Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How do you think about meetings when you are planning your day/week/month? When you are planning your week (or your day or your month) and you look over what’s already in your calendar what is your reaction to scheduled meetings? When someone contacts you to organize a meeting, how […]
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.
Projects vs Workloads
I really need to share this post by Helen Kara with you. She makes some excellent points that fit very well with my approach to planning. And she made me realise something: There is a big difference between project planning and workload planning. What I focus on here most of the time is workload planning, […]
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Your home office setup during the pandemic
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. I start and finish A Meeting With Your Writing with some gentle stretching. […]
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Writing & research in the summer of the pandemic
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. One of the issues that has come up in the Academic Writing Studio […]
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Time perception and how long things actually take
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. Another issue that came up in Office Hours recently was this feeling that […]
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The case for getting dressed for work
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. I’ve been working from home for over 10 years now and the question […]
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Emotional labour is real work
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. As I watch all the academic Twitter conversations about transitioning to remote teaching […]
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Transitioning to summer
I’ve started thinking about the end of the semester and the transition into summer. The academic year is usually thought of as having 2 main seasons: term-time and not-term-time. When you are teaching, things are busy. There is also a lot of service and admin. The time available for research and writing is limited in […]
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Not contributing to other people’s email overwhelm
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Not contributing to other people’s email overwhelm As a companion piece to Managing email when you’ve rapidly switched to remote working, I thought I’d also share some tips to make email more effective as a means of communication. Modelling good email practices does create change. If other people find your […]
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Managing email when you’ve rapidly switched to remote working
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Managing email in the rapid switch […]
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Are you taking breaks?
Fatigue impairs cognitive function. In the planning classes I run in the Academic Writing Studio, I talk about the importance of sleep and rest. I suggest things like taking a break away from your desk to each lunch and/or do some kind of movement activity. I talk about doing stretches or something between activities. […]
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How to feel like you are moving forward
I’ve had a few conversations with clients and colleagues that reminded me that your gremlins might have some very weird rules. “I feel like I’ve been working really hard but I haven’t ticked anything off my to do list.” “I have been working really hard and I have nothing to show for it.” These statements […]
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