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Strategic Decisions: Elements of a Successful Career

Discover the key characteristics of successful early career faculty members and learn practical strategies to become a "quick starter" in your teaching and research. This guide offers advice on time management, work-life balance, managing distractions, and setting realistic goals.

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Strategic Decisions: Elements of a Successful Career

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  1. Strategic Decisions: Elements of a Successful Career Richard Yuretich University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  2. Taking Charge of Your Career • Take a few minutes to identify some of your goals for teaching and research as you begin your faculty career.

  3. Why are we successful? • Some thoughts from the workshop leaders

  4. What are the characteristics of thriving early career faculty? Results of research by Robert Boice, who studied 415 early career faculty from two different institutions

  5. “Quick Starters” - faculty who did well early in their career • Quick starters (21 out of 415) • Published more • Received better teaching evaluations • Were happier than their stressed-out peers • These early career faculty members • Avoided procrastination • Developed regular work habits • Balanced work activities rationally • Sought help from colleagues early

  6. How can you be a “Quick Starter?” • Wait, patiently & actively • Begin early, before being ready • Work with constancy and moderation • Stop, before returns diminish • Balance preliminaries with formal work • Moderate overreaction & over attachment • Let go of negative thoughts • Moderate emotions • Let others do some of the work • Limit wasted effort

  7. Boice’s Advice in Practical Terms • Mindfulness: be aware of what you are doing at a given moment and focus your attention and energy on it in a productive way. • Regular schedule: post a “normal operating schedule” and use it to guide your efforts, but don’t become a slave to what you have created. • Take advantage of short time periods: use 15 minute periods before class or lunch to write a few lines of a paper or jot down ideas for a project; you can really accomplish a lot this way. • Manage distractions: keep your door closed, let the voice mail pick up the phone, stay away from e-mail when you want to focus. • Take a break: get up for a stretch, a short walk, or a quick cup of coffee with a colleague or friend to refresh your thoughts and get back on track.

  8. Nothing in Excess (Nihil Nimis) • You can’t be perfect: don’t worry if you have forgotten a task, or your class isn’t completely organized; chances are nobody will notice. • Decline graciously: you don’t have to become “Dr. No” but don’t over schedule yourself. • “Bulimia” (hypomania, dysphoria) is not healthy: work, play, and live at a steady pace. • Talk to others: seek advice when stuck, solicit ideas and help, but don’t gripe about your lot in life. • Create a pleasant environment: put on soft music, surround yourself with greenery, change the lighting and furniture. Whistle while you work. • Set realistic goals: make sure that your eyes are not bigger than your stomach.

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