I have not a competitive bone in my body. When I play (recreational) sports, I don’t even know the score most of the time. People who are competitive find this odd. They wonder how I get motivated to play well if I don’t care about winning. I go out there to have a good time and […]
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What’s YOUR ideal academic job?
When you are looking for an academic job it is hard to imagine that you could get one and be unhappy, even miserable. And yet, I’ve met unhappy academics.
An academic career incorporates a wide range of activities and uses a lot of different skills. Even those who love it, and are successful, love different things about it, or excel at different aspects.
It is important to determine what is important to you. Your actual job may never match your ideal exactly, but knowing what your ideal looks like enables you to choose better compromises.
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The importance of your vision.
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · The importance of your vision One reason I started doing what I’m doing, is that I could see all of these brilliant, interesting people not really enjoying their academic jobs. For various reasons you were discouraged, frustrated, or just plain overworked. As I’ve worked with clients, I have noticed […]
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Unpacking “busy”: the importance of being proactive instead of reactive
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Unpacking Busy: the importance of being proactive vs reactive In a conversation with a long-term client recently I had an Aha! moment. Every one of my clients is busy. Working with me, doesn’t necessarily make you less busy. Working with me can make you feel less stressed and make […]
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Protecting time for writing: Interruptions
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Protecting time for writing: Interruptions I encourage you to make writing a priority and block time so that writing becomes a regular practice, rather than something you only do when you have specific deadlines. Although I recognise that different people will work better in different places, I strongly advocate […]
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Save time on teaching prep, without compromising quality
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · On Definining Learning Objectives I am a fan of articulating learning objectives or expected learning outcomes. (They are outcomes once they’ve happened. Expected outcomes or objectives when you start.) Articulating clearly what you expect students to learn as a result of taking your course can benefit students. It makes […]
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Shame, vulnerability, and academic work
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Shame, vulnerability, and academic work I am somewhat allergic to celebrity. I will admit that my tendency is to avoid things that everyone is reading and talking about. However, as I was writing about peer review for my Short Guide, I realized I needed to do some reading with […]
Read More »Making Room for Reading
This is a guest post by Sarah Burton, a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow. You can follow her on Twitter @DrFloraPoste. I’ve added the headings, a few comments (in italics at the end), and the related posts. Thinking about what the life of an academic would look like I usually pictured piles of leather-bound books […]
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Peer Review and emotional labour
This is an excerpt from my most recent Short Guide: Peer Review (A Short Guide) which was published on 15 November 2019. The one sentence summary that has been guiding my own revisions is “Peer review supports academic writing!” The book has 3 main chapters: One giving an overview of peer review in scholarly publishing. […]
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Dictation and Focus
In Focus: 3 elements to consider, I outlined three elements that affect your focus during a writing session: the task itself, how you are feeling, and the context. I have written a series of follow up articles going into more detail about what that framework looks like in practice. I use the term “optimize” purposefully. […]
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Writing and Focus in Grading Season
In Focus: 3 elements to consider, I outlined three elements that affect your focus during a writing session: the task itself, how you are feeling, and the context. I have written a series of follow up articles going into more detail about what that framework looks like in practice. I use the term “optimize” […]
Read More »Working on multiple projects without feeling like they are competing for your time
This question came up during Office Hours in the Academic Writing Studio and also in a conversation with another client. I’m going to share an excerpt of the Office Hours recording here. Some context: The person asking the question is in her early career. This was the Office Hours in the week following Planning Your […]
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