Between kindergarten illnesses, cross country travel for my dad's funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery, and a baby who isn't sleeping for longer than 3 hours in her crib (update: since I drafted this post we've gotten two 7.5 hour nights! Could be a fluke but I'll take it), I haven't felt much like writing a more in-depth blog post.
What I have been enjoying is playing around in Notion so I figured I'd write a brief update on the Notion workbook for plan(it)*.
Read MoreAs someone who has been described as "the most organized person I've ever met" by multiple people on separate occasions, you might be surprised to hear that my inbox is a bit of a mess. I have 3 main email addresses. My personal email, my email that's associated with this blog, and my work email. Though I've gone through big purges in the past with my work email, I haven't ever attempted to tackle the 30,000+ emails that have built up in my other inboxes. You might be wondering how I got to 30,000+ emails (or maybe you're wondering how I don't have more!). Here's a little bit of a back story…
Read MoreIn today's post I'm sharing 5 weekly planning strategies that I've benefitted from during my time as a tenure track faculty member. In general, holding a weekly planning session has helped me achieve my goals and kept the feelings of overwhelm to a minimum. In addition to the general process of planning out my week, there are 5 strategies that I've used throughout my time as a faculty member (and grad student) that have greatly enhanced my weekly planning sessions.
Read MoreOne key aspect of my weekly planning process involves identifying what I plan to accomplish for the week, aka my weekly goals. Yes, these goals may change as things come up during the week, but I always set them and they help guide my weekly flow. This week’s post walks through a few strategies that make weekly goal setting easier, as well as outlines the current steps I use to set goals each week.
Read MoreI’m picking back up with my weekly planning series posts that I started in the summer of 2020 (the last post in the series focused on organizing your to-do list if you’re interested in checking it out). Today’s post focuses on some of the things that I think are important to include in your calendar as an academic.
Read MoreToday’s post focuses on the general process I follow for organizing my tasks across all the academic areas of my life (e.g., research, teaching, service), as well as my personal life. Below you’ll find 6 steps you can take if your to do list is feeling a little (or a lot) chaotic.
Read MoreA conversation about weekly planning wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of the tech/tools used to do said planning. As someone who thoroughly enjoys talking all things planning, I've definitely heard a lot about the different tools that faculty and graduate students are using. In this post, I’ll highlight a few popular tools that can help you get your weekly planning done.
Read MoreI realize that there's lots of variability in the tenure review process from university to university. However, I thought I'd share the general process I've been following for prepping for my 5th (and final) annual tenure review. At my institution, we have annual reviews (submitted in fall), a cumulative third year review (submitted in spring), and then the tenure review (submitted in the fall of year 6). So the annual review is something I've done a few times before.
Read MoreThis post delves into some of the key activities that faculty and grad students might engage in during their weekly planning sessions. Before I go into my list, remember that all the things that are written below won't necessarily work for you and your needs. You've got to find processes that work for you. Like I've mentioned before, experimentation is a really important part of the planning process. Try things out, see what works, leave behind what doesn't.
Read MoreThis post delves into some common misconceptions I often hear floating around in the academic community about planning for the week (or just planning in general).
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