-Chrétien de Troyes, "The Knight of the Cart"
I chanced upon that passage as I was reading for class last night and simultaneously (tell me I'm not the only person who does this) thinking about something completely different. In this case, I was reflecting on how I needed some guidance in picking out what aspects of my career to focus on in the coming year(s), which opportunities to pursue, etc.
My thoughts were stirred in this direction when I was tempted by a year-long teaching workshop that you can apply for here, which I've heard is very good, and which does interest me (and comes with a little stipend in the form of professional development money). But I'm also on a mess of committees, both service and graduate, and was planning to make a little extra cash teaching my first-year seminar again, and may be mired in book revisions next year for all I know, and ought to publish an article a year if I want to go up for full soon, and my fantasy life involves spending a year where my focus is really just beefing up a few languages, and and and....
And it dawned on me that I need to actually think about what I want my career to look like, which is something that I've never really done. I'm used to taking every opportunity that I can because a) I'm afraid to say no, and b) I--I just feel like I should, because doing more is better than doing less. Right?
So. This week's prompt, if you're inclined to comment, is about how/when/whether you've found yourself consciously crafting your own career, rather than being (as I have largely been) reactive. And, if you're like me, what might you do to start shaping your academic future, instead of leaving it up to the universe?
Last week:
Bardiac:
1. Organize the damned British Library notes.
2. Read the piece I realized I need to read. Take good notes!
3. Go pick up a botany book for the project.
4. Taxes.
5. Violin
6. Get some exercise!
7. The usual teaching gig!
Daisy:
1) More commenting on thesis chapters
2) Finish paper text
3) Send paper to all coauthors for comments
4) Do some planning for future lab work
Dame Eleanor Hull:
1. Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make a couple of other appointments.
2. Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; grade a set of papers; class prep.
3. Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; another round of MMP revisions.
4. Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; re-org kitchen cabinets.
Good Enough Woman:
1) Morning and evening pages 4x.
2) At least one SF short story.
3) Move like water on the Saturday theater-kids' field trip that starts at 4:30am and ends around midnight and involves a lot of driving.
4) Help son with his weird Greek god costume.
5) Walk 3x.
6) One 20-minute at-home yoga session.
7) Keep doctor's appointment.
heu mihi:
1. Write 30 minutes x 5
2. Meditate some amount
3. Revise chapters 6-8
4. Read/skim book for Silence
5. Read honors thesis section!!!
6. Read 1 grad exam document
7. Crafting: Either make some real progress on sweater for husband or buy supplies for another batch of beer.
humming42:
1 Work on pitch paragraph
2 Read reference materials for Jewels
3 Make a schedule for planned research projects
4 3x recherche
KJHaxton;
1. tackle the emails
2. do the small new semester marking task
3. prepare the teaching materials for next week
4. decide what to do for a writing retreat next week and prepare
5. work through the paper draft (assuming this isn't done as part of 4)
Topic: There have been two times I have been at crossroads in my career. The first time was after my quals. The department did not support students writing dissertations, so I went to library school. I was only going to work in libraries until I finished my dissertation, but my first committee chair went to a different institution and no one else wanted to take me on. As life progressed, I moved up the administrative ladder, had kids, and often could teach as an adjunct, so it seemed to make less sense to work on the dissertation only for the right to apply for Assistant Professor jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe second time was six years ago. I was working at a university in Florida, and public higher education there looked like it was headed into the dumpster. I was torn between continuing on the fringes of academia or leaving it entirely. I looked for writing jobs, but my husband found an opportunity at a university that by happenstance had a job that would be a promotion for me.
To be honest, I am still torn. While I am good at what I do, it is something I fell into, not something I actively chose. Yet I am also utterly aware that my original choices are not longer available, so I am endeavoring to make my peace, however uneasy, with the choices I have.
Two weeks’ ago goals:
Two hours x 4 on the sabbatical.Yes.
Walk 2.0 miles a day.Yes.
Three hours x 4 on the grant.No.
One hour x 7 on the novel.No.
Complete heels on first pair of socks.No.
Analysis:
I thought the conference would offer time to sit outside and enjoy writing in solitude, but the weather didn't cooperate, and I couldn't get away from my colleagues. It was a good time to relax, but not very productive. I left my knitting at home, so didn't even get the socks done. I caught up on sleep, read a few novels, listened to some more as I walked around, and generally relaxed.
As often happens, time seemed to have paused while I was gone, as several days of work were waiting for me on my return. I am now mostly caught up, and can return to the goals I didn't accomplish the past two weeks.
Next week's goals:
Two hours x 5 on the sabbatical.
Walk 2.0 miles a day.
Four hours x 5 on the grant.
One hour x 7 on the novel.
Complete heels on first pair of socks.
I hope everyone has a productive week. Excelsior, everyone!
I didn't talk about my research, because my Revelation came at the end of the the last session of TLQ, but if anyone is interested, it is the first comment here: https://topleftquad.blogspot.com/2017/12/week-15-finishing-line-of-sparkly-tinsel.html?m=0
DeleteYour post reminds me of John Lennon's lyrics, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." For a long time I thought that was a statement of regret but then realized it is just as readily a statement of gratitude.
DeleteAlso, so much affirmation on having to do twice as much work when you get away from the office/campus and it all keeps going on in your absence.
On a rather mundane note, can you tell me when/how you make sure to get your walking in? Sorry if you have mentioned that before.
DeleteLinda, I had the same misreading of John Lennon's words as you did, or perhaps more a feeling of resigned irony at best. Later on, I realized how much the path I ended up following brought to me. My husband, only slightly joking, tells our kids to be thankful I was deprived of my teaching stipend the day after I received a distinguished teaching award, because had I not met him in library school, they wouldn't exist.
DeleteI whine far too much about not being the professor of medieval studies that I had planned to be. Of the twenty students in my cohort, only three got all the way through. I'm the only ABD; everyone else left before quals. True, it was a brutally long program (average 9 years after B.A.), and in the nadir of the job market (9 open jobs in North America the year I took my quals), but even so, I am lucky to have continued teaching the odd course and doing research. Thanks for reminding me of that.
GEW, or should I address you as Lord of the Awesome? (I love that.) If weather allows, I walk my Standard Poodle for twenty to thirty minutes in the morning and again in the evening. My job ties me to a computer, so I set an alarm to get up at ten to the hour, every hour from 9am to 9pm, and walk around the library. It's a big building, so walking the perimeter of a couple of floors fills the ten to fifteen minutes. If I'm in a meeting where people know my eccentricity, I stand and move about a bit for that time. Then at 3:30, I walk for half an hour. I have blocked the time on my calendar, and only the Dean, Provost, or President gets to change it. That rarely happens :-)
I have a variable desk, so I stand and bop to music a lot or do Tai Chi on conference calls (turning off my webcam). People think I am very strange, but I don't care. My resting heart rate has fallen 10 points in the last two months, and I fall in the very good range for heart health.
It's a great topic. I started trying to think more strategically awhile back, maybe ten years ago? It helps. But life keeps happening though I make other plans, so I feel a bit more like Chretien's maiden than I'd like to. The MMP, for example, was supposed to launch me as a manuscript scholar, about five years ago. New projects keep popping into my head, and I try to do the ones I feel enthusiastic about. I almost never do (research) things that other people suggest to me. I've learned the hard way that I can't just dash off a conference paper to help out a friend. I have to pick where the energy is going to go, because there just isn't that much of it.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make a couple of other appointments. MOSTLY: did well on the physical, but I'm still putting off making the appointments.
2. Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; grade a set of papers; class prep. NO, YES, YES. I'd forgotten to write an assignment, so I did that instead of points.
3. Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; another round of MMP revisions. YES, YES, NO.
4. Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; re-org kitchen cabinets. NO, appointment made, NO.
This week:
1. Self: the usual stretching, exercise, safe eating; make the damned appointments.
2. Teaching: catch up on the online stuff and award points; class prep.
3. Research: languages; upload a translation chunk; focus on the last MMP revisions and permissions.
4. Life Stuff: collect tax docs and list deductions; oil change; routine vet appointment; re-org kitchen cabinets or paint back stairs.
I knew I wrote about this sometime:
Deletehttps://dameeleanorhull.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/conferences-priorities-and-octopods/
From the POV of a humanities scholar at an R1; YMWV if you're a scientist or at a teaching-intensive, low-research institution.
Thanks for the link to the post above. It's a struggle for me to stay home and enjoy writing for publication while most of my colleagues whine for money to go to international conferences. Forgive my tone: I'm the silent partner surrounded by squeaky wheels.
DeleteDEH, Your post speaks to why I haven't gone to conferences this year. If anything, I should work on writing (plus I don't really get travel money). During the PhD though, conferences helped me stay current. And I do miss the intellectual stimulation they gave me.
DeleteMy mileage is very much the same, DEH. The last conference I was invited to actually fit well because I could easily pull a thread from my research, but you are spot on that it meant nothing for my tenure dossier the next year.
DeleteI miss the stimulation, like GEW mentioned, but it is hard to justify going without presenting, and I have, if not an octopus, a squid to wrestle.
As I said, I've been fairly reactive in my career so far. At Field College--my last job--the "opportunities" were generally to do with service, and I did whatever I was asked, pretty much; this worked out well for me in the end, because my extensive service and admin experience helped me to get my current R1 job, weirdly enough. I also jumped on every opportunity to write or present something, since I had very few of those falling into my lap and my high teaching/service load meant that I wasn't very proactive on my own, once my book was out.
ReplyDeleteNow, though, I'm at a big school with a lot of possibilities, and it's interesting to think about which direction(s) I want to pursue, not only in research but in service and teaching. What should my niche be? What shape will my career narrative take? The seminar that I'm tempted to apply for is a year-long teaching workshop that I've heard good things about, and which might help me to shake up my teaching (which is feeling a bit stale). But if I do that, I shouldn't teach a first-year seminar. I shouldn't teach one anyway, really, if I want to focus on getting to full--but the modest stipend is an enticement! However, going up for full in a few years is really my goal, and I need to find opportunities and obligations that will push me towards it, not slow me down.
Anyway. Enough about me.
Last week:
1. Write 30 minutes x 5 - DONE (I missed a few days, but made up for them on others)
2. Meditate some amount - 2x
3. Revise chapters 6-8 of novel: DONE
4. Read/skim book for Silence: Glanced at it; don't need to read it; thank God
5. Read honors thesis section!!! DONE!!!
6. Read 1 grad exam document - NOT DONE. Soon.
7. Crafting: Either make some real progress on sweater for husband or buy supplies for another batch of beer. - A little knitting; not much.
I hosted a guest speaker (and new friend) for two days last week, and had not really thought about how much time that would absorb! I'm pretty happy with what I *did* get done--most of it due to my husband's playing with our son for pretty much the whole afternoon yesterday.
This week:
1. Read two grad documents (getting down to the wire)
2. 30 minutes of writing x 5
3. Get together a very rough bibliography for Time/Space project
4. Meditate some amount
5. Revise ch. 9-11 of novel
Huge hurrah for all you got done while also hosting a guest speaker! Just curious about your plans for the novel...if you don't mind me asking.
DeleteIndeed! That seems like great productivity. Nice work on the novel revisions.
DeleteAlso, even though you say you were reactive at Field College, you still got the book done, which seems like a very proactive endeavor.
I say yes to far too many things, too. Partly, I fall for flattery (you're such a good editor, you run such efficient meetings, blah, blah, blah), but I also want to go for full in a couple of years.
DeleteI spent some time at the conference figuring out what service I thought would be best for the next few years, as well as firming up the research plan. Now I just have to say no to everything else. :-) Maybe we can be just say no buddies!
I will join Linda and GEW in being intrigued by your novel. Your NaNo synopsis was enticing.
The novel is one that I wrote in about two months when I was on the job market for the first time (2006-07); my dissertation was nearly complete, and the nervous energy needed to go somewhere! I think that it's the strongest of the three I've drafted. Tried to get an agent a few years ago, but that went nowhere. So now I figure I'll clean it up and try submitting it to a small publishing house or two. I'm not in this for money or fame; I just want the closure of publication (which is when a project *really* feels finished to me!) No great loss if it doesn't work out, I figure.
DeleteA most excellent prompt that really strikes a chord with me...and I’m grateful for the responses/conversation. I have an ongoing, somewhat obsessive brainstream devoted to what I think my future should look like and whether I should change course and if so what that might entail. I am kind of on the market, as I’m not particularly happy at my university and would not mind moving. I interviewed for a chair position and was quickly reminded why that’s work I don’t really want to do.
ReplyDeleteWriting is also in a state of flux. I’m venturing away from my primary disciplinary concerns into a more transdisciplinary area. This is exciting, but I don’t know the literature and need to brush up on some of the theory, and I’m not sure if it’s really the best thing to do. Like heu mihi, I am considering going up for full and want to make sure my publication record is solid.
In sum, the next steps to shaping my academic career may be a little intimidating for me. Onward.
Last week:
1 Work on pitch paragraph: yes, and gearing up for the rest of the proposal
2 Read reference materials for Jewels: some, and started writing
3 Make a schedule for planned research projects: not quite
4 3x recherche: 2x, which is way better than it’s been
What a delight to be doing research and writing again.
This week:
1 Start work on presentation at the beginning of March
2 Write three more paragraphs for Jewels
3 Continue working on LRP abstract
4 3x recherche
Kudos on working on research and writing! Those seem like proactive pursuits regardless of what decisions you make.
Delete(And I'm with you on the unappealing nature of a chair position.)
Your ruminations strike a chord with me, but I think it's necessary to keep re-evaluating in order to stay interested and interesting. If you are interested in the trans-disciplinary subject, is there something small that wouldn't involve a lot of effort but would still point to your interest in it? I would find someone still thinking about that sort of thing more worthy of getting full, but that may not pertain in your discipline.
DeleteI'm a chair, but it's a "until I go out toes first" thing, not a rotating thing like the academic departments I am familiar with. I don't have to deal with as many egos, but the administrative paperwork of annual evaluations for my non-academic staff is wearing as well. It's part of what got me tenure, and may well help to get me to full, but I completely understand your distaste.
Interesting question! I'm definitely on the reactive side - mostly in the "must do all the things all the time and apply for everything" kind of a way. It has worked well, I'm very happy with funding and projects, but terrified that it will end so I'm still in the mindset of "must do everything". But, tenure has given me the chance to say no to a few things that really added nothing to my career, and I've chosen to prioritize research as much as I can at a tiny teaching-intensive institution. I've also chosen national organization service over some institutional committee work as a general goal, it feels like I can make a much better contribution that way... So I guess I'm taking baby steps towards choosing what my career should look like?
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals:
1) More commenting on thesis chapters DONE and ONGOING
2) Finish paper text HAHAHA, NOPE
3) Send paper to all coauthors for comments NOPE
4) Do some planning for future lab work YES
Not a great week for research work, and I was wondering where the time went... Then at the end of the week my time-tracker said 26 hours of teaching work,with all the other usual stuff. So it made sense, big week for marking and student meetings, and at least I know...
This week's goals:
It is reading week, I was supposed to be doing lab work but samples did not arrive on time, so I cancelled the trip. Now I have a few days of writing time, so I'm doing catch-up on a few critical things, and concentrating on the paper that's now officially haunting my dreams...Also doing some social stuff and took off to go skiing yesterday :)
1) Paper text
2) Extra sleep
3) More thesis chapter commenting
I hope the newly-arrived writing time is giving you an opportunity to do good work that interests you. And best wishes for extra sleep! I'm one of those people who can't function on less than 8 hours/night so I prioritize it--no choice for me there.
DeleteI hope you had a great time skiing!
DeleteExtra sleep. Yes. Good idea.
Last week
ReplyDelete1. tackle the emails - nope
2. do the small new semester marking task - yes
3. prepare the teaching materials for next week - yes
4. decide what to do for a writing retreat next week and prepare - yes
5. work through the paper draft (assuming this isn't done as part of 4) - I'm doing it as part of 4
This week:
1. tackle the emails
2. finish organising the assessment activities for next week
3. go to the writing retreat and work on paper draft and application thingy
4. try to survive in the current climate of industrial action
I may have thoughts on the prompt, but I'm out of brain cells this evening already!
"try to survive in the current climate of" (fill in the blank) is a tremendous challenge. I wish you well with that and all.
DeleteI hope you can get some rest. Good luck with those emails (and the current climate).
DeleteThis is GoodEnoughWoman (GEW), but when I noticed that I was logged in as my son, I figured I'd just leave it that way for kicks.
ReplyDeleteWell, as is obvious from my comment last week (thank you to my repliers!), this is a timely topic for me. As I have mentioned (ad nauseum), I have been thinking about what kind of writing I want to do, but I like the idea of considering the bigger picture of what I want the rest of my career to look like. I have been at my institution for 20 years, and I'm guessing I'll be there for 10-15 more (preferable about 13?). That doesn't seem like a lot. My decisions might also rest somewhat on what I'd like post-retirement to look like. (Wouldn't it be nice to have a little fiction career going?)
Just yesterday, I was talking to my chair about how I don't think I'd ever want to be chair. I could tell he was good and truly shocked, and he said, "But I was sure you were going to be my successor!" So these are the kinds of things I need to think about. I'm pretty sure I also will be asked to be Curriculum Chair at some point. I'm not sure I want to do either of these until my kids are a bit older (they've already gone through me being in charge of campus SLO assessments and doing my PhD. They deserve a bit of a break). And I'm not sure I want to do of these service things at all or ever. I'm sure I'll also be asked to step up for our next accreditation cycle. So I really need to think about what I want my service to look like over the next dozen years because I *will* be asked to do things. Do I want to be a good colleague and do a lot of service? Or do I want to rest on my laurels and focus on my own interests/studies? Or something in between? In all honesty, I've found that my favorite position is being a helper to the person in charge (rather than being the person in charge).
I also am excited about what teaching science fiction will add to my career and research, and I'll need to decide how far I want to go down that path. My teaching will stay pretty much the same (except for maybe more science fiction if the class turns out to be popular).
I realize that I have more questions than answers, but these questions have still be clarifying for me.
Last week's goals:
1) Morning and evening pages 4x. NOT DONE.
2) At least one SF short story. NOT DONE.
3) Move like water on the Saturday theater-kids' field trip that starts at 4:30am and ends around midnight and involves a lot of driving. I WAS PEACE LIKE A RIVER.
4) Help son with his weird Greek god costume. ALMOST DONE.
5) Walk 3x. NOT DONE.
6) One 20-minute at-home yoga session. NOT DONE.
7) Keep doctor's appointment. DONE.
Meh. I didn't do that well. I was pretty anxious about the theater trip (which turned out to be quite awesome), and then I was pretty wiped out afterwards.
This week: I'm not sure how much I can fit in because of some weekend events and a fair bit of grading (and it's already Wednesday), but we'll see.
1) Call to make appointments for mammogram and a couple of ultrasounds. Bleck.
2) Walk 2x. Yoga 1x.
3) Read one SF story.
4) Morning/evening pages 3x.
5) Spend an hour on fiction writing and an hour on article writing. C/C how I feel about each.
I think that seems like enough. If I can get through the last one, that would be great.
Follow-up thought: I really like doing conference papers and going to conferences, but I feel like I can't keep doing that without developing my publishing record. That I won't have any street cred. And I will continue to have not much to say when people say, "Where can I find your work?"
DeleteMy goal for the rest of this month is to be peace like a river.
DeleteYour post resonates so strongly with heu mihi's prompt. There are so many opportunities in academia, yet along with those opportunities so many ambitions as well as expectations. Being a person who is willing to step up service and does it well, you're mostly likely to be the first person who comes to mind when there's a project that needs to be done. I think a key part of that is finding a position where you can do that work (and be appropriately rewarded) without taking on the level of administrative work you would prefer not to have on your plate.
Sympathies re mammogram and ultrasounds. I finally made my calls and am going in today. I hate these things. I took a leaf from your book and told myself I was doing them for Sir John (who is very good about checkups etc and I'm grateful to him for that, so I should return the favor). Sometimes it really is easier to do things for someone else.
DeleteAs someone who is about two years overdue on a mammogram, this is inspiring. MUST make the call.
DeleteThis is a great question -- as everyone else's responses have suggested -- and one that I think of *a lot*. I'm a talented administrator, well organized and able to think about the big picture. I've been department chair, director of our humanities center, and chair of the faculty senate. And I enjoy the work. There are a couple of admin jobs that will be coming open at my place this year (one permanent, one interim), and I'm interested in them thought they are very different. THe difficult thing is realizing that just because you *could* do something you don't need to is really useful. At the moment, I think I know what job I'm leaning towards, but it has somewhat less power than the other jobs. And sometimes I want the power! So I'm torn.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, goals from two weeks ago:
Susan
1. Really finish Way Outside DONE
2. Finish dissertation chapter DONE
3. Write self-statement for review, do bureaucratic stuff connected to it. OBSOLETE (for policy reasons that are irrelevant)
4. Identify secondary and primary sources for keynote STARTED
5. Walk three times NO
Analysis: Over the last two weeks we had job candidates on a search I'm chairing, so that was a lot of work, and we're now working on getting multiple lines from that one search. That's been a huge time sink. And I had a little cold -- just enough to slow me down. I'm really done (I think) with Way Outside, including getting permission to quote letters. Walking has been erratic -- I love it when I do it, but getting out of bed is hard.
Goals for next week:
1. Make significant progress on Keynote, getting through the next section
2. Read next diss chapter from grad student
3. Do taxes
4. Walk twice (maybe fewer goals will be more successful?)
You made such an interesting piece to read, giving every subject enlightenment for us to gain knowledge. Thanks for sharing the such information with us to read this... choose your career
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