Structure saves the day
A scaffold lets us climb higher than we could on our own. (Image by Thomas B.)
In the month of June, I didn’t have that much going on.
School was out, so my team and clients needed less input from me. Plus, I didn’t have anywhere to be (we can thank a global pandemic for that part).
It was a perfect opportunity to work on writing, curriculum development, and creative projects that I don’t always have the time to get to during the school year.
Paradoxically, however, I got far less accomplished than I usually do. All that free time — that unstructured time — simply went by, like a stopwatch that is still running while the runner lies down on the track, curls up, and takes a nap.
Because of the coronavirus, the plan I had had for my summer was no longer operational. But also due to the pandemic — the trauma and confusion of it — I was slow to come up with alternatives.
The best way for me to make something of my days is to impose a structure upon them. Otherwise, the only structure will be dictated by the needs of my physical body: When to eat, when to sleep.
Strangely, the less I have going on, the more tired and hungry I seem to be. So that structure isn’t enough. I can’t always trust it. I need more.
I wanted to write about this back in June, but I couldn’t — I had to solve it first. Now I have: The solution was to have more to do.
In the first week of August, my students went back to school. Suddenly, my days were full of lessons to plan, assessments to review, questions to answer, and interesting problems to solve.
It’s a good thing I had all that time to rest in June and July, because there’s not much now. I’m working so hard — and I’m much happier and more fulfilled.
Theoretically, I could have paced myself. I could have gotten more done in early summer and then I wouldn’t have to work so hard now. Sometimes, I can anticipate problems before they happen and find solutions — or invent interesting projects and complete them with my own, self-imposed deadlines — but this summer, that didn’t work very well. I could only think about what was immediately in front of me. And since there wasn’t a whole lot immediately in front of me, I didn’t get a whole lot done.
That’s certainly not a problem now. The list of projects is long, and my team and I are racing through it with energy and enthusiasm. When I sit down at my laptop, I’m interested in how the day will unfold instead of feeling dread. I’ve got meetings, checklists, and fresh ideas.
Hopefully, despite the challenge of being isolated from their peers in remote schooling or the stress of attending physical school with social distancing measures, many schoolchildren are feeling the same way as the academic year begins. They’re rested up and ready to go, excited and invigorated by the new inputs and information. They’ll sleep better, eat better, and be more interested in the hobbies and activities they had begun to get sick of this summer. The structure of new classes and responsibilities will help them to find more meaning in their days and weeks and create a sense of forward progress.
If you’ve got the same old thing happening — no fresh school year for you — there still may be an opportunity to build a new structure into your days so that you can organize your time and manage your energy. Seeking support from coaches or mentors or signing up for a class might help you to do that. Even a daily walk at a predetermined time or a set sleeping schedule could be useful commitments to design a day around.
If it doesn’t work — if you’re stuck in the same listless cycle — that’s okay. Just as I did, you might need the time to rest. That opportunity isn’t going to last forever, and you may well be glad that you took it. You never know when you’re going to need to use all that stored-up energy to spring into action.
And when the time comes for forward motion, I hope you find something that brings you joy.
