While commonly prescribed strategies of “work/life” balance can sometimes be helpful for PhD students in academia, I think we are unique in that research can often be a solitary, isolating endeavor, especially in the context of working on a dissertation. This is an immensely lonely activity that can haunt you when you are trying to “live” (by which I mean “not work”). As an academic, you know that there is almost ALWAYS time that you could be working. At nearly any time in your day, you know that you COULD be working on your dissertation, your assistantship, preparing for a lecture, reviewing papers, writing a conference proposal, etc. So even if you make time for “life” activities, you may not enjoy them to their fullest. There may remain that nagging feeling of “hey, I should be doing something productive” right about now. Instead of sitting down and watching a movie with your partner or friends, and feeling a sense of satisfaction afterward, you may suffer relentless guilt that you just wasted two hours of productive time.
Assuming the brain to be the primary human muscle in academic progress, I am a firm believer in the overused metaphor of it as an exercise muscle. In order for it to get stronger, it too has to rest from being “exercised”. Yet, there is clearly more to maintaining a work/life balance than “mind rest”. To continue this metaphor, for any athlete to improve her game, she probably engages in a number of exercises that target muscles beyond simply those that she uses for her primary sport. She also probably engages in behaviors that improve her game when she is not exercising, focused around her diet and other lifestyle choices. Certainly, there are stark differences between athletics and academics that make this an imperfect metaphor. Still, it is useful to note that the physical body cannot grow stronger if it does not have time to repair and heal itself after strain. An athlete simply cannot ALWAYS be exercising, and an academic simply cannot ALWAYS be engaged in academic-related activities. I believe we can benefit greatly from making time for non-academic activities so that we can refresh and repair our insights. More plainly, rest from working helps us to clear our minds and to see things with fresher, brighter eyes. However, just as the athlete is always mindful that her lifestyle choices need to be congruent with her exercise routine, so must the academic!
As exercise puts certain physical stresses on the body, there are certain affective stresses that individuals endure as a result of academia. This is not to say that academia has a monopoly on the affective stresses of work, but that academics, in general, are faced with a number of specific stresses that they cannot simply “leave behind” in the office. That nagging feeling of unproductivity when watching a movie may well be justified if all you are doing is watching movies or playing Facebook games all day. In such cases, guilt may be a good thing in the form of that invisible conscience on your shoulder reminding you of your responsibilities. But when you are living the lifestyle of an academic, it is important to fit in recreational activities, and it is simply not fair to let guilt be an additional stressor to weigh on your mind. Swinging too far in the direction of either “work” or “life” likely means that you are not doing a good job at maintaining the other.
In looking for advice on balancing out the two, I have found helpful information on a number of sites such as WebMD and the Mayo Clinic. However, much of this seems to be geared toward non-academic, more “traditional” business-oriented careers. For example, a number of articles suggested, “sharing the load” with co-workers, or delegating tasks to subordinates. While in some cases these nuggets of advice may be possible for academics to follow, a PhD student working on his dissertation probably cannot share the load, or delegate his literature review to an undergrad. Thus, in coming up with a list of useful tips for “work/life” balance, I tried to stick to those that I found most relevant to struggling graduate students! The following are drawn from a few different sources, to which I provide links following this post.
Tips on maintaining a “work/life” balance for Ph.D. students:
· Learn to Say “No”: This is one that a number of people have told me over the years, and it is found in a number of articles on “work/life” balance. From personal experience, I have seen how saying “yes” to too many things can create unnecessary pressures and expectations. This is not to say that we should do the bare minimum and not push ourselves. This is, however, meant to signify that we should recognize that we have reasonable limits of productivity and responsibility to ourselves, and should thus respect them.
· Prioritize: This may seem fairly obvious, but it is another tip that pops up again and again. Some recommend making an ordered list of your top priorities. This way you can recognize what is important, and begin to weed out that which is not. One particular piece of advice that I saw recommended, is that each priority should get your full attention when it is attended to. While this isn’t always realistic in practice, I think that is probably wise “in sprit”.
· Organize and Stick to a Schedule: I suppose this may be of particular relevance for academics. There are times in your career when you are not required to stick to any daily/weekly regular schedule. For example, as I work on my dissertation proposal, there are not hard and fast deadlines like there are during coursework. Therefore, it is far too easy to procrastinate and put stuff off until it gets too overwhelming to ignore any further. Integrating routine and organizing your own deadlines is an ideal way to keep from falling into a scholarly black hole. I concede that this is far easier said than done, but like they say when it comes to quitting drug or alcohol addiction, keep trying until you succeed.
· Have a Support System: This can be particularly hard to find especially within academia itself. Your fellow students likely have just as much on their plate as you do, and your family and friends outside of school may not understand the specific pressures and issues you face in academia. However, it is important not to let the isolation of academia overwhelm (I am speaking in particular of dissertation writing, and other solitary PhD student activities). Start a writing group with your colleagues, or propose a weekly happy hour. Make time to go see a movie with friends. It is important to maintain one of the basic fundamental human needs for sanity: being social.
· Have Fun: In fact, it is important to make time for it, and to leave guilt in the office or lab. Allow yourself to engage in activities you enjoy, mindful of, but not guilty about, your academic responsibilities. In other words, do it, and make sure you do it, but don’t overdo it. Just don’t underdo it either. I suppose that not overdoing or underdoing fun is a matter of its own balance, and will come with different guidelines for different individuals. But one thing is clear: you have made it this far, so you deserve to have SOME fun!
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