Formal Time Commitment to Hobby + Grad School = ?
Do it. You need that time. When I was in my program, I budgeted 5 full hours a week to screw around. Sometimes I borrowed from one week to add to another, sometimes I went full over, and sometimes I didn’t take it at all. I think, though, if I had an obligation to goof off with others at a certain time every week, I would have kept on schedule more with that time and with my work. If some dire emergency comes along, you can always cancel out on the soaring– but make sure you hold yourself to a strict “it really has to be dire” policy. It is a reward, a necessity and relaxation all rolled up into one. Also, very importantly, I think with this time off, you will also find your work more productive. After a certain amount of grinding away, your quality of work just goes downhill anyway, and you end up redoing whatever it was you were chugging away at.
Another 2nd year PhD student voting for you to join the club. I ran into a similar problem halfway through my first year when I joined up with some girls who were creating a local roller derby league. Practice alone is at least 5 to 6 hours a week, with another 2 hours of required skating time plus daily workouts on your own to stay in shape. At first it was a little overwhelming, and everyone in my program thought I was crazy, but now I wouldn’t give it up for the world. There are days where I have to run home right from a meeting at the end of a 10 hour day, change and immediately go practice for another 2 or 3 hours. Those days suck. But at the end of each of those days I am so glad that I made time for practice. The routine used to be: crazy long day, get home, think about working out, crash and sit on the couch for the rest of the night or sit in front of the computer and do more work.
Do it. You need that time. When I was in my program, I budgeted 5 full hours a week to screw around. Sometimes I borrowed from one week to add to another, sometimes I went full over, and sometimes I didn’t take it at all. I think, though, if I had an obligation to goof off with others at a certain time every week, I would have kept on schedule more with that time and with my work. If some dire emergency comes along, you can always cancel out on the soaring– but make sure you hold yourself to a strict “it really has to be dire” policy. It is a reward, a necessity and relaxation all rolled up into one. Also, very importantly, I think with this time off, you will also find your work more productive. After a certain amount of grinding away, your quality of work just goes downhill anyway, and you end up redoing whatever it was you were chugging away at. My impression of those doc students who had another thing going on (church, clubs, being a dj) and really made time for it, got the respec
Another 2nd year PhD student voting for you to join the club. I ran into a similar problem halfway through my first year when I joined up with some girls who were creating a local roller derby league. Practice alone is at least 5 to 6 hours a week, with another 2 hours of required skating time plus daily workouts on your own to stay in shape. At first it was a little overwhelming, and everyone in my program thought I was crazy, but now I wouldn’t give it up for the world. There are days where I have to run home right from a meeting at the end of a 10 hour day, change and immediately go practice for another 2 or 3 hours. Those days suck. But at the end of each of those days I am so glad that I made time for practice. The routine used to be: crazy long day, get home, think about working out, crash and sit on the couch for the rest of the night or sit in front of the computer and do more work. Now I stay physically active and have time to socialize, two things I would always put in the ba
