Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Before you can say no It’s all well and good for people to tell you “You need to get better at saying no” but there are lots of good reasons that saying no is difficult. Even the people giving you that advice aren’t very good at hearing no, when […]
Read More »boundaries
Your colleagues aren’t any better at saying no than you are
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Your colleagues aren’t any better at saying no than you are Do you struggle to prioritize and set boundaries? Do you have so much to do that some of the most important things are not getting the time and attention they need? Has someone advised that you need to […]
Read More »
How much teaching preparation is enough?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How much teaching preparation is enough? Teaching is an important part of your job. You are committed to doing it well. At the same time, you may often resent how much time it takes. You really wish you had more time for research than you do right now. Content […]
Read More »
The impact of time available on your focus
In Focus: 3 elements to consider, I outlined three elements that affect your focus during a writing session: the task itself, how you are feeling, and the context. This article is updated from one published 21 April 2014 to connect it more clearly to that framework. I use the term “optimize” purposefully. Your goal is […]
Read More »
Setting boundaries
One of the elements of a good plan is boundaries. Boundaries enable you to juggle your various different responsibilities without having too many balls in the air at once. According to the OED the term boundary has the sense of both the thing which serves to mark the limits of something and the limit itself. Because […]
Read More »
Juggling 101: Elements of a good plan
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Juggling 101: Elements of a Good Plan A good plan can reduce the stress and overwhelm you experience when trying to juggle all your different responsibilities. This is why I have developed planning classes for members of the Academic Writing Studio [Recently opened up to everyone else too!]. In […]
Read More »
Do you need to be excellent?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you need to be excellent? I have written before about “doing your best” being a distraction and instead encouraged you to focus on doing good work. In this post, I want to extend that argument using a recently published scholarly article as a jumping off point. (You can […]
Read More »
Surviving and thriving in uncertain times
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Surviving and Thriving in Uncertain Times Uncertainty is stressful. Things are always uncertain. We have limited control over the future. My approach to supporting academics focuses on identifying the things you can control, while being flexible enough to change track if necessary. The most important component of this approach is […]
Read More »
The role of journal editors in long review times
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · The role of journal editors in long review times This is part of a short series addressing the frustration with how long peer review takes. Other posts in this series include The frustrations of peer review and How you, as a peer reviewer, can contribute to a better process. […]
Read More »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 »
Managing your workload by creating containers
One way to get some control over how much time and energy you give to certain kinds of legitimate requests is to create a container for that kind of work.
Just as it is easier to store flour if you pour it into something with firm sides and a lid (so it doesn’t just flow all over the counter), some tasks can benefit from being contained in particular time periods or particular spaces.
Read More »
“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 […]
Read More »
