I found out that I was going to be a dad in February of 2016. In March, I attended the Building Future Faculty Workshop. In April, I lost my job after my postdoc funding evaporated.
Needless to say, this was a chaotic time in my life. I’d just finished my PhD and had a plan to become a professor after spending a couple years doing research. I was excited to become a dad, but with my job loss we wondered how we’d make ends meet. It was time to put all of those lessons from the workshop into action. Right. Now.
So I did! And the ending is a happy story!
It turned out that the advice I picked up during those three days in Raleigh helped unlock my dream.
Why am I writing about it now? Because just three years later I was invited to head back down there to host a new cohort of future faculty. I had a chance to share a lot of the same advice that helped me. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience and I am pretty sure I learned more than I shared.
This post is a collection of advice for faculty, about some of the aspects of this wild career path that can be so complex to navigate. Students, if you’re reading this and you think your professor looks stressed, consider sharing. Oh, and this advice applies to you too.
Here’s the outline of what’s to come:
- Building an inclusive foundation
- Personal branding in a noisy world that seems short on opportunities
- Productivity in an era where free time feels like a vanishing luxury
Inclusive Foundation
Our world is filled with implicit biases that leave some people feeling like insiders, and others like outsiders (or worse). Becoming an ally involves more than claiming to be unbiased – it requires putting forth the effort to understand and empathize with others’ experiences. The beauty of this is that in some room, most in fact, we’re all outsiders with opportunities to become allies.
I’ve learned that there really is only one thing to concern yourself with: genuinely care about people and the rest sorts itself out. Love people. Listen. Say what you think, but be open to learning.
Personal Branding
I’m a mechanical engineering professor. We’re famously obsessed with equations and facts and figures. However, I am certain that my weekly blog is the most important activity that I do.
Writing this blog has nothing to do with what’s measured. It won’t “count” in my annual review, contract renewal, or promotion package. People won’t cite me and it won’t directly increase my “impact factor” (a rigid, narrowly defined term related to which journals you’re publishing in and how many people cite your work). So why do it?
This blog is about figuring things out for myself. The lessons I teach myself by writing here inform everything else that I do. As Dawson Trotman says,
“Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through lips and fingertips.”
Seth Godin writes about the idea that no one experiences “talker’s block.” Yet we’ve all struggled to overcome the blank page, writer’s block. What’s the difference? We talk regularly and in public. He argues that writing works the same way. That’s certainly been my experience.
The transferable skills are also apparent: professionals do a lot of writing. We write after-actions and memos, proposals and reports, articles and presentations. A key to any career is the ability to document your effort and point to a tangible result. It used to take me weeks to write an article after the analysis was done. Now it takes me an afternoon (and I get accepted with only minor revisions).
Lastly, blogging helps me connect with my students and colleagues. I view my weekly blogging efforts primarily as relationship building, not “productivity.”
PS. In ever job interview I’ve had, a question has been asked about a specific post from my blog. Turns out they do measure it, just not the way we thought.
Productivity
Here I have a few rapid-fire suggestions that have made a world of difference for me:
“Done is better than better.” – Bob Heilig
I’ve heard this said a lot of different ways. The sentiment is key: good enough is good enough. Survive and revise. Follow the 80/20 rule. Academics tend to be perfectionists. Perfectionism is the shortcut to nowhere, so don’t be a perfectionist. Be a completionist.
Email: 2,300 unread and proud.
I treat my email inbox the same way I treat my Twitter feed. Things are scrolling by and if I happen to dip in and engage with them, great. I used to set a daily goal of “inbox zero.” I quickly discovered that this ideal required massive time investment, and allowed the world to dictate my priorities. Knowing my email address does not give you permission to tell me how to spend my day. I’ve moved from reactionary to intentional here. (I miss most email, and the world hasn’t exploded)
Create a morning ritual that gives you energy.
I try to do two things each morning: self-care and make meaningful progress on my most important project. I wake up 2 hours before I leave the house and spend one hour on each of those tasks. The result: I rarely skip taking care of my health, and I managed to write an entire book draft since November. (by the way, does anyone know how to talk to publishers? I need help)
Leadership is the most important thing you can learn about.
As a human, you’re a leader at some point in your day. Learn to emulate great leaders and you’ll work less and deliver greater results. You’ll spot opportunities that others miss, and be able to make things happen.
Budget your time.
I tell people that their todo list is incomplete until each task has the amount of time you’ll give it written down next to it. I’m not talking about guessing how long a task will take you. I’m telling you to specify the amount of time you’re willing to devote. When the time’s up, put it down and move on. How long a task gets depends on:
- Priority
- Desired level of quality
- Your skill level
I’ll tell you a little secret: we all get 168 hours each week. When you give a task your time, you’re saying “no” to everything else. Do that intentionally instead of “working until it’s done,” only to discover that you put off something more important.
15-hour work week:
Dan Miller has a great framework for how to spend your time for part-time small business owners. I’ve taken this and expanded it to my full-time job (I actually view myself as self-employed with a single client). The point is that there are several key buckets that need filled to grow your career, and you should regularly invest time in all of them. Here’s the breakdown:
- 3 hours reading, studying, and gathering new knowledge. Focus this time on learning best practices. Keep in mind that research, teaching, and service should be on the agenda.
- 5 hours creating content. I map this to include all of the solo work involved in doing your job. Class prep and grant writing go here.
- 4 hours working directly with clients. Every job has a customer. This is the time I spend directly adding value to that client. Hi students!
- 3 hours marketing to build your brand and reputation. This includes everything from blogging to eating lunch with your colleagues and protecting a little time so you can say “yes” to people asking for favors.
I multiply these numbers by 3, work 45 hours a week, and consistently achieve the results I am after.
Conclusion
The world we live and work in is filled with demands on our time. Opinion on how to achieve success varies from day to day, person to person. I get one wild and precious life and I don’t want to spend it marching to the beat of someone else’s drum. My hard line is that I am going to live on purpose and I wish the same for you, my friend.
PS. I’m putting the final touches on an online workshop that will teach you how to build your personal brand (there’s a bit more to it than blogging.) If you’d like to participate, enter your email address below and I’ll keep you posted! In the meanwhile, I’ll also send you a dose of weekly inspiration and advice that you won’t find anywhere else!
