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
productivity
Adding and Subtracting
How are ya'll holding up? Today marks the start of the spring semester for me, and so far, it has been suspiciously quiet on the email front. Anyway, today's post is brought to you by the high-functioning overachiever in me. It's a new year and we all might be thinking of how to be the … Continue reading Adding and Subtracting
Productivity While Caregiving
I had very different intentions for this post when I set up the draft and titled it. I thought I'd share how I was finally hitting my stride with this whole newborn care and working from home thing. Share some of my newfound wisdom, if you will. And then yesterday happened. The baby threw up … Continue reading Productivity While Caregiving
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
Research Pipeline
This is post #2 in my mini-series on organizing your research (also, here is #1 and #3). If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have read about my Low-Key System for Managing Academic Projects. This post is an update to that original concept as well as some general advice about creating project … Continue reading Research Pipeline
Research Themes
This is post #1 in my miniseries on Organizing Your Research (find post #2 & #3 here). I remember having a moment of clarity after reading/hearing (?) Roopika Risam discuss how she organizes her research interests (see her awesome website for inspo). Up until then, I was like a lot of current early-career academics: jumping … Continue reading Research Themes
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
Academic Writing Month
Hello! I this blog post finds you well (*cringe emoji*) in spite of this week's election (if you are in VA especially). Little did I know that when I posted my "Rest" blog on October 4th that it would be the only post I'd make in the month of October. I rested over Fall Break, … Continue reading Academic Writing Month
Do You Plan an Ideal Week?
How's it going? My second week back was somewhat uneventful, but a few colleagues have had covid positive students pop up. The uni has said to proceed with class as scheduled while the department of health does "contact tracing." What could go wrong with that plan? I am celebrating some personal good news today...my chapter … Continue reading Do You Plan an Ideal Week?
Schedule Time to Think
Years ago I was accepted into an NEH Summer Institute, and one of the biggest takeaways from that experience was the revelation of dedicating time to think. At the time I was an overworked and underpaid adjunct Lecturer and unfunded graduate student, so a week of paid thinking time rocked my world. This is also … Continue reading Schedule Time to Think
Tawnya Azar 