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Jo VanEvery

You are here: Home / Archives for meaningful

meaningful

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Spotlight On: Meaningfulness Matters

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Meaningfulness Matters: A Spotlight I have been supporting academics with research and writing in some way since 2005. It took several years for my business to evolve into what it is today, but one thing that has remained consistent is my belief that focusing on what matters to you […]

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Do you have to finish your grading before you can write?

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you have to finish the grading before you can write? It’s already difficult to keep writing while you are teaching and doing all the other things that need to be done in the main part of the academic year. You probably look forward to the end of teaching […]

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Priorities and boundaries in the face of job insecurity

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Jo VanEvery

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 · Priorities & boundaries in the face of […]

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A group of colleagues are sat discussing work in a conference room with laptops and notes out on the table.

Are meetings really a waste of time?

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Jo VanEvery

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 · Are meetings really a waste of time? […]

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A laptop is open on a spreadsheet of data in a long vertical table where the blue light from the screen illuminates the dark room. There is a basic surgical mask left on the laptop keyboard and a takeaway coffee cup nearby on the desk.

No, you don’t need to completely change your research focus

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · No, you don’t need to completely change your research focus This post was written in the early stages of the Covid pandemic. One of the issues that had come up in both Office Hours (a group coaching session for members of the Academic Writing Studio) and in the Establishing […]

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Lies you’ve been told about loving your work

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Lies you’ve been told about loving your work Your employer exploits the fact that you love your work (or aspects of it) to avoid addressing serious workload pressures, to avoid the cost of appropriate staffing levels, to justifying paying you less, and to avoid addressing the mental health issues […]

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Mid-career blahs

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Mid-career blahs An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “I’ve Got Tenure, How Depressing” (Kathryn D. Blanchard, 31 January 2012), highlights the fact that even getting a coveted tenure-track position doesn’t necessarily lead to the “happily ever after” ending. Since my provost gave me the news about my promotion, I […]

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Risking doing the work you find meaningful

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Risking doing the work you find meaningful A longstanding imaginary-friend-on-the-Internet, who now runs a very successful online business, once said that something I’d said to them years ago had been pivotal to their success. I had no idea what they were talking about. Apparently, back when we were both […]

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Reconnecting with the desire to write

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Jo VanEvery

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Reconnecting with the desire to write I was talking with a client about writing and motivation recently. We started with “It’s really hard to write with a gun to your head.” which strikes me as a pretty widespread problem. Whether that metaphorical gun is the REF, the tenure process, […]

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Setting effective goals

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

My approach to planning is very process focused. I encourage you to make time to do the important work and to notice how your projects are moving forward. I do this because what I see happening when people set goals increases stress, leads to overwork, and doesn’t actually support their best work. Things like: negative self-talk […]

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A close-up photo of a silver face wristwatch where 10, 11 and 12 are visible as well as the smaller circle for the second hand.

Is “number of hours” the right measure?

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Jo VanEvery 1 Comment

Recently a client asked me to help her figure out how to work less. She is frustrated by long hours, working weekends, and so on. She figures at this stage of her career, she should be able to have a better balance. As we worked together, it became clear to me that the number of […]

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Permission to do the scholarly work you want to do

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Permission to do the scholarly work you want to do Are you telling yourself that you should be doing something that you really don’t think is valuable? Are there gremlins telling you that the work you want to be doing isn’t really scholarly? Or that it’s unfashionable (“No one […]

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