How's everyone doing? You may have noticed I skipped a week because I am still adjusting to being productive while caregiving and practicing the art of adding and subtracting to make it work. QOTD: are you a goals person? If you're a regular reader of this blog you probably are. If others' goal lists make … Continue reading Spring Semester Goals
academic
Update! Baby Azar, Goals, CFP, ECA Newsletter
Hello again! If you are a regular blog reader, then you know it has been a good long while since my last post in which I outlined my plan for a spring academic writing sprint. I had also shared with you all my progress on spring semester goals with the idea of keeping myself accountable. … Continue reading Update! Baby Azar, Goals, CFP, ECA Newsletter
Your Future Self
The first time I remember reading about "your future self" was in Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project. She gave the example of preparing the coffee machine the night before so all you had to do was enjoy your coffee the next day. It isn't about saving time necessarily, but rather thinking of what your future self … Continue reading Your Future Self
Organizing Your Files for Research
This is post #3 in my miniseries on organizing for research (in case you missed them, here's post #1 & #2). I don't know about you, but it took nearly 10 years of being in higher education for me to develop a digital filing system that actually works for me. A combination of things (the … Continue reading Organizing Your Files for Research
Spring 2022 Goals
Don't you just love a good goals post? Right now most folks in my feed are either "my only 2022 goal is to survive" OR "I'm going to do all the things!" This post is...somewhere in the middle. It's not in my nature to go from thing to thing without a plan, and, on the … Continue reading Spring 2022 Goals
Teaching Tip Tuesday: Get Into the Weeds
I can't tell you the number of times I've had students send me unsolicited emails thanking me for explaining what a scholarly article actually is. For years, they tell me, their instructors have demanded scholarly sources, but never explained to them what makes a source scholarly or not. I not only explain what a scholarly … Continue reading Teaching Tip Tuesday: Get Into the Weeds
Am I an Early or Mid-Career Academic?
The other day I was scrolling through Twitter when I saw this tweet asking, "Am I early-career or mid-career? A Memoir." And, man, I felt that. I am arguably early-career, having only had full-time employment in higher ed for the past 2.5 years. On the other hand, I've been teaching college classes since 2009. My … Continue reading Am I an Early or Mid-Career Academic?
What You REALLY Need to Be Productive
(Nerd Alert!) I happen to love academic productivity advice, but a lot of it is CRAP-tastic for early career academics. At best it glosses over the real systemic issues facing EC academics; at worst it is insulting. I personally find it oddly comforting to listen to podcasts about paper planners and read posts about finding … Continue reading What You REALLY Need to Be Productive
Making Your Career 90% Awesome
Recently I was listening to this podcast by Cathy Mazak about designing your academic career to be 90% awesome. I found myself nodding along as she described how she wasn't willing to just muddle through an academic job that wasn't, for the most part, satisfying. I didn't realize this has been my M. O. since … Continue reading Making Your Career 90% Awesome
Tawnya Azar 