Are you treating your research like a hobby?

Most academics are paid to do research. Research is part of your job description. Research figures prominently in the criteria for hiring, tenure/confirmation, and promotion.

This can feel out of sync with the reality of your daily life in the university. You teach. You attend meetings. You do the work necessary to do those 2 things well. You are available for meetings with individual students. You might supervise graduate students. Department meetings rarely talk about research, making it seem like some kind of personal thing.

Research can feel like it’s a hobby.

You do it in your “spare time” and during “vacations”. If you schedule time regularly to work on your scholarship, it frequently gets shifted, or dropped, when other things come up.

You enjoy your research, or you did once. You work on questions that are of interest to you. If you think about it too hard, it seems crazy that anyone would pay you to read those books. Surely real work should be at least a little bit hard or unpleasant? Maybe you even secretly sabotage your research to make it feel more like work.

What makes something a hobby?

fabric for quilt

I’m making a quilt. I bought the fabric several months ago. This weekend I got out the fabric. Looked at the plan I had. Cut out squares. Sewed things together.

The purpose of making the quilt is the enjoyment I get out of the process.

I enjoy selecting colours and fabrics. I enjoy the process of cutting out squares, sewing them together, and arranging them in a pleasing pattern. I enjoy the process of seeing these fabrics become something different through this process.

several quilt blocksSewing a quilt, for me, is like watching movies, or reading books, or skiing. It passes the time. It is relaxing. It works a different part of my brain in a different way. The process meets my needs for creativity. It helps me relax.

I happen to get a product out of it. And that product can meet other needs — giving this quilt to my parents will contribute to my relationship with them. I could even sell the product and meet my need for cash to fund my hobby.

A hobby only meets these personal needs.

It is valuable as a hobby even if I finish the quilt top and never put it together with the batting and backing and make it into something that can be used to keep someone warm. I can put half-finished quilts away for months (or years), and bring them out later and the benefits of quilting to me are not diminished.

Your research may share some aspects of this hobby of mine. You may enjoy it. It may satisfy your need for creativity or some other need.

Just as I select the quilting project, you may select the research topic and focus. You may do this primarily based on your own curiosity and interest. And satisfying that curiosity is a need that will be met whether you devote time every week to working on your project or whether you leave it for long stretches and come back to it.

As a hobby, your research will meet your needs whether you ever share your findings with anyone else, at a conference, in a publication, or in the classroom.

What makes something a job?

The simple answer is that you are paid to do it. But that begs the question, why are you paid to do research?

You are paid to do research because it has value to someone else.

That value might not be immediately obvious. But no one pays you to do a hobby.

Even if someone pays me to make them a quilt, it is not because making quilts makes me happy. If someone pays me to make a quilt, they value the warmth, the beauty, the joy the quilt brings them. It is those things that determine the price of my quilt.

What do you do to ensure the value of your research is realized?

Enjoyment doesn’t make research a hobby. Nor does struggling make it not a hobby. The key factor that distinguishes a hobby from a job is the value your work provides to someone else.

If you move on from your research before it is useful to someone else, you are not doing your job. You are treating your research as a hobby

If you believe that teaching in higher education requires teachers to be active scholars, what are you doing to ensure that you are an active scholar and that your scholarship has an impact on your teaching?

If you believe that your research could make an important contribution to scholarly debates in your field, could change the way other researchers approach this topic, what are you doing to ensure that other scholars in your field know about your research?

If you believe that your research is important to the practice of a particular profession, what are you doing to ensure that those professionals know about your findings and are able to integrate them into their practice?

If you believe that your research is important to how particular organizations (commercial or charitable) deliver their products or services, what are you doing to ensure that those organizations can benefit from your research?

If you believe that your research is part of what makes your university great, what are you doing to enhance the profile of your research and your university?

If you believe any of those things, are you giving your research and scholarship appropriate priority when you are planning how you use your time? And is it clear to those around you how your research contributes to your collective goals?

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What would make your job better?

I want to plant a seed that can slowly germinate in the back of your mind.

What would it mean to you for your job to be “better”?

Is there anything you have control over that might make a difference?

What is the smallest thing you could do?

If thinking about your job feels like a dead-end, try going bigger (what would make your life better) or smaller (what would make next semester better, or what would make next week better).

 

gremlin

Image by Amy Crook, Antemortem Arts, used with permission

 

If this little guy turns up…

… try being curious.

Write down what he says without judgement. Just listen.

 

 

Then go back to the other questions, but maybe phrase them this way:

Even if it’s impossible to change anything, what would “better” look like for me?

Even though I don’t have control over anything significant, is there anything, however small, that I do have control over that might make a difference?

Even if small things feel thoroughly insignificant, what is one small step I could try?

You can replace the part between the “Even though” and the comma with whatever it is that your gremlins are particularly overwrought about.

If you need help dealing with the gremlins, I recommend the Monster Manual & Coloring Book from The Fluent Self.

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Avoiding crisis management and burnout

The intention of my previous post was not to raise your blood pressure.

I know that by mid-November you are overwhelmed. You’re right in the thick of teaching. You have mid-term assignments coming in to be marked and returned. You’re still doing all the regular preparation. Students are coming to see you about difficulties they are having.

It is no surprise that research related activities take a back seat. Maybe you are keeping up your 30-minutes a day at least a few days a week. But even if you are, progress on writing and other research activities is probably slow. Possibly discouragingly so.

It’s okay. You are busy. Furthermore if you live in the northern hemisphere, it is pretty dark and gloomy out there. You probably crave more sleep just as you feel that you don’t really have time to relax in the evenings and go to bed early.

Don’t take on extra things

If you only just noticed that grant deadline and were thinking you’d apply, don’t. If you haven’t even started, it’s already too late. You have plenty on your plate. It will come up again next year. Not only can it not be done without damage to your mental and physical health. It cannot be done well in the time remaining. Start planning for next year’s deadline.

If you have already started work on that SSHRC IDG application (or other application due in January or February), I fully support you. This is your research work for this season and you should prioritize it.

  • make a detailed to-do list: “write grant application” is NOT a to do list item
    • update publications in online form
    • write detailed description
    • write summary
    • prepare budget
    • etc (each of those can probably be broken down further)
  • figure out what items can be delegated and delegate them (to an RA, to an administrator who takes on extra hourly-paid work, to your sister if need be)
    • putting your (updated) CV information into the online form
    • filling in the tick-box parts of the application
    • translating your proposal into accountant so you can write a budget
  • make appointments with yourself in your calendar for every item that remains on your to-do list; some of these can be as short as 15 minutes.

Proceed methodically through your tasks. If anyone asks if you are available for a meeting, treat your appointments with yourself as seriously as you would scheduled teaching. You don’t need to explain why you are not available.

How will you pay the RA or whoever? I don’t care. If you have internal research funds, use those. If you have professional development funds, use those. If you need to pay them out of your own pocket, consider the value of your own time, health and sanity. I suspect it is a small price to pay.

Burn out is not productive

I also recommend blocking off holiday time in your calendar between terms. You need to recharge your batteries. You cannot be a good teacher/researcher/colleague if you are burnt out. Furthermore, if you are tired and burnt out it takes you longer to do the tasks you have. Rest and relaxation is not a waste of time.

Pressure and panic is also not conducive to doing your best work. Deadlines generate a certain type of activity and ensure that we get things finished (or finished enough to submit). However, deadlines that are too close for the amount of work required induce panic, which prevents you from thinking clearly and leads to lower quality work as well as anxiety, disrupted sleep, and the associated health issues.

You don’t have to work like this.

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SSHRC IDG deadline is closer than it appears

February seems ages away. Maybe you are looking at the SSHRC Insight Development Grant and thinking “Hmmm, maybe I should apply.”

If that’s the stage you’re at. It’s already too late.

If you have been working on it and have pieces lying around, you need to stop procrastinating and make good use of the time you’ve got.

What the next 8 weeks really look like

The deadline is really late January, because that’s when your Research Office is going to need it. That’s 2 months away.

You MUST take some downtime in late December. If you think you are tired now, imagine what you’ll feel like in March if you don’t.

You will have social obligations over the holiday season. Those are stressful enough without resenting the time you have to spend there even more.

In early-mid December a large stack of exams or essays are going to appear on your desk that are going to need grading. In the week before that stack appears, a string of anxious students are going to knock on your door.

You need to get your syllabi and first few classes planned for January.

Be realistic

If you’ve already started working on the IDG proposal, then block off time to keep going. I suggest 30-60 minutes every day. Put it in your calendar and treat it like a scheduled class. Don’t miss it.

If you haven’t even started, your sanity, health, and the quality of your application demand that you wait until next year. Book an appointment to talk to me in the next week or so. We can make a plan. A sane plan.

You’ll have something to tell your head of department/dean/research office. You’ll know what you need to work on and be able to block off time to do that work. You’ll either know what to apply for internal money for or know how to figure that out.

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Actively managing your career

The problems identified around leadership/management seem to be twofold:

  • there are good people who are not moving into those roles/positions
  • there are people in those roles/positions who are not doing the kind of job we’d like them to be

The piece from the HBR blog and the parody of it highlight one contributor to this situation: some people actively manage their careers to increase their chances of being promoted into leadership/management positions and others are passive.

From an organizational point of view, I agree (with the parody) that it might be worthwhile to have systems in place that identify strong candidates even amongst the pool of passive hard workers. I also support the efforts of some institutions to offer professional development workshops to develop the skills and knowledge needed to do well in those roles.

However, I’d also like to think aloud about how to encourage people to be more active in managing their own careers.

This is not sleazy

I recognize that the whole idea of actively managing your career may feel icky. Those negative images come into play here. Furthermore, the fear of appearing arrogant is very real.

Let’s get one thing straight. I am not advocating that you exaggerate your abilities, take credit for others’ work, or in any other way lie about what you have done or can do in order to get ahead.

I am not advocating “boot licking” (and equivalent terms that are even less polite) or any other form of dishonesty.

Step 1: stop downplaying your achievements

When someone comments on something you’ve done, don’t go into “Oh, it was nothing” mode. Really. Stop that. Now.

Your strongest skills don’t feel like skills to you. They feel natural. They are not, you just have lots of experience using them and have forgotten how you learned them. When someone comments on how good you are at something, say “Thank you”.

Make a mental note that this is a contribution you make. The fact that someone notices and remarks on it suggests that not everyone can (or does) make that contribution.

The same goes for your knowledge. No matter how you acquired it, if you have knowledge that others remark on, it is probably valuable knowledge.

Identify what’s important to you

Figuring out what kinds of difference you want to make in your institution or in the world will help you identify what steps you might take to get there.

You don’t want a management position or leadership role because you are power hungry. You want it because you can make a difference. You feel slighted when overlooked for a promotion because you think you could have done a good job and made a difference.

What gets you really excited? What kinds of decisions and policies make you really frustrated? When do you find yourself talking really fast, or getting a bit ranty?

This is the basis of decisions about opportunities that arise. It also helps you create opportunities or at least put yourself in positions where opportunities you are keen to pursue are more likely to arise.

Figure out who influences policy and practice in that area

Who makes decisions about this? What committees deal with these issues? What is the process?

If the thing you are passionate about extends beyond the university then how does the university currently engage in that area? Or how does it do similar things? Who makes decisions about building new relationships between the university and outside organizations?

These are the areas you want to get involved in. This is the stuff you want to say “yes” to.

Connect with other people who are active in this area

You want to learn more about how these processes work and how you can get involved. This can start with informal conversations, perhaps over coffee or lunch. Introduce yourself to people. Or ask people in your network if they can introduce you.

If there are calls for nominations to committees you are interested in, put yourself forward. If there are open meetings, attend. Speak up if you have something to contribute. (Take the thesis whisperer’s advice, and speak after others’ have spoken. It’s less scary and makes you look smarter.)

Talk to your head of department

S/he is already connected into a wider network within the universities, if not by inclination then by the role. S/he can’t recommend you for committees or roles if s/he doesn’t even know you are interested.

This conversation may also help you align the tasks you do within the department more closely with your interests and strengths. It’s easier to have people stop asking you to do things than to say no. If they know what you want to say yes to, they are going to ask you to do that stuff.

Be prepared to be asked about the contribution you think you can make. You might have to talk about the skills and knowledge you have and how that’s going to help you do a great job. You will not be bragging. You will be providing facts to support your decision to be more active in a particular area.

That should get you started

Career management is an ongoing process. You reflect and adjust as you develop more skills and knowledge. You meet people and see new opportunities that weren’t visible from where you are now.

And yes, I can help. If you have ideas but find all of this frightening or overwhelming, I can help you get clearer about what you want and what steps you can take. You can also practice talking confidently but not arrogantly about all the stuff you are good at :-)

More info about coaching (and to book)

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