Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Being an academic in dystopian times: valuing your academic work As I write this, there has been an escalation of white supremacist activity in the US, and the generally difficult political climate in both the US and the UK has not really become less difficult than when I wrote […]
Read More »Self-Confidence
Posts in this category discuss self-confidence and the practices that build and maintain your confidence.
Reconnecting with the desire to write
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Reconnecting with the desire to write I was talking with a client about writing and motivation recently. We started with “It’s really hard to write with a gun to your head.” which strikes me as a pretty widespread problem. Whether that metaphorical gun is the REF, the tenure process, […]
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Do you need to be excellent?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you need to be excellent? I have written before about “doing your best” being a distraction and instead encouraged you to focus on doing good work. In this post, I want to extend that argument using a recently published scholarly article as a jumping off point. (You can […]
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You get a lot done
Your to-do list is long. It never seems to get any shorter does it? And many of the things on your list are long term projects with lots of sub-projects and tasks and whatnot. It seems like some of those things have been on your to do list forever. Some people will tell you to […]
Read More »You aren’t trying to win an argument
For various reasons I’ve been thinking about what holds people back from submitting/publishing their work. Fear of criticism comes up a lot. As if somehow if someone doesn’t like it, or disagrees with it, it means you shouldn’t have published it, or the work was wasted or something. We are all searching for truth. That’s […]
Read More »Do good work!
How often have you been in this position? Unable to move a project forward because you want to do your best? Best is a distraction. Best is an abstract goal. It is impossible to meet because there are no concrete indicators. Furthermore, best is a moving target. Future You will be a better scholar and […]
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Taking on a leadership role
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Taking on a leadership role Taking on a management/leadership role, even at the department level is a big deal. You might be really excited about the possibilities and have all kinds of plans for how you can make things better (for some value of “better”). But you also know […]
Read More »Prestigious journals & wider impact
Writing for scholarly journals and writing for wider impact are not mutually exclusive. The impact your work has outside of academia is partly dependent on the quality of the work and the respect that work has within relevant academic networks. Yes, we want evidence based policy and practice, but we also want that evidence to […]
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How does teaching make you feel?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How does teaching make you feel? Seriously. Do you look forward to it? Or do you dread it? Or something in between? Be honest with yourself, even if that’s hard. You can’t change anything until you look the problem (if there is one) squarely in the face. A lot […]
Read More »New Academic Year roundup
The spiral-like nature of your academic life is particularly evident at the beginning of the academic year. No matter how experienced you are, it is always a bit chaotic. It offers the possibility of doing things better, or at least differently, this year. It is easy to approach a new year with your eyes on […]
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On valuing your work
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · On valuing your work I came across a blog post by an artist that resonated with things I know academics also experience. I’d like to share it with you. The post is Artist’s Statement — Part Two at The Pale Rook. In it, the author talks about her own […]
Read More »Flexibility, autonomy, and boundaries
One of the things you love about academic work is the flexibility and the autonomy. You don’t have to be in the office at 9 a.m. every morning. You don’t even have to be in the office every day. In theory you could take Wednesday off to go for a nice long hike and then work […]
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