How to take small steps now to allow for a true end-of-year break
Today’s newsletter contains a photo of true dog joy. Reader discretion is advised.
Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.
Are you ready for an end of the year break?
Yes, that is a rhetorical question.
For the past few years, I have given workshops and talks about work-life balance in academia. My argument is that work-life balance is the foundation of academic success. In brief:
Academic work is creative work. Research, teaching, and academic leadership are all creative acts.
Creativity requires a foundation of energy. Rest is not a ‘reward’ for creativity. Rest is the foundation for creativity.
When we ignore work-life balance in academia, we undermine academia.
While I realize that my views are not aligned with productivity hustle culture, I strongly believe academia needs to prioritize work-life balance and wellbeing.
Thus, for both your own and your work’s sake, it is my hope that you will plan for and take some real downtime at the end of the semester, which is coming up soon.
In my experience, it is helpful to take a few steps early on to allow this to happen. Today’s small thing to try immediately covers those steps.
(Note: long-standing readers of Academia Made Easier with good memories will recognize these steps from my June “how to prepare to take a (real) break” newsletter.)
One Small Thing to Try Immediately: The Pre-Holiday Break Setup
My goal for you is that you enter the holiday break period feeling satisfied that you have put the last semester behind you and excited about the true break that you have planned for yourself. Here are four steps to help get there.
1. Adopt an “energy foundation mindset”. You want to be successful in your career, teaching in innovative ways, researching important topics, publishing impactful work, effectively solving problems, and/or leading teams effectively.
Your mental and physical well-being are key to achieving these goals. As I wrote back in June, “You are not a machine (and even machines need maintenance and recharging). Adopt the view that rest is the precursor to achieving your goals.”
Adopting this mindset can be challenging. There can be a sense that rest must be “earned”. While I disagree, if this is your perspective, keep in mind that after almost two years of pandemic life, you have almost certainly “earned” a break.
2. Decide what a ‘real break’ means for you and write this down. Identify your winter break days (for example, December 24-January 2). During that period, are you going to check email? Prep for next term? Work on projects? If so, on which days and for how long?
It may be that, due to the timing of the start of the next term, there are things you need to do during that period. If so, how can you ensure at least some true downtime? Could you commit to no work at all between December 24 and December 29, for example?
You must decide for yourself what is best based on your realities. Whatever your choice is, decide. (I am a big fan of deciding once, as I wrote about in my “how to reduce decision fatigue by eliminating decisions” newsletter). Write the decision down so you don’t keep returning to it. It might look like this:
Between December 23 and December 29, I am taking a true break from all work. I will not check email or Slack, I will not work on courses, and I will not work on my research projects. On December 30 and 31 I will address any issues that need to be addressed.
Tape this to the wall behind your computer, your mirror, your refrigerator, or some other high visibility spot.
3. Schedule a pre-break Tying Up Loose Ends Day and a post-break Return to Work Day. Allocate a full Tying Up Loose Ends Day (I will call this TULE Day, as this is my newsletter and I can make up acronyms if I want to). Use this time to address all the little things that might pop into your head over your break. Expense claims. Ethics renewal forms. Responding to emails that actually need a response.
When you email people on your TULE Day, let them know you will be taking a break from work for a bit and gently encourage them to not contact you before your work return. Some sample text:
I am taking a true break from work until Monday, January 3, so no need to reply to this email. I look forward to reconnecting next year. Until then, enjoy the season!
For your Return to Work Day (ReW Day? Some acronyms are tough!), plan a gentle transition back into work. Schedule no meetings and allow yourself time to reacquaint yourself with your projects.
4. Create an awesome out-of-office message. Staid out-of-office messages (OoOMs. I am on a roll!) are boring. You, my colleague, are not boring. You are awesome and deserve an OoOM that demonstrates this. Use the OoOM space to increase awareness of your latest journal article, celebrate your program’s recent graduates, direct keener new students to your course webpage, or grow your TikTok followers. (TikTok? Really? You must be much younger than me.) As long as it is professional, use that OoOM space to your advantage.
Here is my own, to inspire your thinking:
Hi - I am taking a true break from work and will be unavailable until Tuesday, January 4. In the meantime:
Faculty supervisors, PhD students and prospective PhD students: I co authored a book to help graduate students prepare for both academic and non-academic career success in the face of a tight and highly competitive academic job market. I encourage you to read it. (It is available at many university libraries.)
JSGS 808 students: I am excited to have you in my class next semester! Please visit the course Canvas page for all information about our class.
Media: please check out the Informed Opinions Experts list for other contacts to provide insights and commentary.
Academic colleagues: earlier this year, I started a twice-a-month Substack newsletter, Academia Made Easier, that provides simple ideas about productivity, teaching, and work-life balance for people in academia, be they faculty, staff, students, or in other roles. I invite you to see the past newsletters and let me know what you think.
I look forward to reconnecting in 2022. Until then, enjoy the season!
All the best,
Loleen
These four simple steps will set you up for a great - and real - break. Use that break time to play games, eat chocolate, complete puzzles, drink hot chocolate, watch movies, and enjoy some chocolate.
Your wellbeing matters. Plan for it now.
What are your true break plans? Please hit comment and let me know!
Chipping Away: What I Have Been Up To
A quick update on some of my own activities since my last newsletter, since I have your attention:
My work encompasses two universities in two cities, and in late November I spent a fair bit of time at my campus-away-from-home. It was lovely to see colleagues in (masked, fully vaccinated) person.
I was feeling a bit frustrated about how many of us in academia feel a need to hide our invisible illnesses. So, in the spirit of frustrated people everywhere, I unleashed my thoughts on Twitter.
Hank (my canine BFF who lives next door) and I visited a nearby dog park. It was truly joyful. We have a two-cat household and “cat parks” aren’t a thing (this is for the best), so this experience was an awesome discovery for me.
Until next time…
We are almost at the point where we can put 2021 behind us. We are in the home stretch, so please pace yourself. You’ve got this! 🎉🥳🥱
Stay well, my colleagues.
P.S. If you are still holiday shopping (hello, fellow procrastinator!) and need some ideas for inspiration, be sure to check out my past newsletter, “how to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away”. Because, and I hate to break it to you, December is here. Yowsa.
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Loleen Berdahl, Ph.D.: I am a twin mother, wife, runner, cat lover, and chocolate enthusiast. I spend far too much time on Twitter and binge-watching television, and my house could be a lot cleaner. During the work hours, I am the Executive Director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. I am the author of the University Affairs Skills Agenda column and my most recent books are Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD and Explorations: Conducting Empirical Research in Canadian Political Science.
Thanks for another timely newsletter, Loleen. My true break plans are to truly disengage and hit the reset button before the new year. I have scheduled 4 focused days to honestly appraise the status of my responsibilities prior to disengaging. I day for teaching & grad supervision, 1 day for research (some overlap with supervision), and 1 day for service & admin roles. The fourth day is for pulling it together into a manageable plan, and to make some hard decisions about what I am bringing into the new year, what has to be delegated, and what has to go in order for me to have a more realistic set of expectations for myself and others, as well as to find balance again. This is my way of avoiding resolutions for the new year that have no basis in reality. Maybe during this 16th year in academia, I will finally get my feet firmly planted. I
Also I would like to give a shout out for your incredibly powerful thread on twitter about invisible illnesses. I think it warrants real attention. Our institutions establish equity in hiring, shout out commitments to diversity, yet those of us from within, may be reluctant to share our own status out of fear of non-acceptance and impact. There seems to be encouragement to share our other minority statuses, but not health status. I think that the why behind this is important, interesting, and inequitable.
I have come back to this post multiple times in recent weeks and am writing this comment at the end of my TULE day. I even shared it with a non-academic friend who is taking time off in January and needed help setting boundaries. Thank you for writing this and I hope you are enjoying a true break this year! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some movies to watch, chocolate to eat, and cats to cuddle.