It's Memorial Day and I'm having a memorable day.

I'm sitting on the beach right now – the southeastern tip of Topsail Island, NC, to be precise. All weekend I've been taking long walks along the shore. Making sandcastles with my four daughters. Sipping chardonnay with my husband. Collecting bags of shells that will be dumped in the dunes before we return. I love it.

Did you relax over this long weekend? I certainly hope so.

Way too many of the academics I work with take way too few vacations. And some academics never take guilt-free vacations.

Motto of the week: Those who never take time off get burned out.

Here's the burn-out cycle I see: the more you work, the more tired you get, the fuzzier your mind gets, the less you accomplish, the further behind you fall, and then you think you have no time for play….

One common problem of angst-filled academics is that they convince themselves that they'll feel better if they do a little bit of work while they're away. Wrong.

Do you take Vacations (or Procrasti-cations and Guilti-cations)?

Here's the test:

• Do you take your laptop and a backpack of books with you on holidays?
• Do you find that you never open the books and only turn on the computer to check your email or do a bit of web surfing?
• Do you tell yourself that you'll get work done and then feel guilty when you don't?
• Do you find it difficult to relax and play when you're on vacation?
• Do you beat yourself up when you return to campus and haven't finished that chapter, article or grant?
• Do you return to work still feeling tired and unmotivated, rather than refreshed and re-energized?

If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, then you need to re-examine your holiday habits. You're vacations are marred by unreasonable intrusions of intentions to work and corresponding guilt for not working.

You need to learn how to take breaks – big, small, huge and tiny.
Everyone needs work-free zones in their life.

Here's what I advise:

Take at least one day off from any kind of academic work each week. Craft a Sabbath every seventh day – whether or not you're religious. Use it as a "catch-up-with-the-rest-of-your-life-and-play" day if you're not spiritually inclined. Of all the advice that I give, this is consistently the most difficult for grad students and faculty to force themselves to try. If you can't tolerate a whole day off (or can't plan a day off – many of you procrastinate for days at a time) then first aim for a morning or afternoon off. When you realize how much more efficient you are the following Monday morning you may gain the courage to take off a full day.

Every time you complete a piece of work, plan for a commensurate break. If you're a grad student, take a week off from your dissertation after completing a chapter. If you're a professor, take a week off from research and writing after you've sent off a journal article or grant. Forget about household chores and treat yourself to a relaxing weekend away after a marathon push at work.

Plan fun in small doses as well as longer time periods. Create mini-breaks to enliven your day. Link 5-minute breaks to longer periods of recreation: for example, if you love to see movies, your 5-minute "anticipation breaks" might include the following:
a) check the newspaper to find about movie viewing schedules
b) call a friend to make a date to see a movie
c) read a movie review in a magazine or paper
d) ask a friend to recommend a favorite movie
Plan Ahead: Keep a list of possible mini-treats and activities.

Remember that vacations don't have to be expensive or last for a week. Many poor academics develop a passion for camping excursions or day trips. Many academics become experts at finding great travel deals on the web. (One grad student I worked with spent a week in Amsterdam and Paris after his comprehensive exams: his plane ticket was $200.) Hanging out at your home can be fun if you forget about chores, turn off the computer and invite friends over. But keep in mind that overindulging in TV will leave your mind bloated rather than refreshed. And, of course, remember that for many of us, a trip to our parents or in-laws is NOT a vacation. Preserve some time for true rest or exhilarating adventure. You deserve it whether or not you've met your work goals.

Most emphatically, don't try to work while you're on holiday. Don't pack those academic books and articles. Leave your computer at home when you're on holiday. You'll get a backache rather than a manuscript from your efforts to lug your office with you. Avoid email. Read that trashy novel. Sleep in. Indulge.

You deserve a break even if you're not meeting your work goals. In fact, if you haven't been productively lately, it means you really need a holiday. I promise that you'll work harder when you return to campus.

Have fun,

© 2005 Mary McKinney, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Successful Academic Newsletter, in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including my live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
Attribution should read: "By Mary McKinney, Ph.D. of Successful Academic Coaching. Please visit Mary's web site at http://www.successfulacademic.com for additional tenure track tips and dissertation writing strategies."

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