Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight on Imposter syndrome I’ve noticed that there are a broader range of terms used to talk about feeling like an imposter these days. Whatever you call it — syndrome, complex, feelings, or something else — it is a real thing that stops you from doing the work that […]
Read More »best contribution
What’s YOUR ideal academic job?
When you are looking for an academic job it is hard to imagine that you could get one and be unhappy, even miserable. And yet, I’ve met unhappy academics.
An academic career incorporates a wide range of activities and uses a lot of different skills. Even those who love it, and are successful, love different things about it, or excel at different aspects.
It is important to determine what is important to you. Your actual job may never match your ideal exactly, but knowing what your ideal looks like enables you to choose better compromises.
Read More »
Don’t do your best!
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Don’t Do Your Best! You know all about perfectionism and why it isn’t equivalent to “striving for excellence” but is actually a psychological problem that seriously hampers your work. (If you don’t, read the pieces linked here, and maybe talk to a mental health professional.) But I bet you […]
Read More »
Guilt is complicated
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Guilt is complicated This is the 2nd post in a short series about guilt. You may also be interested in Stop feeling guilty, and Take guilt off your to do list. To further complicate the guilt thing… let me throw in that much of it for me stems […]
Read More »
Permission to refuse service/admin requests
One difference between an academic career and other forms of employment is that you are often left to manage your workload yourself. The basics are decided by someone else, but you are always “free” to take on more.
Saying “no” is hard. Are you saying yes just to avoid the discomfort?
Read More »Maybe I’m not crazy
Sometimes I think that you will all just think I’ve lost my mind. (cue Robbie Williams “…It was mine to give away…”) The academic labour market, heck the entire labour market, is going to hell in a handbasket and I’m telling you to think about your passion and your best contribution. I’m suggesting that you […]
Read More »
What is your best contribution?
Instead of asking yourself: what you are going to do with all this education you have … Instead of wondering: what you have to do to get someone to hire you … Instead of focusing on all the external expectations, constraints, etc … Why not ask yourself this question? What is my best contribution? How […]
Read More »
