Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Managing your energy The academic year varies in intensity. The typical structure of an academic year has 2 teaching semesters, or 3 teaching terms with shorter breaks between them and then a long break in the summer. Everyone involved needs time to recover and recharge, and to integrate knowledge. […]
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You are not lazy
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · You are not lazy You do not have to guard against laziness vigilantly, watching out for the slightest sign and nipping it in the bud. There isn’t even a risk that you will become lazy. I would argue that no one is lazy. Many years ago I bought Havi Brooks’ […]
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Are things getting worse? Or is dystopia the new normal?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Is dystopia the new normal? Things were already bad. You were already more tired than usual before the break. Maybe you’d just started getting your head around how to keep going in a pandemic, even if you didn’t like it much. The readers of this newsletter are based in […]
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Are you dropping the “eating well” ball?
When you are busy and tired making decisions about what to eat and preparing healthy meals is more difficult. This is particularly difficult if you eat your main meal in the evening. The Covid pandemic just makes it worse. Principles for solving this problem and ideas to try.
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Prioritizing rest over the winter break
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Prioritizing Rest over the Winter Break On the first Friday in December, I ran a group coaching session for members of the Academic Writing Studio with the goal of helping them optimize their ability to recharge over the break. There are systemic issues that make it impossible to fully […]
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So tired you could cry? Enable Low Power Mode.
This post is part 2 of a mini-series called So Tired You Could Cry. The 1st part can be found here. You know when your phone warns you about the battery being low, it also asks if you want to enable Low Power Mode? You need to figure out what that looks like for you. […]
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So tired you could cry? Permission granted.
This post is part 1 of a mini-series called So Tired You Could Cry. The 2nd part is available here. You can cry! In fact, put it on your to-do list. Cry in the shower every morning. Cry in bed wrapped up in your blankets. At a minimum stop trying not to cry. Tiredness isn’t […]
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The value of intellectual engagement
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Valuing Intellectual Engagement Burnout and stress are not just about the quantity of work you have to do. Lack of control and a sense of meaninglessness are major contributors to burnout. It has become very clear that your difficulty managing your workload is not a personal failing. You are […]
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Email overwhelm as a collective problem
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Email Overwhelm as a Collective Problem This post was prompted by the renowned classicist, Mary Beard, stoking up the embers of email stress recently over on Twitter. for all you guys (women and men) recommending 'delay delivery',. do you know what that means? It means that at 9.00 my […]
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Priorities and boundaries in the face of job insecurity
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Priorities & boundaries in the face of job losses A friend (not an academic) has recently lost their job and noted that one of the most frustrating things about it is: “nobody ever looked at our performance, a decision was made several levels up and eliminated the department wholesale.” […]
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What is your plan to rest?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · What is your plan to rest? I’ve asked this question of two of my Guide for the Journey clients this week and now, I’m going to ask you. What is your plan for getting more rest? The beginning of a new academic year is a crunch time. It is […]
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Asynchronous teaching and setting boundaries
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Asynchronous teaching and setting boundaries I’ve noticed in various conversations on Twitter that there are some issues with setting boundaries in the context of pandemic teaching conditions. In this post I address a particular issue with asynchronous teaching. Never in class and never not in class When you taught […]
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