Whether it is in the weekly e-mail that clients send me, in tweets, or in casual conversations I’ve been noticing that academics seem to diminish their accomplishments. “I’ve had a slow week.” “I only marked 2 essays.” “I only wrote [insert number here] words today.” “I only read 10 articles this week.” Negative talk demotivates By […]
Read More »Planning, or Juggling 101
My approach to planning focuses on 3 key elements: Priorities, Boundaries, Slack. I have also elaborated these in my book The Principles of Juggling, illustrated by Amy Crook.
If you have come here because you are overwhelmed start with the Emergency Planning Technique. Once you've got things calmed down, you can then consider making a plan to keep things from getting out of control.
Take guilt off your to-do list
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Take guilt off your to do list This is the third post in a short series about guilt. You may also be interested in Stop feeling guilty, and More about guilt. As I was writing the post on making difficult choices another important aspect of this discussion about guilt […]
Read More »You aren’t just managing time and tasks
In a post for University Affairs Careers Cafe titled Time Management is Not Primarly A Technical Problem, republished here, I talked about how standards and priorities can complicate what seems like a simple task of deciding how long something is going to take and then allocating time to do it. I was talking to a client […]
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Guilt is complicated
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Guilt is complicated This is the 2nd post in a short series about guilt. You may also be interested in Stop feeling guilty, and Take guilt off your to do list. To further complicate the guilt thing… let me throw in that much of it for me stems […]
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Book proposals
Someone on Twitter mentioned book proposals in response to my post on planning. This is a good example of getting stuck in the plan (and then possibly getting stuck with the plan), so I thought I’d talk more about it. What is a book proposal for? The obvious answer is that it is the means by which […]
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Changing your relationship to planning
Did my post on planning make you think about changing how much planning you do? Did a gremlin (or six) turn up to tell you what a big risk that would be? This is not surprising. After all writing is an important part of your work. A lot is riding on it. Maybe no one […]
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Getting stuck in the planning stage
#writing thought of the day: less planning, more writing. I do love planning. But I need to do more writing. That’s the feeling as of late. — Liana Silva (@literarychica) January 24, 2013 The allure of plans Plans offer us the illusion of control. You consider what is possible. You consider the resources available. You […]
Read More »What can you accomplish in a week
When I wrote about how the typical week always includes something unexpected, I talked about the importance of having spare capacity in your work-plan to accommodate those unexpected tasks or events. But what happens if you don’t even have a clear sense of what your typical week involves? For several years I offered e-mail support for clients. They […]
Read More »Principles vs rules: Write every day?
Recently I came across this article on Study Hacks: Why “Write Every Day” is Bad Advice Here’s what happens when you resolve to write every day: you soon slip up. If you’re not a full-time writer, this is essentially unavoidable. An early meeting at work, a back-up on the subway, an afternoon meeting that runs long — […]
Read More »Does it feel like this term might be getting away from you?
It is now mid-November. For those in the Northern Hemisphere this is so far from the beginning of the autumn term that you’ve completely lost the energy from the newness of it but not quite close enough to the end to feel like it is almost over. Are you starting to worry that you aren’t […]
Read More »What if unexpected events are normal?
My friend and colleague Julie Clarenbach posted this on Facebook the other day: Sometimes I have this idea that if we can just get beyond THIS crisis everything will settle down and go back to “normal.” But there’s always something. I think Shit Happening may BE “normal.” She’s right. There will always be something. Maybe […]
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Do you over-explain?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you overexplain? When you say “no” to a request, do you offer an explanation? Do you have your full schedule posted on your office door? Is your electronic Calendar publicly visible with all the details of your meetings? Do you also find it hard to say no? Do […]
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