Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · It’s not too late to adjust your plans As I write this I am thinking of one person who has shared her feeling that she’s overcommitted this term, and didn’t manage to get any rest over the break, and is Never Doing This Again. I’m writing it to everyone […]
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.
Slack: the key to successful plans
Note: This post is not about the messaging app. It’s about slack as in not tightening the rope too much, leaving a buffer or white-space, etc. During late December and early January the number of posts in my Facebook feed about planning grew considerably. And then there were the inevitable cries of frustration that something […]
Read More »End of term chaos
My clients and participants in A Meeting With Your Writing, not to mention various people’s posts on social media, remind me that there is such a thing as End of Term Chaos. Just like Beginning of Term Chaos, this is temporary. It will pass. Is this you? Are you overwhelmed? Tired? Having difficulty focusing? Were you […]
Read More »You’ve (almost) made it
It’s December. You’ve worked hard this semester. You could really use a real break between semesters to rest and recharge. To make it more likely that you will take that break and be refreshed by it, I propose a couple of things. Tie up the loose ends on this semester so it feels finished. Have […]
Read More »Squaring “write every day” with “take the weekend off”
Habits are important. Rest is also important. How do you square the advice to write every day with my advice to take weekends off and have real vacations? Change “write every day” to “write every working day”. Your brain is perfectly capable of distinguishing between work days and rest days. You can have different habits […]
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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 »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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Managing your workload by creating containers
One way to get some control over how much time and energy you give to certain kinds of legitimate requests is to create a container for that kind of work.
Just as it is easier to store flour if you pour it into something with firm sides and a lid (so it doesn’t just flow all over the counter), some tasks can benefit from being contained in particular time periods or particular spaces.
Read More »Decisions take energy
making decisions is one of the most energy-intensive things we do as humans. Making a decision just plain takes a lot of calories. With a complex life, our brains are exhausted most days, too exhausted to make good decisions. Mark Silver A common scenario You have a sense that you should be writing regularly. You […]
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“Write all the things” is not a summer plan
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Write All The Things! is not a summer plan As the semester got busier, chances are you started saying “I’ll get to that in the summer” about a lot of things, especially writing. At this point you’ve probably got a list that is roughly “Write all the things.” Of […]
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How to take the weekend off
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How to take the weekend off Academic life is demanding. During term time you are juggling teaching, administrative and service work, graduate supervision, and your own research and writing. During the summer and your sabbatical, you feel like you need to devote as much time as possible to your […]
Read More »Transitions in your work day
Occasionally my yoga teacher focuses on transitions. While the poses themselves are important, how we move from one pose to another is also worthy of attention. Academic work is complex. You do a lot of different things in a day. In addition to thinking about how you do the specific tasks — email, teaching, writing, […]
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