One of the great things about the academic life is its flexibility. With the exception of class times, I have really don’t have to be on campus a lot since I teach at a large institutions. (That’s probably not the case at a college, but I don’t know.) I do spend a fair amount of time in the office, though I’m never shy about leaving to go pick up the kids from school in the afternoon, or skipping out at noon to have lunch with them in the cafeteria. But, of course, the piper has to be paid, and that usually means taking papers home to grade, articles or proofs to work on over the weekends, and so on.
The other day I was at home and trying to get some papers graded for the next day’s class. This was in the early evening, after dinner, and my kids wanted me to read them a book. I asked them to play quietly for a bit so that I could finish, but it was distracting for me and not satisfying for them.
I’ve been thinking more and more about “multi-tasking” lately. I’ve found that the more dispersed my energy, the less satisfying are the tasks I’m doing. Sometimes it’s not just about getting things done, even getting them done well, but getting them done in such a way that you know you’ve done a good job and put yourself into the effort. When I was grading papers that night, I was not giving myself to my students as I should have. I was cheating them because I was not paying close attention to what I was grading. I was also cheating my kids, because even when I took a break from grading, I was still distracted by it.
So I’ve been trying to do less multi-tasking and do a better job on focussing: when I’m with my kids, I need to be a dad and not worry about what I need to do for work. When I’m grading papers, that’s my focus. I’ll still enjoy the flexibility of the schedule, I’ll just put a little more rigidity into the task at hand.
