What if I told you rethinking your academic year to align with your goals and values could help you manage your workload more confidently?
Cycles of the academic year & intensity of work is where I first started thinking about the broader shape of the year in terms of how energy, pressure on your time, and how you might work very differently depending on where you are in the cycle. Earlier this year, I wrote an additional post, Managing Your Energy, thinking about what this means in practice, especially with the additional stress of the pandemic.
The external pressure to do more and more is considerable. I’ve written about juggling as a metaphor for planning with a focus on priorities, boundaries, and some slack to help buffer against stuff that comes up: Juggling 101. I’ve extended that to think about why it’s still worth doing even if a 40-hour workweek seems like an impossible goal: Juggling, jigsaws, and navigating by the stars. I’ve also written about how you might need a plan for rest.
Using the idea of cycles to manage your energy by aiming for a shorter workweek in the summer means you need to trust that this is not the only time of year you can write. Using all 3 types of writing time is an introduction to how I think about different kinds of writing time and combining them to make more effective use of the time available at different times of year. You might also consider how you can limit the time you devote to teaching preparation over the summer with an effective end of semester transition: Thoughts on wrapping up your teaching for the summer
If you like this idea of planning the whole year, taking these cycles into account and learning to apply the principles of juggling, navigating by the stars, and managing your energy, you can register for:
Browse the related posts below for more metaphors, thoughts and advice…
Cycles of the academic year & intensity of work
Juggling 101: elements of a good plan
Juggling, jigsaws, and navigating by the stars
Thoughts on wrapping up teaching for the summer
This spotlight was first shared in May 2021. The information about the related class was updated in April 2022, and again in October 2025 to reflect the new Planning Membership.
