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Calm productivity for academics
Tag: calm productivity
Quality over quantity in academia: Balancing institutional demands with sustainable practice
Discover how embracing academic productivity through quality over quantity can transform your work life. Instead of constantly expanding workloads, learn to focus on meaningful impact, sustainable practices, and deeper connections. Doing less, but doing it better, can lead to more valuable academic outcomes.
Building academic momentum: Why rhythm beats volume
Building academic momentum isn’t about working longer hours or multitasking. It’s about finding your natural rhythm and maintaining steady progress. Learn how to move beyond busy-ness to create sustainable patterns of meaningful academic work through practical steps like protecting creative space and leaving intentional re-entry points.
Use AI to focus on meaningful core work
New research shows how AI tools might transform academic productivity by enabling knowledge workers to focus more on meaningful core work while reducing administrative burden. Like software developers using GitHub Copilot, academics can leverage AI to streamline workflows, work more autonomously, and explore new research directions – particularly benefiting early-career researchers.
[Note] Rebuild knowledge work into something sustainable
“I want to rescue knowledge work from its increasingly untenable freneticism and rebuild it into something more sustainable and humane, enabling you to create things you’re proud of without requiring you to grind yourself down along the way.” – Cal Newport
Beyond productivity: Why academic mental health support matters
This post explores the challenges of balancing academic success with personal well-being. Redefining productivity, embracing vulnerability, and prioritising mental health can lead to a more fulfilling academic career. Explore strategies for speaking up and seeking support in the high-pressure world of academia.
Building momentum towards sustainable productivity
In academia, it’s common to feel perpetually busy while at the same time, not making any meaningful progress. True productivity comes from establishing a steady rhythm of shipping important work, not just completing a high volume of tasks. Building and maintaining positive momentum is key to sustained progress.
Cal Newport: Deep work
Deep Work by Cal Newport explores how focused, undistracted work boosts productivity and fulfillment in a world filled with digital distractions. Through strategies and routines, Newport shows how cultivating deep work can lead to higher quality output, helping professionals, especially busy academics, achieve more meaningful results in their work.
Email-free mornings: The simplest productivity tip you’ll ever see
Stop letting your inbox dictate the outcomes of your day by aiming for at least 2 hours of email-free mornings.
Goal-driven motivation: Writing when you don’t feel like it
Goal-driven motivation is the incentive to do something I know is valuable when I don’t feel like doing it at all.
Managing academic reading lists
Managing academic reading lists can feel overwhelming. Rather than trying to read everything, treat your reading list like a river – selectively sampling valuable content while letting less important items flow past. This mindset shift helps create a more sustainable and effective approach to managing academic literature without the guilt.
[Note] The laziest thing I can do at any moment is what I should be doing
“I try to make sure that the laziest thing I can do at any moment is what I should be doing.” – Matt Might