Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · This is *not* your new year, new start The beginning of the calendar year is accompanied by a lot of cultural pressure to reflect on the year just ended and make some big decisions about the year ahead. Reflection and planning are both practices I encourage. However, if you […]
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Spotlight On: Optimizing Focus
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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Spotlight On: Cycles of the Academic Year
What if I told you rethinking your academic year to align with your goals and values could help you manage your workload more confidently? Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Cycles of the Academic Year Cycles of the academic year & intensity of work is where I first started thinking about the broader shape of […]
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Where does teaching preparation fit in your summer plans?
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 · Where does teaching preparation fit in your […]
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Being available, with limits
There are all kinds of reasons why you need to be available to students outside the classroom. You have various means of enabling those students to ask questions outside of class time: Fixed hours when you are available in your office for this purpose An e-mail address where they can contact you A space in […]
Read More »New Academic Year roundup
The spiral-like nature of your academic life is particularly evident at the beginning of the academic year. No matter how experienced you are, it is always a bit chaotic. It offers the possibility of doing things better, or at least differently, this year. It is easy to approach a new year with your eyes on […]
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Beginning of term chaos is temporary
It doesn’t matter if this is your first year in the job or your 20th. The beginning of term is chaos. This is temporary. It will only last a week or two. Then you will settle into the normal rhythm of term time. Adjust your priorities During beginning of term chaos you can temporarily suspend some […]
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How much writing can you do in term time?
When I say “You can write during term time”, I don’t mean you can write for an hour or more a day. A privileged few have the teaching and service load that makes that possible. Most people would find that a challenge. Similarly blocking off a whole day every week for research/writing is challenging for […]
Read More »End of summer panic
As the long summer break nears an end and the beginning of the academic year looms larger on the horizon, you may have a tendency to panic about your writing and research. You wonder whether you’ve done enough over the summer. You fear that you won’t get to it at all once teaching, student advising, […]
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Turn Summer Writing Plans into Autumn Writing Plans
In the post about Summer Writing Plans I suggested that you don’t necessarily want to finish things in the summer, but rather get them to the point where what remains can be done during a busy term. One of my objectives in writing that post was to help you set yourself up for writing in term time, something […]
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Are you tempted to binge write for the last few weeks of the break?
I’ve written before about the mis-use of the term “binge writing”. I don’t just mean writing for long periods of time, which is what you’ve probably been doing all summer. I mean binging: Are you tempted to push yourself beyond what you know from experience is the optimum amount of writing you can do well […]
Read More »Is the beginning of term chaos over yet?
I was talking to a client who was feeling a bit like she’d been hit by a truck. She’s teaching a class for the first time. Even though it is directly in her area of expertise, she’s overwhelmed by how much work it is. And surprised by how exhausted she is. Even if you have been doing […]
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