Creating a Satisfying Academic Career with Jo Van Every

If you are so overwhelmed you freeze, this is what you need. Some gentle guidance to take action.The text version of this track has a free download to use as a lock screen on your phone if that would ...

21 Apr 20232min

How do you plan when their *might* be a strike, or a flood, or illness? This kind of thing is often referred to as a "known unknown". You know it might happen but you don't know if or when. You can as...

21 Apr 20236min

An older post in which I use a video game analogy to illustrate what optimism might look like when things are dystopian or uncertain. Key point: "death" in a video game is more like "well, that didn't...

21 Apr 20233min

While it’s normal to imagine how any given decision might play out over your whole life or career, you only have to plan for a much shorter time horizon. This is my standard advice for anyone thinking...

21 Apr 20234min

In which I explain that optimism does not require ignoring the terrible things that are happening, nor a belief that a particular outcome is possible, despite the context. I encourage optimism.Read th...

21 Apr 20233min

There are lots of apps out there that “gamify” habits. And one of the big pieces of gamification is recording streaks. This can seem like it fits well with advice to “write every day” but there are ma...

14 Apr 202311min

Original title: Reframing "comps" to help you write (and finish) your bookMost academics get in a bit of a knot about the "marketing questionnaire" part of a book proposal. In this track, I suggest a ...

17 Mars 202311min

Despite the ubiquity of the advice to "find a gap in the literature", I argue that this creates a lot of problems. Problems in your writing. Problems in your process. I propose an alternative more ali...

17 Feb 202311min