Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, This past week I finished a lovely book by Christy Wright for women starting their own businesses (link at the end of this post).   Towards the end of her book, Christy addresses a psychological issue related to increasing what I call joyful productivity and decreasing anxiety, namely:  " Stop Doing What Doesn't Matter".  Here is a powerful, direct quotation from her book:  " A lot of the stress and feelings of being overwhelmed in our lives come not from doing too many things, but from doing the wrong things. We say yes when we mean no, and we commit to things that we end up resenting and regretting later. We stare at our phones and miss what's going on right in front of us. We do things out of guilt or obligation, then get mad about it. We end up grumpy and disappointed about how we are spending our lives. There are a lot of things that take up our time that aren't important and don't actually matter to us...So if we ant to create...

Dear Real Academics, As faculty (at the time of this writing), I am on a 9 month-contract.  But, every summer for the past 7 years in my tenure-track position seems to be a non-stop list of things to do including attending dissertation defenses, reviewing manuscripts, reviewing conference proposals, going to research meetings, analyzing data, writing and submitting conference proposals, writing and submitting manuscripts and grants, setting up classes for the next semester, setting up meetings for the next semester,  answering student advising emails,  managing upcoming faculty searches, and more. So, you can imagine how annoyed I get when I hear people assume that I am so lucky to be an "educator" because I get summers off. I wish!  Around the end of July this year, I was near burn-out.  Around the first week of August , I was looking ahead to the gazillion of emails streaming into my in-box to get things set up for the start of the semester (not to mention the...

Dear Real Academics, In the last year, have you stopped to ask yourself this question: Am I finding meaning in my work?  If you have, you are not alone. Did you know that at present (Summer 2021), up to 41% of workers across the globe are considering quitting or changing professions?  Economists are calling this phenomenon the "Great Resignation" and the reasons for this trend are many. You can read more about this phenomenon and reasons by following these links (but before you do, I encourage you to finish reading this blog post): The Great Resignation - BBC Millions of Workers are Saying I Quit - NPR  If you are asking yourself this question, consider the following. The ideas crafted below are inspired from reading an article linked at the end of this blog post by Ken Coleman, a nationally syndicated radio host, #1 national bestselling author, and career coach. (1) What does a fulfilled life mean for you? Ken explains that a fulfilled life is "...about being the person...

Dear Real Academics, In my line of work quantity and quality are important.  As a professor, I am expected to publish a lot and publish with quality. I won't go into what "a lot" or "quality" means here. Regardless, there is an expectation for both categories. I suspect in most lines of work quantity and quality are important.  For example, the neighborhood I currently live in is under major development. Started in 2007, this community is expected to be a 15 year project with up to 15,000 new homes developed, though I suspect they'll go longer given the 2008 economic crash and the current pandemic.  At this moment, some of you know the housing market is insane in terms of demand. In the evenings, when my husband and I walk our dog, we see the quickness of house foundations and pipes being laid, house frames which seem to appear from one day to the next, and finishing touches (roofs, walls, etc.) that seem slapped on overnight. Despite this quickness, the hou...