It is the eve of a new semester. Overnight the 5 mile radius in which I live my life grows in population by about 25,000 people. Life goes from a peaceful calm to a vibrant buzz. There is more traffic, more people, more chaos, more responsibilities, more interruptions and, well, everything. Some good, some bad.
This is the 17th fall semester I have started. First as a student, then as a grad student, then a post-doc, then a professor. August, is my New Year's Eve. For me it marks the passage of time. Each and every August, I get the same mix of feelings. It's equal parts excitement and nervousness with a dash of nostalgia thrown in for good measure.
The new year always gives me pause, to reflect on the past and plan for the future. It's like a mini re-invention of myself. I get to decide what worked in the past and how to make it continue to work. More importantly, I get to decide what didn't work in the past, and how to make that better.
This year, I was lucky. I only spent three weeks of the summer on travel, compared to an average of 8. I didn't move. That's happened 10 of the last 16 summer's and it's one summer tradition I'm happy to leave behind! So, consequently, this summer was relatively productive - not as productive as I had wanted- but better than years past. I've started to find my groove and now that I have it, I don't want to loose it. So I've set myself a goal for this year - protect my time. So this is the year I learn to say no. This, I realize is one of the most important lessons/skills an assistant professor can learn/aquire. It's also one of the hardest to maintain. So, it's my mantra for the next nine months.
This is, of course, why I'm sitting in a hotel room, 4 hours from home, prepping to give a seminar in the morning. All of which was determined at 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon. Because there's some things you just can't say no to.
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