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Jo VanEvery

A bright white wall displays a bunch of messy electronic cables taped across the wall to hold their positions above the floor and leading away from an over-filled plug socket extension block.

What if you need an extension?

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · What if *you* need an extension? I’ve been seeing a lot of conversation on Twitter about granting extensions to students. Much of it is framed in terms of compassion and kindness. There seems to be a prominent school of thought that you should just do this, almost automatically. That […]

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Start By Noticing

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Managing Energy: Start by Noticing An important element of my approach to planning is that, instead of focusing on all the things you may need to fit into your plans, I focus on the concept of managing your time and energy. Noticing the changes in your energy can be […]

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Spotlight On: Optimizing Focus

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Optimizing Focus Over the years I have written a lot about focus and distraction because it is a perennial issue for academics at all stages of career. As I pulled them together for this spotlight, I deepened my understanding of the issue and how I approach it. […]

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A planning notebook is open with hand drawn days of the week in green pens with a teal green mug and a green apple positioned above on the white table. The green and turquoise pens used sit to the sides.

Planning as Practice

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Planning as a practice The purpose of planning is to enable you to take action. Making a plan helps you prioritize the things you want and need to do, so that what you take action on includes the things that are important. Planning also helps you ensure that time […]

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A business reply envelope in the mail with dark turquoise facemask next to it. Formal letters have so many conventions of tone and structure.

Email sign-offs

Posted on September 1, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Email Sign-offs Every once in a while there is a bit of a social media storm about how we sign our email messages. There are some humourous memes attributing passive-aggressive intent to various formal sign-offs. They are only funny if you don’t regularly worry about whether the way you […]

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Spotlight On: Email Overwhelm

Posted on September 1, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Email Overwhelm. One issue that seems to affect your ability to find and protect time for writing is email. You may disagree on details. Not every suggestion will work for you. But I hope you find something in here that you can try to make your situation […]

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Making Decisions: peer review

Posted on August 26, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]

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light brown 9-piece office chairs around a large circular wooden table in a glass walled office room with a blue abstract painting on the wall and monstera leaves in a vase on the table.

Making Decisions: meetings

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]

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Making Decisions: planning & scheduling

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]

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A person seemingly drowns in brightly coloured plastic balls in a ballpit where only their face is visible with a strained facial expression peering through.

Overcommitted? Declaring a moratorium

Posted on August 18, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Overcommitted? Declaring a moratorium It’s easy to get overcommitted. In addition to all the things you have to do, there are a lot of things you would like to do. You don’t want to manage your workload by dropping everything that makes your work meaningful. In fact, I encourage […]

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Managing the energy you use to make decisions

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The others are available at the end of this post. Jo VanEvery, Academic Career […]

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A white cup full of tea and saucer sits next to an open ring-bound notebook with a silver pen on top. Lay across the notebook is some pink flower cuttings with stems and leaves.

Spotlight On: Writing & Resting during the Summer

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Writing & Resting One of the main challenges you face in the summer is juggling writing and rest. The first step is to resist the urge to Write All The Things!. I’ve used a hiking metaphor to explain how your summer writing fits with the writing you […]

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