Treating each day as a new opportunity

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Treating each day as a new opportunity

“My challenge is treating each day like a new opportunity to get things done without letting the perceived inefficiencies of the previous cast a dark cloud over a new working day.”
– Planning Class participant (2023)

If this is also your challenge, you are not alone. You are not broken.

I hope this post helps you face this challenge and feel better about your ability to do this (very demanding) job.

A new opportunity

The idea that each day is a new opportunity is something I’ve learned from many people over the years.

My mother frequently said “Tomorrow is another day” as a reminder that we don’t have to continue to struggle. That a meal, a change of activity, and sleep will bring a new perspective.

It is also a core principle of yoga, with the added stipulation that we should not expect to be able to achieve what we did previously. That progress is not linear. That we have to work with what we are capable of *today*.

Memory and practice

Our brains are amazing. We process, create, and store so much. As overwhelmed as you feel, that’s after your brain has dealt with a lot. It’s mind-boggling to imagine.

Our (collective) knowledge of how brains work is vast and yet probably only captures a tiny fraction of the extent of this.

Here are a few things I’ve picked up.

Working memory has limited capacity.
Working memory prioritizes urgent to-dos.
Our subconscious does a lot of work to support our conscious activity.
Conscious repetition can create subconscious patterns.
Everyone’s brain works differently. (Neurodiversity principle)

This is why *practice* is important. A practice creates the conditions in which some of the necessary work will be carried by your subconscious, reducing the amount of cognitive capacity necessary.

This is why transitions are difficult and tiring — you have to consciously work against your subconscious habits.

It is why establishing a new habit is difficult — it takes time and repetition before the subconscious can take over.

It’s also why it is worth facing the challenge, doing the work, and getting the support, to establish habits and practices that will make the things that are important to you easier.

The neurodiversity principle means that there isn’t one way to do this that will work for everyone. Part of the challenge is working out what works *for you*.

Perceived inefficiencies

The challenge of “treating each day like a new opportunity to get things done” is mostly in your mind.

One of the amazing things about our brains is its ability to recognize patterns and to make sense of those patterns. This is very useful in your academic work.

It is less useful when that results in the “perceived inefficiencies” of the previous day making you feel like you’ve failed before you’ve begun.

So much for fresh starts… Yet this is the challenge. It is not insurmountable.

The tendency of your working memory to prioritize the urgent to-dos means that things you’ve ticked off your list get archived. Fast. This creates a mis-perception of your competence.

You *are* competent. You *do* get stuff done. Projects *are* moving forward.

Also, the demands in HE right now are objectively unreasonable. It’s not possible to be on top of everything in the way you might prefer.

Noticing + Self-talk

Your goal is to treat each day as a new opportunity to get things done.

You might need to consciously commit to that goal every morning. It’s okay to say it out loud, “Today is a new day.”

If yesterday was a bad day, or you’ve had a string of bad days, or are otherwise feeling discouraged about your ability to get things done, you can start with an “even though” statement:

“Even though things have not been going well lately, today is a new day and a new opportunity to get things done.”

You can restart your day that way as many times as you like. Notice the discouraging stories. Pause. Reset your intention.

Is your story true?

You can correct the story you are telling yourself about yesterday.

This step is optional but it can be helpful to ask yourself if the “perceived inefficiencies” are actually real.

Beware of stories that transform not achieving your goal into not achieving anything at all.

A practice for the end of each day can be helpful. Notice what you accomplished and allow yourself to be pleased.

Try not to compare what you achieved to what you hoped to achieve. That’s difficult.

Make sure you are measuring achievement appropriately. Progress counts. A stack of papers to grade is actually a specific number. Not finishing the whole stack is not a failure. Notice how many you *did* grade.

For writing projects, notice what you did, how much of it you did (if it’s quantifiable), and how it moved your project forward.

Not everything will appear on the page right away. Thinking is real work. It takes time. It’s hard to quantify. But you can usually articulate some change that’s happened even if it’s “I now know what to do to fix this section.” That’s progress.

Make a reasonable plan for this day

Once you’ve reminded yourself that today is a new opportunity to get things done, you can set yourself up for success.

One of the things I’ve learned in yoga is that you don’t have to push yourself to make improvements. Although it probably feels a bit weird not to set goals and push yourself beyond your comfortable range, listening to your body and doing what is possible on *this* day is remarkably effective.

Start by noticing how much time is *really* available. Then consider how your cognitive capacity will change based on the various activities you are already committed to.

Select items on your to-do list that are achievable with the time and cognitive capacity you know you have. “Even if” statements can be helpful here, too.

“Even if I’d like to make progress on my article, the time and capacity available today is not well suited to that. I could tick off a bunch of these other small tasks so I feel good about starting with writing tomorrow.”

Or,

“Even if I don’t have time or cognitive capacity to write that one tricky section of the article, I can outline it so it’s easier to tackle tomorrow.”

Take it one thing at a time

There may be a lot of things on your to-do list, but you can only do them one at a time. So plan that way and count what you’ve accomplished at the end of the day.

Grade one paper at a time.

Write one paragraph (or sentence) at a time.

If you thrive on challenge, you can challenge yourself to see how fast you can grade one paper or write one paragraph. Or challenge yourself to see how many papers you can grade (or paragraphs you can write) in the next hour.

If competition (even with yourself) makes you anxious or makes it hard to start for fear of failure, then be compassionate with yourself.

Your day is a series of moments. Do what feels possible right now. Then do what feels possible in the next moment.

Allow each thing to be enough for that moment.