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 MoreIn my last post I shared my (mostly informal) goals from year five on the tenure track, along with whether or not I met them.
In this post I’m following up with advice I’d give to myself if I had to do year five all over again. If you want to check out my goals/advice for years 1 through 4, you can do that here…
Read MoreFor me (and so many others), the 2019-2020 school year was one big crisis after another. Although I checked off a lot of the boxes I was "supposed to," on most days I felt like I was just going through the motions. The 2020-2021 school year had a similar feel to it. The pandemic continued to wreak havoc on so many different aspects of life. Not to mention that pregnancy and my mom's continued health challenges made it really difficult to do any sort of professional planning/goal setting... so I didn't! 😅
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 MoreWay back in September 2020 I posted my goals for my fourth year on the tenure track, along with whether or not I met them. This month I’m following up with advice I’d give to myself if I had to do it all over again… which I hope I never, ever have to do. Really, what I’d do is give myself a massive hug, as this academic year was difficult on so many levels. Read on for 6 lessons I learned during my fourth year as an assistant professor.
Read MoreMy heart aches just thinking about this past academic year (and also thinking about what the upcoming year will bring). The above photo was taken on Ellie’s birthday, in the middle of a pandemic, the day after George Floyd was murdered. Not to mention the loss of my dad and my mom’s stint in the hospital. It was around the time that this photo was taken where I hit my breaking point in the year.
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 More
