In my experience, one of the more common things early-career people struggle with is getting things done. Earlier in my career, I had a really difficult time with this myself. For example, after my comprehensive exams in graduate school, I think I went something like a year-and-a-half without finishing any research projects (including a dissertation proposal). Then, when I was in my first job, I think I spent the better part of a year futzing around with a couple of paper drafts--again, not really finishing anything. If these were just struggles that I went through, well they would be just that: an idiosyncratic problem. But in my experience the struggles I faced are pretty common: I've known a number of grad students and early-career faculty members who faced similar issues, especially once they find themselves in full-time faculty jobs where competing demands (teaching, research, and service) really begin piling up.
Because so many people I've known have shared these kinds of struggles, I figured it might be helpful to create a new series where I and readers like share tips on how to get things done. In this, the first post of the series, I'm going to briefly share one thing that I've found helpful--and then ask readers to share any specific troubles they face in getting things done that we might discuss in future posts. Anyway, here goes!
In this series, I'm going to share quite a few things I've found helpful in getting things done. I won't presume that my tips will work for everyone. We are all different, after all! Still, for all that, my hope is that at least some of you will find the tips I share helpful--and I will encourage readers to share tips that they've found helpful, as well, in case different things have worked for them. Anyway, the first tip I want to share today might sound trite at first. Nevertheless, my experience is that it often really can address a serious problem that early-career people often run into. The tip is simply this: when you are doing something that doesn't work (i.e. you're not getting things done), don't keep doing the same thing 'better'--instead, try something different. Allow me to explain.
I assume most of you have heard the common saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." This saying is of course almost certainly false--but, for all that, my experience is that there is real wisdom to it, and that many of us run afoul of it far too often, especially when it comes to getting things done. Indeed, here is something I have observed many times--not only in my own case, but also in the case of otherwise very bright and capable people I've known: a tendency to keep doing what comes 'naturally', even when by all indications it isn't working very well. For example, I've known people who say things like this, "I really work best when I do X" (e.g. "I write best at night, and function best when I focus all of my energies on one project at a time)...even when X isn't working. Think for a moment about how bizarre that is. Sure, X may feel comfortable to you--and sure, you may think X is the way you work best. But now suppose that--by your very own admission--you have trouble getting things done: you miss deadlines, take months to years to draft papers, have other work pile up that you never get to, and so on. Whatever you might think, the evidence is that X actually isn't working very well for you.
As I alluded to here, I learned this lesson in the most serendipitous of ways. Prior to and during grad school, I had a particular set of habits. I had always been a "night person" who enjoyed working at night and thought I worked best then. I also would focus on one project a time (at the time, my dissertation prospectus). I would also draft new work very slowly, trying to get everything just right. And I would work in coffee shops, as I felt more comfortable writing in that environment than at home. And so on. And yet...I wasn't getting anything done. What happened then was a great stroke of luck--well, at least because I tried it. One day when I went to my department mailbox, I found a random publisher had sent me a book on "How to write a dissertation." I had never been into "self-help books" before, because I thought they were all full of you-know-what. But heck, I thought to myself, what I was doing at the time wasn't working, so why not give it a shot? The book told me to try all kinds of things I was pretty sure wouldn't work. It told me to wake up and write first thing in the morning, and to draft 3-5 pages first thing in the morning with no editing whatsoever. And it told me that after I drafted those 3-5 pages, I was to stop working on that project and instead spend the rest of my day working on other stuff. I was totally skeptical of all of this. I swore it wouldn't work. And yet it did...beyond my wildest imagination. It led me to completely change everything I do. Now I don't stay up late. I go to bed early and write the first thing in the morning, usually at home, and so on. And I get a ton done, just as the book said I would.
Will the strategies I learned from the book work for everyone? I have no idea. But what I learned from the episode--and from many other episodes since--is that it can be a very big mistake to just keep on doing what you do when all of the actual evidence is that it doesn't work well. Further, I've seen that it can not only be a big mistake--but moreover, that it actually appears to be a very common one. I've seen it first-, second-, and third-hand: people who are having trouble getting stuff done just sticking with what they've always done, trying (usually in vain) to do it 'better.' So that's my first tip: when you're having trouble getting things done, don't keep trying to do what you already do 'better'--try something new. In future posts, I'll share some of the 'new things' I tried that worked, at least for me. But I hope at least some of you find this initial post helpful!
Anyway, these are just a few initial thoughts. Before continuing the series further, I'd like to ask those of you who find you have trouble getting things done the kinds of obstacles you run into. What do you have trouble with, to the extent that you have trouble getting stuff done?
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