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“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those that fail.” – Napoleon Hill, author
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It’s Labor Day and I’m thinking about labor done, undone, and to be done. There’s a lot of it, isn’t there?
I’ve heard a theme emerge among my coaching clients in the past few weeks: a general sense of discouragement that they got less done this summer than they had anticipated.
I feel great empathy – I too planned to accomplish several projects that I’ve yet to begin.
What is it about the summer that results in unmet expectations?
For many of us, the summer is a time when we are not teaching and there are fewer professional commitments. In May, it seems like we will have a long stretch of open time ahead during which we can finally get the space to write, write, write. But somehow those three months pass all too quickly.
How does this happen?
- First, there were probably more obligations than we had anticipated.
- Second, when we anticipated three whole months of uninterrupted diligence, we forgot to account for our much-needed vacation time.
- Third, we may not have been as focused and efficient as we wished. At least occasionally, we dawdled, got distracted, and wasted time. And we find ourselves at the end of the summer regretting that procrastination.
Most of my clients and I have been berating ourselves this week for what we considered our lackluster efforts over the summer.
What is it? I wondered about this pattern of discouragement. And what I’ve decided is that we are much too harsh in our self-recriminations and far too unrealistic in our goal-setting.
Perhaps our problem derives from an over-ambitious wish to catch-up on work at the expense of legitimate longings to relax and recuperate. At a deep level, our childhood selves still demand that summertime be vacation time. School’s out and we understandably want to play rather than work. I believe that June, July and August are especially difficult months for people in the Northern Hemisphere to increase their diligence and repair poor work habits.
Fortunately, the beginning of the new semester brings new hope. This is the time in which our childhood psyche feels at its most enthusiastic about school. It is the time of new notebooks, pencils, clothes and backpacks. It should also be the time to plan a daily schedule that will permit time for our own scholarly work as well as teaching and other external responsibilities.
As we watch the fall leaves turn, it is a good time to turn over a new leaf.
What will you do differently this semester?
What new habits will you cultivate to move your work forward?
How will you make a fresh start this fall?
We can do it!
Mary
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