Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Do you suffer from impostor syndrome? That’s one of those faux-medical terms for a Very Real Thing. You feel like you don’t really belong, you aren’t really qualified, and at any moment someone is going to find out and your whole life will come crashing down. It’s related to […]
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Take control of your research plans
One thing that frustrates me, is how often researchers seem to be giving over control of their research to others. You don’t think about planning your research until a funding deadline looms. You do that planning within the constraints of this particular grant. You are trying to figure out what makes a good 3-5 year […]
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“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 […]
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Be an amateur.
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Be an amateur I’ve been thinking about the term amateur. I’m particularly drawn to the origin — “French, from Italian amatore from Latin amator lover”. I note that prior to the 19th century, usage is merely: “A person who is fond of something; a person who has a taste […]
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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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Emergency planning technique
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Emergency planning technique Every once in a while you wonder why you even bother planning and setting goals. You are juggling way too many things. You might have metaphorical balls and broken dishes all over your office. I encourage you to put down all the balls for a moment. Take a […]
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Setting effective goals
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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Priorities or, why being a straight A student isn’t necessarily a good thing
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Why being a straight A student isn’t necessarily a good thing I bet you were a straight A student. You got lots of praise for being a straight A student. You’ve lived your life thinking being a straight A student is a good thing. It’s not. It encourages all […]
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Abducted by aliens
I’m fond of this Eisenhower quote: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. (From a speech to the National Defense Executive Reserve Conference in Washington, D.C. (November 14, 1957) ; in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1957, National Archives and Records Service, Government Printing Office, p. 818 ) This is […]
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Confidence must come from within
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Confidence must come from within It’s easy to think that external validation will help build your confidence. Getting that paper accepted. Getting that grant. Having someone more established in your field cite your work or compliment you on it. It won’t. Like Groucho Marx, who famously would not want […]
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Goals and magical thinking
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Goals and Magical Thinking You will not be surprised to learn that I read blogs which provide business advice and decided to hire a business coach to help me with my career. Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz wrote a series about goal setting back in 2013 (it’s no longer available […]
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The cardinal rule of time travel
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · The cardinal rule of time travel Last week I talked about how helpful my Magnificent Metaphorical Time Machine is. Travelling forward in time can help you see the outcome you want, without worrying about the messy and difficult process of actually getting there. However, there is a cardinal […]
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