[Monday Motivator] A Summer Pause - June 29, 2015

This is an excerpt from the Monday Motivator Program of Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. Please find the original document here. The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community of over 71,000 graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members.

As I'm writing this week's Monday Motivator I feel like I can finally take a deep exhale. Aaaahhhhhhhh...... I'm done with all of my professional travel and have completed the first half of our largest Summer Writing Bootcamp ever. This week, I'm settling back in to my non-traveling summer rhythm and reassessing my usual routines, systems, and habits. Personally, I've found myself repeatedly pausing to ask myself: how does that work? Am I missing something? Should I try something new? My summer pause has helped me to rethink my relationships with various types of support, eliminate the things that aren't working, discover support I didn't realize I had access to, and streamline my daily activity.



It occurred to me that this might be a great week to encourage YOU to take a summer pause to reflect on your support systems, accountability structures, daily routine, and also to think about all of the great resources available to you as an NCFDD member. So this week, I want to encourage you to pause and ask:
Do I know how my NCFDD membership works?
Am I maximizing my investment in NCFDD membership?
Am I getting what I need or do I need to go deeper into the available resources?

Our annual membership is designed to operate as a year-long virtual mentorship program. That means we have set up a Core Curriculum to move you through a monthly process intended to increase your writing productivity and work-life balance. Each of the following webinars are available to you, at your convenience:

Core Curriculum Webinars

Month		Topic
January		Every Semester Needs a Plan
February		Align Your Time With Your Priorities
March		How to Develop A Daily Writing Practice
April		Mastering Academic Time Management
May		Every Summer Needs A Plan
June		Moving From Resistance To Writing
July		The Art of Saying "No"
August		Cultivating Your Network of Mentors, Sponsors & Collaborators
September		Overcoming Academic Perfectionism
October		Engaging in Healthy Conflict
November		Strategies for Dealing With Stress and Rejection

To attend the webinars live, simply register online for the webinar link, dial-in number and PIN. If you want to listen at your leisure, you can access audio and video recordings, slides and transcripts after the call is over. To listen to previous core curriculum webinars, click here. In addition to our monthly core curriculum webinars, we offer monthly guest expert webinars that cover a wide range of topics. To view all of our upcoming webinars, click here.

Multi-Week Courses
We also offer a variety of multi-week courses on the skills faculty need to know, but nobody ever tells you: How to Write a Grant, How to Write a Book Proposal, How to Write an Article, How to Plan Your Teaching for a Stress-Free Semester, How to be Successful in the Academic Job Market, How to Develop a Social Media Strategy, and much more. You can register to take the courses live, or you can download recordings on our Multi-Week Course Page after the courses end.

The Buddy System
For members interested in having a writing accountability partner, we offer the opportunity to be matched with a writing buddy. This is designed to support the implementation of strategies covered in our core curriculum webinars, provide you with a peer-mentor, and to expand your network. If you'd like a writing buddy, email Buddies@FacultyDiversity.org and put "I'd like a writing buddy" in the subject line. We randomly match people as requests roll in.

The Monday Motivator
The Monday Motivator is our most popular membership resource. It is a weekly dose of positive energy, electronic support, and a loving nudge forward. The purpose of the weekly e-mail message is to reinforce the core ideas, skills, and strategies presented in our Core Curriculum. If for any reason you're not receiving it on a weekly basis, let us know!

Resources & Referrals
Summer is a great time to do some reading to enhance your professional development and/or try out a new support resource (professional editor, writing retreat, dissertation coach, etc...). Our resources and referrals page contains all our favorite books, articles, and preferred vendors listed in one convenient place for you.

The Weekly Challenge
This week, I challenge you to:

• Write for at least 30 minutes each day (Monday through Friday).
• Take a summer pause to ask yourself: how does my NCFDD membership work? Am I maximizing my investment? Should I try to utilize a resource I haven't tried before?
• If you've missed any of our webinars and they sound interesting to you, take a look at our webinar calendar, download the recordings and slides, put your feet up, and enjoy!
• If you're already maximizing the NCFDD membership resources and benefiting from them, why not forward this message to a friend and encourage them to become a member. We love your referrals!

I hope this week brings each of you an opportunity to take a summer pause to make sure you are making the most of your NCFDD membership and to check-in with yourself to see if your needs are being met!