Academic Writing Amplified

What is "mid-career" for academics? How long does it last and where can you go from here? The answer to that last one may surprise you. In North America, we have a 3-tiered promotion system. Your early career starts at Assistant Professor, you move to Associate Professor after you pass tenure review, and the final stage is Full Professor. (The UK system uses different terminology but is similar.) So what's considered "mid-career" and why does it matter? How can you move forward after tenure and what does it take to make a push for the final step in the system? Let's dig in. Early Career: On a Mission The early career stage for academics lasts about 5-6 years. It's the period where you're starting to define your identity, and answering the question: who am I as an academic? It's also the period when you are pursuing tenure. You may not have a crystal clear criteria for reaching tenure, but you have requirements, a pathway to follow and milestones to meet. Mid-Career: What Now? Once you get tenure (or pass your permanency requirements in other systems), you are considered mid-career. This stage has a less defined time period and can last for as long as 20 years.There are some common experiences among academics as they reach this milestone: Exhaustion and burnout from the tenure process. Reality is different from expectations. Pre-tenure academics often expect to have greater freedom to speak their minds, concentrate on their own projects and have a freer schedule; the truth of the post-tenure experience is that the difference is really not that stark. Motivation to go for full is deflated by the experience of getting tenure. So, now what? How do you find the motivation to move on to full professor? And should you? "Most women don't make it to full. And so what we want is more women at full." Moving Forward: Your Ideal Career Moving up to full professor does come with some benefits, including prestige and higher salaries. There's nothing wrong with staying at the mid-career, associate professor level. But what is a problem, is doing the same amount of work you would be doing at full, but getting paid at the associate level. To figure out the next best steps for you, here's what to do: Take time to reflect. Envision what you want your career to look like moving forward. What do you want your academic legacy to be? What does the next step to move toward that look like? It doesn't have to be a promotion. Build your skills. What worked for you pre-tenure or at some other time in your career may not work for you now. If you want to make a move for promotion more enjoyable, you need to build up some skills like: Time management. Learn to delegate, outsource and lean on a support team, and get good at saying no. Project management. Have a plan to get projects you do accept done with precision. Writing management. Hone your systems and processes, and make sure your pipeline is running smoothly. Shift your mindset. Remember that you are not the container! What you want to put into the world through your work can be realized in many different contexts and places. Think broadly about what is best for your ideal career. The big takeaway of the mid-career discussion is this: It can be better. You don't have to put up with stress and overwhelm. You can create your ideal career through self-reflection and a little skill-building. "The world is your oyster in the mid-career." If you need some help and support to understand what you want from your career and how to get to that next level, apply for my Elevate program! We focus on one-to-one work complemented by group work and trainings to help you shape your ideal career. If you're curious, apply here, even if you're not sure yet. If you're a good fit for the program, you'll get an invite to a live, free training focused on issues that affect mid-career academics. At that point, you can choose whether you'll join us when we start our 6 month journey in February. I hope you'll join us...investing in yourself pays off! Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode63.

Don't let the wide open schedules of a sabbatical or leave go to waste. Find out how to approach this time to get the most out of it! It's something we all dream about—a sabbatical or research leave when you can spend all your time writing. Then you'll really be productive! But ask anyone who has actually taken a sabbatical and you'll soon discover that the big blocks of time that you've been craving can actually make you feel more guilty and less productive than you feel in a regular semester. The solution is to get very clear on your priorities, plan and prepare well. Here are 3 things to do to get set up well and stay the course. 1. Clear the Decks You may be tempted to keep outside projects and responsibilities because you will have "so much time", but this is a mistake! A sabbatical is meant to be a time to step back from regular duties to allow deep thinking on your chosen project. That is very hard to accomplish if one foot is still in the world of your day-to-day duties. Here's what I recommend: Get very clear on what your focus will be (what is in your proposal?) Remove yourself from every committee, project and commitment not related to your sabbatical project. Set up boundaries to protect your time, like out-of-office notifications on your email and phone. This won't make all of those communications go away, but it will help change others' expectations for your response time and availability. 2. Create Structure If you are thinking you can work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on your project, let me assure you that is a complete misconception. If you try to do too much at once, it will backfire, and you'll be sure to lose focus, energy, and productivity. But you do want to have a plan! Here is what I suggest for structure: Plan to take one extra day off: 4 days of work, 3 days off. Choose whichever day of the week you want, but commit to it. It can be some extra time to rest and connect with family, and it can also be a place to schedule all that "life" stuff like Dr. visits so that it doesn't derail your work days. It just doesn't work to create well for 8 hours at a time. So, plan to work during soar sessions that are no more than 4 hours long. (Remember: soar sessions are times that you are in your own highly focused and energized soar state, or are writing in community to get that boost.) Rest. Plan it in and don't neglect it! You are doing deep, critical thinking during this time to bring something new into the world. The create-restore cycle gets lopsided if you try to create for many more hours than you restore. Find something you find relaxing and restorative, and plan on doing it. "You need to ramp up restoration if you're expecting yourself to ramp up creation." -Cathy Mazak 3. Stay on Course Remember, this sabbatical is for you. It's a time to work on something important, that matters for you. So, enjoy it! Don't feel bad about reveling in this time. Don't let yourself be drawn off course. If something comes up that you have to deal with (a revise and resubmit that gets you to publication, for example), don't let it derail you. Consider using a sprint. A writing spring is a two week period where you go all in on a project, using your soar sessions everyday for only that project. Use that sprint to get that other item off your plate as soon as possible. Whenever you can, approximate working on one thing at a time. This is good advice for any time, but especially during a sabbatical or leave. Most of that time it's going to be your sabbatical project, but if something unavoidable comes up, turn to that for a short time if possible, then come back with focus. For those new to the podcast, I'm giving an overview of our suite of programs for academics at every point in their careers. Elevate: This program is for post tenure womxn who are looking for what's next in shaping their careers. We are only running this program once this year, and enrollment is open now. Apply now, and if you're accepted to the program, you'll be ready to go for our February-July cohort. This program includes 1:1 mentoring, group coaching, trainings, and like-minded community and support. Apply here. (There is a special rate for participants in our Navigate program.) Amplify: For pre-tenure who want to go up for tenure with confidence, this program offers 1:1 and group coaching, trainings, like-minded community and support. Amplify is full and closed for enrollment at this time, but our next cohort will open in Sept 2021, and you can get on the waiting list now. Apply here. (There is a special rate for participants in our Navigate program.) Navigate: A writing roadmap for academics who want to use writing to create the careers they want. This program is for academics at any stage of their career who want to push back against overwhelm and make writing a priority. Navigate will open for enrollment in the first week of May 2021. Momentum: Momentum is always open for enrollment for academics at any stage, from graduate student to post-tenure professor. We've expanded the program to include more scheduled co-writing sessions to support you in the new year. We also have a weekly 30 minute "momentum mindset" meeting to start your week off right. Click here to learn more about our programs. Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode62.

It's a fresh, new year and it's time to leave all the "shoulds" in 2020 and plan to be more you in 2021. Goodbye 2020! My hopes are high for 2021. I encourage you to make this the year that you stop focusing on what you think you "should" be doing to get your writing done and advance your career and start leaning in to what works for you. I assure you that you will get more done with deeper creativity if you accept the ways that work best for you and structure everything else accordingly. Your voice, and your influence on your field will have greater impact if you lean in to what makes you and your perspective unique, and then stand by it. Let's stop struggling to fit into someone else's mold, and be ourselves in our writing and scholarship this year! Making Your Writing Systems More YOU I encourage you to reflect on what works well for you in terms of writing, and to run with it! Find and utilize your soar states. What times of the day are you most energized, focused and creative? Use them for your writing! Structure other parts of your day around those times as much as you possibly can. Don't worry about what times of day "should" be used for writing, find what works for you. Break projects into tasks that are the right size. I advise my clients to break projects down into smaller tasks to make them more manageable, but when they ask how small to make each task, I don't have a one-size-fits-all answer. If crossing things off a list is your jam, break those tasks down into lots of steps; if you get overwhelmed by a long list of items, make the tasks a little bigger so there are fewer of them. Try things and reflect on what feels good for you. Set up rewards. Build rewards for yourself into your system. Decide when in the process is the best time to reward yourself, and be sure to pick rewards that bring you joy. Who cares what feels rewarding for someone else? Create rewards that work for you. "How can I best manage myself?" -Cathy Mazak Making Your Scholarly Work More YOU Take time to reflect on what makes you, your work, and your perspective on your field unique. Articulate your opinion, make your voice known. Let the world know what you're about! This makes you more citable, and helps you stay on mission. Full disclosure here...this will make some people mad. Putting your own spin on a topic or diverging from the "traditional" way of looking at things might make the old guard upset. Don't let that deter you! Shrinking in confrontational situations doesn't move your mission forward. "Actually leaning in and making my view of things known [is] going to get me farther than trying to please everyone." -Cathy Mazak Friends, I'm so excited for this new year together, and for our new season on the podcast! I've got some great guests lined up and can't wait to share more content with you. Remember to take time to reflect on what makes you unique, and what works best for you. This is your year! Let's go. "Figure out who you are, then go be that." -Cathy Mazak Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode61.

Have you ever considered writing a book? I'm sharing the inside scoop on the process for my own book project, from idea to submission. I know many of you out there have entertained the idea of writing a book at one time or another. So I'm sharing my own experiences with the book process, from idea to proposal writing to submission. As of this writing, I am still in the process of submitting to different academic presses, so part 2 will come after I get a contract and start the next phase! For now, I'm sharing how I got to this point, including my fears, my process, and a few recommendations. The Beginnings My project process started about 3 years ago with my idea for a writing guide for academics. I felt that through my business I had honed my message about writing and knew I wanted to put it into a book, but I had a lot of fear. I've written plenty of articles, and contributed to many edited volumes, but this would be my first monograph. Was I up to it? "Can I really write a book? Do I have that many words in me?" -Cathy Mazak I started to really develop and flesh out an idea during one of our own writing retreats, in 2019. I used the book "Thinking Like Your Editor" by Alfred Fortunato and Susan Rabiner to help me organize my thoughts. I highly recommend this book for helping to nail down your idea. In it, the authors pose these 5 questions: What is this book about? What is this book's thesis (or argument) and what's new about it? Why are you the person to write this book? Why is now the time to publish this book? Who makes up the core audience for this book and why will they find it appealing? Next, I had my assistant LaToya copy and paste all of my blog posts into Scrivener, and I dragged them into the categories for the table of contents I had come up with during the retreat. While I didn't end up using the content this way, Scrivener did give me a word count, and some confidence: I had plenty of words to say. Then, I did nothing on the project for a year. Starting Again - With a Coach LaToya got me back into the project by finding me a book coach. If you can do it, I highly recommend getting a coach! My coach, Paula Diaco of Write Stories Now was an invaluable resource for helping me sort through what needed to be done. Paula researched presses to submit to and helped me make the decision between academic, trade and independent publishers (we're going with academic), sent me individual google docs to work on for each part of the book proposal, and kept me motivated with a weekly standing meeting. I can't overstate how helpful she has been. After getting the proposal going, I started writing out some sample chapters. Not only did I have plenty of words for a book, I realized I actually have content for 3 books! Time to Write Next, I really wanted to familiarize myself with all the chapters of this book; to start getting them written out, or at least outlined, and make some progress on the book itself. I decided to make my own writing retreat. Here's how I did it: I rented an AirBnB for 5 days. I called on my support systems to help (my husband stayed with my kids and kept things running). I bought enough groceries so I wouldn't have to leave the condo at all. I used my soar states to write like crazy and get 6000 words down during my first few days! When I started to lose steam and writing started to feel like a slog, I stopped. Yes, it cost some money and time to make this retreat happen. My book coach was also an investment. But it's worth it! I know this book will sell. And it might be worth it for you too, maybe as a stepping stone to a new position, or a raise, or for the connections it will forge for you. Don't dismiss opportunities out of hand just because they cost money or take time; investing in yourself and your career is worth it. "It's worth it to invest in something like a book coach or a writing retreat… because of that currency the book has inside of academia." -Cathy Mazak Submission The next step in the process was to start submitting! I narrowed down the top university presses I wanted to submit to, and Paula looked up the proposal requirements for each. I've heard back from Princeton and the University of Chicago with the nicest rejection letters, saying they already had things in their catalogs that were too similar to accept my project. I haven't heard back from Harvard yet, and I'm still working on submitting to a couple of others. At this point, I've paused my writing until I get a contract, so I can get feedback from the specific press I end up going with. I would say I am between 30% and 50% done with the writing. I want to be transparent in this process, so let me say that I definitely had a freak-out moment, wondering if I should be submitting to academic presses at all. But I am back in my confidence, working through the process and ready to fill you in on Part 2 once the book sells! If you are ready to start writing a book, I highly recommend Jane Jones at Up In Consulting for academic book coaching, and the book Thinking Like Your Editor to help you get traction with your idea. If you're looking for career development and writing support while you work on a book or other academic writing project, be sure to check out our Elevate and Amplify programs. Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode60.

There are times, like at the end of a semester, when you might put your writing aside. How do you pick it back up again with the least amount of stress and the most creative potential? Your workload ebbs and flows, and there are times (like the end of a semester) when you may put your writing aside; in fact, I recommend it. So how do you pick it back up again? If you're thinking you'll get all your grades in, finish your semester tasks, then jump right into it again, I'm asking you to reconsider! In order to build your creative potential back up and get back into writing in a way that will feel like soaring rather than slogging, you need to do a few things. First Things First: Rest and Restore Don't shake this one off. It's vitally important, not just to your health, but to the quality of your writing. We all want to create more, write more, get more done and it might seem like the best way to do that is to spend more time, more energy, do more. Not so! A life coach of mine introduced me to the "create-restore cycle". Put simply, if you want to create more, you have to rest more. These two factors need to be in balance in order for you to produce the best creations. So, in order to be ready to pick that writing practice back up and produce your best work, you need to rest and restore. What you do will look different for each person. Sleep, go for walks, read a book, take a long bath; whatever fills your cup and gives you energy, do it! And not just a little bit, do as much of it as you can. Employ whatever support structures you have at your disposal to set up true rest for yourself. "The secret key to create more is to spend more time restoring." -Cathy Mazak Ease In Slowly After your restful break, when you're ready to start writing again, don't jump in to lengthy writing sessions. Ease yourself back in slowly. On the first day, simply open your document. Look it over, get reacquainted with your project, start getting your thoughts moving again on where you'll go next. The second day, plan to write for maybe an hour, on the third day, a bit more and so on. Make a Semester Plan Finally, make sure you put some time on your calendar to do some planning. Take a look at the semester coming up and see where things might be likely to get busy. Try to map out your writing times, include some writing sprints or a retreat if you can. Be prepared with a plan, and getting back into a writing practice (and keeping it going) will be so much easier. "Embrace the ebb and flow of the semester." -Cathy Mazak Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode59.

What actually "counts" as writing? When you give yourself credit for accomplishing your writing, do you only look at the number of words on a page? I say it's more than that. We spend a lot of time thinking "I should be writing," as academia pulls us in a thousand directions. But we often forget all that writing really is. It is important to re-think what "counts" as writing. Acknowledging progress on a project helps us cultivate positive feelings about our writing, which propels us forward and keeps us coming back. But, the positive feelings don't necessarily happen naturally. We need to deliberately create them. It Starts with the Pipeline Try this exercise: Get out a piece of paper and start at the true beginning of your pipeline. Write down all the things that must happen between that moment when you first get your idea for the project and starting to write the first draft. Maybe you'll need to have grant funding, maybe you'll need to conduct specific research; whatever those pieces are, articulate them for you specific project list. Now take a look at your list. All of this is writing. All of this counts. Creating Purposeful Positivity If you can work to create feelings of excitement and flow about your writing, you will want to do it, and your writing practice will sustain itself. But this only happens by careful design. "Writing does not respond well to self-doubt. It does not thrive in negativity. It dies under guilt and overwhelm." And you want to avoid writing sessions that drag, where you struggle to get words on the page and feel like you're slogging through mud. Instead, you want to soar during your writing sessions, the words flowing, feeling focused and energetic. I call that your "soar state". Here are some ways to set yourself up to soar: Think of the times when you have the most focus, when you don't have to take breaks and can keep going. Take a few days and note these times in your calendar. Once you've identified them, your mission is to guard them as your writing times. If you never feel focused and energetic (hello parents!), then just write first thing in the (working) morning. Don't check email, jump on social media or even check your to-do list. Just write for one hour. Three times a week like this will go a long way in creating positive feelings about your writing. Another way to create that soaring feeling is to write with someone. You can do this in person or virtually. Be sure to set ground rules: talk for ten minutes about what you're working on, then be quiet and get writing. You will get energy by being with other people who are focused and writing. In order to use our academic work to create the changes we want to see in our fields and in the world, we need to cultivate this positive relationship with writing. It is essential that writing feels good, and that we acknowledge forward movement towards our goals. People need to hear what you have to say, and creating a positive relationship with writing will help you to say it. If you're ready to launch into 2021 with more soaring and less slogging, join Momentum , our $27/month membership program. Momentum is a co-writing community where we have coach-led writing times, community, and do mindset and goal-setting calls. All momentum members have access to client-only trainings and events throughout the year. There is no minimum timeframe, join for as many months as you like. Try it out today and start creating more time to soar with your writing! To find out more about all of our programs, click here. Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode58.

I am joined on this episode by my fabulous writing coaches, Rocío Caballero-Gill and Gina Robinson. We are talking all about the issues and stressors that are coming up the most in working with clients in our programs right now. What are you struggling with in your career? One thing we can guarantee is that you are not alone. From motivation to time management to boundaries to finding support, we are addressing all the top-of-mind issues from the fabulous womxn in our programs. Issues discussed: Logistical questions like how do I find and manage time to be able to write? How to sustain writing through proper mindset, priority setting, and boundaries. Worrying about what isn't being done, and how to find focus. Using structure and systems to create confidence and focus. Scarcity mindset and the fear of not using time 'well enough'. Digging deeper into lack of motivation to find and deal with the underlying issues. The importance of community for support, energy, and momentum. Rest, and how to structure and set up breaks to reap maximum benefit. Asking for help from all different sources and the power this holds for womxn. Clarifying priorities to stay on mission. Decision fatigue and how to avoid it. How coaching, masterminds, community groups and programs are helping our clients. Key Quotes: "People think they don't have enough time, but really what it is, is that they don't know what they're supposed to be doing." -Gina Robinson "There is this fear...I'm not using the time well enough." -Cathy Mazak "If you need a brain dump every single day, that is fine." -Rocío Caballero-Gill "You just have to trust the system…" -Rocío Caballero-Gill "Women talking about what they need is very powerful." -Cathy Mazak "Every time you have to make a decision, it costs you." -Cathy Mazak "Resting makes you a better academic and a better human." -Cathy Mazak Pulled in a thousand directions and can't seem to carve out time to write? Download my 10 Ways to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for ideas to implement today! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode57.

This is a special bonus episode to tell you all about my re-imagined Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap course, the modules, the freebies, and the sign-up bonuses! I'm giving you the lowdown on the awesome bonuses you'll receive as one of the first 10 people to enroll when doors open on Black Friday. We're talking about a bonus valued at $2000! And even if you don't end being one of the first 10, the sooner you sign up, the bigger the bonuses. To get the jump on enrolling, get on the waitlist here so you'll be first to know when the doors open. Listen in to the episode to hear all about the course, it's modules, the extra freebies that come with your enrollment, and the juicy details on all the bonuses! Don't miss out on your chance to get into the Phoenix Cohort and get all the best bonuses. Get on the waitlist now! Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page

The pandemic didn't change the course of academia; it has amplified the issues that were already there. As higher ed systems crumble, it's time for you to decide your own course of action. As one of my favorite books, "The Slow Professor", explains: the University system is deeply ingrained in the history of capitalism. The path the University is on wasn't created by the pandemic, it simply sped up the journey down that path. More demands have been made on professors' time, more unpaid admin work expected, the exploitation of adjunct and grad student labor has become prevalent, support roles have been eliminated; we have been seeing the capitalist system at work, squeezing us for every drop of labor it can. When the pandemic hit, the process sped up. Now we're seeing furloughs, lay offs, universities questioning the idea of tenure, institutions closing altogether. Higher Ed is in crisis. But what does it mean for you? I want to suggest that you get to decide. Creation and the Upsides of This Moment While it's true that we are at a crossroads right now in academia, I want to encourage you to remember what your career is truly about: creation. The purpose of your career is to bring something new, something unique, into the world, documented through your writing. So here are 3 things to remember in this moment: 1. You are not your institution. The place where you do your work is merely the container, the vehicle through which you bring your contribution to the world. Containers can take many different forms; you don't have to stay stuck inside one that doesn't fit. 2. When creation drives your career, milestones are met as a by-product. The details of institutional requirements for tenure and promotion don't matter; you'll meet and exceed them by focusing on the creation and working for your own milestones and goals. If that doesn't happen, it's a sign that your institution is not the right fit for you. 3. Day-to-day life must be focused around the creation. The creation of your unique body of work is the point. Teaching, service, advising, committee work; it all needs to be arranged in service of the creation. "What you are doing as an academic is, in essence, an act of creation." Saving Yourself You have an opportunity right now, in this moment, while institutions are faltering and systems are crumbling, to remake yourself. It's up to you. We've been conditioned to a scarcity mindset in academia. We've been taught to believe that we should just be grateful for the positions we have, and not to question or push back. But we do have a choice. To save yourself in this moment, you have to believe in yourself. I'm giving you permission. Here's what it looks like: You build a career based on a clear academic mission, refined over time and built by you for the people impacted by your work, regardless of your institution. This will become your legacy. You have time, energy, and financial freedom. You have space in your day for the deep work that contributes to your personal mission. You set your own goals and milestones that support your vision (and blow by institutional milestones along the way). "You're allowed to believe in yourself and your writing." If 2020 revealed your institution's true colors, if you're questioning your role in academia, if you are ready to remake your career and organize your life around your unique contribution, don't miss the chance to sign up for Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap. We'll help you navigate these questions and give you tools to create the career and life you want in 2021. Values and Systems Achieving this transformation for yourself might sound dreamy or intangible, but I promise you it is not. It's about 2 things: values and systems. Values. If you want to remake yourself in 2021 you have to be willing to learn a new way: your way. Take a moment to mourn the losses of 2020, then sit down and articulate what your actual values are. What is important to you? What do you want your career to look like? How do you want your life to feel? What is vital to bringing your creation into the world? What do you want to cut away? Systems. Once you figure out your values, you need systems to bring them to fruition. We teach all 3 of the vital systems you need in place and how to implement them in our Navigate course. Here's an overview of what they are and how to use them: Time Management Systems: Are you automating as much as possible? Are you using technology to create and support boundaries around your time? Are you using templates and workflows as much as possible? Is your mindset in the right place concerning your time and boundaries? Writing Systems: Do you have a multi-layered ecosystem of writing practices? Do you have the tools in place to help you move your writing forward, and to recover from a writing break? Do you have a healthy mindset around your writing? Pipeline and Planning Systems: Do your projects flow smoothly through your pipeline? Do you have a strategy in place to manage the flow of your pipeline? Are you using publications strategically to bring your creation into the world in the way you want to see it? "We cannot collectively remake academia if we keep believing in scarcity, in suffering, and in settling." Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap If you're ready to remake yourself in 2021 but you don't know where to start, get on the waiting list now for Navigate. We will support you as you make decisions, and give you tools to create the career you want. Believe in yourself, and take action! Don't miss your chance to get into the Phoenix Cohort, our first group to go through this reimagined program in 2021. And if you are one of the first 10 to sign up, you will receive special early bird bonuses! Get on the waitlist here: https://www.cathymazak.com/navigate-waitlist. If you're looking for some quick ideas to boost your writing time, grab my free cheat sheet: 10 Way to Make Time to Write. Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode56.

We have an opportunity, at any time, but especially at this moment in time, to rise from the ashes of what has come before to remake our careers and our lives as academics. On the next few episodes of The Academic Womxn Amplified I'm talking about how to rise from the ashes of 2020 to make 2021 the year you take control and redefine your career. Why does writing often fall to the bottom of the list? How can you rethink your vision, mission and goals to help you get your work into the world in a way that feels right to you? We have the opportunity at this moment in time to rebuild, reimagine and reinvent our academic lives. During Tough Times, Writing Suffers I know what it is to have writing fall to the bottom of the list, or completely off a cliff, during trying and traumatic times. While I was going up for tenure, my 10-month old son became seriously ill. For a solid week I was in the hospital with him, and completely out of contact with my students. For months afterward, I suffered from total exhaustion which very nearly put me in the hospital. During the 2017-18 academic year, Hurricane Maria hit and devastated Puerto Rico. Personal and national trauma resulted in a way that is hard to convey to anyone who has not lived through natural disaster. From these times of intense stress, I learned two things that have informed my continued career and that can be drawn on during the current times: 1. I have to rest. Rest has to be a priority, it can't be an afterthought. My whole career does not work without rest. 2. Priorities get very clear when tragedy strikes. Tragedy snaps our vision back onto what is truly important to us. When that happens, remember what those priorities are, don't lose sight of them when things go back to "normal". In both of these cases, I moved into what I have dubbed "minimum viable semester". The bare minimum of what had to get done was all that got done. Writing, understandably, moved to the bottom of the list. It wasn't feasible to keep up on a robust practice. Moving Past Minimum Viable Semester I've been there, in minimum viable semester mode. And we have all been there in these last months as Covid has completely changed the landscape of academia. In March, we were paddling as hard as we could just to keep above water. Here we are in November and not a whole lot has changed. So I propose that it's time to take stock of where we are, change the vision of where we're going, and move past minimum viable semester. "It's time to soar into 2021 like a phoenix." The Phoenix Rising This is the right time to remake your career vision, because the world needs your contribution! To rise like a phoenix in 2021, consider these actions: Complete a Values Inventory. Have you been glorifying busy? Accepting that overwork and exhaustion are part of the package? Working toward someone else's idea of milestones? Define your mission. What is your personal, specific desire for your work in the world? Align your work to that mission. Shift your milestones to reflect your values (tenure doesn't have to be your milestone!). Create Systems. Creating individualized systems supports your vision and helps your writing withstand future hard times. They are adaptable. They save you time and energy and help you maintain boundaries They support your mission and values. They help you keep your writing at the center of your career. Become Part of the Phoenix Cohort. We are nick-naming the upcoming cohort for my Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap program The Phoenix Cohort, because we are ready to help you rise from the ashes of 2020 in 2021! If you're ready to repair your relationship with writing, get strategic with it and turn it into a driver for your career rather than something you think of with dread, get your spot on the waitlist now! Doors will open for sign-ups for Black Friday to Cyber Monday only, so be sure you don't miss it by signing up here to get on our waitlist. "To be successful, to bring that work that is your academic mission into the world, you need to organize your career around writing." Make 2021 Your Year This is the perfect time to make changes to our systems, our missions, and ourselves. It's time to take a fresh look at how we are approaching our careers, and how we are showing up at our institutions. Let's make a commitment to reimagine, remake, and rebuild our academic lives. "Academia, the way we've been socialized to do it, is unsustainable." Need some help finding time to write right NOW? Grab my free 10 Way to Make Time to Write cheat sheet for actionable ideas to get started with. Connect with me: Website Facebook Group Facebook Page This episode was first published at cathymazak.com/episode55.