Doing some desktop housekeeping, I found this list I wrote for a faculty seminar a few years ago. I was asked to provide insight on how to minimize stress on the tenure track with children. Thought I’d share it. (I did not follow the last one until after I got tenure. Bad me.)
1. Work when you are working and do not work when you are not working. (Zen version: be here now.)
2. Be efficient. Make every project do double and triple duty. One written article (research) can provide the basis for a class meeting (teaching) as well as a lecture on campus (service).
3. On teaching: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Resist the urge to make-over courses that are performing adequately. Create the minimum amount of new courses your department will be satisfied with.
4. On teaching enhancement: experiment with/adopt one substantial innovative technique, preferably funded by a small grant.
5. On service: Default answer to service requests should be “That sounds like an interesting committee/project/idea. Let me give it some thought.” Don’t allow your ego (they want me!!) push a hasty “sure” past your lips. Choose few but substantial/high profile commitments with minimal time-commitments at the various levels (dept., college, univ, community). For fortitude, repeat this mantra: No one is denied turned tenure for lack of service.
6. Be very clear about what your peer committee expects. Peer committee letters are not sufficient for this. Read your tenure document, and sit down with individual members one at a time for coffee/lunch and asking “What exactly should I do to strengthen my tenure case in the next [12/24/36] months?”
7. Listen to your inner voice on child care/babysitting issues. If it doesn’t seem like it’s working out, it probably isn’t. (If you don’t believe me, I have a harrowing story about a heroin addict and my infant son to share with you.)
8. Doing your best work is doing your best work in the time you have. Say it over and over until it sinks in.
9. On your imperfect but finished article: Send it out. Now.
10. Academics tend to be self-important, which creates stress. Constantly remind yourself how comparatively unimportant your obsession with career success is compared to, say, world peace. Props can help: put a globe on your desk and try to find yourself on it.
11. To relieve anxiety about not getting tenure, envision the aftermath in your mind, of failure. Will you vanish in a puff of smoke? Unless you’re a chemist, probably not. Practically outlining your post tenure rejection options and recognizing that life will go on either way can diminish the giant black cloud of terror.
12. Don’t be afraid to ask your department for what you need (earlier department meetings, a later return to work than you had planned, skipping the trip to the national meeting to search for a new colleague). No big windups or explanations. Just be frank and honest. The worst they can say is no.
13. Find a way to recharge the batteries. If you are parenting or working, no matter how much you love it, you are putting out. Taking some time out for yourself pays itself back in much more productive and/or engaged parenting and working.
These are great suggestions for anyone with an academic career, I think. Especially the first one–I have been very guilty of working 24/7 and getting burned out. I don’t know how my professors juggled everything they did (organization, probably).
Ummm, I also gave you an award on my blog: http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/08/awards-spreading-love.html
I could have used these about five years back. The academic wasn’t me but rather my husband – he’s since moved to industry because we just couldn’t make it work. I was at home being the primary caregiver as well as housekeeper and primary earner (as a consultant this wasn’t hard to arrange but it sure was hard to execute). He was in a biomed program with an eye toward teaching/researching. After year five with perhaps an additional decade before tenure it was clear that we had to consider another path – our vision for our family life and this particular professional goal were simply not compatible (his advisor was notorious for MSs requiring six years before he’d consent to allowing a defense). We wondered for a time why no one else in the lab was in a relationship let alone had children and suddenly there it was. I wonder though if having had someone tell us these things back then would have made a difference. Maybe.
@ heidenkind:
Thank you!
Marsha wrote:
I’m glad you had this realization. It sounds like it made a very positive difference in your life.