Daily Rituals

[objectivityofcontradiction]

A book has recently come out titled "Daily Rituals," by Mason Currey. It offers short, snappy, and detailed  descriptions of the work habits of some of history's great artists, composers, writers, philosophers, etc. It is an awesome read. If you are like me and are constantly interested in how your fellow grads work, what their writing and reading habits are, etc., then I highly recommend it. 

 

Anyways, FWIW, I write in the afternoon. I have friends who say that if they have not completed any work by noon they are screwed and can't do anything with the rest of their day. For me, I like to write between 2-7pm. I often hear others claim that it is best to write in the morning because despite feeling groggy, one's mind is actually quite clear and therefore the ideas flow better in the morning. But that is not how it works for me. 

 

Any one want to share their habits? 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Morning or in the wee hours of the night for me. Mind is clear in the morning. Mind is doing back flips in the wee hours. Gives me a Jeckyll and Hyde effect. 

[TakeruK]

I prefer to modify my behaviour to the 9 to 5 workday (well more like 9 to 6pm) instead of modifying my workday to match my optimal behaviour. The reasons are mostly practical -- my spouse works a "9 to 5"-like and I cook dinner so it's easier to be home by 6pm ish and then get dinner ready by 6:30. When a deadline is looming, I usually get a lot of work done between 10pm and 2am if necessary. I almost always go back to the office if I need to work extra though because I feel like my mood is really set by the environment. My home environment tells me not to work and I prefer it that way -- I don't want to be working at home or thinking about work at home if I can help it. So on that related note, my other reason to prefer fixed "standard" working hours is so that I feel like I am working a standard X hours per week job and that way I can set limits on how much I work instead of feeling pressured to work until everything possible is done (which will take infinite time).

 

I think if I really worked the hours where my brain functions the best, I would work 1pm to 6pm then 10pm to 2am. But that is very disruptive to the other parts of my life so I prefer to get all of my work done in a solid 9 hour block if possible. But being able to work at night is helpful on occasions where I have to work at night on the telescope!

[wandajune]

My best writing happens between 8am-11am and 2pm-6pm. If I'm working under an approaching deadline, then I can be pretty productive in the later evening. I like working in a public space (libraries, coffeeshops, bars and restaurants if they aren't noisy), because for some reason I'm less likely to procrastinate or be distracted if other people are around to see what I'm up to. Helps if I'm drinking coffee, too.

[jhefflol]

Can we revive this thread? It's so interesting! I tend to work better at night. I'm not sure why, but my internal clock refuses to do anything productive before like 7pm. Having noticed this, I like to take more night classes and I usually stay at the library until I'm kicked out. Is anyone attending a school where the library is 24 hours? I'm eternally jealous.

[hreaðemus]

I definitely work more efficiently during the day - by 7pm my brain has essentially shut down, which means I've never been good at all-nighters. Unfortunately, I also tend towards insomnia! So... not a great combination there, heh. The combination usually means that I write from about 11 to 5, though, when I'm working on research, and do other less intellect-intensive work, like emailing and database organization, after 6.

 

But, jhefflol, my school has a 24-hour library during the academic year! It's a nice option when necessary.

[TakeruK]

Can we revive this thread? It's so interesting! I tend to work better at night. I'm not sure why, but my internal clock refuses to do anything productive before like 7pm. Having noticed this, I like to take more night classes and I usually stay at the library until I'm kicked out. Is anyone attending a school where the library is 24 hours? I'm eternally jealous.

 

I have a key to access one of the libraries at my school so it's essentially 24 hours but no staff is around after 5pm. Fortunately, the checkout is on an honour system, so I can self-checkout a book if I need it at night for some reason (just sign my name on a sheet and the librarian checks it out for me the next day). However, if I just need a working space, I would just go to my office--I'd only go to the library to use a textbook on reserve or to check out a book!

[sciencem]

A book has recently come out titled "Daily Rituals," by Mason Currey. It offers short, snappy, and detailed  descriptions of the work habits of some of history's great artists, composers, writers, philosophers, etc. It is an awesome read. If you are like me and are constantly interested in how your fellow grads work, what their writing and reading habits are, etc., then I highly recommend it. 

 

Anyways, FWIW, I write in the afternoon. I have friends who say that if they have not completed any work by noon they are screwed and can't do anything with the rest of their day. For me, I like to write between 2-7pm. I often hear others claim that it is best to write in the morning because despite feeling groggy, one's mind is actually quite clear and therefore the ideas flow better in the morning. But that is not how it works for me. 

 

Any one want to share their habits? 

Thanks for sharing the information about this book, i also think that, fresh mind can be more productive, faster & it may have unique thoughts...

[jujubea]

Practicing for the GRE, Cpoco?

 

If I have a serious deadline, I can force myself to work pretty much any hours except between 6am and noon. Ironically, if my deadline is not tight, my more productive hours are between 8am and noon. I am worthless most of the time between 1pm and 4pm, and then the kids come home and I'm making snacks and dinner and doing household stuff. This means my second-most productive hours, if I can push through the tiredness, are about 8pm to 1 or 2am.

 

Like others, I also prefer public spaces to get myself in gear. I do horribly with any family members around. But I can work solidly with friends or classmates around. I think it has something to do with the "purpose" of my role within the environment, as I've conceived of it. For example, my purpose at home is not to work. My purpose at where I work is not to study. But, at a public place that I do not regularly frequent for goofing off, I have not conceived of a purpose for myself there, and so I am better able to mold my activities to the studying/researching/writing task at hand. In a way, I like to have "freedom" when working on academics. Public places do that for me. But this means that libraries sometimes have a similar entrapment feeling as home or work: there is already a pre-conceived purpose for myself at the library, and, even though it is in line with what I'm attempting to achieve, it feels less "free."

 

In short, I'm a weirdo. I'd love to check out that book and see what all the famous weirdos do/did.

[1Q84]

So interesting to see the diversity of daily clocks in this thread! 

 

I've honestly found having my own office (that comes with the teaching position at my school) has been a godsend. I've finally found a place where I can get work done! Even when there's lots of other grad students milling around the area, I'm really good at blocking people out. But just knowing I have a dedicated space on campus that only I have access to (even on holidays) really gets me in the mood to work. Having a Keurig, fridge and printer in there really helps me get into super-focus mode too

 

I can't work in libraries. I just can't. Too many strangers, especially loud undergrads, talking on phones, eating, etc. I really should get in the habit, though. Working near the stacks would probably make my research 100x faster.

[jujubea]

So interesting to see the diversity of daily clocks in this thread! 

 

I've honestly found having my own office (that comes with the teaching position at my school) has been a godsend. I've finally found a place where I can get work done! Even when there's lots of other grad students milling around the area, I'm really good at blocking people out. But just knowing I have a dedicated space on campus that only I have access to (even on holidays) really gets me in the mood to work. Having a Keurig, fridge and printer in there really helps me get into super-focus mode too

 

I can't work in libraries. I just can't. Too many strangers, especially loud undergrads, talking on phones, eating, etc. I really should get in the habit, though. Working near the stacks would probably make my research 100x faster.

 

Now that kind of dedicated space I think would get my brain in gear. *Daydreaming about the TA's dedicated office space at UNM...*

[ProfLorax]

You all have so much more will power than I do. I detest any work space that requires me to wear pants, so really, I do all my work at home. I'm not the most productive here, but I am comfortable! 

[Crucial BBQ]

Can we revive this thread? It's so interesting! I tend to work better at night. I'm not sure why, but my internal clock refuses to do anything productive before like 7pm. Having noticed this, I like to take more night classes and I usually stay at the library until I'm kicked out. Is anyone attending a school where the library is 24 hours? I'm eternally jealous.

I get up early (alarm set for 5:15 am), but don't feel comfortable doing work until 5 or 6 pm.  And by work I mean school work.  Even if I had the entire day off I would not feel in my zone until later in the evening.  

 

My (former) school has two libraries.  The main campus library closes at 10 or 11 pm and the other, the law and business school library, is open 24/7 except for a few hours on Sundays.  I have pulled a few all-nighters in there.