EDUCO derives from the Latin verb “educe” meaning to draw forth from within. The knowledge you need is already inside you for lasting transformation. But you may want to learn some new skills to help you navigate the path from being a striving to a thriving academic.

This is where I can help. We have heard countless times that it is the journey and not the destination that matters, but wouldn’t you like to actually enjoy the journey? Instead of worrying about how you are going to get everything done that is demanded of you?

Academics work in a unique environment that many people outside it simply do not understand, and academics may find themselves feeling isolated and lonely. The pressures of publishing, class preparation, administrative policy meetings to discuss everything from curricula to how to conducting a new faculty search are simply invisible to the outside world, those pressures never end.

My clients tend to contact me for help after reaching a point of desperation, frightened by their own sense of confusion and unable to discern the next best step. Many cannot figure out how to find the time to write, though their jobs depend on it. Some are terrified of teaching, and find it extremely difficult to communicate with students. By following this five step plan, you can figure out exactly what you want, and what you might need to do to get there. Most choose to remain in academia, but a few, after due consideration, have even chosen to leave it altogether.

Why? Because change happens. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with change. We say we want it AND we resist it. The first element has to be accepting where you are now. In this economy, many academics have either been forced to take a furlough to save their colleges money and even had their departments dissolved in the face of statewide budget crunches. So, job loss can be a huge change. Promotions are also changes, but of a more positive sort. The truth is, though, that even positive transitions can be hard. Pursue mastery, not perfection.

This is really about the techniques for learning how to get out of your own way, and accept that we are always stepping into unknown territory.

Handling Stress in the Academic Life

Did you know that 95% of all illnesses are stress related?

“Stress is the trash of modern life—we all generate it, but if you don’t dispose of it, it will pile up and take you over.” Danzae Pace

•C raft your communication
From Awareness to Action for the College Instructor (written or verbal)

Why? Because you want to get your projects out into the world in a timely and effective manner. If you do research on the effects of famine in Dafur, is it going to be helpful to those people if it never gets published, or if it gets published twenty years from now?

Well, perhaps for historians. But most academics study whatever they study because they have an intense passion for the subject matter, and they care about what is happening in the world, whether they are researching the social impact of famine or trying to find a cure for childhood
cancers.

Why would anyone take the time to get organized? Well, obviously one of the most common relates to another area I mentioned: reducing stress, gaining control over workload, feeling less exhausted, and living a more enjoyable life.

What: Having a SYSTEM saves you stress time energy and money because you know what to do with any incoming item. Incoming items can include voice mail, email, regular mail, documents people hand to you, requests people make of you, things you thing of for yourself that “ought” to get done.

5 steps TAFFY process.