If you're anything like me, your to do list is out of control. It can be so difficult to keep track of everything, and even then, how to know what to work on at a given time.  I thought my trusty kanban board was the solution to not only help me get organized, but help me to move multiple projects forward. It was helping me stay on top of things, but I struggled with knowing what to elevate to my daily task list from all these post-its. Fortunately, my colleague Amanda introduced me to the Must/Should/Can framework, and I'm hopeful at last. I hope you find this short, but practical show helpful. Ready?

In higher ed, we all need a boost of creativity and joy from time to time. Today I'm joined by Roy Petersen (aka RoyZoner) to share why he doodles regularly and how it helps him to reconnect with creativity, push back on perfectionism, and find some flow. He offers some basic principles to get started - today. Ready?

Life and work during the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult to say the least. At universities, students and faculty are struggling with learning and teaching in new modalities, and staff are constantly in reactive mode training to make it all work. It can be tempting to just keep grinding, but in the long run, this is no way to live. In this walking episode of the podcast, I share with you a bit about what I've learned about focusing on wellbeing and engagement, with an emphasis on practices I hope to take forward in life post-pandemic. Ready?

The mindsets that we bring to our work and interactions with others have a significant impact on how we work and the quality of connections and collaborations. In this episode, I discuss the power of mindsets with a few examples and then dive into a detailed discussion of how I regularly leverage three connected mindsets that I learned from the SchoolRetool program that are incredibly helpful for me: a bias to action, taking small steps, and failing forward. At the end of the episode, I challenge you to lean into one of more of these mindsets in the coming week. Ready?

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Do you struggle to maintain focus to get things done? Do you find that sometimes your most important work gets crowded out by all of the small, but maybe more urgent tasks on your todo list? If so, this episode may be for you. I share some experiments that I've been doing lately to explore focused blocks of time (or f-bots) to help me maintain focus and move my most important work forward. As part of this experiment, I've been using Centered App as a way to help me. It's been incredibly useful for me. I suggest that after listening to the episode you check it out. Ready?

In this episode I’m joined by my friend, colleague, and co-conspirator, David Slykhuis. David and I go back a long time through our professional organization, developing a couple of faculty development programs for using technology to enhance teaching and learning, as well as other plotting and scheming. David is one of the best collaborators and leaders I know and a true innovator - always willing to try new things and learn from them to move forward. In this slightly longer episode, we discuss how to explore and lean into new possibilities in higher education. Ready?

Connect with David via Twitter - @phdslyk

In this episode, I share some ideas from a really powerful book that has had a major impact on how I live and work. The book is called Essentialism, the Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. We’ll focus on the power of tradeoffs and what can be gained by saying no and paring pack commitments. 

If you like what you hear, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book. You can buy it here in Paperback | Hard Cover | Kindle | Audiobook*

In this episode of the THRIVE in Higher Ed podcast, I discuss how I use design principles to be more strategic and mindful in how I approach my teaching, projects, and productivity. I define what I mean by design principles and offer several examples of how these play out in practice, including the kinds of benefits you might expect. At the end of the show, I’ll challenge you to consider your own design principles and leverage them to assist your planning. Ready?

In this episode I share a simple, but robust approach I use to design experiments for personal growth. Through a stepwise process of identifying a problem/need/opportunity, researching possible tools or approaches, setting a goal for implementation, developing ways of measuring progress/outcomes, and analyzing/reflecting, I've developed some really helpful insights to improve my work and life. The episode concludes with a challenge to design and launch your own experiment.

Welcome to episode 1 the Thrive in Higher Ed podcast - a place to explore new approaches, strategies and tools to learn, grow, and thrive in higher education. This is a community for instructors, staff, grad students and campus leaders to learn together, to tinker, to find ways to be more effective and productive, and to innovate in big and small ways. I’m your host, Mark Hofer.  In this first episode, I unpack how I developed this show, what I hope to learn, and most importantly what you may gain by listening and joining the community. Ready?