So, when the sun suddenly appears and your friends invite you out to enjoy it how do you manage to enjoy the sun and not get behind with your work? Here are some things to think about which may help you:
- Work in the morning if you can. This means that by the time the sun gets hot and your friends invite you out you’ve already done a substantial amount of work and don’t need to feel guilty for leaving for the afternoon.
- If you do go out, look after yourself. A hangover or sunburn will make working the following day all the more unproductive.
- It is ok to take a break and get some sun but don’t feel pressured to stay out if you need to get back to the office/lab.
- Have an ‘essential work’ list and a rough estimate of how long each item will take so that if you get invited to do something unexpectedly like ‘lets go camping this weekend’ you know if you can manage to fit in the essential work in the time that you have available or not.
- Ensure you are working somewhere comfortable. If you office gets super hot in the sun, and it isn’t essential that you work there, go somewhere else. You will be more productive that way.
Other than that, enjoy the sun and don’t feel guilty, its not here that oftern 🙂
Fiona
(Doctoral Training Manager at IAD)
