start), I need to edit two papers from students who graduated already, write a book chapter that is due in mid-Jan, and review some grants. Oh and come up with a syllabus for my class (last taught a few years ago).
What are your New Years Goals?
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Hope the semester prep is going well.
ReplyDeleteMy main goal is to get another of my proposed research projects underway. I've got two new students (undergrads) on board, so I hope they turn out well.