How to prepare for the predictable
Plus a rare Academia Made Easier newsletter with no mentions of cats, chocolate, running, random music lyrics, Saskatchewan weather, or television from my youth. Enjoy!
Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.
In my corner of the world, we are just weeks away from the end of the semester’s classes and heading into the final exam period. Assignments are coming due and grading is mounting up. Committees are (or are soon to be) reviewing job applications, admissions applications, grant applications, and scholarship applications. Many (perhaps most) students, faculty, and staff are tired. Many people are sick, be it with colds, flu, or actual Covid. The days are growing shorter and the weather is getting colder.
This newsletter is fun, isn’t it?
The good news is that many of the things heading our way are entirely predictable. And because of this, we can prepare accordingly.
So let’s do that!
One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Create an “Until the End of the Term” List
The best way to prepare for predictable things is to actually predict them. This requires roughly ten minutes of your time, pen and paper, and a stomach of steel. When you have these things ready (or at least the first two), you can get started.
(Note: in an effort to be helpful, I provide links to past Academia Made Easier newsletters that seemed relevant. Please be sure to check these out. Or not. You do you. Okay, now you can get started.)
1. Review your calendar to make a list of things you know will happen before the end of the semester. Some examples:
Grading.
Syllabus submission. (See: “How to finish your syllabus when you don’t want to even think about your syllabus”).
Holiday shopping. (See: “How to think about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away” and “How to think about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away, 2022 edition”).
Wrapping up the semester. (See: “How to end the semester on a high note (or at least a neutral one)”).
Transitioning into the break period. (See: “How to prepare to take a (real) break” and “How to take small steps now to allow for a true end-of-year break”).
2. Brainstorm a list of things you can reasonably expect will happen at some point before the end of the semester. I discuss this idea at length in “how to quit being surprised by unplanned events”, but here are some examples specific to the end of the term:
Student requests for reference letters. (See: “How to write strong student reference letters in (much) less time”).
Student complaints about their grades. (See: “How to transform grade discussions from negotiation into learning”).
Student requests for extensions due to illness or other reasons.
Email overload. (See: “How to reduce the number of emails in your inbox” and “How to use strategic procrastination to spend less time on email and other low leverage tasks”).
Journal article review requests.
Grant review requests.
Limited time for writing. (See: “How to create a writing habit despite all of the great reasons why you can’t work on your writing right now”).
Illness (for yourself, a loved one, your child’s daycare provider, your colleagues) that negatively impacts your schedule.
3. Assess the activity coming up against your time available. (See: “How to quit lying to yourself about how long things will take”).
4. If needed, implement an end-of-term triage. (See: “How to triage your to-do list”).
That’s it. Investing ten minutes to consider what lies ahead will set you up for an easier end of the semester. I hope you give this small idea a try.
Chipping Away: What I Have Been Up To
A quick update on some of my own activities since my last newsletter, since I have your attention:
I had the pleasure of speaking again with Heather Ross for her podcast, Better Me. Heather told me that two of my past appearances were among the most listened-to episodes. I am very honored!
After listening to the latest On the Reg podcast, I summoned my courage and created a Mastodon account. Please connect with me at @LoleenBerdahl@polisci.network.
Recent family binge-watch: The Watcher. It is a bit wackadoodle, as is any Ryan Murphy show, but we found it to be a fun watch. (Note: Parental discretion strongly advised.)
Until next time…
I am thinking about the topics I want to include in Academia Made Easier in 2023. I welcome your feedback and suggestions on this front. Please comment below and let me know areas for which you would enjoy some small ideas to make your academic work easier. And, as always, I appreciate your assistance in sharing Academia Made Easier with your friends, colleagues, and social media networks.
Stay well, my colleagues.
P.S. I am writing today’s newsletter on a plane. I had the bad luck of a later boarding zone (Zone 5= zone of overhead bin crises) and was required to gate-check my bag. I am hopeful it makes it to my final destination. If not, a shopping trip will be needed.
Update: it arrived! Phew.
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Loleen Berdahl, Ph.D.: I am a twin mother, wife, runner, cat lover, and chocolate enthusiast. I spend far too much time on Twitter and binge-watching television, and my house could be a lot cleaner. During the work hours, I am the Executive Director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. I am the author of University Affair’s Skills Agenda column and my most recent books are Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD and Explorations: Conducting Empirical Research in Canadian Political Science.