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

Tag Archives: goals

The Writer as Athlete

January 12, 2010 in Life by Billie Hara

Writing is very hard work. So hard, in fact, that most people who try are not wholly successful. The best way define success, for our purposes, is to compare being a successful writer to being a successful athlete. Writers and athletes have a lot in common. Each needs to set goals for their work, each needs to identify their talent, they need the right equipment, and they need focus to achieve their goals.

3×3

January 12, 2010 in Life, Productivity by Natalie Houston

The start of the spring semester (or winter quarter) is both all shiny and new and a bit worn and familiar. 15 minutes and three index cards or three pieces of paper can help you quickly clarify your goals for this semester without feeling like you have to start all over again at the beginning.

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?

Where Does Your Time Go?

September 14, 2009 in Life, Productivity by Natalie Houston

If, like me, you look around after the dust settles at the beginning of a new semester, and wonder now how am I going to find time for X? this tip is for you. It's an exercise I repeat at least once a year, sometimes more frequently depending on what changes have been taking place in my work, in my life, or in my goals. It's an exercise that involves time tracking and creating categories of life goals.

Obama & Getting Things Done

August 7, 2009 in Productivity by Jason B. Jones
At The Big Money, Paul Smalera has an interesting post tying Barack Obama’s apparent governing style to David Allen-style Getting Things Done (via GTDTimes). He asks a question that should be near the heart of anyone who’s interested in thinking about productivity: Get things done, yes, but what things?: Applying GTD on an individual basis or [...]