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productivity

wood block letters in various fonts spelling out "productivity" on a bright blue background

Radical alternative ways to approach productivity in the PhD

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Jamie Pei

Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Radical alternative ways to approach productivity in the PhD This month’s article is by a guest author, Jamie Pei. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I try to follow my own advice and take a proper vacation. I’m on annual leave for the first […]

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an anatomical model of the human brain sliced in half in selective-focus photography

Fatigue impairs cognitive function

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Jo VanEvery 1 Comment

There is lots of research showing that fatigue impairs cognitive function. This is why the military has “boot camp” to make certain behaviours and decisions almost instinctual so they can be done even when fatigued, because war means you sometimes have to work when you are under-functioning cognitively. You are not fighting a war. You […]

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Process vs Product

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

I have an ambivalent relationship with goals. I know they are important but I find setting specific goals with an output and a deadline stalls my work rather than motivating it. I see that a lot of you struggle with similar issues in your writing. This post uses a long analogy to my own process […]

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Stop diminishing your accomplishments

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Jo VanEvery 2 Comments

Whether it is in the weekly e-mail that clients send me, in tweets, or in casual conversations I’ve been noticing that academics seem to diminish their accomplishments. “I’ve had a slow week.” “I only marked 2 essays.” “I only wrote [insert number here] words today.” “I only read 10 articles this week.” Negative talk demotivates By […]

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You always have time for yoga, mama

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

When you’re busy, it’s easy to forget to look after yourself. You feel like you don’t have time to go to the gym, to go for a run, for yoga, for meditation, for sleep, to eat properly … If you’re lucky, your kids or someone else who loves you will remind you that you always have time. […]

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Just because it doesn’t feel productive…

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Jo VanEvery Leave a Comment

A couple of my clients are working on writing projects right now. And some weeks, their updates are less than enthusiastic. They are discouraged by their progress.

Here’s a different angle on reading that doesn’t feel like real research.

You might spend a lot of time reading with a particular project in mind only to discover that nothing you read is going to end up in what you are writing.

Although that feels like you wasted several hours reading stuff you didn’t need to read, it was actually time well spent.

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A photo of a library full of books viewed down an aisle from a vanishing point perspective

What is “research”?

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Jo VanEvery 1 Comment

In early 2012, Rohan Maitzen published a few very thoughtful posts about: what counts as research the apparent conflict between research and teaching and related issues. One of these, “When is Reading Research?“, really highlights some of the underlying issues. “When we talk about “doing research,” I think we conventionally mean reading in service of a […]

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