Creating a Satisfying Academic Career with Jo Van Every

The fear of job losses in higher education is very real. In the face of that fear you may be finding it even harder to manage your workload. In this track I face some hard truths about the context and suggest principles and questions to guide your decision making. As the popular meme says, you are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people worm. Referred to in this track:• Katherine...

Your employer will try to use the fact that you love your work to get you to do more work, with less support, and for less money. This may lead you to think that loving your work is to be avoided. This is not true. The problem isn't with loving your work. The problem is with the exploitation. In this track I talk about all the ways that loving your work makes it more valuable, and encourage y...

Everyone struggles with confidence at least some of the time. While confidence can’t be overly reliant on external validation, negative feedback is always difficult, and it’s tough to maintain your confidence when external validation is slow in coming. Confidence also depends on things you don’t have complete control over. In this track, I want to share a few strategies to help boost your confiden...

External validation is not a reliable antidote to self-doubt. In this track I talk about 3 elements that contribute to confidence: meaningfulness, security, and support. I also suggest some ways to look for and amplify those elements, even if they are not available in the way that you would like. First published in 2018 as a series of 3 blog posts. Read the posts here: • Meaningfulness (jovanevery...

It's normal to work long hours in the first couple of weeks of semester. It is not sustainable for more than a week or two. That doesn't mean it's easy to rest. In this track I talk about why you must make time for rest, and how to do that. Related tracks:• Juggling 101: elements of a good planRead the post on the Library here: jovanevery.co.uk/plan-to-restSign up to my Academic Wri...

The shift to asynchronous online teaching may leave you feeling that while you are never in class, you are also never not in class. That feeling is stressful. In this track I talk about how to set boundaries around your teaching that meet your teaching goals while also give you a sense of control over your time and effort. Related tracks:• Don't Do Your Best!• Juggling 101: elements of a good...

How do you manage your workload so you get to all the important things and still have a life outside work? How do you manage your projects so that you can feel good about the classes you teach, the articles you publish, and so on? In this track I use 3 metaphors to help you think differently about your work so you can do good work and have a life outside your work. Referred to in this track:• Jugg...

The pandemic has made us all hyper-aware of how much of what we’d come to tolerate as “just how things are” is actually deeply unacceptable. The pandemic has not created an impossible to resolve conflict between your work-load and your ability to have a life. It has exacerbated problems that were already there. It’s one piece of a much bigger problem and something most academics are facing during...

This track encourages you to reconsider thinking of yourself in negative terms. You are not broken; you don't need fixing - you might just need some support. The first step is noticing the way things are. Getting a full rounded picture of the good and the bad can help to reframe your perspective. Once you have regained a wider perspective, you can take compassionate action towards yourself. R...

Taking a holiday in the summer is really important, especially if you feel like you don't have time to do so. In this track I make the case for taking at least 2 weeks and give you some tips for dealing with how upset your gremlins will be about that. Read the post here: jovanevery.co.uk/resting-rechargingSee also:• How to take a vacation(jovanevery.co.uk/how-to-take-a-vacation)• Cycles of th...

When you are planning your week (or your day or your month) and you look over what’s already in your calendar, what is your reaction to scheduled meetings? When someone contacts you to organize a meeting, how do you react? This is the 2nd track in a series about meetings as part of your academic work. One problem with talking about your activities in the form “I had 6 meetings yesterday” or “I’m i...

If you look at what you've been doing over the day/week/month and just see "lots of meetings" it can feel like you wasted your time. Focusing on the content of the meetings rather than the meeting form might make meetings more meaningful. Referred to in this track:• You get a lot done (text only) (jovanevery.co.uk/get-lot-done)• Time perception and how long things actually take (tex...

While you don’t need more pressure to produce, you may be missing giving sustained attention to your writing or research. Some of your original summer plans are no longer possible. In this track I encourage you to prioritise meaningful activity and discuss what that might mean for your writing and research plans for the summer. This track (and the text version) was sent to newsletter subscribers o...

The temptation to wear pyjamas or other super comfortable clothing that you would not wear to the office is strong while you are working from home. If this is working for you and you are able to focus while working and also have time when you can rest, then keep doing what you are doing. However, if you are struggling to focus, struggling to stop working now that you have no physical boundary betw...

Emotional labour is real work. It involves skills which can be learned and taught. It adds value. It requires energy. You can do this. You don’t have to stay strong 24/7.Read the post here: jovanevery.co.uk/emotional-labour-is-real-workYou may also be interested in:• Affective Labor: the need for, and cost of, workplace equanimity by Lee Skallerup Bessette (https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/3/aff...

Another issue that came up in Office Hours in the Academic Writing Studio: feeling like things take a long time or that you haven't accomplished anything in a day. Memory affects how we perceive time. In this track I talk about how you can ensure that you store more accurate memories of how you are spending your days. The text version was first posted on 1 April 2020 here: jovanevery.co.uk/ti...

When faced with confusing and contradictory directions from management, you need to use the autonomy your academic career affords you to manage your workload and stress. Your level of autonomy will depend on job security and institutional culture. This track outlines processes for making and documenting decisions to manage risk and boost your confidence. This post grew out of a conversation during...

You probably think of the academic year as having 2 seasons: term-time and not-term-time. There is also a weird in between time where you no longer have scheduled teaching but it isn't really not-term-time. That's what I talk about in this track. I wrote and recorded this just before the major pandemic related changes happened in universities in the UK, US, and Canada. I fear it feels a...

It can be hard to maintain your writing practice when you've got a big pile of essays and exams to grade. In this track I discuss your options and provide some tips to calm your gremlins. Read the post here: jovanevery.co.uk/optimizing-focus-writing-in-grading-seasonFor more content like this, sign up to the monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter Take the FREE 15 Minute Writi...

Yes, you are still working in the summer but you need to work at a different pace to recharge before the next teaching term. For more advice, support and perspectives like this, sign up to my free monthly newsletter: https://jovanevery.co.uk/newsletter   To find out how short chunks of time can revolutionise your writing, take the FREE 15 Minute Writing Challenge course: https://jovanevery.co.uk/1...

There are times in the academic year when it is difficult to maintain your writing practice. This track talks about options for adapting to those busy times. Referred to in the recording: 15 Minute Academic Writing Challenge https://jovanevery.co.uk/15-min-writing-challengeRead the post here: jovanevery.co.uk/academic-freedom-publishing-mundane-practicesFollow me on Twitter: twitter.com/JoVanEvery...

I value freedom and autonomy. I know freedom and autonomy are important factors for many people who choose an academic career. I also value community and collective action, which makes me uncomfortable with some of the highly individualistic ways that freedom and autonomy get discussed. A blog post I came across recently provides an entry into this intersection between academic freedom and collect...

Most academics recognise that summer offers an opportunity to write in ways that are not possible during term time. In this track I talk about how your term time writing relates to that summer writing. First published as text on JoVanEvery.ca in 2017.Related posts (to read):"Write all the things!" is not a summer plan https://jovanevery.ca/write-all-the-things-is-not-a-summer-plan/"...

A lot of writing advice suggests that you should write every day, but is it right for you? In this excerpt from one of the planning classes in the Academic Writing Studio (https://AcademicWritingStudio.co.uk), I suggest how you might decide. I have also published a short book: Finding Time for your Scholarly Writing that goes into more depth on this practice, which is available at the links below....

Are your afternoons going the way you'd like them to? Or are things taking longer than you'd like later in the day? In this track I talk about 2 strategies you might try to make your work time more effective by getting more rest. A text version of this track is available at JoVanEvery.co.uk/are-you-taking-breaks. Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/JoVanEveryFind my Facebook Page here: fac...