You want to write more. You want to finish and submit more of your writing. You may think that the only way to do that is to do one or more of the following: set concrete (product-oriented) goals give yourself deadlines for achieving those goals make yourself accountable to someone else for those goals and/or […]
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On valuing your work
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · On valuing your work I came across a blog post by an artist that resonated with things I know academics also experience. I’d like to share it with you. The post is Artist’s Statement — Part Two at The Pale Rook. In it, the author talks about her own […]
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You don’t need accountability
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 […]
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Change is hard
Whether you want personal change or institutional change, there are some things you need to accept about how it will happen. There is no magic wand It would be really nice if there were. Imagine “Poof!” and things are the way you’d like them to be. No messy transition. Some things are better but […]
Read More »Thoughts on work, creativity, and “bureaucracy’s perverse attractions”
An article about university bureaucracy by Elaine Glaser in the Times Higher contained this thought provoking paragraph: In The Utopia of Rules, Graeber offers a convincing account of bureaucracy’s perverse attractions. It offers a chimera of absolute transparency, consistency and fairness. It is like a game with perfect rules – and which is also not […]
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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 […]
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Introducing Confidence Boost
On the 10th anniversary of self-employment, I’ve been reviewing and updating my services. This post is part of a series introducing you to what I offer. Sometimes you need help finding your way. Sometimes you are travelling along your path and you get to a crossroads, or a tree falls across the road and you […]
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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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