Academic Writing Amplified 75: What Radical Change in Academia Looks Like
Why do we struggle to find time to write while the academic establishment requires publications in order to maintain or advance our careers? It's time for radical change.
Designing your career with intention is a radical idea. Securing your writing at the center of your career is a radical idea. And friends, radical change is what we need in academia! It's time to move away from the scarcity mindset we've been socialized into, and start making decisions from a place of intention instead of a place of fear. To do that, we need to see what needs to change (radically) and then step into our power to make that change. Let's go!
Scarcity vs. IntentionWe are led to believe that there is never enough in academia. And that we are 'on' 24/7. Right off the bat in grad school, there is no time that is off limits. We are urged to find our own funding and told there is no money for anything. This scarcity mindset continues as we move through our careers. The way it manifests:
- Never saying no. Any project that might lead to publication needs to be pursued, because there are never enough publications.
- Leaving projects languishing in your pipeline that should be cut, just in case.
- Overextending yourself in teaching and committee work.
"When we live our careers from this place of scarcity, we make fear-based decisions."
Designing your career with intention is anti-fear and anti-scarcity by definition. Your decisions are based on the intentions you set, not on fear. In our Navigate program, we start by helping you craft your academic mission statement. Then we move through time management, writing and pipeline management and strategy systems to give you the skills you need to design your intentions around that mission statement.
Why It's Radical & How Writing Fits InYour writing is the tool you use to make an impact in your field and to move your career forward. While the publications that come from your writing are an expected part of advancing your career, no one else is checking in with you to make sure you get your writing done. Centering your writing, giving it the spot it needs to have in order to propel your career, is a radical act because you are putting yourself and your needs first.
"The fight to center your writing and scholarship is a microcosm of the fight for change, impact, and justice."
The radical part is a womxn getting what she wants and needs. Anchoring your writing at the center of your career is focusing on you rather than what everyone else at your institution needs or wants. And friends, that is radical! And it is just what academia needs to drive change on a larger scale. It's time to put writing where it belongs!
"Making sure writing gets this prioritized place it deserves in your career is equivalent to making sure you get this prioritized place that you deserve in your career."
Are You Ready??
If these ideas resonate with you, and you're ready for some radical change in your own life and career, it might be time for you to join us in Navigate! Enrollment opens on April 27 and we start up in May.
We're calling this cohort "The Radical Cohort" because we're seeking to make radical inner change that leads to radical outer change. This means: designing a career with intention, not suffering, feeling calm and collected, and exercising powerful agency over our lives and careers. We'll teach you 10 systems to help you accomplish these radical changes.
Be sure to get on the waitlist to be the first to get more information and the chance to sign up! Sign ups will open first to our Momentum members, then to the waitlist, and then to the public, and the first 10 to enroll with get a free spot in our next 2 and a half day virtual retreat!
Be sure to get on the waitlist here: https://www.cathymazak.com/navigate-waitlist/
Connect with me:Follow me on Clubhouse: @cathymazak
This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode75.