Why Academic Kindness Matters
Last week I came across two articles commenting on academic wellbeing. The first was a piece on how feeling supported, encouraged and engaged at college affected levels of engagement and wellbeing at work, afterwards, based on a study by Gallup-Purdue; the second was a piece in the Guardian on how the stressors of academic life had impacted academics struggling with mental health problems. The commonality? The research underlying both articles show that feeling valued matters. The topic interests me as it touches on one of the core concepts that I teach, both in my online course, and when I teach [...]
Failing Forward
There is one simple test you can take to see whether you are fit to be an academic. It’s the first entry requirement, if you will. And it’s only one simple question. The answer will determine whether you will whither or thrive, do or die. Here it comes: Are you OK with feeling like a failure for the rest of your life? If the answer is yes, you may proceed down the academic path, if the answer is no, you may have to reconsider. I recently read an article on what successful academics in their early career have in common, [...]
Creating Containers to Work In
We need to create space to do our work. Our thinking, our writing, our research. Creating a 'container of space' to work in, is one way I like to think about this. The container has clear boundaries to keep all distractions out. They define the space, and create a void, which provides room to concentrate on the single task we need to concentrate on. The void is where our work can emerge and develop. The container itself reminds us to focus, and gives us the structure to do exactly that. If this sounds too vague - in everyday language I mean: use a [...]
Meditate With Me
They say you should always take your own advice. Practice what you preach. Confession: I didn’t. I ‘lost’ my meditation practice summer last year. For years I’d been meditating before bed, and I’d take about an hour to wind down. At ten or ten thirty, I'd put the book away, turn off the TV, turn off the computer, switch the phone off – unplug, to simply sit with myself, on my meditation pillow wrapped in a meditation shawl, for twenty minutes or half an hour, followed by some journalling. It was perhaps my favourite time of day – the turning inwards in [...]
Stress, Underperformance and Mental Health: Why Academia Needs a New Paradigm
Since last week the Twittersphere has been full of talk about the ‘culture of acceptance’ of mental health issues in academia, in response to this article in the Guardian. I have been talking to academics about these issues and their experiences for the past couple of years – most specifically with regard to stress, and how it affects their lives - and what strikes me most is not only how normalised being overly stressed is, but how non-existent a constructive dialogue on stress, mental health, and wellbeing. The fear of ‘showing weakness’ is deeply engrained, and so people choose to [...]
LIBRARY
Free Resources Library
I have compiled some free resources for you to download. An e-book, a short course with encouraging emails to nudge your writing productivity alive, and a worksheet with a mini-course to create an effective and very zen work routine.
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