This page describes a buffering framework I use to keep myself sane. It is a layered system of buffers in increasing size but decreasing frequency. The person who first told me about this was my supervisor and I am just recording the system in this note.

Weekly buffer / Catchup day — a shield protecting my weeks. Every Wednesday is free of meetings and hard commitments. This is space for overflow tasks, admin, emails, reviews. Emergency fires can sneak in, but the default stance is pushback for everything else.

Bi-Monthly buffer / Catchup week — a shield protecting my months. A week for catching up with backlogs, rewriting, restructuring, refactoring, re-running experiments, reflection, addressing work-debt or tech-debt. Not for new projects or doing teaching.

Yearly buffer / Catchup month – a shield protecting my years. Do not plan for this. This is for catching bigger things that slipped, against burnout, developing new skills.

Bi-Yearly buffer / Sabbatical (3 to ? months). This is an existential buffer for stopping, reflecting and reviewing life events and for long term planning. Job applications, career changes, reality checks, moving places are all to be thought about.