tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post8737045680586939097..comments2024-02-28T18:29:41.120-08:00Comments on Not of General Interest: Do you have a 5-year academic plan?undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-56120100726771439322014-06-12T20:23:59.409-07:002014-06-12T20:23:59.409-07:00I used to have such things as 5 year plans but am ...I used to have such things as 5 year plans but am only now getting back to them.<br /><br />You have to have a certain amount of power and status to have them. Otherwise a one-year plan is the only thing you can go for. Zhttp://profacero.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-66365628730417060722014-05-12T19:46:00.369-07:002014-05-12T19:46:00.369-07:00Flavia, your 5-year plan sounds a lot like mine: a...Flavia, your 5-year plan sounds a lot like mine: a general sense of where you'd like to be without the despair that could go along with having your heart set on something more exact. <br /><br />Notorious--Intentions rather than specific goals sounds like a good way to put it. Focusing on the weekly rather than the yearly would probably make the large things take care of themselves, as you say. <br /><br />Contingent Cassandra--Yes, even more true for NTT faculty. The "if you build it, they will come" and "if you work, they will hire you" mentality makes me uncomfortable for exactly those reasons, and maybe some of the "I quit academia" rage is due to believing that positive thinking in this regard has an effect on other people's actions. <br /><br />Sisyphus--List mania! I do think that they help. undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-9536858372035503302014-05-11T19:38:33.822-07:002014-05-11T19:38:33.822-07:00I wonder what sort of 5 year plan faculty should m...I wonder what sort of 5 year plan faculty should make at community colleges? I have no idea. <br /><br />But I love making lists! Maybe that's all you need.Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-3367843207399068532014-05-10T15:08:02.628-07:002014-05-10T15:08:02.628-07:00Everything you've said is even more true, I th...Everything you've said is even more true, I think, for the mid-career non-tenure-track academic (and no, that really isn't an oxymoron anymore; in addition to long-term part-time contingent/adjuncts, there are a number of us in full-time continuing positions, some even with multi-year contracts that may invite just this sort of interval-based thinking, with an extra edge of anxiety thrown in). Contingent positions involve a sort of enforced flexibility, including being able to envision answers to questions like: "what would I do if my job disappeared next year? in five years? in ten years? 15?" -- with the later periods beginning to coincide with the period when people may begin to think one is ready for retirement, but one won't be, from a financial perspective. <br /><br />Throw in "at what age does it no longer make sense to factor the possibility of getting a tenure-track position into the equation?" and it's additionally anxiety-inducing (or, rather, perhaps that's how I discover that I do, in fact, want to keep doing research, and therefore need that excuse for continuing to do research, even though at this point it may just be a hobby that distracts me from paths that might be more lucrative and, therefore, wiser).Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-85828131320581503282014-05-10T09:35:03.306-07:002014-05-10T09:35:03.306-07:00I'm a long-time fan of medium-term plans like ...I'm a long-time fan of medium-term plans like this, but I've lately had to moderate a bit, because I find I get too attached to the outcomes (many of which, as you point out, our outside our control), and this can lead to some serious unhappiness when they don't turn out. Lately, I've been more focused on the process than the goal: What do I want to be doing this semester/summer/year? The outcomes are still there in my mind, but -- if I may use some terminology from my yoga -- they're more "intentions" than "goals," as in, "This is the direction I'm heading." I find that if I focus on the daily/weekly process, the outcomes take care of themselves in one way or another.Notorious Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08700875559325201086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-3643668457935806172014-05-10T07:35:28.670-07:002014-05-10T07:35:28.670-07:00I have a very loose plan, in the sense of "in...I have a very <i>loose</i> plan, in the sense of "in five years, I'd like to have..." or "in five years, I'd like to be able to...", but I don't have a list of specific sub-goals written down.<br /><br />For me, part of the goal of a five-year plan is to keep my eyes on the prize and not to obsess about the next six months or year or why things don't look different <i>right now</i>. <br /><br />So generally my goals are something like, "in 3-5 years, I'd like to be able to run for chair without crippling my research agenda or working about making full," or, "in five years, I want to be in a position to be able to move to a fancier job, with tenure, if the right job opened up." <br /><br />That means I keep publishing steadily and applying for grants, looking out for opportunities, and thinking strategically about whether it makes sense to go up for full early or late, or taking on this service chore or that--but it <i>does not</i> mean freaking out about why X hasn't happened by Y date, or despairing that a particular article didn't get placed with the first (or second) journal I sent it to, or why I applied for four fellowships and didn't get any. The goal is meant to guide and shape local decisions and keeps me on track, but not something to beat myself up about.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.com