Welcome to my virtual office. Pour yourself a coffee. Or I can poke around in the cupboard and find you some tea, or even herb tea, if that’s what you’d prefer. Do you mind if I knit while we chat?

You know how they say hindsight is 20/20? Well, I don’t know if that’s true but looking back on my academic career knowing what I know now, I certainly would have done things differently.

No regrets, mind you. I love what I do now. But I hope that you can benefit from some of what I’ve learned.

Thanks to University Affairs for recording the talk and allowing me to use it.

I know that when you start an academic job the whole thing is a bit overwhelming.

No one really tells you what the expectations are or whether you have met them or far exceeded them.

Even worse, you get conflicting advice about what’s expected. You feel like it doesn’t matter how hard you work, you’ll have missed something important.

Or they let you know the expectations about 4 years after you could have really used that information. I was putting together a promotion portfolio before I found out that the committee would be looking for a “trajectory” in my research.

My business is helping you avoid some of those frustrations.

I know that you became an academic because you have research questions you are burning to investigate. You can’t imagine working somewhere that isn’t lined with books. You might even think that sitting in an archive reading ancient documents is the absolutely best way to spend a couple of weeks.

And I’m betting that you are complaining about not having any time to do your research. Or beating yourself up about not getting that article written. And let me tell you, “You are not alone.”

It is easy to lose sight of the fact that research is your passion.

That a research grant might be something you want because it would allow you to do the research you want to do.

That writing is how you develop your ideas.

That publishing is the way you communicate with other researchers who are equally fascinated by the particular subject of your research.

What would it be like to reconnect with your love of research?

Imagine writing because you have things to say without worrying about how you will be judged.

Imagine your research and teaching feeding each other instead of competing for your time.

What if there was a way to get the information you need to reduce the stress caused by unclear expectations?

What if there were someone to call when you were stuck? Someone who could talk you through your difficulty and get you back on track?

Imagine having someone help you make a plan to achieve your audacious research goals and then being able to check in with that person to keep yourself on track.

Elite athletes have coaches. Maybe you need one, too.

Subscribe to my newsletter.

You’ll get a weekly e-mail about issues relevant to your work – publishing, conferences, grants, time management. Information you need to make good decisions and reduce your stress level.

You will also receive a free e-book, Publish or Perish?, in which I explain what peer review committees are looking for when they look at your list of publications and then help you reclaim your audacious research goals and exceed their expectations.

If you need more help click on the “What I Can Do For You” tab up there in the header bar.