How was your winter break?
Quick, what was your first response? Did you think or say I didn’t get enough done?
Many of us will participate in conversations over the next couple of weeks that start off innocuously enough with the question how was your break?
But all too often, those conversations turn into occasions for boasting or, more frequently, its inverse, the familiar lament Oh, it was fine, but I didn’t get enough done. Even though sharing in such complaints may feel comforting at the moment, what you’re doing is simply repeating a negative statement to yourself over and over about insufficiency. Such conversations can drain your energy and contribute to feelings of resentment and lethargy as the new term begins.
Here’s something to try instead.
When someone asks you how was your break, try focusing on the quality of your break and the kinds of experiences you had, rather than the quantity of hours spent or pages produced.
Consider:
- Did you rest?
- Did you learn something new?
- Did you create, write, edit, design, cook, make, or plan something that you liked, whether or not it was work related?
- Did you connect with people who are important to you?
- Did you play, relax, and have fun?
Draw on those experiences in crafting a different answer about your break. For instance:
- I enjoyed spending time with old friends at MLA.
- I’ve been reading some new work on Topic X and I’m looking forward to pursuing these ideas further.
- It was a nice change of pace.
Such statements disrupt the negative scripts that assume achievement to be externally defined. They also open up the possibility of real conversation with friends and colleagues about the things that are important to you.
How was your break? Let us know in the comments!
(These remarks are adapted from Happiness Hacking, a talk I gave at the ProfHacker panel at MLA 2011.)
[Creative Commons licensed image by flickr user kkimpel]
