Blogger keyword search made simple

I discovered by accident today how I can limit a Blogger blog search to just the keywords. It has taken me a number of years to sort this out, of course, and I stumbled upon it entirely by accident.

The accident was in trying to provide a list of all my live blog posts which contained a particular keyword. I tried a few things like "label: [keyword]" and "tag: [keyword]" in the search box, but this didn't work. I think it only showed up items which contained the keyword AND the same in the text itself. Not necessarily a win.

However, in one of the posts which came up in one of my attempts, I clicked the keyword in the keyword list below that post. This returned me a search only on that keyword. Then I sorted by date, to get the list in date order. Yay! I had it!

But better still, I noticed that my blog's URL now had an extra stage: /label/[keyword].

So a keyword search is even simpler than that. All we have to do is to key "/label/[keyword]" onto the end of our blog address, and lo! We will have our keyword search anytime we want it. If this is a keyword phrase, we also key the gap between the words.

Who knew it would be so easy? I have a new shiny Blogger tool!


Sam

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Opting out of Google's Ad Settings

I was reading the New Zealand Herald recently which had a great wee piece explaining that, if we had a Google email account, we could opt out of a lot of Google ads. Although details were scarce, I rushed off to do that straight away!

So the steps are:

1. Open gmail | click the gear wheel | click on 'Settings (image above)
2. In the Settings view, click Accounts and Imports | then click "Other Google Account Settings" (see the image above)
3. In the "My Account" view that opens, under Personal info & privacy. click the "Ads Settings" link, then click the "Opt out of More Ads" link.
4. In the "User's Current IBA Status" window that opens, a search of all the ad agencies who advertise with you will run.
5. Once the IBA Status is complete, you will get a "continue" message. Click the button.
   
6. Now you get to choose who advertises to you. I had 134 items, and I had to decide whether to block them all, or to allow some. Frankly, it was impossible to know who was who, so I decided to block them all. There is a handy "select all" link below the "Opt Out?" column of tickboxes. Then click "Submit your choices" button at the bottom right.
7. Your requests will then process.
8. Not all will go through. Only 44 of mine processed on the first pass. You get to decide if you want to try again, or if you will leave it at that.

But you can see that it is not so difficult once you find out how to get started!

Sam

• References: Pierson, D. (29 January 2018). Google will let you mute 'reminder ads' that follow you around the internet. Retrieved 29 January 2018 from https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/100969195/google-will-let-you-mute-reminder-ads-that-follow-you-around-the-internet

There is a shortcut, if you are already logged in to your Google account. Simply go to http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2#!/ then run and re-run the process. Each time I go in, I find that more ad agencies have been added, so this is something I do every month or so, in each of my browsers.

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Education Copyright in New Zealand

Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) has a great little video (2015b) which advises us to think of copyright as "a friendly neighbourly exchange. Meet Joe and this is his neighbour Bruce. Joe borrowed Bruce's lawnmower to cut his lawn. Another neighbour, Sarah, saw Joe mowing his lawn and asked to borrow the mower. 'Sure,' said Joe, and shared the mower with Sarah... without asking the owner, Bruce. Sarah baked a cake for Joe to say thank you". So... Joe gets the cake, while lawnmower-owner Bruce, responsible for purchasing and maintenance, gets nothing. Not fair.

CLNZ suggests that we may easily treat publications the same way. While authors are usually happy for us to enjoy work for our personal consumption, as soon as we copy or share without permission, we get into the 'not fair' category, and fall afoul of the law.

What we can use under the education 'fair use' copyright is:

• Up to 10% of a book or 1 chapter
• 1 article from a journal
• 5 articles from a single newspaper

These can be circulated in hard- or soft-copy for our specific educational purpose to a specific group. So we can't share any of the above via a public blog, but we can share through a passworded website. And we can't charge for the materials unless that charge goes back to the item owner.

If we were going to use someone's thesis, we would need to get permission from the writer. If we wanted to use two chapters from a book, we would need to get permission from the publisher.

It is a pain that we cannot put together books of materials from a range of publishers, but it becomes far too complex to negotiate with everyone involved: authors, agents, tertiary institutions, copyright lawyers and publishers...


Sam

References

• Copyright Licensing New Zealand (2015). A guide to the CLNZ Education Licence. Retrieved 22 January 2018 from https://www.copyright.co.nz/Downloads/Assets/2951/1/clnz-education-licence-guide.pdf
• Copyright Licensing New Zealand (2015). Education Licence Guide. Retrieved 22 January 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBZe2jZZdI
• Copyright Licensing New Zealand (2015). What is Copyright? Retrieved 22 January 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2K53Hl5Uw

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Rescinding LinkedIn Invitations

In a recent post (here), I posted a "How To" for getting rid of those huge lists of LinkedIn (LI) mined contacts carried over from our mobile phones.

However, that doesn't get rid of any invitations that LI may have obligingly sent on our behalf, which we may be inadvertently spamming people with. Oops.

But, once again, LI Help has an actually helpful solution. All we need do is:

1. Log in to LI.
2. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invitation-manager/sent/
3. Select the invitations that you don't want to keep sending.
4. Click delete.

That's it!

Sam

1. LinkedIn Help (2017). Withdrawing an Invitation. Retrieved 21 January 2018 from https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/62008

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Removing LinkedIn "Imported Contacts"

If you, like me, have found a wall of private contacts sitting on LinkedIn, apparently just dying to be asked to connect with you on LI, what we may be seeing is our mined phone contacts.

I got thoroughly sick of seeing a vast list of people whom I might like to connect with, mainly because I wasn't sure if LI was spamming all those people with connect requests from me. I didn't want to be that spammy person, so I found out how to delete the list, and how to prevent the list regenerating (at least until Microsoft change the rules again, anyway).

What you need to do is to - thanks to LI Help being helpful for once - is to:

1. Log in to LI
2. Click on the My Network icon on the LinkedIn header bar.
3. On the left-hand side of the page, below your number of connections (ie, 1370 Your connections) click the tiny hyperlink, See all.
4. In the Connections page, click the tiny link, Manage synced and imported contacts, on the top right of the page.
5. On the Manage synced and imported contacts page, click the Imported tab at the top of the page and select all the contacts listed. Select delete.
6. Click the Delete selected button near the bottom of the page. We will get a warning message asking if we want to delete all: don't worry, people we are already connected with will not be deleted. Click YES.
7. Check on the right-hand side that we have not given permission for LinkedIn to have access to any of our contacts list (see that, once deleted, the page looks like mine above).

Then we are done.

Sam

• Reference: LinkedIn Help (2017). Managing Imported Contacts. Retrieved 21 January 2018 from https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/43377/managing-imported-contacts?lang=en

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Universities Becoming Obsolete? Not yet awhile

(Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 1)

I recently listened to a TEDx talk by Jack Delosa run at Macquarie University in 2015, entitled "The future of education is not what it used to be". Jack had some interesting ideas, but the core of his presentation was that university degrees were becoming no longer necessary in the 'real' world.

As an educator in the 'dirty boots' brigade (the polytechnic sector), I see the transition which students make from commencing a certificate or a diploma, to the maturity in both thinking and self-importance once they complete a degree. Diploma students are those most often labelled 'entitled' by faculty members. They seem have more unrealistic confidence in their own abilities and to reflect that there is nothing left to learn: apparent over-confidence and ego. On the other hand, degree students appear to gain realistic confidence in their own abilities and understand that they don't know everything: self-confidence and a drive to keep learning. There are, of course, exceptions and outliers in both groups.

I have no evidence for this view aside from my personal observation over a decade, leading to my dawning realisation that the mindsets of the student groups as they work through their education appears to be different. So it is with a little trepidation that I hear about the shortening of degree programmes and the micro-bite approach to education through MOOCs, because I think that time is a key factor in completing undergraduate training.

Time changes how we relate to the world, the endurance to complete gives us a common identity to share, and is a clear demonstration of stick-to-it-iveness to show a potential employer that we have grit and perseverance. However it is the process that also changes us. It matures our ideas, it helps us truly 'know' why certain things are important.

In his talk, Jack said that Ernst & Young (EY) had scrapped the requirement for an undergraduate degree in 2015. This shocked me, as to become a Chartered Accountant in Australia and New Zealand you must have a four year undergraduate degree (currently transitioning to a three year requirement). So I did a bit of digging, and I am not sure that Jack has clearly represented the situation. EY has not scrapped its degree requirements for legal, accounting or management consultancy positions. It has 'scrapped' degree requirements for support positions: positions which, I think, EY did not require an undergraduate degree for anyway. Perhaps we could call this PR.

Education will continue to evolve. It has to, to keep pace with our shifting world. The system is probably already being disrupted to some extent with MOOCs. But to create wholesale change, we will need different models, and we don't yet have them. For example:

• We would need a global education equivalency framework so that the fragments of training we pick up around the world can be collectively measured as a body of training for professional memberships.
• How can we shift people into needed areas? More people are going to university, and fewer go into trades: so we are short of tradespeople. Is the role of education to influence choice?
• How do we ensure value? Should that be the job of education? Degree holders still earn more than a tradesperson, but not by much, according to research done by Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL, 2017). This is largely because a tradesperson starts earning during their training, so the degree-holder gets off to a slower start.
• The Universities of New Zealand research suggests a graduate averages $1.38m more over their career than a non-graduate (2016). The Ministry of Education suggests that level 4 graduates - to which trades falls into - earn on average $50k ten years after completion, as compared to an undergraduate degree holder, who will earn $75k after ten years. Please note that this is not entirely equivalent to a trade, as this includes all level 4 certificate holders. This could conceivably contain a Certificate in Basket Weaving alongside a Certificate in Plumbing.
• Is it the job of education to explain that, while either path works, the (a) the duration of training is roughly the same, and (b) the average university graduate usually holds more powerful positions than tradespersons?
• Is it the job of education to debunk the perception that all degree training will earn a graduate lots of money? That was not true in the past, so is unlikely to be true now. If you do a BA in Art because you like painting, you will still scrape an existence as an artist unless you are Andy Warhol (slim chance!), whether it is 1950 or 2050.
• Do we have the tools to truly balance cost and benefit? Will employers hire us for that important first job? Student fees are high, but our students pay their loans off - on average - by age 33. Apprentices, of course, have no fees. Careers New Zealand has a study tool to compare the likely earnings, positions and sectors using diplomas and degrees in New Zealand at https://www.careers.govt.nz/tools/compare-study-options/, but such tools will need to be available globally for us to make truly informed choices.

Our New Zealand education sector is not yet showing a clear pattern of change. Our institutions range from fairly wealthy to just making ends meet, with CPIT and Aoraki Polytechnic amalgamating recently. Despite this, I feel we have too many institutions: eight universities and sixteen polytechnics for 4.5 million New Zealanders. That is a city the size of Sydney with 24 government-funded tertiary institutions. Too many.

However, until we have something else - systems, processes, equivalency, comparability - to replace Unis, I can't see real change happening. Perhaps we may end up with more of a Polytech-type of vocational education, where learning is more applied, and it is refreshed again and again with shorter courses after our undergraduate training is complete.

Watching this space...


Sam

References:

• Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL) (2017). Modelling costs v benefits of apprenticeship v degree. A research report for the Industry Training Federation (ITF). Retrieved 16 January 2017 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1LSnUZRhu6pPFIAJ8r_titlqvpN-nfK/view
• Dann, L. (2 December 2017). Apprenticeship vs degree - who earns more in a lifetime. Retrieved 16 January 2018 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11951069
• Delosa, J. (2015). TEDxMacquarieUniversity: The future of education is not what it used to be. Retrieved 16 January 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2irSBECc-4
• Ministry of Education (2017). Young, domestic graduate outcomes - earnings. Retrieved 16 January 2018 from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/181777/Young-graduate-outcomes-earnings-factsheet-June-2017.pdf
• Reidy, M. (2 December 2017). Tradies earnings research 'misleads' youth, universities say. Retrieved 16 January 2017 from https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/99469460/Tradies-earnings-research-misleads-youth-universities-say?cid=edm:stuff:dailyheadlines&bid=477151214
• Universities of New Zealand (2016). New Zealand's Universities Key Facts & Stats. Retrieved 16 January 2018 from http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/sites/default/files/uni-nz/documents/NZ-Universities-Key-Facts-and-Stats-Sept-2016.pdf

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Exporting Skype Chat

Did you know we can export our Skype chat? I was trying to find someone who I had talked to on their partner's Skype a while ago, and I couldn't remember the partner's name.

"No problem," I thought, "I will find their name in my Skype log. "

But our Skype log is now only 30 days old - and it is stored in the cloud, not on our devices!

"Arggggh!!"

But all is not lost. We can export all the text generated from within Skype programme instead. All we have to is do to export our history (ie, older than thirty days). So in Skype, we go to Tools | Options | Privacy | click the Export Chat History button. Then we choose our save file location, and click Save. Our file will download and save as a CSV file.

Then we just open the CSV file, and save it as Excel. While the data is a bit messy (ie, the dates are just a number, and I have not yet found the right category/code to apply over the cells to have them show up correctly), but we can apply an autofilter, then search/filter for the information we need.

Easy.


Sam

• Reference: Skype (n.d.). Chat Export: How do I manage my conversation history in Skype for Windows desktop? | How do I export my chat history to CSV? Retrieved 19 January 2018 from https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA392/how-do-i-manage-my-conversation-history-in-skype-for-windows-desktop?q=chat+export&intsrc=client-_-windows-_-7.40-_-go-help.export&setlang=en

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Keeping a Reflective Log

Since I did my Foundation course for my Certificate in Adult Teaching over a decade ago, I have kept a reflective log about my teaching practice. I have a reminder task set quarterly, so if I forget to record at any point, I get a prompt. I find it very useful to note down the good, the bad and the ugly, and try to tease out what went wrong, and what went 'right'. I have a good long think about the entire incident, and try to think deliberately about my teaching practice, what surprised me, what I can improve, and what learning moments there are.

According to Kolb, we only know what our learning was when we reflect (1984). This is the area where prehension connects with observation: we watch ourselves and understand what drove our choices. This gives us the self- and other-understanding to make change the next time we experience this.

One of the best things about recording these reflections down is to go back to them later, and, in reviewing them, to build on our depth of understanding. We first get superficial, surface learning; then we see more layers; then we get to deeper and deeper levels of knowledge both of ourselves, and of the situation we were in. This type of reflection is powerful, as we are able to see more or strategies over time which we can apply in future situations: all of which we were initially blind to. Full enlightenment may occur many months or many years later.

Some people get blocked by the name, or the mechanism. It doesn't matter what we call our reflections, or the format we use for recording it. It might be a journal, a diary, a 'pillow book', a memoir, a daybook, 'morning words' or a table in a Word document (which is what I use). It might be writing longhand in a leather-bound book; it might be keyed into a private blog, talked in as an audio file, or videoed as a vlog 'mirror'. The point is not to get bogged in the details, but to find something that works for us to reflect, then to embed our learning (Moon, 2006).

As well is teaching, reflective journals are a commonly used tool in career practice and in the health sector (nursing, counselling, psychiatry, psychology). A reflective journal is useful to take to peer, or professional, supervision sessions. It is also very common to set student counselling assignments to include a reflective practice component, and I set a reflective journal assignments for my capstone student business research paper and for my leadership papers.

If you don't use a tool to help you reflect, seriously think about giving it a try.


Sam

References:

• Harvard Business Review (20 December 2017). Management Tip of the Day: Learn More from Your Experiences by Keeping a Journal. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://hbr.org/newsletters/management-tip?spMailingID=18699538&spUserID=ODI5MDQxMTUwS0&spJobID=1161696256&spReportId=MTE2MTY5NjI1NgS2
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc.
• Moon, J. A. (2006). Learning journals: A handbook for reflective practice and professional development (Second Edition). UK: Routledge

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Do's are better than dont's

It is amazing how much meaning we can convey without realising, at times. When we say "Don't turn this job in later that 5pm. I need it then", it is a much more negative message than "Turn this job in at 5pm. I need it then".

Discounting any possible sub-text from tone, pace and inflection, the first comes across as command and control, and "I don't really trust you to get the job done". It implies a lack of faith in the employee’s ability to complete, and sets up the manager as the 'enforcer', undermining trust in the employment relationship. The second is an instruction. While it might be blunt, it is much less likely to get anyone's back up. We could imagine that the manager sees the employee has good intentions, will be responsible and will therefore be successful.

The trouble is it is so easy to use negative statements. If we have been burned in the past, they can then trip off the tongue incredibly easily. We make assumptions about people: falling into the trap of the corollary of Halo theory (Thorndike, 1920): that once bad employees are always bad. We build a story about people that does not let them escape a past misdemeanour.

Then that story becomes concrete, and we add the magic ingredient which builds resentment: absolutes. Absolutes are words like 'always' and 'never', which change a negative statement into a judgement which is guaranteed to brass everyone involved off. "Forget about meeting that deadline. Kim is always late". "Chris unfailingly jams the photocopier". "In five years Tui has never filled the pool car up after using it".

Ouch. Watch the workplace - or family - culture erode.

So how can we resist the seductiveness of making such statements? By noticing. We need to notice ourselves when we use absolutes, and the tone with which we speak people. We can think about how we would like to be spoken to, and try to reflect that back to everyone with whom we are starting to treat with less dignity, honesty and respect. We can make a list - either physical or mental - of those things that we habitually say to individuals that are negative.

And then we can purge our own stories, and let people grow past our criticism. We can bite our tongues and break some bad habits of our own ;-D


Sam

• Reference: Thorndike, E. L. (1920). A constant error on psychological rating. Journal of Applied Psychology, IV, 25-29

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LinkedIn: A Lemon Going Down the Drain?

I used to be a staunch advocate of LinkedIn (LI). I joined LinkedIn because I felt was good for my profile, but I stayed for the groups.

I knew that LI monetises the platform through recruitment as recruiters have paid, professional memberships which provides them with absolute access to all of we unpaid members. We with the free accounts who graze the groups are the cattle: providing the raw material for LI's recruitment monetisation.

However, a couple of years ago, the organisation seems to have lost their way. Nail number one in the LI Coffin: it took the focus off the groups (which is why I stayed in the first place). In early 2015, I would have said there was a incredibly strong sense of community on LI through the groups. They hummed. Now the groups are ghost towns. A few people post things, but where once we might have had twenty or more threads a day, now we might get half a dozen a week. We once narrow-cast questions, discussion and ideas within the groups, and got some fabulous debate going. Group members now broadcast: they post in the homepage main thread. No more discussion on the groups. Hardly even a like. No more food for the soul.

LI as an organisation should be concerned, because when we - the cattle - no longer get palatable food (groups), we will roam to other pastures. This will mean that the recruiters will see a drop off in raw material quality, and LI's ability to monetise will decrease. But Microsoft bought the company - probably for the member database (I have written about these changes here, here, here, here and here). And if revenue falls, there are other ways to make money, as Microsoft well knows.

How about a spot of advertising to narrow the revenue gap? Great: nail number two in the LI coffin. The advertising on the homepage thread is driving me batty, and that was when I really started to lose interest. I have opted out of ads in my settings on both my phone and my PC, but that doesn't stop the ads on the page. I cannot turn those ones off: I just have to endure the fact that probably one in every three posts is not something I am remotely interested in. They just keep on coming.


Nail number three: the incessant emails and notifications. The barrage of emails made me decide to I opt out of all emails and advertising (please note that I STILL get emails, but probably 5% of the volume I used to - see the 'joke' illustrating this post). I used to get advisory emails daily from each group. I don't anymore. So my habits have changed almost without me noticing: I used to check LI first thing every morning: I might spend 20 minutes a week now. I post my blog post using Buffer to LI and Twitter, and connect with anyone who asks me (as that is the point of networking, I feel) but I no longer care enough to post or make more than a couple of comments a week. I have disengaged.

And then there is nail number four: post quality. People are now posting 'Facebook' posts: 'what I did on my holiday', things to buy for the home, recipes and banal bumpf. Positive thinking drivel. I am seeing the standard of gossip and opinions on LI that I would have expected on Medium: lightweight. FB has always only been for family, but I now tend to post there more than on LI, because the differentiation between the platforms is narrowing. The time of the FB flake and the FB diatribe appearing on LI seems to be drawing ever nearer.

What used to be a community is now a hollow shell. It is sad, but there is nothing I can do about it. The great thing is departing.


Sam

• Reference: Hunt, E. (9 June 2017). LinkedIn is the worst of social media. Should I delete my account? Retrieved 16 January 2018 from https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jun/09/linkedin-is-the-worst-of-social-media-should-i-delete-my-account

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Heutagogy: the art of self-directed learning

The Difference Between Pedagogy, Andragogy,
And Heutagogy (Heick, 5 November 2015)

What do you know about heutagogy? I hadn't even heard about this a few months ago, until a travelling expert in this area came to do a seminar at my institution. Then I learned a few things.

Heutagogy was defined in 2000 by Hase and Kenyon as "self-determined learning" and is based on the idea of knowledge-sharing over knowledge-hoarding. It picks up Argyris's idea of double-loop learning, and reflecting about the how and the why of our learning (2002). I like that. Research projects and theses are heutagogic.

Heutagogy is a step beyond andragogy (adult learning; Knowles, 1980), and into self-reflective, -directed and -determined learning. Learners not only build the plan, they negotiate their own path, outline the field, and map the territory (Heick, 5 November 2015; Blaschke, 2012; Argyris, 2002; Hase & Kenyon, 2001; Hase & Kenyon, 2000). Heutagogy is a philosophical approach that aims to help learners self-develop as problem-solvers, trouble-shooters and action-takers making continuous improvement: those who can work developmentally in learning organisations.

The idea is that the learner drives the learning completely, independently, and does not follow a linear route. The learner seeks self-actualisation (Maslow, 1962). The 'teacher' is simply a guide on the side (King, 1993); a facilitator.

It is quite an interesting idea. I will come back to it in a later post.


Sam

References:

• Argyris, C. (2002). Double-Loop Learning, Teaching, and Research. Academy of Management Learning & Education, December, 1(2), 206-218
• Blaschke, L. M. (2012). Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(1), 56-71.
• Blaschke, L. M., & Hase, S. (2016). Chapter 2 - Heutagogy: A holistic framework for creating Twenty-First-Century self-determined learners. In B. Gros, Kinshuk, & M. Maina's (Eds) The Future of Ubiquitous Learning. Berlin, Germany: Springer Berlin (pp. 25-40)
• Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2001). Moving from Andragogy to Heutagogy in Vocational Education. In Research to Reality: Putting VET Research To Work. Proceedings of the 4th Conference of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA), in Adelaide Australia, 28-30 March 2001.
• Hase, S. & Kenyon, C. (2000). From Andragogy to Heutagogy. ultiBASE In-Site, December, ISSN 1328-1798. Retrieved 15 January 2018 from http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-wb/20010220130000/http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec00/hase2.htm
• Heick, T. (05 November 2015). The Difference Between Pedagogy, Andragogy, And Heutagogy. Retrieved 13 November 2017 from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/a-primer-in-heutagogy-and-self-directed-learning/
• King, A. (1993). From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. College Teaching, Winter, 41(1), 30-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.1993.9926781
• Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From pedagogy to andragogy. USA: Prentice Hall
• Maslow, A. H. (1962). Toward a psychology of being. USA: D Van Nostrand Company Inc.

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Tactics for Saying No

Isn't it amazing how hard it can be to say "no" to someone! Because it is hard, I think it can be useful to practice HOW to say no, and set up some stock phrases and strategies for making "No" statements.

A few years ago, we had a couple of Rotary International Exchange Students come to stay with us. Their entire approach to life in New Zealand was to say "yes" to everything. That strategy got them past fear and into a whole load of new experiences. However, while saying "yes" in the short term is going to get us exposure to the new and push our boundaries while travelling, in the workplace it is more likely to burn us out and cause us to fail in our main job.

Saying yes can get us to the point where we are so stretched that we struggle to do the job that we were hired to do: and that is not only unfair to ourselves, but also unfair to our employer (because they will get an unrealistic idea of how much work can be done in the time) and unfair to those who follow us (who will never be able to live up to our legendary do-er status).

A lot of us have FOMO: fear of missing out. Another problem is that we want to be the 'good' person who helps. Both of those issues cause our mouth to overtake our brain, and we rush in and say "Yes" without thinking how the new tasks will work with the rest of our load. So below I have eleven tips:

1. When asked to pick up a new project that is outside our area of expertise, or that really leaves us cold, say "I am in the middle of [x] projects right now, so I can't make a decision this minute. Give me until 3pm to review where I am at, and I will come back to you then." We are expected to make instant decisions, so many managers will be surprised at the postponement. However, this tactic buys us some time to think through the project and our response: and to propose someone more suitable, instead of doing something that doesn't fit with our skill set. A good "no" answer might be "Thanks for asking, but I have reviewed my current projects. I can't take on that additional responsibility at the moment, AND continue to give my other projects the attention and energy they need."
2. When asked to pick up a new project when you are very busy, say "I'm a bit busy to do that right now, and I wouldn't want to let you down. Why don't you see if you can find someone else, and if no one is available, I'll step in as backup." Probably half the time, people won't come back. If we think this might come back to us, move to tactic 4.
3. When asked to pick something new and undefined up, before giving a "Yes", say "Sure, no problem. Who ie preparing the project brief, and when will I get it to review?" We wait until the project brief is passed to us. That way we don't get a poorly scoped and amorphous project that will become bigger than Ben Hur, and, therefore, impossible to complete or hit targets for.
4. When asked to pick something new but not clearly resourced, say "Sure, no problem. How many hours will that take? I suspect it will be about [x]. What should I reprioritise?" You don't pick up the new project until you have downgraded an equivalent amount of hours. That prevents you trying to do two jobs.
5. When asked to pick up a well-briefed project up, say "Sure, no problem. I will need to pass [y] from my worklist to someone: how about Kim in Facilities? Can you let me know when Kim's Manager agrees, and we can have a hand-over meeting?" You don't start the new project until Kim's Manager approves the shift. That way you don't end up with two jobs.
6. If someone asks you to do something for them that will take you a lot of time, but them very little, such as brokering connections, say "Sure, no problem. Send me a couple of background paragraphs which I can include with the email." It is more than likely that they won't do their bit, and our problem goes away. If they do, our part should be nice and short. As Yevaru said, "Just asking people to do a bit of work to crystallise their vague idea of what they want so that you can do far more work to make it reality, is apparently too much for a lot of them".
7. When someone asks us to do a professional service for free, a musician had a great response, saying "Yes, sure, I'd love to! Usual 7 day payment terms, and who should I address the account to?"
8. If someone puts a guilt trip on us by saying, "Well, if you won't do it, Kim in Facilities will have to, and she has four young children at home," we can respond politely and directly to what was spoken without acknowledging the subtext; for example "Thanks for undertanding. Good idea about Kim, but perhaps you could give her a day in lieu to help rebalance her family time?" For those who say "But you are the only one who can help me!" we can go back with a "Oh, that's not true: you are a really capable. Let me know how it works out!"
9. Lucy suggests that we prioritise requests into saying 'yes' in decreasing strength of yesness to fit with our core role for "the things that I (a) have to do, (b) want to do, or (c) ought to do". Lucy was ambivalent about whether we should do the 'oughts'. They could be passed to someone junior, who is in need of more challenging tasks (Kellaway, 15 June 2017).
10. She says that we need to practice saying 'no' quickly. She feels if we procrastinate, we may "already [be] on [the] back foot and maybe tricked into saying yes by mistake" (Kellaway, 15 June 2017).
11. A last tip from Lucy is to not get too specific on reasons, because "they can be challenged, resulting in capitulation” (Kellaway, 15 June 2017).

Hopefully these will help us learn to say know with a bit of grace, and without a meltdown.



Sam

References:

• Kellaway, L. (15 June 2017). Why the most successful people just say no. Retrieved 30 December 2017 from https://mediacdn.acast.com/encoded/146e331a-be9a-4ee1-be72-72a133bb6de0/1de02e42-f703-4248-ade2-dbe0f1f02344/encoded-2353397959c1c059a7dcc4ead3b2fce5-64.mp3?ci=1b01a0ef-3c04-44c4-9a22-1b4c7651377d&chid=146e331a-be9a-4ee1-be72-72a133bb6de0&aid=1de02e42-f703-4248-ade2-dbe0f1f02344
• Mcleod, M. (28 December 2017). The joy and relief of saying no: how I learned to stop worrying and turn people down. Retrieved 30 December 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/dec/28/joy-relief-saying-no-how-learned-stop-worrying-turn-people-down?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=258494&subid=4915806&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2#comment-110213457

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Steps in submitting a journal article

I recently submitted my very first journal article for peer review. It had taken me something like 300 hours to write the blasted thing in the first place, with 12 full rewrites. Once I finally got the go-ahead to give it a crack with the journal itself, I thought I was home and hosed. That my work was over. But no.

I then had to spend two days doing other administration things to get my article ready for the particular Sage Publications journal I was aiming at. This took two full work days, and, because it was so long and complicated, I decided to make a list of all the tasks for my future reference:

• Set up an ORCID ID for myself.
• Get express permission in writing to use the models from all the people whose models I wanted to include using the form at Sage Publications Inc. (2015a). This was despite the use of these models falling under the Fair Use definition (see Ballard, 2011).
• I wrote up a Conflict of Interest statement using the Sage Publications Ltd (2017c) form.
• Checked that all items in my bibliographical references were actually referred to in the text. Ensured all in-text citations were included in the bibliography. Proof-read my bibliography.
• Change the document formatting to:
• Saved the front page containing my personal information separately using the Sage template (sage_journals_template_0.docx) as “Young - Work Ready Title Page”, and allocated as Title Page.
• Saved the body of the document using the Sage template (sage_journals_template_0.docx) as “”, and allocated as Anonymous Main Document. Inserted Figure text [Figure 1 here] and [Figure 2 here].
• Set up the diagrams as 300dpi jpgs. Saved both as Figure 1 Work Ready - Computer training for injury claimants, 2017.jpg and Figure 2 Work Ready - Computer training for injury claimants, 2017.jpg.
• As I was doing all of the above, I found a few more article edits which needed doing, so took those in as well.
• Setting up a ScholarOne user ID which I then linked to my ORCID ID so I could submit my article to the journal online
• Entering my data through ScholarOne. Downloaded the proof, which I reviewed four times and made more edits to, reuploading and re-reviewing once the uploads were complete.
• Writing a cover letter, as follows:
• Addressing the editor formally by name, and including my contact details. The editor's name is most likely available through the online submission process, should also be included in the cover letter.
• Leading the cover letter with a paragraph detailing the manuscript and author names. Describe the manuscript type the submission is (research article, review, case report, etc.).
• In this first and second paragraphs, describing the study rationale/background, and the major findings (NB: if directly related, I needed to refer to any of my previously published work).
• In the third paragraph, explaining why my manuscript would be a good fit with the journal, using the journal’s Aims & Scope statement, and explain why it would interest the journal’s readership. If it wasn't that close a fit, I needed to have done my best to show the links. We mustn't go generic and spout that our work is “novel” or “of interest to the field”.
• Closing off with a paragraph detailing that:
• My manuscript was original (ie, it was entirely my work)
• No part of the manuscript had been published before, nor was any part of it under consideration for publication at another journal
• There were no conflicts of interest to disclose (other than those in the disclosure form I had attached)
• And if I had been required to by the journal, I needed to provide list of potential reviewers (but this wasn't requested)
• And if I had been required to by the journal, I needed to provide list of ny researchers who should NOT review my manuscript (but this wasn't requested either).
• I read Mudrak's article as a double-check for my cover letter (2015).
• Supplying a data access statement: “[X] test data was provided via a trusted business relationship and is not publicly available. Interested parties may contact the author who will request access from the New Zealand license holder.”
• Got advice on data access from articles by Fellous-Sigrist (2015) and the University of Bath (n.d.).Submitted. Crikey!

Now, I don't know whether all the things I have done have actually been done correctly. It may well be that I still get a desk reject even after having worked through all this admin. If so, then I will write an update, to ensure that this process is as sound as I can make it.

And do you know, I STILL found a mistake after I submitted the flaming article :-(

Sam

References:

• Ballard, S. (2011). Give Credit Where Credit is Due: Avoiding Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from http://library.alliant.edu/screens/plagiarism.pdf
• Fellous-Sigrist, M. (2015). What is a Data Access Statement and do I need one in my publication? Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/rdm/2015/09/what-is-a-data-access-statement-and-do-i-need-one-in-my-publication/
• Mudrak, B. (2015). Writing a Journal Cover Letter [Free Template]. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://www.aje.com/en/arc/writing-cover-letter/
• Sage Publications Ltd (2017a). Manuscript Submission Guidelines. Retrieved 25 September 2017 from https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/manuscript-submission-guidelines#PreparingYourManuscript
• Sage Publications Ltd (2017b). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved 25 September 2017 from https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/journal-author-faqs
• Sage Publications Ltd (2017c). Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from http://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.pdf
• Sage Publications Inc. (2015a). SAGE Permission Request online-fillable form. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://au.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/sage_permission_request.pdfSage Publications Inc. (2015b). SAGE Journals template. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://au.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/sage_journals_template_0.docx
• Sage Publications (2015c). Copyright and Permissions. Retrieved 27 September 2017 from https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/copyright-and-permissions#AuthorRights
• Sage Publications (2010). Appendix 3: APA reference style. Retrieved 25 September 2017 from www.uk.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/pdf/APA_reference_style.pdf
• University of Bath (n.d.). Writing a data access statement. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/data/archiving-data/writing-a-data-access-statement/

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