Tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.

Tag Archives: balance

Midsemester sanity maintenance

February 26, 2010 in Pedagogy by Amy Cavender

Midsemester is nearly upon us in many places. What are your plans for the midterm week? Frantically trying to maintain some sanity? Giving exams? Mid-term course evaluations?

The Balancing Act

February 5, 2010 in Life by Amy Cavender

Balance? In academic life? What's that?

logging on, logging off

November 16, 2009 in Life, Pedagogy by George H. Williams

After a weekend of beautiful weather during which I spent most of my time inside on the computer--doing academic research, preparing materials for teaching, checking in on Facebook, shopping, reading the news, watching Hulu--I'm thinking about the relationship between our online interactions (personal, professional, pedagogical) and our face-to-face interactions. It turns out that I'm not the only one.

Where’s the fun in funambulism?

November 12, 2009 in Life by Natalie Houston

Despite all the motivational posters you may have seen, balance isn't a state you can achieve. Balance isn't a thing you can grasp or a noun of any sort to be attained. Instead, balance is a continuously changing process.

What’s in your (Lunch) bag?

October 29, 2009 in Food, Life by Billie Hara

For several weeks, we at ProfHacker have talked about the different types of foods we can take to lunch-- you know, to be healthy, wealthy, and um, smart. Most days, we are successful in bringing something to work with us for lunch. Other days, maybe not so much, but we strive for the best. We strive for balance. Nevertheless, after weeks of discussion, it's time to pony up.

What’s Working?

October 1, 2009 in Life, Productivity by Natalie Houston

Today marks the beginning of a new month -- a good time for taking a few minutes to assess how things are going. It's easy at this point in the semester (whether you're 4 or 7 weeks in) to feel caught up in just doing stuff: teaching, meetings, grant proposals, recommendation writing, and oh yeah, your own writing and research. So, a simple question. What's working?

Are You Spending Time on What Matters to You?

September 21, 2009 in Life, Productivity by Natalie Houston

Last week, I recommended tracking how you spent your time for a few days (or ideally for the whole week) as a first step in evaluating and possibly refocusing your decisions about what you do and when. In today's post, I explain how to think a bit about what your current goals and priorities are, not just in your work, but more holistically.

Preparing for a new semester: Have a life, with help from your calendar

August 18, 2009 in Life, Productivity by George H. Williams

Unfortunately, it's all too easy to let work-related responsibilities expand to the point where they obscure our responsibilities that aren't work-related. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way. You can use your calendar to protect the time you need for exercise, for dinner parties, birthday parties, dates, time with your family, and other essential parts of life. I learned in graduate school that unless I write something down in my calendar, I tend not to treat it as important.