Every Summer Needs A Plan

It's hard to believe, but this is the last week of my semester and that means this is the last Monday Motivator of the 2009-2010 academic year. To finish out my series on Common Mistakes That New Faculty Make, I want to focus on Mistake #16: you have NO PLAN for your _______ (tenure track years, semester, summer, week, and/or day).

ANNUAL REVIEW PANIC

This week I've received lots of e-mail, phone calls, and texts that I all revolve around some form of "annual review panic." By that, I mean that most of you have to provide some annual accounting of your scholarly activities and many institutions only want to hear about concrete outcomes: papers published, grants received, awards won, etc... If this is your first year on the tenure-track and much of it has been spent investing time in activities that didn't result in any tangible outcomes, a thin annual report can feel like a frustrating and incomplete description of how much work you actually accomplished.

For new faculty members who have not developed a strategic plan for their tenure-track years, it's easy for a level of panic to set in at this time of year. This week, I heard lots of pre-tenure faculty asking:

• Should I have focused more time on revising articles for publication than generating grant proposals?
• Why did I spend all my time on teaching and service?
• Why is my annual report so short when I've been working 80 hours a week?!
• Will I survive my third year review?

These panicked questions are too often followed by guilt, shame, and various forms of scholarly self-flagellation. When we don't have a plan for research and publication, our activities can be haphazard, reactive to the pressures and opportunities of the moment, and fail to move us forward systematically towards our long-term goals.

Develop A Summer Plan

When you have a strategic plan for your research and writing, you won't experience annual review panic because you will have pro-actively and consciously chosen activities that lead to specific end-points. A plan allows you to define your goals, identify the activities that will help you achieve them, and provide you with the confidence that next year's outcomes will more than compensate for this year's foundation-building. Below I'm going to focus on how to create a plan for your summer, but these steps can just as easily be applied to your tenure-track years, your sabbatical, your academic year, or your semester.

Step #1: Start with your goals

To create a realistic and effective summer plan you need your calendar and a piece of paper. Start with the end in mind. In other words, start by writing down all of your personal and professional goals for the summer. This is the fun part!

Step #2: Outline the tasks that are required to achieve your goals

For each of your end-of-summer writing goals, determine all the tasks necessary to achieve the goal. For example, if one of your goals is to submit that R&R that's been sitting on your desk all year, then ask yourself: what specific tasks do I need to complete in order to revise and resubmit this manuscript? Your list could look something like the following:

• read the editor's and reviewer's comments,
• cry a little,
• create a list of necessary revisions,
• read for revision,
• re-analyze data,
• revise the writing and update tables,
• submit to professional editor,
• draft a cover letter explaining how you addressed the reviewers comments
• mail/upload the revised manuscript to the journal, and
• celebrate the submission

Each goal requires specific tasks be accomplished. If all you're doing is setting goals without identifying all the small steps that are necessary to achieve them, you are unlikely to finish the summer with much progress or productivity.

Step #3: Map your tasks onto time

Here's where it always gets ugly. Take a long hard look at your calendar and make sure you have blocked out all of your summer commitments (vacation, moving, conference travel, whatever...). What is left is the time you realistically have to complete all the tasks necessary to accomplish your goal. Use your best estimate as to how long each task will take and find specific days in your calendar when each task will get done. I estimate the tasks associated with the R&R example would take me four weeks. So I have to find FOUR WEEKS in my calendar to complete all the tasks in order to meet my goal.

I said that this is where things get ugly because inevitably, you will have more tasks than time. Don't worry, this happens to everyone. The point of realizing this in May (as opposed to August) is because now you can pro-actively make decisions about the tasks that don't fit. You can scale back your goals, re-negotiate deadlines, request additional support, delegate, or let them go. Whatever you decide, you will feel far more powerful making that decision in advance, then simply "hoping" you'll meet all of your goals and then ending another summer disappointed and frustrated over what didn't get done.

Step #4: Execute the plan on a daily basis

Once you have a plan for your summer activity, it's up to you to actually do it! We are all motivated by different things, so try to figure out what motivates YOU and build it into your plan.

Step #5: Create support and accountability
Summer is a time when you will need extra support and accountability because the structured activities of the semester (classes and meetings) cease. This is an ideal time to start a writing accountability group, create a write-on-site group, join the monthly writing challenges on my discussion forum, try one of the Academic Ladder's Writing Clubs, and/or sign up for one of SOTA's Writing Retreats. And, if you need intense support and accountability over the entire summer, I still have a few spots left in my Faculty Success Program. Whatever you do, don't try to go it alone! There are many wonderful communities of support that already exist and you have the power to create them in your own local environment.

As always, adapt these steps to fit your life circumstances and personal needs. And once you have a plan, feel free to share it with your mentors to get their suggestions, feedback, and support. This way, no matter how your annual review appears on paper, you (and your departmental mentors) will know that you are a scholar with a clear plan moving forward. And, if you want more guidance on how to create a summer plan and/or a community of support, email me! If I hear from 30 people this week, I will schedule a cheap tele-workshop in mid-May to walk you through the process of creating a summer plan (Every Summer Needs a Plan: How to Create the Support, Community and Structure You Need to Be Successful This Summer).

The Weekly Challenge
This week, I challenge you to do the following: Reflect on how you feel about your professional activities and productivity this academic year. Celebrate your accomplishments in some concrete way and gently forgive yourself for any shortcomings. Pro-actively construct a plan that provides all the rest, fun, support, and community you need to be productive this summer. Share that plan with your mentors! I want to thank all of you for reading and responding to the Monday Motivators this year. Your comments have helped me tremendously and I look forward to seeing all of you again in August 2010. Until then, I hope that you find the inner strength to finish your semester commitments, the clarity to plan a summer that meets all of your needs, and the deep joy that flows from expressing your intellectual creativity. Peace and Productivity, Kerry Ann