Successful Academic Newsletter

Don’t Wait: Start Today

To stay on track with your own work, make time for it now rather than later.

Sometime today, sit down with your weekly planner – whether you use a paper appointment book, a computer-based organizing system, or a PDA.

Fill in all the appointments you have this week.

Next, fill in time slots to complete work assignment: such as preparing for class, grading assignments, writing reference letters, etc.,. Don’t forget to allow for time to read and respond to email.

Decide how much time to spend on your most important “in-preparation” writing project. Three to five hours is a significant chunk of time to allot during this hectic phase of the semester. Two hours is fine if your schedule is completely crazed.

Schedule specific work periods for your writing in the same way you would schedule any other type of appointment. Try for 30 minute or hour-long blocks of time, sprinkled throughout the week.

Then…. Follow Through.

As you go through the week, watch your habits with the eye of an objective observer. Do you consistently underestimate the amount of time it takes to complete an activity? Are you sticking to your schedule, or do you consistently work on other things during your appointed writing appointments? What does it feel like to focus in small doses rather than marathons?

Keep Your Toe in the Water

We’re all in the final stretch of the school semester. There are only a few more classes to teach (or attend). It will soon be time to give exams and grade papers (or time to write papers and take exams). External deadlines encroach, and the natural tendency is to push aside priorities that have no absolute time demands.

“I’ll work on the article (or dissertation) after the end of the semester,” you tell yourself.

Then, after the last class has been held, the grades turned in, you expect to snap into gear and immediately get back to your own scholarship.

First of all, you’re tired. End of the semester burnout invades the campus like a flu virus with no vaccine. Second, the weather tempts you from your computer and begs you to play outside. It’s been a long winter, and you’re ready for sun. Third, you’re no longer in close touch with your own work project and can’t quite remember where you left off.

For many of us, it will be June before we get back to work on the main scholarly project that will push our career to that next step. And when we do sit down and face our work, it will take several days just to reclaim the focused frame of mind we need to move forward.

You need to keep your toe in the water.

During this draining end-of-the-semester rush, if you don’t want to wake up in mid-June wondering where the last two months have gone, you need to pay small doses of attention to your own work. Ongoing contact with your budding article (or your book, grant, dissertation or proposal) is key to maintaining momentum.

Here’s what I suggest:

Keeping your toe in the water doesn’t mean you’re improving your freestyle stroke and swimming races. But it will let you maintain a good sense of the water temperature, so when it’s time to jump back in you won’t experience that sudden body shock of hitting cold water all at once.

Sometimes, when things get hectic, despite your best intentions you won’t be able to accomplish much on your research. Instead of completing major tasks, your goal during these periods is to express a commitment to your work rather than expecting huge strides. The work may be more symbolic than instrumental, but at least it keeps your ideas and priorities in mind.

The principle goal is to tackle your own work for at least a few minutes each day.

Don’t Wait: Start Today

Keep Your Toe in the Water

You need to keep your toe in the water.

Here’s what I suggest:

I promise that keeping your toe in the water will help you move ahead efficiently and effectively once your schedule frees up.