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.

Love spring but also feel suspiciously overwhelmed? Me too. I think D.H. Lawrence has some answers for us on the energetic overwhelm of spring.

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.

For my writers—and aspiring writers—out there: a vital reminder for us from Stephen King, from his On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

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.

Spring is just around the corner (at least where I live).   I'm also excited to share that the recording of my recent Barbara Sher...

Despite the whirlwind of daily life and a boatload of professional responsibilities, I want to take a moment this week to express my...

What brought you here to my blog? Maybe you clicked through from a social site, or maybe you arrived directly by searching or using the...

As I was working on draft posts for my blog, I noticed a new tool in Wix, the AI Post Creator. Unless you've been living on a desert...

It hit me this week that to-do lists, when properly fed and managed, can be helpful tools. Just keep it "good enough."

Honoring your uniqueness is at the heart of what I write and the advice I give.

Though this post will, I hope, be helpful for everyone, it's written particularly with highly sensitive readers in mind. Especially...

So goes the saying (in various forms) attributed to Duke Ellington, twentieth-century jazz legend. I've always worked faster under a...

Intimidated by the Works Cited page? Not sure where to start? No problem! Follow along as I show you the A-to-Z steps.

I want to show you some (possibly new) ways to think about routines.

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 ...