I used to set giant goals for summer only to be disappointed and stressed when late August rolled around and I had hardly accomplished any. I also noticed I wasn’t the only one doing this. In May, graduate students would tell me of their plan to write hundreds of pages on their book-length thesis projects. Come fall, they would sheepishly admit that they'd made virtually no progress on their thesis.
I’ve heard many similar stories from friends and colleagues in various roles within education. Because we tend to have less work in the summer, we think we will accomplish more, but it almost never seems to work out that way.
After seeing this pattern play out in both myself and others for a few years, I came to the realization that summer is fundamentally a terrible time to be productive for many of us. A lot of reasons are to blame for this: if you live in a climate with cold weather, it’s one of the few times of year when it’s nice to be outside; if we have kids, they are often off from school; our friends are more likely to want to do things; and we're more likely to plan vacations in the summer.
In addition, in contrast to our expectations, sometimes the structure of the semester and school year actually helps us stay focused on goals rather than hindering us.
This realization, that summer is not a good time to work, has helped me to be more forgiving of myself come late August when it’s time to take stock of what I “achieved” over the summer. Counterintuitively, this has allowed me to be more productive over the past few summers because I’ve been "less ambitious."
Here is a look at some of my small and attainable goals for this summer and the thinking involved. These are all based on the idea that by setting small, achievable goals, I can accomplish more with less stress and that summer is inherently about having fun not work.
Also, on a personal level, I have a busy summer planned with my family, so I am keeping my goals short and sweet.
1. Read A Book That Helps Me As a Writing Instructor
One of the things I love about teaching at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program is the opportunity I have to mentor students in a variety of writing genres. From my specialties in journalism and creative nonfiction to poetry, screenwriting, and science fiction and fantasy, I pride myself in having a genuine interest and decent knowledge.
Currently, however, I feel like my understanding of the current memoir marketplace could use an update. So, this summer, my goal is to read one recent memoir. This is a good goal because it helps me as a professor, is specific, doable, and perhaps most important, is fun. Plus, I like reading in the summer, and this is an excuse to dig into something new.
Obviously, for you, this can translate as tackling one book that you believe will help build your specific teaching skills.
2. Write a Chapter in New Book
I am working on a new nonfiction book that I’m really excited about. I’d like to think that this summer I’m going to complete a quarter of the book, but past experience has taught me better. So I’m keeping my goals much more limited, and planning on completing one chapter.
This is not as insignificant as it sounds, as in my experience, the first chapter is the hardest, and just getting the ball rolling can sometimes get momentum going. In a perfect world, I’d be able to devote every hour I spent teaching this semester to work on my book this summer, but that’s not how reality works.
Ultimately, if on September 1, I have a strong first chapter of which I am proud, I will be happy. Of course, that first chapter could inspire a second chapter, but I’m not holding myself to anything beyond the first one. I believe this is a good goal because it's specific and doable.
For you, this might entail simply completing the first step of a long-term project, be that coming up with an outline, developing a mission statement, setting a schedule, etc.
3. Participate in One In-Person Professional Development Event
I like to spend at least one summer day engaged in some form of professional development. The WCSU MFA program I teach in hosts a week-long summer residency at the Highlights Foundation Retreat Center in Pennsylvania.
Spending time around other writers, be they fellow faculty or students, and sitting on various workshops and readings, always leaves me really inspired and with new nuggets of writing wisdom to employ myself and share with my students. I won’t be able to attend for multiple nights this year, but it’s only a two-hour drive for me, so I’m hoping to make a day trip of it.
In the past, I’ve taken an all-or-nothing approach to this type of activity. If I can’t go for a few days, I’ll skip it, but that’s not the plan this year.
If for some reason, I can’t make this event, I’m going to look for another day-long conference to attend and help recharge my writing and educational battery. This is an important goal because it will let me devote a little more time to thinking about teaching while having a great time connecting with other writers.
For you, this could be a one-day PD event, either in-person or online. Or maybe it's as simple as getting together with a few teaching colleagues to brainstorm, collaborate, or even just commiserate. Bonding is building, right?
4. Prioritize Fun and Relaxation
It might be cliché, but there’s an old truism that people rarely look back on their life and wish they spent more time working. This summer I’m reminding myself of that and making sure to not stress about being productive and prioritizing doing things away from teaching and writing while the weather is nice.
Okay, I know this goal could use some more specifics, and I thought about adding something such as spending two hours outside a day when it's nice, or swimming twice per week. But, for me at least, those types of activities come very naturally when work isn't getting in the way. So thinking of this as making an effort not to let work overtake summer is all I need.
The other goals stated previously would be nice to accomplish, but are not 100 percent required. On the other hand, this goal is a must. There will be plenty of time to handle those work projects, teaching improvement goals, etc., when the semester kicks off again in the fall, but there won't be any summer left to enjoy.
So I'm making sure to soak as much of summer in as I can. You should, too!
