Being a successful academic involves juggling a wide variety of tasks in an environment in which you have considerable autonomy about some parts of your work and more rigid scheduling and management of others.
You can wind up feeling fragmented, powerless, and like there will never be enough hours in a day to do all the things you need to do. It’s hard to do your best work in those circumstances.
My business is all about helping you do your best work. What frustrates me are all the things that keep you confined and scared. Not to mention the messages that if you are not stressed and overworked you just aren’t a good academic.
You can do this.
My clients have come to me for a whole range of specific things:
- Grant proposals
- Job applications (and then preparing for interviews)
- Writing (often so they are in a better position to get a grant, a job, a promotion)
- Making tough decisions
- Settling into a new job
- Taking on new responsibilities (e.g. managing a large collaborative grant)
- Figuring out where they want their career to go next
In addition to helping you move tangibly closer to those goals, working with me also changes the way your work feels.
You’re more excited about your work. You feel more in control of what you are doing and why. You might be just as busy but you’re more focused on the work you really value.
Your work feels less fragmented and more coherent.
The frustrating stuff that happens around you takes less of your time and energy. That stuff still happens but you find it easier to ignore what you can’t do anything about and focus on what you can do.
You have time and energy to do stuff with your partner, kids, and friends that has nothing to do with work, without thoughts about work invading.
In other words, you are less stressed, more content, and engaged, all of which sets the stage for being a much better academic.
How it works
We start with a 1-hour telephone conversation. During that first phone call we’ll situate your specific goal in a wider context, clarify what you need for this step and how that fits into the bigger picture, and work out some strategies that will work for you to get there.
One session will make a tangible difference. Depending on your specific needs, you might decide to work with me on an ongoing basis.
How much is this going to cost?
A 1-hour phone conversation is $225 (+ applicable taxes)
After that, the price depends on what you need.
Here are the tools we might use:
- more telephone calls
- weekly e-mail updates
- worksheets to address specific issues
- colouring pages (yes, really)
- feedback on documents you send me
Sample costs:
Email support = $95/month (subscription)
more telephone sessions = $225 each
Grant proposal development support, from $675 (including initial session) depending on the grant.