Like a Horse to Water

I apologize for the missed post last week—I was on the East Coast visiting family. Several of you sent me the link to this article, written by Mary Ann Mason: http://slate.me/16CtN3J. She is one of the foremost researchers on women in science, and her perspective is interesting, as always. The very issue she talks about—the difficulty female faculty have in juggling career and family compared with male faculty—was one of my primary motivations for starting this blog. Next week I’m going to address the ubiquitous ‘Lean In’ (which Dr. Mason also references in her article) and how I think it applies to academia. But for now, a bit of more light-hearted fare!

This month I turned 35. I’m actually glad to be a year older and (hopefully) wiser. My journey in life and in academia has been all about making mistakes and learning from them, and testing out others’ advice to see what works. I decided to share with you some advice I’ve received over the years that I found to be right-on and now share with others. The general theme here is life in academia, and balancing work and family. Please share your own ‘best advice received’ in the comments!

On work/life balance:

Family first. Then work. Then everything else.

       --my Ph.D. advisor, Charlie Hall (I would simply add: family and health first).

To the institution, you’re ultimately dispensable. But to your family, you’re indispensable.

       --my colleague, Wei Zhang

On not being afraid to take (constructive) criticism:

Your friends criticize you before you publish; your enemies criticize you afterwards.

       --Charlie Hall again

If people criticize you, that means they took the time to read your stuff. That means they care.

       --my undergraduate advisor, Steve Hamburg

On feeling like an imposter:

You probably have the sense that you don’t belong here sometimes, that you’re not worthy of the job. Don’t worry—everybody else has that feeling too.

       --my former faculty mentor, Joe Arvai

On failure and perseverance:

You get 0% of the grants you don’t apply for.

       -(I think this is a version of Wayne Gretzky’s famous quote about missing 100% of the shots you don’t take)

On choosing commitments carefully as a junior faculty member:

If somebody asks you to do something, say ‘yes’ and do a good job. But don’t raise your hand to volunteer.

       --Gil Pontius

On whom to ask for help:

If it’s an intellectual or academic matter, ask your colleagues for advice. But if it’s a policy issue, ask the appropriate staff person.

       --member of a faculty panel I attended last year (don’t remember her name!)

Speaking of which:

Treat the staff well. They are the ones who really run the University.

       --Everyone

On doing interdisciplinary work:

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.

--African proverb (I’m well aware of how annoying it is to call something an ‘African proverb’ as if all 1 billion people and hundreds of ethnic groups on the continent use the same sayings. However, I love this phrase, and despite having googled the heck out of it, I can’t find which people(s) actually used it, so I’ll just have to acknowledge that somebody somewhere in Africa at some point came up with this brilliant adage).

On not taking yourself too seriously:

When someone asks me if I’m a doctor, I say, ‘yes, but not the kind that actually helps people.’

       --Steve Pacala

And, to round out our advice parade here, I’ll include two pieces of advice I’ve received many times, invariably from well-meaning people, that I do not suggest you follow. The first: ‘___ is impossible, so don’t even try to do it.’ What the people giving this advice usually mean is one of two things: either they tried it and failed, and they want to warn you away from their mistakes; or, that they don’t see any way to do it. In the former case, it’s often a good idea to ask them more about their experiences, because there may be a lot of useful information there. In the second case, you are not them—and maybe you do see a way to do it (or at least try)!

The second piece of advice I try not to follow: ‘That isn’t real ____’ (specific examples I’ve heard: ‘That isn’t real ecology.’ ‘That isn’t really participatory modeling.’ ‘That isn’t real model validation.’) This latter tends to come from folks that like to police the boundaries of disciplines or practices—again, usually with good intentions in an attempt to point me towards ‘the right’ way to do things. But where would we be if no one ever pushed the boundaries or questioned ‘the right way’ to do things?