Take a break

“Your unconscious can’t work when you are breathing down its neck.” Anne Lamott Bird by Bird

Last night I tutored a 52-year old college student on her writing skills. She was frustrated because she earned a B+ on her latest paper and wanted to earn an A. She worked very hard, spending virtually all her non-work hours on her schoolwork. Unlike some students she didn’t seem to think that she deserved a higher grade because of the amount of work she put into an assignment. She sincerely wants to learn how to write better and is diligently using all the tools available to her, including me.

I applaud her for that. It sometimes seems to me that the students who need the most help are the least likely to seek it out.

Her husband, who accompanied her to our session, kept telling her she was working too hard, that she needed to take a break. Every time he said that, her mouth would clamp shut and she would glare at him. She was raised to be a hard worker, she said, and her response to any problem is to work harder.

Clearly, she is one of those people who can’t relax. WikiHow has a cure for that with their tutorial on How to Do Nothing. Here are some of their tips:

1. Plan ahead. Set aside time to do nothing and put it on your calendar
2. Let people know. Tell everyone that you're unavailable.
3. Find a quiet, private place. This might be your bedroom, the backyard, or a local park. Find that place and go there.
4. Set your alarm. Set an alarm of some kind to go off when your "nothing" time is over, so that you don't have to constantly look at the clock and count the minutes.
5. Turn off the phone. Turn off your cell phone, work phone, pager, PDA, Blackberry, computer and any other means of sending or receiving calls or messages. These distractions will only keep you from enjoying the nothing.
6. Sit by yourself. Feel the wind, the sun on your face. Listen to the rustle of the trees, birds chirping, water flowing. Avoid the temptation to turn on the TV, listen to music, write a note to yourself, get a bite to eat, or anything else.
7. Learn how to free up your mind. Clear your mind of all thoughts of work, worries, family, etc.

Serious workaholics will have to start with five minutes and practice until they can regularly do nothing for longer periods. Taking time off will increase your productivity, creativity, health and morale. Even God rested on the seventh day.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Point of View

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein

Have you ever had the experience of seeing something familiar upside down or in an extreme close-up view and having no idea what it is? We get so accustomed to seeing things one way that we can fail to recognize that there are other perspectives. One of the hardest, and potentially most valuable things for most of us to do is to change the way we look at things. Here’s an example of how useful it can be.

I used to dread doing faculty peer reviews at the University where I teach. As part of the quality assurance program, each faculty member is observed in class and evaluated by a senior faculty member. As long as I saw these visits as a management tool focusing on critiquing other teachers, I resisted doing them, putting them off as long as possible and trying my best to get out of doing them at all.

One night, while visiting a humanities course taught by an enthusiastic and inventive teacher, I realized that the peer reviews were an opportunity for me to learn the best practices of some really talented and dedicated people. Now I see this obligation as a master class in teaching methods, and I always get great ideas that I can adapt in my own classes.

As my favorite author Anne Lamott said, “The best way to change the world is to change your mind.” It isn’t as simple as it sounds.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

I’m Starting to Feel Like Stephanie Plum

"Well, I had a colonoscopy and a car accident in the same week and they were both a pain in the ass."

Lisa’s Mom, Cool Stuff blog

After having two cars totaled by reckless drivers in a little over a year, I’m beginning to wonder if I have bad car Karma. I sure hope not because today I have to shop for a new car. If only they would perfect the transporter from Star Trek, I wouldn’t have to drive anywhere.

Failing that, my second choice would be to have a permanent driver à la Driving Miss Daisy (Driving Miss Dixie?) to take me wherever I want to go. On the other hand, Princess Diana had a driver and you know what happened to her.

I’m hoping that the car shopping (not my favorite thing to do) will be relatively painless. At any rate, it will all be over soon because one way or another, I have to have a car by the time the insurance company gets the settlement check to me and they cut off my rental car privileges. Wish me luck. Better yet, (if you’re a fan of Janet Evanovich) wish me a Ranger and a Joe Morelli. That might make losing cars worth the trouble.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved