An important reminder from high achiever Susan L. Taylor for we fellow high achievers: relaxation is not a luxury. If you don't make time to recuperate, you will burn out. Please don't do that to yourself. You're worth taking care of!

If I say the word “routine” to a group of people, you can bet there will be two kinds of reactions: a visceral shudder, and a smiling nod. Why? Well, I would say it’s because that word means very different things to these two groups. And it’s such a polarizing word that really I haven’t seen a reaction anywhere in the middle. No “meh, a routine.” Just either a screeching “I hate routines!” or a beaming “Boy, I love routines!"

The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) was founded in 2010. Their mission? They provide workshops, tools, mentoring, buddy networks, and more to faculty, graduate students, and postdocs for success in the academic world. I’ve been on their mailing list for years now, from the beginning or very near it, and I am consistently impressed by the quality of their offerings. If you need one-on-one support as well, get in touch with me!

Procrastination often happens when a task feels too big or ambiguous. Writers tend to think things like "today I need to write" or "I want to make some progress today." Writing and progress are vague concepts that make for hard starting points. Then our inner resistance fires up, making it even more daunting! Writing mega-charges that resistance. It's so personal, exposing our deepest selves.

When time feels impossibly scarce, I've found that the "15-minute solution" can be transformative. The concept is simple: commit to just 15 minutes of focused work on a daunting task. No matter how overwhelming your project seems, anyone can endure 15 minutes. What makes this approach powerful isn't just the time management aspect—it's the psychological shift that occurs once you begin.

I've had two conversations about to-do lists this week that got me pondering how easy it is to overthink these simple productivity tools.

A friend recently told me he did not like to read time management books because he then felt he had to change everything about himself at once: time management improvement meant a total makeover, immediately. I understood. I've often felt that way myself. And who would want to read such a book if they then felt compelled to change everything about themselves! How exhausting. All-or-nothing, perfectionist thinking can creep in almost undetected ...