Why do you want an accountability partner/coach/whatever for writing? The things you most dislike about your job, and that you would not do if an external body did not require them, have accountability to that external body built in. You do your grading. You do it by the institutional deadline. You set aside important work […]
Read More »Developing a Practice
Your academic life is more than a string of articles published, classes taught, and meetings attended. You write because this is how you articulate and develop your ideas. You publish to communicate those ideas to others. Posts in this category help you develop the practices you need to do the work you love well without burning out or compromising your values.
You Need a Writing Practice is a good place to start to investigate the Writing subcategory.
Juggling 101: Elements of a good plan is a good place to start investigating the Planning subcategory.
“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 […]
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Distraction: not the usual suspects
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Distraction: not the usual suspects Distraction is the enemy of productivity. There’s all kinds of time management and productivity advice telling you to track what you are doing and get rid of all the meaningless tasks that don’t contribute to moving your project forward. There are apps and strategies […]
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Fatigue impairs cognitive function
There is lots of research showing that fatigue impairs cognitive function. This is why the military has “boot camp” to make certain behaviours and decisions almost instinctual so they can be done even when fatigued, because war means you sometimes have to work when you are under-functioning cognitively. You are not fighting a war. You […]
Read More »On not being indispensable
I’m not sure when I learned that being indispensable was a bad career strategy or who I learned it from. I just know that I did learn it. If you are indispensable it is hard to take vacations and work reasonable hours. If you are indispensable then you cannot be promoted. (Think about it. Who would […]
Read More »When does Reading count as Writing?
In the intro to A Meeting With Your Writing I ask participants to list everything that comes to mind when they ask this question: “What does this writing project need to move forward?” I give them 30 – 60 seconds to write. Then I ask them to select the thing on that list that they […]
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What it means to make a contribution to knowledge
The primary purpose of academic publishing is to communicate with other scholars. This form of communication is rather formal. The bar for acceptance into the conversation is high. This conversation is asynchronous and takes place over very long time periods. What happens once you’ve published your article? By publishing your article in a scholarly journal […]
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When priorities and boundaries feel like cutting corners: Grading Edition
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · When priorities and boundaries feel like cutting corners In my Planning classes, I talk about the importance of defining your priorities and setting boundaries. An email from a client reminded me how hard that is in practice. This client was finding it hard to juggle her priorities as the […]
Read More »Making Writing Visible
One of the reasons people have trouble getting writing done is because if feels like “not work”. You know it’s real work and even the work that is going to be most valued when it comes to hiring, promotion, and whatnot. But even knowing that it feels like it’s not really work. You do it […]
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Thoughts on the emotional toll of grading.
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · The emotional toll of grading Marking student’s work is hard for many people. Emotionally hard. This example captures how that emotion affects your work process: Grading is a very unpleasant activity; even for those of us who enjoy coming to class and engaging our students in lively discussions about the […]
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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