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5 \u2018Assignments\u2019 Worth Putting on Your Fall Syllabus<\/h2>\n
A to-do list is simply a list of things that need to be accomplished. A syllabus, on the other hand, allows you to think bigger and focus on what you want to learn, explore, practice and experience. In other words, what you want your life to be like. Here are five ideas for your personal syllabus.<\/p>\n
Assignment 1. Learn something simply because you\u2019re interested in it.<\/h3>\n
We can become very identified by our careers. So much so that we can sometimes forget we are more than \u201cjust\u201d lawyers. Clients value our knowledge and expertise, so it can feel uncomfortable to be in environments where we aren\u2019t really sure what we\u2019re doing. But there is value in temporarily stepping outside our expertise to experience something different, even if we aren\u2019t very good at it. In fact, since many of us spend our workdays being the person who is supposed to know the answer, it can be restorative to not be that person for a change.<\/p>\n
Being a beginner also puts us in a different mental space where we can be curious and ask questions, where we have to tolerate not knowing. Where we allow ourselves to make mistakes without treating them as evidence that we aren\u2019t capable. The point isn\u2019t to become good at something. It isn\u2019t about earning a credential or adding another skill to the resum\u00e9. The point is to enjoy something totally different than the usual! (Related: \u201cBeing a Terrible Guitar Player Can Make You a Better Lawyer.\u201d)<\/a><\/p>\n Put something on your fall syllabus that has no professional payoff. Take a cooking class. Learn photography. Try improv. Study astronomy. Take a dance class. Learn a new language. Finally learn to play the saxophone. Anything you have thought of trying \u2014 or getting back to but kept saying \u201clater.\u201d Make later now.<\/p>\n We tend to think self-improvement means adding something. Exercise more. Read more. Learn more. Network more. Accomplish more. But sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is subtract.<\/p>\n Look at your fall calendar and ask yourself: What am I doing simply because I\u2019ve always done it? Do I really need to keep doing it?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Maybe you don\u2019t need to respond immediately to every email. Maybe you can stop attending a meeting that is no longer necessary. Maybe you can stop hosting the family Thanksgiving. Maybe you can decline an obligation you\u2019ve been accepting out of guilt.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t about becoming more efficient so you can squeeze more into your day. It is about creating space. Ensure your personal syllabus has at least one thing that is officially canceled.<\/p>\n Our calendars are very good at showing us what we have to do.<\/p>\n But how often does your calendar contain something that makes you think, \u201cI can\u2019t wait for that!\u201d?<\/p>\n Anticipation matters. Having something to look forward to makes the future brighter. It also reminds us that our calendar isn\u2019t just a place for all the things we have<\/em> to do. It\u2019s also a space for things we get<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n Put something on the schedule that you genuinely want<\/em> to do. It doesn\u2019t have to be expensive or elaborate. Go to a concert. Plan dinner with a friend. Visit a museum or get tickets to a show. Take a hike. Plan a weekend morning at your favorite place. Even a movie you\u2019ve been wanting to see can give an otherwise ordinary week a little lift.<\/p>\n Often when work gets busy, relationships receive whatever time happens to be left over. We answer the important emails and return priority calls. We meet the deadline. We finish all the steps in the project. Then we realize we haven\u2019t spent quality time with our family in weeks, or talked with a dear, long-distance friend in months.<\/p>\n This fall, choose one relationship you want to nurture by choosing one person and at least one concrete thing you\u2019ll do to nurture the relationship. Maybe it is your spouse or partner. Or a friend you\u2019ve lost touch with over the years. It could be a colleague you would enjoy knowing beyond your professional roles. Or a family member you\u2019ve been meaning to call.<\/p>\n Once you know which relationship you\u2019d like to nurture, decide what you\u2019ll do. Schedule a monthly dinner. Take a walk together each week at the same time. Call instead of texting. Have a conversation without looking at your phone. Ask a question you\u2019ve never asked before.<\/p>\n If you are like me, this may be the hardest assignment on the syllabus. We can turn everything into an opportunity for improvement and productivity, thinking if it\u2019s not productive, then what\u2019s the point? But we don\u2019t need to use every single minute productively. Instead, we need to experience things simply because we enjoy them. \u00a0<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t remember the last time you did something that had no measurable outcome and no productivity benefit, this might be exactly what belongs on your fall syllabus.<\/p>\n As my dad once said to me: \u201cTime you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.\u201d (The quote\u2019s been attributed to several different people, but appears to have originated<\/a> in the novel \u201cPhrynette Married\u201d by Marthe Troly-Curtin).<\/p>\n At the end of autumn, don\u2019t ask whether you checked every box. Instead, grade yourself by asking these questions: <\/p>\n You don\u2019t need an A+ in productivity to succeed. Instead, follow your syllabus to enjoy the life you want to live and know that you were successful in that endeavor. Happy fall!<\/p>\nAssignment 2. Identify one unnecessary demand and remove it.<\/h3>\n
Assignment 3. Schedule something you can look forward to.<\/h3>\n
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Assignment 4. Give one relationship more attention than you normally do.<\/h3>\n
Assignment 5. Do something that produces absolutely nothing.<\/h3>\n
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How Will You Grade Yourself?<\/h2>\n
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