July 5, 2011 | 
Author 7 steps to finding your dream job
Photo by Joe Drivas
Photo by Joe Drivas
“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy,” goes the old Gershwin tune. Well, maybe not so easy in this economy, but one thing that’s still free is dreaming. So, how about changing those lyrics to: “Summertime, and the dreamin’ is easy.” Dreaming is the first step in finding your dream job. What would you do even if no one paid you to do it? Don’t worry about how you will get that job, just start thinking about it.
In a 20-year period, 60% of those people who had changed to a different career reported greater well-being (Jepsen& Choudhuri, 2001) and happiness.
You will spend 1/3 of your life at work and you deserve to feel fulfilled by it. Joel Garfinckle, author of Love Your Work, says no one should waste their days “working at a job that doesn’t match your deepest talents and gifts.” Imagine waking up each day excited about your job instead of dreading it. Halle Stanford, who developed the Bear in the Big Blue House children’s television series, says his work sometimes feels more like a hobby than a job. If you are feeling more burnt out than energized by your work, then it’s probably time to start thinking about either a new career, or a way to grow the job you have into the dream job you actually want.
The next step, then, is getting in touch with your strengths. What is it that you do best? What do you do effortlessly that others struggle to do? Everyone has unique gifts, some ability that no one else can offer the world in quite the same way. Look at whatever you are doing, and note the times and places when you know you are performing at your highest level. We are happiest and most successful when we work at jobs that match our abilities yet are hard enough to provide some challenge.
Third, recognize what you really want. A dream job allows you to live your most deeply held values daily. Do you want to be part of preserving wild places? Or would you rather make equipment to ease a hospital patient’s pain? Is flex-time important because you are raising children? What is it that truly gives you the most satisfaction, fulfillment, or enjoyment? Follow your wants rather than your shoulds.
Learn to listen to that inner voice in order to be who you are meant to be and not who others think you should be.
Fourth, know how you want your job to fit with the rest of your life. If you want to be a real estate agent, do you realize a lot of work has to be done weekends and evenings? What about being a chef? You may love to cook now, but will you still love it when you are working the holidays other folks have off?
Fifth, take some small actions. Browse the web and investigate the jobs that attract you. Take note of the ones that repel you. Buy a book about a career path that has interested you. Do actuaries really like to play with numbers as much as you do? Sign up for a class on statistics if that relates to your dream job. Maybe you are already a chef in a good restaurant. Perhaps your dream job is becoming a restaurateur. You have a good resource already available without putting a lot of energy into research if you know the owner. Ask what it takes to be successful.
Sixth, organize to prioritize. Once you have listed your own strengths, assessed your values, determined your life-style preferences, and have some information about the work that looks most interesting to you, it’s time to start rank ordering them. You should have a list of what makes a job ideal for you personally, so decide which aspect is most important to you. Do you need daily variety and challenge more than money? Do you need your values and your work to connect in the world in a concrete way? How much of your dream job will actually let you do what you most love, most of the time? If the answer is only 10%, then it’s probably not your dream job. Pick 2-3 elements that must be included for your dream job. Toss out those dream jobs you have explored that do not meet these criteria.
Finally, recognize that it’s scary to think about change. No matter who you are, or what you are doing, the first thing that comes up is resistance. Reinventing yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It may take a year or more. But if you let yourself relax into the dream of what is possible, instead of holding yourself to only those choices that make pragmatic sense, you may discover a path you did not expect has opened right in front of you. And that the job you were once dreaming can become your very own.
Posted in Academic Transitions, career, Dreams, Getting Organized, Happiness, planning | 
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Photo By Curt Fonger
Photo By Curt Fonger
8 tips to handle interruptions
Interruptions are part of our every day life, at work and at home. Some people have work that is defined by interruption: think of the legal assistant who is constantly on call to a lawyer for research, or an academic assistant who must be prepared to meet with the department chair at a moment’s notice to deal with the latest emergency. If you are one of these, never fear! Some of these tips to deal with interruptions can still help you out.
Interruptions fall into two categories: Major and minor. Major interruptions can be anything from time out to prepare taxes, have a baby, move your office, schedule surgery, or prepare a major (but unanticipated) report. Minor interruptions, are those small daily work stoppages, small items that can add up to major frustration. These include too many emails to answer, requests for unscheduled meetings, or unannounced visitors. Here’s a list of things you can do to help yourself:
1. Be prepared: get organized (at least a little). Put a system into place for knowing what you need to do, and when you need to do it. A system helps you pick up where you left off more easily when you get interrupted by that telephone call or that co-worker that has to talk “right now” or that “high-priority” email from your boss. How you choose to organize is up to you: perhaps you use a 1-31 tickler file, or an electronic calendar that reminds you of your next task. Just remember that if you are relying on a system to remind you of what you need to do next, you must actually use the system for it to work!
2. List your resources: What is the nature of the interruption? Is it a recurring project or report deadline that is within your control? Or are you moving your office to a new location, so many elements are unknown?
- Make a list of the resources you need to get your task finished.
- How much time or money do you have or need?
- Are there pre-existing resources or support systems that can help? (For instance, moving companies have prepared inventory forms you can fill out; tax preparers have lists of things to include in your annual filing.)
3. Come up with a plan: Begin by listing the tasks to be done, and prioritize them. Decide what is an emergency to be done “immediately” and what can wait. List deadlines for non-emergencies, and give yourself a personal deadline. Have someone else hold you accountable for it. Consider the consequences of putting something off. If this is a major interruption, make some notes after it is over in case you have to do this again.
4. Understand the process of change: According to William Bridges, there are three phases of change – letting go, transition, and starting anew. The transition phase is the hardest because it is that “in between” place where you have left behind the old and are uncertain about what the new will be. This is where you may feel vulnerable, anxious and in a state of flux. Just knowing this can help with processing major interruptions.
5. Just do it: As the old Nike commercial suggests, beginning the process will help you, too. Vacations or having children are normal and delightful interruptions, but you may need a plan for “re-entry.” Decide what you will do, and when you will do it. Make sure your plan is realistic, especially if you know you will have time constraints.
6. Reward yourself at every step: Rewards should be something you really like to do, whether it’s a coffee break or going to a movie. If they take a chunk of time, you will need to plan your reward time, too. But as you check off the major items to get through a major interruption, allow yourself to enjoy your success. Use your visualization skills to see your best possible outcome.
7. Figure out the causes of your interruptions, and stop them in their tracks when possible. Try turning off your telephone (of whatever sort!) for a portion of each day; ditto for email. This does not mean ignoring it completely, just giving yourself some uninterrupted blocks of time. If your interruptions come from people needing information from you, try to determine if there is a way to provide that information in advance, or let them know where they can get the information for themselves. Notice if people invite themselves into to your office to talk, and try standing up when you are ready for them to leave.
8. Practice the two-minute rule: The OHIO rule, or “Only Handle It Once,” doesn’t actually work. It’s better to know what to do with it your incoming items, because papers, emails, telephone calls and personal requests are happening all day long. Answer the easy ones right away and get rid of them. This unclutters your brain for more important tasks. Best of all, if you are interrupted, know when to say, “No, I can’t work on that right now,” because it will take more than two minutes.
You will get more productive quickly by practicing these techniques for both major and minor interruptions. Some statistics suggest you will regain control over at least 20% of your work-day this way, and then you can take less work home.
How to Raise Your Visibility for Career Advancement
Branding. It’s a word the older folks amongst us often dislike because it conjures up annoying advertising that will get to you subliminally, making you by a name brand when generic is just as good. But branding is where it is at for career advancement. For those of you saying, “bah, humbug,” let me add: your brand is the authentic you. You are simply putting out into the world the person you truly are.
What’s your brand? In the Internet age, your brand is simply your on-line presence. In building your brand, you get to have the fun of discovering exactly what it is that makes you special and sets you apart from others competing for similar opportunities. So, start by considering what you think is the one most important thing about yourself that you want others to know. Do you want to promote yourself as a great copywriter or a terrific programmer? Emphasize one skill among the many you have to build your own brand.
The key is consistency in your presentation from one venue to another, and care taken to keep non-professional data off the web. 95% of all headhunters and 90% of all potential employers (and that might include higher ups or human resource people in the company where you currently work) look at your on-line profiles before even considering an interview.
Technically, employers are not supposed to know about your personal life, but these days, we are in the ethernet, warts and all. There are plenty of horror stories out there about embarrassing Facebook pictures, personal blogs telling about drinking to excess at parties, or people who flamed someone else in a Linked In group dialogue. And just like a jury told to “please disregard that statement,” once a person knows the information, it is not going to leave their head.
Here are a couple of examples of brand builders: 1) Jason Alba (jasonalba.com), CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of I’m on LinkedIn – Now What???; and 2) Allison Doyle (linkedin.com/in/alisondoyle) and her blog (alisondoyle.typepad.com). Follow their advice, and you will have built an on-line presence that will advance your career in no time at all. Alison Doyle highly recommends including a photo on all your profiles, plus creating a video CVs viahttp://visualcv.com. There are pluses and minuses to providing the visual information, and for many people, the process is awfully intimidating.
In the meantime, here are some basic steps to take to build that on-line presence:
1) Make sure your email is professional. Instead of jediwarrior@domain.com consider just using your name at your internet provider, like this: FirstnameLastname@domain.com.
2) Use your real name in setting up profiles. Linked In will do this for you automatically when you set up your account for instance, I am:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hillary-hutchinson/7/b6/b45
3) Create your public profile in the standard places. Linked In, Facebook, Twitter are the current “standards.” Then, make sure you post it in sites that are specific to your industry or school where there are places to post it. If you are looking for a job or other career opportunities, note it there, too. (If you do not want your present employer to know you are looking for lateral advancement, this might not be advisable.)
4) Link your various profiles. Add a Linked In or Twitter link to your Facebook account, so people can find out more about you.
5) Participate in group discussions that interest you. Be careful: this can be a time sink. Just pick a few, and get known as an expert or a go to resource person. The beauty of today’s social media is that interests are more easily shared across geographic boundaries. You can get to know someone across the ocean as easily as your hometown.
6) Consider creating a personal website. WordPress has made this process extraordinarily easy for even the most technophobic amongst us.
7) Consider starting your own blog. If you are a writer, this is a great place to shine; if you are an artist of any type, it’s a great way to provide visuals showcasing your talents.
Go forth in confidence that branding is not a dirty word, and create an online presence that advances your career. Keep in mind that authenticity and consistency are the keys. Let people know who you really are, and advance your career.
***May be reproduced in full or in part with proper attribution to***
(my name-Hillary Hutchinson, Title-Career Coach and Change Strategist, www.TransitioningYourLife.com
Posted in career, Communication, Confidence, Leadership, productivity | 
Tags: Allison Doyle, branding, facebook, Jason Alba, jibberjobber.com, Linked in, social networking, twitter | 1 Comment »
“I’m so stressed out!” How often do you find yourself saying this in your mind or to family and friends? Stress, a modern term, arose from physiological studies begun in the 1930s, and is now used as we know it beginning in the 1950s with the publication of Hans Seyles’ book The Stress of Life (1956). If you Googled the word stress today, you would discover over 600 million articles about stress and over half million books about stress. Doctors say “stress” is the underlying cause of 80-95% of all health issues we suffer today.
Not that our ancestors didn’t have stress – they most certainly did (disease, infant and maternal mortality, wars, natural disasters) and what they felt was probably just as intense. They just didn’t use the term “stress” for it. Stress is clearly not unique to the modern world. But perhaps we are more aware that stress is about the choices we make around activities, events, and people we find stressful, rather than the time that we occupy in history.
Before I continue, I would like to note that there are two kinds of stress: good stress and bad stress, and bad stress can take two forms, acute or chronic. Good stress is actually what we call a “challenge,” difficult but possible, and helps us get the energy we need to get things done. Acute stress is usually a result of something outside ourselves that we cannot control, such as a car wreck or a serious computer crash; it is intense, and of short duration. In chronic stress, such as being ill with cancer, or dealing with an irascible boss, you feel that the cause of the stress never lets up.
Good stress results in LTP, or “long-term potentiation.” As you stress your brain by asking it to absorb new and unfamiliar information, what started as difficult becomes easier. Neurons go down new pathways that quickly become old and familiar pathways. Or as the neuroscientists say, “neurons that fire together, wire together.” This is why “practice makes perfect” for musicians.
But what can we do about the bad stress? We’re all familiar with the notion that it isn’t a particular situation that’s stressful, but our response to it, especially our thoughts about it. Granted, sometimes stress is an autonomic response, a sudden shock or fright, but oftentimes stress is about the mental choices we make. Unfortunately, the habitual thoughts we think in response to stress can actually exacerbate the stress we feel in our minds and bodies. For example, there’s a deadline for a project, or a set time for an appointment, and the calendar or clock says we’re clearly cutting it too close. We can:
a) Tighten our jaw and say, “It’s all so-and-so’s fault!” or,
b) Yell, hit something, and say, “I always wait to the last minute —what’s wrong with me?” or,
c) Pause, consciously relax our muscles, close our eyes for a few minutes (if not driving!) and reframe the moment by stating, “I have all the time I need to (fill in the blank),” or,
d) Breathe, deeply and consciously, from the base of the abdomen to the top of our lungs, to slow down our spinning minds and nerves.
For each stressful situation, there are responses that soothe us or make things worse. When we are stressed or fearful, we don’t make good decisions. It is physically impossible because the brain moves into survival mode. This often creates a spiral of negativity and stress that, in the worst case, can literally kill you. You cannot think strategically about your work or your life while in a state of fear.
Natalie Goldberg, an American painter, writer, poet, and filmmaker says, “Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.” Breathing deeply and consciously can be done any time, anywhere, to reduce blood pressure and anxiety.
When we lessen our stress, even just a notch or two, things begin to swing the other direction and the stress begins to ebb. Know your pivot point where stress management needs to kick in. Slow down on purpose and put yourself back in control. You will then think more clearly—and surprise, you will also become more productive instead of racing around the hamster wheel one more time.
Hillary Hutchinson, M.A., M.Ed., is a certified career coach who helps people manage major life and work transitions. She has a specialty in academia. Contact her via her website, www.TransitioningYourLife.com
8 Ways To Be Happier (and more productive) At Work
Do you think how much you earn is the best predictor of happiness at work? It’s not. In fact, according to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in First, Break All the Rules (1999) money was never even mentioned as a source of workplace satisfaction by the 80,000 managers interviewed.
“Most people make the mistake of thinking that success leads to happiness. In fact, our brains work precisely the other way around,” says Shawn Achor, formerly of Harvard University and founder of Good Think, Inc. It’s actually a positive approach that “gives rise to resilience, energy, and the ability to influence other people—all things that create success.” (Quote from an interview with Anne Fisher, posted on the Internet August 3, 2009).
In his book, The Happiness Advantage (2010), Anchor says happiness and optimism actually improve every business outcome, as well as improving intelligence, creativity, accuracy and energy.
Dr. Simon Lutterbie and three colleagues conducted research released in 2010 to examine the effects of the 2008-2010 recession on employee happiness and productivity. Their questionnaire had 2,400 respondents (48% male, 52% female) across 66 countries, but with majority of respondents (45%) in the US. To no one’s surprise, they discovered that happiness at work significantly decreased in this time period, the percentage of time spent “on task” also decreased, and sick leave increased significantly from October 2008 through July 2010.
If you are interested in participating, the researchers are continuing to collect data on engagement and happiness at work here: http://www.tinyurl.com/SoHaWSurvey1
Dr. Lutterbie and his colleagues list 5 drivers of happiness at work:
- Contribution: the feeling of making a difference;
- Conviction: motivation in the moment to perform a task;
- Commitment: overall dedication to work;
- Culture: the social environment at work; and
- Confidence: the belief in one’s abilities to “get the job done.”
Unfortunately, he does not address a sixth C, “Control,” that I see as truly important, as in whether the work itself is within the control of the worker, or to what extent external factors that are not within the worker’s control (like an overall economic downturn, positive or negative life events) impact happiness at work.
Conclusion: The happiest people at work were the best performers, while the unhappiest were the worst performers. Happiness at work had a strong and lasting impact on productivity, performance and the potential to advance in the workplace. Happiness reduces stress, which increases productivity and results in less sick days. So, it’s a win-win for employer and employee.
What can you do to make yourself happier at work?
- Laugh often: Take time out for a joke, a funny blog, a silly picture and the neurons in your brain process information more quickly, helping you think more clearly.
- Block out productive time: Work in increments of 45, 90 or 120 minutes, depending on the nature of your job, and make sure to give yourself at least a 5-minute break in between tasks. Stand up from your computer and touch your toes, eat a carrot, walk around the block, or step outside to call a friend. In other words, go off-task.
- Decorate your space: If you are living in a gray cube, dress it up with color, photos, or bright plastic toys, provided you associate these things with positive emotions. Don’t go overboard and clutter up you area or you will defeat the ability to think clearly. A little goes a long way.
- Write down negative emotions: Strangely enough, writing down the bad stuff, from serious trauma to mere irritations, can reduce the impact of negative emotions.
- Increase your social network: Women live longer than men in part because they rely on close friends to help them through hard times. Everyone can benefit from good relationships with family and friends to keep work in perspective.
- Keep learning: From mastering new computer skills to reading journal articles, this will keep you from stagnating in your career, and keep you happier.
- Journal life goals: The health benefits of writing about being your “best possible future self” were well-documented by Laura King in 2008. Take time to consider who you want to be.
- Be grateful: Make sure you include one to three things in your gratitude list each day that relate to work, even if it is as simple as someone offering to get you a cup of coffee.
The truth is that happiness is not based on the external world but the lens through which we view it. Make yourself more successful by deliberately practicing happiness.
Hillary Hutchinson, M.A., M.Ed., is a certified career coach specialized in helping people manage major life and work transitions. Contact her via her website, www.TransitioningYourLife.com
Posted in career, Coaching, Communication, Uncategorized | Tags: happiness, happiness at work | No Comments »
"New Year, Same Goal." Joe King, American Author
Tips for Resolutions
January is a huge milestone for many people. They are ready to lose weight, get healthy, focus anew on their relationships, and build their businesses. Academics are taking on new challenges as well with the start of a new semester, with new courses and new students to be taught. And so, we begin the year with our New Resolutions and Good Intentions. But 90% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by the end of February because people set goals without actually taking steps to achieve them.
A resolution is a promise you make to yourself, but a goal entails making a plan. Sometimes goals are things that make you stretch, and sometimes goals are things you already know how to do, but you need a lot of structure in order to truly get them done. To recite the alphabet, you can’t go from A-Z and skip all the letters in between.
- Begin by choosing small number of doable goals and write them down: If they are not in writing, then they are only wishes. If you do not have a concrete destination in mind, it’s like allowing the wind to determine the direction of the ship you are sailing. So pick a destination you can actually reach. Stay away from grandiose goals, like climbing Mt. Everest. Instead create a doable goal work up to walking 10,000steps/day, adding five pounds to a backpack each week, until you get strong enough and create enough endurance to climb Mt. Everest.
- Ask yourself: is there one thing in my life that if I did it differently on a consistent basis from what I am doing now, would make the greatest positive difference in my life? Small changes can create a “ripple effect” of widening into another small change, followed by another, and lead to other related changes. Next thing you know, you’ve generated a truly large change.
- You can generate large changes by using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Specific.) (For further explanation, see earlier post on S.M.A.R.T. and S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals. )
- Once you have determined your SMART goals, begin listing the steps you need to take to meet them. For instance, if you want to finish a writing project, your list will include having a statement of purpose, an outline, time for data collection, time for analysis, and a timeframe for writing chapter by chapter.
- Next, create an accountability (discipline) structure: examples include hiring a coach, joining a writing support group, keep a writing journal, have a writing partner or buddy. Pay attention to external deadlines for motivation. For instance, what is the date you have to have your dissertation finished in order to turn it in to graduate school for final approval if you want to graduate in the spring semester? If you are writing a journal article or a book, the final draft has to be in to the publisher anywhere from three to six months ahead of time to allow for revisions.
- Get support from other people: Tell family and friends, “This is the year this project is going to get done, and unfortunately, that means I will have to say no to doing other things with you from time to time. Business people sometimes call this “Switch Costs” meaning “I gain something with a new action but I also lose something else.” Make sure you don’t focus on your goal to the exclusion of all else, or the goal will quickly lose its appeal.
- Reward yourself at each step, instead of beating yourself up. Some people view achieving the goals or resolutions as a test you either pass or fail. It’s not good to should on yourself. These are your goals, and no one else’s. Even if you don’t meet the goal this time, it doesn’t have to go away forever. That’s like falling down and deciding that because you fell, you can never walk again.
- Use powerful positive statements: Instead of “I’m a procrastinator” substitute “I work steadily toward my goals.”
- Remind yourself of how you will feel when you get it done: keep the vision in mind. Visualize yourself at your publication party or on a book tour. Or how you will feel on stage getting your PhD hood from your advisor.
All this sets you up to be successful, because it allows you to become more realistic about what is really attainable, and what you really want to do. By calling your resolutions plans, you have already acknowledged they can change: any day of the year can be your own personal January 1st. In fact, the Chinese New Year begin on February 3, 2011. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! It’s not too late for rededicating yourself to that New Year’s resolution: you have ten more months to fulfill those promises to yourself.
"And the day came when the risk to remain in a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anaïs Nin.
Dr. Robert Vallerand, a professor of psychology at the University of Quebec, Montreal has studied passion which he defines as “…engaging on a regular basis in an activity that we dearly love, find important and that resonates with who we are.” His research identifies two forms of passion: obsessive passion-where the passion controls the person – and harmonious passion – where the person controls the passion. Guess which one is useful and which one is harmful for a career changer?
When considering career plans or career transitions, one is often advised to “follow the passion” and a career path will emerge. However, there are two problems with this: 1) There is no direct correlation between “doing what you love” and the money your earn (I think most academics have experienced this!); and 2) Dr. Vallerand’s research showed 15-25% of his respondents did not even have identifiable passions. If you are considering leaving academia, instead of relying on passion to determine the next step, ask yourself these questions:
1) Why are you interested in making a career change at this point in your life? Are you dissatisfied with the actual work, the working environment, or the people surrounding you? Or do you feel you have achieved all that you can in your current career, and are looking for new challenges? There are a variety of reasons people want to change careers, from boredom to necessity. However, it is important to be clear that internal, not external, factors are usually the strongest driving force for change. Understand the why behind your desire to change careers before jumping into something new, or you may find yourself experiencing all the same frustrations once again.
2)What are the financial risks of staying versus leaving your current career? Be realistic. Are you making enough now to meet your human needs of food, clothing, shelter, etc.? Where can you cut current living costs? Can you sustain a period without any income? How long will it take to establish a new career? A new income stream has to replace your current pay. You need a clear financial plan that forecasts your anticipated earnings both during the period of transition, and for the first few years following it. In the long run, you may earn more and be more satisfied with your career, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.
3) What are the transferable skills you have that can move from one career path to another? Transferable skills are those you use, not those formally required in a previous position. For instance, some transferable skills teachers can claim (in addition to knowledge of a particular subject) include persuasion, presentation, negotiation, communication, leadership, and human relations. Leverage your experience. Experience is an advantage because it cannot be bought or learned in textbook, and can be a useful selling point for older workers.
4) Are there new skills you can learn quickly to move into a new career path? Make sure you thoroughly research the career you want to enter. If you have been a hospitality worker and you now want to move into computer technology, perhaps it is time to consider enrolling in a programming course. Take the course after regular hours to get a taste of the work you are considering and determine if it really is as interesting as you initially thought. Learning the key words and the particular industry jargon shows you are up to date and understand the area.
5) What strengths do you bring to changing careers? Dr. Martin Seligman’s highly influential book, Authentic Happiness (2002) described twenty-four personal skills, and abilities, or character traits, he termed signature strengths such as leadership, integrity, curiosity. Seligman linked the use of these strengths to greater happiness. The myth that career growth is best achieved by improving weak skill sets has been largely disproved by psychological studies. It is better to operate from strength, understanding when your job performance was excellent, and building on the your strongest talents to create optimal performance for successful outcomes.=
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2003 that 67% of Americans dislike their jobs, and 41% are not employed in the fields they studied in school. The number is likely higher now, as people hang onto jobs they do not particularly like in times of economic uncertainty. However, if you were given the option of going to your current work versus getting a root canal, and you find it difficult to decide which is the least painful, it may be time to seriously consider a mid-life career change.
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison
Now is the time of year when academics typically say to themselves, “I have a great big junk of time so I can get all that writing done that I have been putting off,” whether it’s their master’s thesis, dissertation, articles or books. But the truth is, most academics squander their break, procrastinating on the writing and generally frittering away the time visiting with family and friends, just like the rest of the world does. Here are some tips to keep you writing through the holidays:
1. Enlist the support of your family and friends to ensure you get your writing time. Explain that you are going to need to work during the break, much as you love them and want to spend time with them. This puts everyone, including you, on notice about your intention to work. Because you may be in unfamiliar surroundings, find a visual symbol to let others know that you are thinking and writing: one friend used a red hair ribbon and explained it meant, “Do not interrupt me because I am working,” to her family. Friends and family are generally happy to abide by the rule knowing there will be a time when the symbol comes off, and it will help you stick to the plan to write instead of schmoozing.
2. Prioritize by planning reasonable chunks of work time. Accept the fact that you are not going to get as much writing done during the holiday season.. Take out your calendar and pencil in a scaled back version of your typical writing schedule for the next 4-6 weeks. If you have been writing one hour a day, plan on a half hour instead, or cut 6 hours a week down to 3. Mark off times you know you won’t write, like New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, and lessen your guilt up front.
3. Write every day. Don’t expect to binge write. As always, I recommend writing in small chunks instead of waiting for big blocks of time that somehow never materialize, and you never even get started with the writing. Even when you can’t actually write, you can still make notes on what you need to do, references to look up, or arguments you want to make.
4. Pick your time and go off-site. Going to a coffee shop, park or library works well if you are good at ignoring distractions. Having been raised in a family of four children born in a span of five years, I find it extremely easy to ignore the bustle of a coffee shop, and sometimes it even helps my concentration to shut out the noise. If you are entertaining family or other visitors in your own home and have an office, make use of shutting your door and placing a sign on it that indicates you are working.
5. Use academic libraries during the holidays. If you are tired of writing, take a break by visiting your nearest academic library because it will most likely not be as crowded. Make sure to check the hours before you go, though, because they often have reduced hours due to unavailability of student staff.
6. Maintain momentum by keeping a writing journal. Keep track of how much you are actually writing by keeping a bound journal. Why bound? It’s both portable and your will not lose papers with good ideas on them. Note the when you sat down to write, what you did (a phrase or two, no need for paragraphs), the amount of progress you made (word or page count), how long you spent, and most important of all, where you will begin again the next time you sit down to write. Maintain the journal even on days when you don’t write, with your ideas or other things you want to do.
7. Write while traveling. Whatever way you choose to travel, plane, train or automobile, you can still get a lot done. Many airports now have banks of desks with plug-ins for laptops; trains have a lounge car, and if you don’t get carsick and someone else is driving, you can even work then.
8. Keep your EYES on the prize. EYES is an acronym to help you remember healthy habits
- E is for Eating right: Pay attention to feeding yourself the right things at the right time. The body makes extra ghrelin, the appetite-boosting hormone, in response to anxiety. That may cause you to crave food high in carbohydrates and fat. Eat low fat foods that are rich in protein to help suppress ghrelin production;
- Y is for Yoga or another spiritual practice: Attending weekly services or other meditative practice can protect against age-related memory loss and thinking problems, lower your blood pressure, help you stay connected to the wider world and enhance your sense of well-being;
- E is for Exercise: Aerobic exercise also decreases the hunger hormone ghrelin, and lowers stress. It reduces depression, by setting off pleasure chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine, making you feel calm, happy and euphoric. It reduces anxiety, and the effects last for hours.
- S is for Sleep: Most people need eight hours of sleep for 16 hours of “awake” time. It’s counterproductive to sleep too little and spin your wheels at night attempting to write. What you write may not make sense when you are overtired, and you will be less productive in the long run.
9. Be aware of your own limits: During the holiday season of parties, we often find ourselves indulging in alcohol more than we would during the normal course of the year. Moderate your intake alcohol, and don’t plan to write when you might be hung-over. You might serve yourself better by going back to bed. Also, be aware of your own limits concerning time spent with relatives and friends, as some people find this extremely stressful.
10. Reward each planned chunk that gets finished. If you are slogging along paragraph by paragraph, but have managed to finish an entire section of your piece, take time to celebrate. Reward yourself in a way that refreshes you: go to the movies, have a cup of tea with cookies, spend time with your partner time. This will make it easier to return to the task later.
So, those are my tips for being out of your usual routine and still get your writing done over the holidays!
On bravely through the sunshine and the showers! Time hath his work to do and we have ours - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s that time of year again. Perusing the application deadlines, scanning Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the specialty journals in your field, looking for job openings and deciding which ones you are going to apply for, and then getting all those packages together. Whether you are about to graduate and look for your first tenure-track job, or you are seeking to move laterally for greater responsibility and pay, here are 5 tips for keeping your academic job search organized:
1. Start by thinking it through. Prior to your job search, I recommend you take some time to assess your current progress toward degree completion, long-term career goals, and requirements for personal and career satisfaction. Thinking about these issues not only helps you plan for the future, but also will make you a stronger job candidate by allowing you to more persuasively express your interests and convictions in your cover letter, CV, and interview. Take some time to weigh these ideas:
- What kinds of positions are you considering? Are you willing to consider non-teaching, research jobs or post doc?
- What specializations are you comfortable teaching?
- What are your preferences for a specific type or size of institution?
- What types of positions are you reasonably qualified for? Are you going to apply for the “outliers” or are you going to stay with what you know well?
- What are your geographic preferences?
- Are there personal issues and lifestyle requirements that may influence your search? Spousal hires, children school age, etc.?
- When will you realistically be prepared to begin a full-time position? Are you really going to be ready to start a new job fall semester 2011?
- Do you need to be more assertive about setting up interim completion dates for finishing and defending? Is your advisor helping or hindering in this process?
- What happens if you accept a position prior to completion of the dissertation? Will you realistically be able to write if teaching four courses? (This may be a moot point now, as most institutions do not need to hire an ABD candidate with so many already finished PhDs on the market, but it still bears consideration.)
2. Stay organized. If you are applying for multiple positions, you will quickly find that it is easy to lose track of the status of each application. It is very important to organize your materials from the beginning of your search, as it will help you be sharp and prepared in the event that you are unexpectedly (and happily) contacted for an interview via telephone.
3. Keep a notebook. Maintain organized files of position announcements, materials submitted, and information about respective institutions in a notebook. Make sure you have pockets to put materials in, so you don’t have to three-hole punch everything you want to keep. If you get an on site interview, you can take just the folder portion that applies to a particular job and go. Things to keep in the notebook:
- Position announcement. (It’s also good to keep this if you get hired for your tenure file.)
- A copy of all application materials submitted.
- Acknowledgment letters received.
- Notes about any conversations with members of the search committee.
- Notes from interviews and relevant telephone conversations.
- Additional information gathered about that institution from the web, particularly about specialty areas for other members of the department, to enhance collegiality.
- A copy of letters of acceptance or rejection.
- A note about notes: These are for you to help you remember; since you are not in the hiring position, it’s ok to write next to a name, “Bald guy interested in ancient Celts of the Steppes.”
4. Keep a log. In addition, you should probably also maintain a centralized record or logbook of dates associated with each position at the front of the notebook. This can help you prioritize applications, meet crucial deadlines, and better manage the entire process.
5. Keep materials electronically. It’s easy to maintain an electronic file of your own materials (cover letter, CV, etc.), and where possible, you may want to include electronic files from your correspondents. However, you will likely need to retain hard copies of the materials you receive back from the institution.
Remembering to organize your job search from the outset by following these simple recommendations can greatly reduce the stress of the job search and enhance your ability to enjoy the holiday season as the season for hiring next year’s faculty moves forward into the spring.
Posted in career, planning, procrastination | Tags: academia, academic, academic departments, academic job search, career, dream, goals, life purpose | No Comments »
In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists~ Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983, American social writer and philosopher)
At this point in time, anyone who has school age children has settled them into this year’s routine of classes and homework. The adults in their lives have settled back into their routine of work, supervising homework, and getting all the rest of the household management done. Perhaps it is time consider the question, “Should I go back to school?”
The answer to that is: it depends. Pick up any magazine, newspaper, or tune into your favorite news station and you will see how we are fast becoming a global economy. Are you prepared? How will it impact your skill set? Computers have changed everything in the way we work, no matter what our jobs, in just a few short decades. The worldwide web combined with cloud computing is going to change the way we handle, store and retrieve information even more in the years to come. Employers are demanding complex thinkers, fresh ideas, and a variety of skill sets from employees that will help navigate this global economy.
So, what should you do? Ask yourself: What do you see yourself doing in your work life if there were no perceived obstacles in your way? Give yourself the freedom to brainstorm without editing your thoughts. Do not allow yourself to play the “yes, but” game, giving the reasons you cannot do something before you even try it.
Here are seven ideas to prime the pump:
1) Learn a new language.
Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as the lingua franca of the modern era. Worldwide, approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language and 96% of Americans speak English. Linguistics professor David Crystal of Bangor University in Wales calculates that non-native English speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1 (2005). However, with 836 million speakers, Madarin Chinese is actually the most widely spoken language in the world. Spanish, with 329,000,000 speakers worldwide ranks third, followed by Arabic and then Hindi. So learn one of those languages if you already speak English.
2) Keep up your computer skills.
Even if it’s just learning to operate a new program that you haven’t used before, from Powerpoint to Quickbooks, give it a shot. Learn what it takes to keep a website updated. Figure out how to blog and use your social networks. 95% of all hiring employers now look at a Linked In profile before they decide whether or not to set up an interview. This includes academic jobs.
3) Read the latest books and trade magazines.
You are already reading the specialty journals, but it pays to know about the wider world. Check out the New York Times Book Review for hot nonfiction sellers. Be aware of trendsetting ideas to see the big picture, and figure out your place in it. Relax by reading biographies of people you admire, whether it’s a historical person like Abigail Adams, or a current mogul like Warren Buffett. Check out websites that relate to your area of expertise, and have fun looking at sites like Big Think or TED. You are bound to get some insights you can incorporate into your learning.
4) Keep your C.V. updated, even if you are not currently looking for a job.
You just never know when someone is going to come along who finds you interesting and capable. Be ready to show them exactly what you have done, and how you have kept your skills updated. Look at the academic jobs being advertised in your field. How have they changed from the time you were offered the position you now have? Could you still get that job if you interviewed today?
5) Go back to school.
Whether you decide to pursue another degree, or just to take an informal course with a topic that interests you, challenge your brain to expand. Common wisdom once held our brains were fully formed by about age 20, and would not change. Through MRI brain scanning, we now know that the brain is capable of creating new pathways, firing new neuron connections, and make unexpected connections. Enhancing the neuroplasticity of your brain can keep you on a path of life long learning.
6) Teach what you don’t know.
There is no better way to learn something new than to teach it to someone else. If you have an interest in a particular topic, or a skill you want to learn, go ahead and offer to teach it. You will be staying 1-2 steps ahead of your students, but as long as you are ahead, that’s fine. The trick with this is knowing the main points about the topic that the students should know when they finish, and not going off onto too many interesting tangents. New professors have plenty of opportunity to experiment with this.
7) Work with an academic career coach.
If you’re feeling like you need a change or change happens to you (for instance, you are denied tenure), start working with an academic career coach to plan your future. A good strategist will help you: a) describe what you want; b) explore your options; c) create and implement your action plan; and d) celebrate with you when you get exactly what you want for an exciting and fulfilling career in or out of academia.
As the slogan of the US Army between 1980 and 2001 declared, are you ready to “be all that you can be?” Take some risky action today by learning and using something new.
Posted in career, planning | Tags: academia, academic, academic departments, academic writing, be prepared, becoming yourself, career, change, goals, life purpose, planning, transition | 16 Comments »