Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, Empathy I feel you. I really do.  Many of you have communicated with me about the inevitable mix of excitement and stress of the beginning of a new school year.  For lack of a better non-cliche phrase, "There's something in the air" as summer ends and the school year begins, and most everyone is feeling the seasonal change. Action With that, I want to do a few things. (1) First, I am going to refraining from posting NEW blogs for the rest of this month - I'll recycle some old ones on LinkedIn for those who may still want some content. The last thing you probably want is more email (for those signed up for our newsletter) or posts (for those who follow on LinkedIn), especially at the beginning of the school year. (2) Second, I am writing this post to encourage you. What you do is important. Whether you are an educator or a student or parent of a student or whatever you do, it is important. In fact, I encourage you to dwell on this point to help y...

Dear Real Academics,  What is creativity?  In graduate school, I took a whole course on the topic, but I honestly don't think I can define "creativity" for you as I write, at this moment. So, for today's post, I wanted to present some different definitions, share some ideas, and ask for your thoughts. Here we go! If I search "What is creativity?" I get the following top three definitions from Google with their respective sources: (1) "Creativity is defined as   the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others ."  http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm (2) "Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ways of thinking or acting, and to develop new and original ideas, methods or objects". https://99designs.com/blog/creative-thinking/what-is-creativity/ (3) "Creativity encompasses the ab...

Dear Real Academics, Dr. Garza and I are currently in Texas, and it has been a very hot summer. It's always very hot in Texas in the summer, but our adjusting from extremely low humidity in the Nevada desert to some-high humidity has made it a bit...challenging. I am grateful we are, at least, not in Florida extreme humidity just yet. We are acclimating slowly to more and more humidity. Needless to say, Dr. Garza and I have spent much of our "recreational" time indoors, which includes making puzzles. Here, I want to give a quick shout out to Robert Dowdle and the beautiful puzzles he has created that also educate. If you've never heard of these puzzles, check them out here (Note: Costco sells them during the winter holiday season): https://dowdlefolkart.com/ (The picture in this post is a Dowdle puzzle we recently completed of Stockholm, Sweden). With that said, I've been reflecting on life lessons from making puzzles. Ok...well, maybe these are smaller than life...

Dear Real Academics, Today marks my first day without an official "real job" in a very long time. So, no organization to report to. No tethers. I feel as if I'm floating in the wide ocean -- which, if I think about it, is pretty scary. But, I am a Christian, and I believe that God has my back. I believe Jesus can keep my feet from sinking because He has been faithful throughout my whole life, and I believe He will continue to be faithful, so He is my anchor. What I'm saying doesn't mean that life is easy or that storms don't or won't come (like failure or sorrow or hardship or loss), but I have an anchor -- it's just not the tangible anchor of a steady salary, retirement, or the tenured academic position I left. It's also not an anchor of leaning on a human being or personal hero. And, for those who know me personally, you know by now that the last year has illustrated how all the tangible anchors named above are truly an illusion of security. In a...

Dear Real Academics, Since my last blog post titled, Taking a Pause for Productivity , I have not written in two months; and I am now evaluating how it feels not writing for so long. To be honest, writing right now feels strange... kind of like when, if you play an instrument, your fingers feel weak or awkward when you try to play after months (or in my case, years!) of not playing. Or, if you work out consistently, and you stop for a while and restart, your muscle memory is there but your body is asking, "Why are you doing this?" If you are a practicing writer, I don't recommend stopping writing for this long. In some ways, it's harder to get back to writing if you break for too long.  The silver lining to this experience is that I realize I miss writing and I miss interacting with those of you who read these posts and share them with others. I also realize that I can pick up writing again, but I need to give the practice time to feel "normal" again (and to...

Dear Real Academics, We hope the semester is winding down for you in a positive way. Please read on for some news and an application challenge below. I promise you won't be disappointed if you read through to the end! ☺ CONGRATULATIONS As I look at our calendars, I see finals and then graduation (and for us, moving out of state -- eek!). For those graduating and/or graduating students, congratulations! For those finishing the semester, congratulations as well! For those not in traditional academia, congrats on making it half way through the year! GRATITUDE I also see that we've been putting out blog posts fairly consistently each week for one year. Our first post was back in May of 2021. And to sound totally cliche simply because I don't know how else to say it, time really does fly.  With that said, we are taking a PAUSE.  First, the PAUSE is to thank you for being part of Real Academics and for your readership and engagement. It means more than you know. PRODUCTIVITY Seco...

Dear Real Academics, Since Dr. Garza and I are moving, we've been having to make a lot of decisions -- everything from what moving boxes to purchase to how we'll actually move our stuff. Let's just say it is a lot to manage. The point is that I've been reflecting a lot on asking, what are we willing to pay for?   In the grand scheme of things, I think this is a good question to ask in the context of managing life related to productivity. Now, I'm not a financial guru, though I really enjoy learning about financial management. I also fall into the category of "saver" vs. "spender". So, writing advice about spending money is hard for me. But, sometimes prioritizing productivity means being willing to pay for certain things.  Let me give you some examples (Note: I don't necessarily follow all of these but I've seen all of them work for myself and/or others depending on the circumstances): (1) Pay for someone to clean your house.  If it's...