First, some background. I’m an adjunct professor, which means I teach essentially as a temp, renewing my contract each semester depending on the needs of the departments I work for. At the moment, I’m teaching five sections of two courses at two different schools, a university and a community college (the worst was a couple semesters ago when I taught at four different campuses, one almost 40 miles from where I live). I have three offices, one at home and one at each college. Over the course of the week, I use computers in six different locations: at home, at one of my two offices (which I share, by the way, with other adjuncts), and in each of three classrooms. In addition, I write, both here at lifehack.org and elsewhere, and for both mainstream and academic audiences.
All this moving around means that I have to work pretty hard to make sure I have what I need with me at any given moment, and that I can work wherever I happen to be — with or without a computer. Here are some of the things I do to manage all that:
For all this, I admit to getting petty worn out as the week wears on. I definitely learn to cherish the rare quiet moment when I can sit and stare and not worry about anything; it passes all too quickly. My system, such as it is, is far from perfect; I’d love to hear other people’s advice on how to hold it all together when you’re constantly on the move.
