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What if good scholarship looks like laziness?
How many of us accept requests for our time knowing full well that what we’re being asked to do isn’t going to move the needle on the high-value work we know is important?
Productive workflows
Look for opportunities where one piece of work becomes a foundation for other outputs. For example, a faculty development presentation can be converted into a blog post, which might include an annotated bibliography, which can form the foundation for a podcast. Try to coordinate work into phases, where adding a bit more effort at each…
Judging by speed, instead of by quality
“We find ourselves adapting to machines and hold ourselves to their standards: People are judged by the speed with which they respond, not the quality of their response.” – Robert Poynton. Do pause: You are not a to do list.
Hobbies for academics
Even the best jobs create stress. Hobbies release this stress before it explodes. My hobbies resemble my work, but this doesn’t bother me because work is what my employer pays me for, while hobbies are what I enjoy in my own time. The similarity in ideas isn’t a problem.
How to write a good email
I don’t know where I first came across this but it surfaced again today and I thought you might enjoy it. Less facetiously, you may appreciate:
Thinking with others
We often think with others – “real” others like supervisors, co-researchers and critical friends and “imagined” others like the authors of the texts we are reading and working with. Sherran Clarence. Making Time to Think. PhD in a hundred steps. Reading academic texts involves engaging with the authors as “imagined others” who serve as more…
Goal-driven motivation: Writing when you don’t feel like it
Reminding yourself of why this project is important to you and how finishing it might help you achieve your goals is another helpful tactic when you’re trying to get started. Jenn McClearen. Writing When You Don’t Want To. Although I love writing, there are times when I find it difficult to get going. I’m aware…
Understanding your audience: Write what the reader needs
Great writing requires you to position your idea in a way that will resonate with the reader. Average writers start with what they want to say without considering how it will land with the reader. Great writers understand the journey starts with what the reader desires. Farnam Street. Why write. I’m not suggesting that I’m…
Learning something new takes a lot of effort
Learning a new city and institution requires a lot of effort and puts a lot of cumulative strain on our brains. Our brains are forced to create new patterns of familiarity by the simple act of navigating a new learning management system or new city. Those small tasks add up quickly. When setting research and…
It’s not your job to read everything
To return to information overload: this means treating your “to read” pile like a river (a stream that flows past you, and from which you pluck a few choice items, here and there) instead of a bucket (which demands that you empty it). After all, you presumably don’t feel overwhelmed by all the unread books…