Years ago I started talking about Morning Eva and Late Night Eva. They have a love-hate relationship. In that Late Night Eva loves Morning Eva, and Morning Eva hates Late Night Eva.
Case in point: late night Eva gets tired and decides, “I really want to go to bed, but I haven’t finished reading this dissertation yet. No worries, Morning Eva can do it.” Morning Eva is not pleased. And then you can just replace “reading this dissertation” with a long list of things: reviewing this manuscript; drafting this paper; grading these assignments; proofing this document; replying to emails (and a bunch of non-work things, like laundry, dinner prep, lunchbox prep, school form completing)… and you can see how Morning Eva is not so fond of her close relation. Plus Late Night Eva has a choice – go to bed, or finish up – whereas Morning Eva is stuck – the dissertation must be read by 1:00 PM today, so she is stuck with it, and was not even consulted.
And so it is with Semester Eva and Summer Eva. Now, Semester Eva is busier of course. She has more meetings, she’s teaching classes, and generally, she is always sleep deprived. So, in say, February, when a big task comes across Semester Eva’s desk (well, more likely, lands in her email), of course she thinks about Summer Eva and all her “free time” and decides Summer Eva is better equipped to address the task. And thus, Summer Eva begins her summer in mid-May, thinking she has a big empty slate for cranking out manuscripts and grant proposals, but instead, Semester Eva has left her with a giant pile of grunt work to get through before she can think about manuscripts and grant proposals. And thus, Summer Eva is always in meetings, and generally is always sleep deprived.
One month or so left; what more do you want to accomplish this summer? And was your Semester Self kind to your Summer Self?
“The post Summer Eva first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on July 18, 2014.”
Case in point: late night Eva gets tired and decides, “I really want to go to bed, but I haven’t finished reading this dissertation yet. No worries, Morning Eva can do it.” Morning Eva is not pleased. And then you can just replace “reading this dissertation” with a long list of things: reviewing this manuscript; drafting this paper; grading these assignments; proofing this document; replying to emails (and a bunch of non-work things, like laundry, dinner prep, lunchbox prep, school form completing)… and you can see how Morning Eva is not so fond of her close relation. Plus Late Night Eva has a choice – go to bed, or finish up – whereas Morning Eva is stuck – the dissertation must be read by 1:00 PM today, so she is stuck with it, and was not even consulted.
And so it is with Semester Eva and Summer Eva. Now, Semester Eva is busier of course. She has more meetings, she’s teaching classes, and generally, she is always sleep deprived. So, in say, February, when a big task comes across Semester Eva’s desk (well, more likely, lands in her email), of course she thinks about Summer Eva and all her “free time” and decides Summer Eva is better equipped to address the task. And thus, Summer Eva begins her summer in mid-May, thinking she has a big empty slate for cranking out manuscripts and grant proposals, but instead, Semester Eva has left her with a giant pile of grunt work to get through before she can think about manuscripts and grant proposals. And thus, Summer Eva is always in meetings, and generally is always sleep deprived.
One month or so left; what more do you want to accomplish this summer? And was your Semester Self kind to your Summer Self?
“The post Summer Eva first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on July 18, 2014.”
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