Episode #239

[Writing Practice Series] What Makes A Writing Practice Sustainable? [RE-RELEASE EP 21]

I have worked with many academic women and nonbinary, and a recurring challenge about their writing is that no matter what habits or methods they try, their writing practice is never sustainable. The problem is that sustainable practices are a moving target. Writing habits you relied on during grad school no longer work as you juggle the demands of faculty life, including teaching, committee work, and personal responsibilities. 

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Today’s episode kicks off the new podcast series about writing practices. I discuss what makes any practice and life change sustainable. Through insights inspired by life coach Brooke Castillo, I emphasize how our thoughts influence our feelings, which in turn shape our actions and results. Then, I guide you through a reflective exercise to identify negative thoughts about your writing and work toward replacing those with positive affirmations. 

By changing your mindset, you can create a healthier relationship with your writing and foster a more sustainable writing practice.

 

 

What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There

Writing practices are not static and must adapt to various life and career stages. As a result, sustainability is a moving target. As you advance through academic career stages, demands change. For example, transitioning from graduate school to faculty adds a lot of responsibility. Your writing practice needs to change as your workload changes. What worked for you in graduate school isn’t going to work pre-tenure. 

Reflective Exercise: Changing Your Thoughts

To make sustainable changes in your writing practice, you have to change your thoughts. Changing your actions will not change your results unless you shift the underlying thoughts and feelings you have about your writing.

Life coach Brooke Castillo sums up this idea in this quote: “Our thoughts influence our feelings, and feelings influence our actions, and our actions influence our results.”

I share a reflective exercise for identifying negative thoughts about your writing and replacing them with positive affirmations. This exercise is designed to help you shift your mindset around writing so you can boost productivity and ultimately foster a sustainable relationship with your writing. 

Creating Positive Feedback Loops

I share techniques for building a positive relationship with writing. When you feel good about your writing, you write more. When you feel shame or guilt about your writing, you avoid writing altogether. That is why it is so important to:

  • Acknowledge your feelings about writing
  • Replace negative thoughts with positive ones

Creating a positive feedback loop helps you build a better relationship with your writing because your experience writing becomes more positive, inspiring more desirable outcomes. 

 

 

“Sustainable practices are a moving target. They change as your career stage changes. There is a saying in the entrepreneurial world that says ‘What got you here won’t get you there’. That is absolutely true through the life stages of your academic career as well.”

 

 

“I talk so much about how things feel because your feelings are going to change your actions. When you feel good about your writing, the action you are going to take is to write more. When you feel bad about your writing the action you are going to take is to avoid writing. That’s why I talk so much about how it feels to develop a relationship with your writing and how to create positive feedback loops between you and your writing.”

 

We’ve opened the waitlist for our next cohort of Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap®. Check out the program details and get on the waitlist here.

 

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION:

  1. Our 12-week Navigate: Your Writing Roadmap® program helps tenure-track womxn and nonbinary professors to publish their backlog of papers so that their voice can have the impact they know is possible. Get on the waitlist here!
  2. Cathy’s book, Making Time to Write: How to Resist the Patriarchy and Take Control of Your Academic Career Through Writing is available in print! Learn how to build your career around your writing practice while shattering the myths of writing every day, accountability, and motivation, doing mindset work that’s going to reshape your writing,and changing academic culture one womxn and nonbinary professor at a time. Get your print copy today or order it for a friend here!
  3. Want to train with us for free on your campus? Now you can when you recommend our Scholar’s Voice™ Faculty Retreats to a decision-maker on your campus! Download the brochure with the retreat curriculum and both in-person and online retreat options here.
  4. If you would like to hear more from Cathy for free, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter, In the Pipeline, at scholarsvoice.org. It’s a newsletter that she personally writes that goes out once a week with writing and publication tips, strategies, inspiration, book reviews and more.

 

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