Academic burnout
June 13, 2024 2:02 AM   Subscribe

Exhausted academic seeks help.

I posted here a little while ago for help getting over an unsuccessful job interview. That feels like distant history already, primarily because I am so overwhelmed that I only have the mental energy to get through what is in front of me each day (or at least, a small part of it) and there's nothing leftover to dwell on what's gone wrong. I got such helpful input from other academics to my previous question that I thought I'd see if others have insight on this one.

I'm a mid/senior academic (full prof and senior leadership role but still relatively young and not that well established - lots that I still want to achieve) and increasingly feel that I am drowning under an unsustainable admin burden of students and editorial boards and funding bodies and recruitment processes and all the small fires that have to be put out on a daily basis. I am hoping that I will get a calmer couple of months from July-Sep to finally make progress on my research, but I am so exhausted that it feels almost impossible to contemplate generating new work. All I want to do is lie down and rest until all the clamouring for my attention goes away.

I'm not even sure what my question is , but it's probably a combination of:

How do other academics manage their workload to make time for research in the face of a tidal wave of other demands and stresses? I've tried to winnow out as much as I can but most of the stuff that comes to me is formally my responsibility - I can't delegate it or pass it on. Besides, most of my colleagues are in the same position and many of them are paid less.

How do I differentiate between exhaustion that is an emergency klaxon to take a break before I breakdown, and exhaustion that is really avoidant procrastination?

How do academics get a break? Taking time off just creates more stress because it is all there waiting for me anyway. Some of it might go away, but other stuff is important and others are depending on it (PhD students who are getting ready to submit and will need time and attention for their work, national funding awards). At the moment I prioritise that category of demands, but as a result my own work is suffering. I could use the summer to take a full break, but then I lose the opportunity to make progress on my research and will just be under more stress in the long-term.

Despite all of this, there are many aspects of academic work that I still enjoy and am good at. I've considered leaving but I can't see any alternatives that would be any better (and post-divorce I can't afford to take any risky choices for lower pay). The solution for me - for now anyway - has to be to find a way to survive within the job that I have.

Not sure where the question is here - maybe just that academia is broken, how can I survive? But any practical advice is welcome. My very tired brain thanks you.
posted by surely sorley to Work & Money (21 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
First, I'm so sorry. I understand.

Our Center for Teaching Excellence organized a book club last year for this book after inviting the author to speak to us and getting an overwhelming response from exhausted faculty.

I recommend the book. It is a really helpful summary of the research on academic burnout. But you are burned out and probably don't feel like reading a book about it so TLDR: the research shows that the only things that help with burnout are time off and therapy. Taking time off this summer is the best thing you can do to care for yourself and allow yourself time to recover so you can return to the parts of the job you love and be effective. The research will be there when you get back, and you will be better at it when you're not so burned out.
posted by hydropsyche at 3:45 AM on June 13, 2024 [10 favorites]


All I want to do is lie down and rest until all the clamouring for my attention goes away.
please feel free to do that. if only for a few moments. it's okay, be human. sending empathy

in your earlier Ask, one of the realizations you highlight as being helpful for you is understanding the cognitive dissonance of academic meritocracy. might thinking about that help you again? the response (from Joeruckas, whose thoughts i also appreciate) had another element which felt powerful to me: acknowledge people as humans who you have spent time with

that we are in social environments relates to another Ask i found when searching 'fatigue' (there are a lot more, i just stopped searching so i wouldn't fatigue myself). a generalizable answer to the specific question there is: communication. it sounds like you are feeling many burdens. i am happy to offer empathy. wondering, have you shared some of your troubles with your peers in analog space? even/especially if you're all in the same boat, it can be nice knowing you're all in it together

How do I differentiate between exhaustion that is an emergency klaxon to take a break before I breakdown, and exhaustion that is really avoidant procrastination?
ianyd. this is from nih.gov:
"“systemic exertion intolerance disease” (SEID), is a syndrome that has been defined in various ways, without any uniform etiology, and with varying diagnostic criteria. According to most definitions, it involves fatigue for at least 6 months and at least four to six accompanying symptoms, such as increased tiredness after exertion, sleep disturbance, muscle and joint pain, head and neck pain, cognitive impairment, orthostatic disturbances, and marked restriction of everyday activities not attributable to any other specific disease. Moreover, the symptoms tend to worsen with stress."

how can I survive?
go with the flow [ScienceDirect: Csikszentmihalyi]
posted by HearHere at 3:45 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: There is an excellent New York magazine article on burnout written by Jennifer Senior in 2006, titled Can’t Get No Satisfaction. (If you wish to read the article and run into a paywall, try opening a private browser window, and googling "can't get no satisfaction burnout", and clicking the link from google search results). This article is not specific to the situation faced by academics. I am not an academic, I found reading it helpful for me.

> I could use the summer to take a full break, but then I lose the opportunity to make progress on my research and will just be under more stress in the long-term.

One thing to explore is if the stress you are under has an external source or if some of the stress is based on you placing demands upon yourself. As an academic I'd guess there may be a fair chance you are a high achiever in a field in competition with other high achievers, you may be fairly driven. Suppose you place the expectation upon yourself that your research should be able to progress at the same rate as if you had no admin/editorial/funding/recruitment duties competing for your time and attention. That's a benchmark that you would be continually falling short of, given the reality of your situation where you do have these other duties, so if you use this unrealistic benchmark internally to gauge if you are achieving enough, you may be continually falling short and stressing yourself out.

If much of the stress you are under is due to your own expectations, one way out of the bind is to change (lower) your expectations, until you can accept taking a long holiday. Then take a long holiday.

I believe one way extreme burnout can manifest is basically where your body makes the decision for you that what you have been doing is pointless, in the sense that the level of effort expended for a prolonged period of time has generated no meaningful reward, and that you need to stop doing this activity. Then your body may decide for you that you are unable to work and are no longer interested in working. That way you also end up with a long holiday, which is what your body and you both need, but perhaps in a less controlled / directed fashion.
posted by are-coral-made at 4:47 AM on June 13, 2024 [5 favorites]


Building on are-coral-made, I would urge you to take the time to rest, not make progress now, and perhaps read Burnout.

While I am not an academic, I was in a high-level individual contributor role that included a research portfolio I ran. I hit burn out due to a combination of factors and was unable to do anything with my brain for about 4 months and have been slowly, very slowly, ramping up over the last 3 years. I'm still not back to where I was prior to the burnout situation, and am not sure if I will ever be.

So, yeah, it is totally possible for that decision to be out of your hands, and your body to decide itself. I don't recommend that. Not fun. Take the time now. Follow some of the other guidance above. Rest, then re-engage.
posted by chiefthe at 5:47 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


I am hoping that I will get a calmer couple of months from July-Sep to finally make progress on my research [...] I could use the summer to take a full break, but then I lose the opportunity to make progress on my research

In the short term, can you take a month out of your summer to take a full break, and then another month to do only research and nothing administrative, and hopefully start next year a little more refreshed?

If you do that, the trick is to really savor each phase - resting, research - and commit to not worrying about whether you should be using that time to do something else. You shouldn't.


On a daily basis, how much rest do you get? Both in terms of time and actual ability to relax during that time.

Are you able to take a sabbatical in the next few years?
posted by trig at 6:15 AM on June 13, 2024 [7 favorites]


All I want to do is lie down and rest until all the clamouring for my attention goes away.

So do this. Taking a break will be beneficial for certain. Focusing intensively on your research may not mean progress, and it may make things worse.
posted by plonkee at 6:20 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


Seconding trig's question about a sabbatical.

At your level, do you need to take on new grad students? There were definitely senior faculty in my PhD department who did not or who took on very few.
posted by eirias at 7:14 AM on June 13, 2024 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Say no more. Just say no. My colleagues have been quite annoyed that I'm saying no a lot more than I used to, but it's ok to annoy them. Academia will kill you if you let it. If you don't rest it will just kill you faster. People with tenure like us don't even have to publish or to advise students. If this were your ideal job, what would it look like? What would you do? Just focus on doing the things that you actually want to do in this job and say no that everything else and see how you feel. But first take the entire summer off.

Many academics I know, myself included, have an out of office summer message that reminds everyone that we are off contract during the summer months. I don't know if also you have a 10-month contract, but if you do, take full advantage of that and use your email responder to indicate that you aren't accepting new review requests, new students, new talk invites, new anything at this time.
posted by twelve cent archie at 7:45 AM on June 13, 2024 [16 favorites]


I completely agree with the advice to rest before your body makes that decision for you, but I also completely understand how it won't be restful for you if you're stressed about what awaits you on the other side.

As somebody who lives on the edge of burnout for non-academic reasons, my life was absolute never-ending stress until I tried psychedelics. I hate to be That Guy who comes along and suggests psychedelics for everything (bro) but they are truly what worked to help me accept my situation and learn how to find pockets of rest in a stressful life.
posted by wheatlets at 8:04 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Three small things that you can do right now:

- Quit one of the editorial boards. Just one.

- Stop checking email all the time. How you approach this will depend on your situation, but you could do something like "no email till after 3pm" or "no email on Tues/Thurs because those are writing days (or whatever)", and certainly "no email on weekends". Also, every time one of those useless internal email newsletters shows up in your inbox, unsubscribe from it.

- Have you refereed more papers this year than you submitted to journals? Great, you're done for the year.
posted by heatherlogan at 8:19 AM on June 13, 2024 [6 favorites]


Best answer: I think this 17-minute YouTube video about how to prioritize tasks and manage information overwhelm is useful regardless of whether you fall into the target demographic (which is autistic people, of which I am one).
posted by heatherlogan at 8:28 AM on June 13, 2024 [4 favorites]


Best answer: There are some wonderful suggestions already available above. I might use some of them myself! I appreciate heatherlogan's point about limiting email, which is something I struggled with too. It can be so intrusive. As one of my cherished co-workers once said, "It's just a way of making us do more work." And even if it isn't literal "work" work, electronic interruptions lead to mental labor, which is even more exhausting sometimes, for me at least.

I've also experienced the level of burnout described here, and learned the hard way that boundaries are essential. Limiting email is just one. Avoiding gratuitous drama is another, though the level of drama varies from institution to institution. My discipline, especially at my institution, seems to be especially prone to infighting, and after experiencing sustained burnout, I had to draw a line. It made some people unhappy with me, but at the end of the day, I have to do what is best for me, especially when it comes to my health. I can't depend on the institution to do what is best for me. I learned that the hard way. As much as possible, I resist getting dragged into tension, especially if it doesn't involve me directly.

I also ritualized boundaries between work and life. We talk about work/life balance all the time, but the concept can be pretty ambiguous. Having certain markers, just for myself, helped make a distinction, and it can be something as simple as taking the office keys off my keyring and putting them in a drawer when I get home, go on vacation, or whatever. For me, it's a simple signifier that I am "out of office." At a certain point every day, I close my laptop. And I keep it closed.

Regarding research: I don't know what discipline or specialization you are coming from, but maybe there are other ways to increase your knowledge base, besides focused research. Maybe there are opportunities for volunteerism or other activities, something experiential related to your field of study that could be less demanding or more fulfilling.

For me, it also helps to reflect on why I got into this field in the first place. What "sparked joy" for me? I try to focus on that, getting back to what might inspire me to want more from a career that has lost its shine over the years.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 9:24 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Top line: If your plate is too full, the only real answer is to take stuff off your plate. You have got to do this. No one is going to do it for you. No one else can do it for you.

--
Administrative positions mostly have fixed terms, so there exists an endpoint, right? If nothing else, resolve to pass the torch at that point, and start succession planning, including passing off tasks under the guise of "training".

I've recently become a fan of the snooze function on email. If there's a task I need to do but not immediately, snooze. Then it's not in my inbox, and I don't have to keep it in any form of working memory or ongoing-task list. I know I will deal with it when I need to. I have a few other things as emails-to-self on snooze.

I agree with removing at least one of the editorial positions, and review boards. Someone else will gladly step up. You don't need the CV line now. You've put in your time. And those are at least several hours of work every time they hit your inbox.

Set aside a finite time each day for the "little fire" tasks, and inform people that you'll do the thing in that window.

Unplugging from the longer-term stuff is hard. But part of our job is to build self-sufficiency in trainees - do you focus on that? And some of our best ideas happen in off-line mode; trust the process!

I'm going to speculate that one multiplier for your feelings is the source of the past question. It doesn't sound like you're that happy or psyched with your current situation. I don't know what the answer is there, but acknowledging its impact on your approach to your work is a start ...

There are a few Slack groups for various stages of faculty, and the one I'm in visits this topic from time to time. I'll PM you an invite if you'd like.
posted by Dashy at 9:27 AM on June 13, 2024 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Following twelve cent archie, sort of -- sorry, but mine is going to be the big cynical response

You've clearly been going full-speed-ahead and from your admins' point of view are a model faculty member because your labor makes their career go brr. You do not need to be a model faculty member. It's okay if you're just an okay faculty member.

The question you should be asking is how well your effort has been rewarded. You're already a full, so this means that for the rest of your life it's just COLAs and merit raises unless you move. You've clearly been meriting big raises. Have you been getting them? Your university values what it rewards with real, substantial raises -- if they're telling you that they don't really value your work, believe them. And why bust yourself with work they don't value?

If you haven't been getting the big raises, then... stop doing so much. This will annoy your admins because it will raise the disturbing possibility that they might have to do their own work instead of benefiting from yours. That's good! Admin tears are delicious nectar!

Drop off of (most) editorial boards and disciplinary service commitments like awards committees.

Start being much more discriminating about taking on students, like only taking on ones whose projects seem like actual fun and not the ones who need sooooooomeboooooody to chair their seems-really-boring project that will probably just barely pass.

Not sure which direction you mean by funding bodies. If you mean serving on the selection committees, stop doing that unless they're gonna pay you. If you mean seeking funding, just don't do nearly as much of that. Scale back your research to a level that remains fun, and only seek funding when you need to in order to do that research.

Besides, most of my colleagues are in the same position and many of them are paid less

This is profoundly the wrong way to think. Of course your admins love love love it when they have 10 people doing 15 people's amount of work, because that frees up money that they can use to hire 2 of their friends as assistant executive vice provosts for excellence instead of hiring people to actually advance the missions of the university. That there are not enough people to do the work is emphatically not your problem, or your department's problem -- this is your university's way of saying that they do not actually value that work. If they did, they would staff it appropriately.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:32 AM on June 13, 2024 [15 favorites]


Best answer: How do I differentiate between exhaustion that is an emergency klaxon to take a break before I breakdown, and exhaustion that is really avoidant procrastination?

That's easy, because the second one doesn't exist. Avoidance and procrastination are symptoms, not traits or causes.

I totally agree with the other comments that you need to start seriously setting boundaries around your time and energy. We all have a certain well of energy, and if you insist on watering a golf course in a desert, that well is gonna drain really quickly. Be ruthless, drill down on the things about your job that are valuable to you and also which things are actually important. Academia does the thing where every task comes marked "high-priority" but that's nonsense. Decide in advance what your priorities are, 1-3 categories max, and if you still have no time, cut it down even further. Maybe grad students get 20 hrs, your research gets 20 hrs, and service/admin commitments get an extra 5 hrs per week because you're so nice, but that is it, you are booked, full-stop.

Will this mean that some stuff will fall through the cracks? Yes, probably. Is it your responsibility to make sure that every little aspect of the university/department runs smoothly? Absolutely not, and if there's more work than you and your colleagues can reasonably do, then the university needs to hire more people. (Haha, wishful thinking, I know. But I strongly believe that as a worker you should not bear the burden of subsidizing a mismanaged institution with your health. Or on preview, everything that GCU Sweet and Full of Grace said.)

As full, you actually can benefit your colleagues as well by setting a standard for healthy work and advocating for the same for your TAs, lecturers, adjuncts, etc. Everyone's mentioned email, because so often the expectation is that everyone is reachable by email any day any hour--and that is crazy, you are not an EMT, student extension requests and intra-departmental squabbles in no way constitute emergencies that require immediate response.

Practically, this is going to take time, but a good start is to take a serious and extended break this summer. At least a month, more if you can bear it. Commit to an absolute ban on any work that is not absolutely, 100%, "if I don't do this I will actually get fired" required. After two weeks, you will be tempted to "catch up" on your work or research. Resist! For this period you are only allowed to do things that are fun. This does mean that you can engage with your field, but only if it's play. Build a bottle rocket, go to the aquarium, people watch at a beach or outdoor cafe, take a little telescope out to the boonies at two am and watch the stars. Let that well refill.
posted by radiogreentea at 10:13 AM on June 13, 2024 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: So many great answers. Thank you. I took the day off, despite having a deadline. It was for something important but not crucial, it wasn't a task that helps me at all, and I decided that the world will keep turning if it gets done by Monday instead of today. Instead of drudging through that task I have done nice restorative things - dog walk in a forest, some gardening, watched some TV. Surprise, surprise, I felt absolutely fine doing that. Which seems like good news - I'm not yet at full burnout, just had enough of my workload.

There are some very useful tips here for changing things. I'm definitely going to stop taking on new doctoral students for a couple of years, step down from as many boards / funding panels etc as I can, and not take on anything at all for this summer. Those who asked about a sabbatical - I'm due one, but was persuaded into the admin role I currently hold instead. When I step down (1-2 years) I will be entitled to a full year sabbatical but it's by no means guaranteed. As in my former question, my institution is in financial struggles, and sabbaticals are becoming rarer. And for the same reason, I am definitely not being recognised financially / in pay rises!

GCU sweet and full of grace, this made me laugh: "Of course your admins love love love it when they have 10 people doing 15 people's amount of work, because that frees up money that they can use to hire 2 of their friends as assistant executive vice provosts for excellence instead of hiring people to actually advance the missions of the university". So true.

Abraxasaxarba: Great points about boundary setting, this is key. Thank you.

Twelve cent archie: if this were your ideal job, what would it look like? A crucial question for me to sit with this summer - and reminds me of Krista Tippett's idea of 'living your questions' https://onbeing.org/programs/living-the-questions/

Thank you everyone. I will try to put some of this in action.
posted by surely sorley at 10:31 AM on June 13, 2024 [9 favorites]


Response by poster: oh - also thanks wheatlets for the suggestion of psychedelics. Funnily enough hallucinogens helped me a lot a long time ago but I suspect in my current state of stress and neurosis that route has the potential to make things much worse. Also I am very far removed from that supply chain these days! I will keep it in mind...
posted by surely sorley at 10:40 AM on June 13, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Are you me? Am I you!? All the advice you’ve gotten above is excellent, and I’m going to take a lot of it myself. Thank you for asking this and to those who have already responded!

In the meantime, here’s a list of what’s helped relieve some of my burnout:

1: I get up at 7 on the weekdays and spend the first hour of my morning on self care; I take a leisurely shower, make a good cup of coffee, and I write in my diary. I spend the next two hours working on my research—and if that means just reading an article, staring at a stale Word document, or futzing with footnotes, that’s ok. The point, for me, is to try and stay in regular contact with my ideas and to remember that I like this part of my job! This is much more about me and my interests than my institution’s requirements, and I have learned to be an unapologetic prima donna about this time. I block it off as “unavailable” in my Outlook calendar. My partner knows not to interrupt me. My chair knows not to schedule me to teach before 10am, but if need be, I just pick a different two hours every weekday. I do not sacrifice this time except in the rarest of circumstances—so maybe once or twice during a given semester.

2: I also dedicate two hours every weekday to dealing with my email, and that’s it. I try not to look at it outside of those hours or on the weekend. And I have a short note on my email signature that explains I get a lot of email and usually work through my inbox from 10-11 and 3-4 [this varies semester by semester based on my teaching schedule] on weekdays, that it may take me two weeks to respond to you, and if your message is urgent, feel free to let me know in the subject line or send a follow-up email. Whether this has been more effective for my own mindset or in clarifying others’ expectations, I couldn’t say—but I think I get less email now, and I know I feel less stressed about my inbox. As an admin, too, if I’ve sent two replies and the issue still isn’t resolved, I switch to a phone call.

3: I reserve one weekday afternoon every semester, depending on my teaching schedule, for things like dental or medical appointments, going to the bank, getting an oil change, etc. If I don’t need to attend to any basic life maintenance stuff on a given afternoon, then I just carry on with regular work, but it’s been helpful to have a dedicated block of time for scheduling those kinds of appointments.

4: I have learned to say no to admin tasks that seem relatively minor in terms of impact or should really be someone else’s job (usually, that someone makes more money than me or has fewer institutional obligations than I do, as in: they don’t teach or have to publish). “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the bandwidth to take that task on right now.” That’s it. I don’t explain further, and it’s incredible how something someone thought had to be done can wait, doesn’t need to be done at all, or doesn’t need to be done by me.

5: I have similarly trained myself to resist the sense of urgency that often attends requests from students, colleagues, admin, and staff; very few things need to be done now right now now now in academia. Relatedly, I am more willing than I used to be to say, “I don’t know what to do in this situation; what do you think should be the next steps?” Most academics are used to being self-starters and developing high levels of competency on the fly; saying you don’t know what to do and asking someone else to propose next steps helps restore a sense of shared responsibility, in my experience, and thereby lessens your load.

6: I’ve also learned how to say no to opportunities that the pre-tenure version of me would never have dreamed of turning down. This has been really hard, but I try to remember that opportunities will probably keep coming my way and so it’s okay to say no to this one at this particular juncture. I also set limits on things like how many talks I will give a year, how many mss and tenure cases I will review, and how many committees or boards I will serve on both at my institution and in the profession/community. This helps me recognize when I’m “at capacity.”

7: I stop working at 5pm on weekdays (if I’m not teaching an evening seminar). I take a walk or go to the gym, and then I spend the rest of the evening with my people or on my non-academic hobbies and various domestic tasks. I go to bed around 10pm most nights (and read a book for fun until I fall asleep).

8: I often work on Saturdays from late morning until mid afternoon on whatever I want to work on, whether that’s my research or tasks from the previous week that I really want to close out as a favor to next week’s me. But I ALWAYS take Sundays off to do whatever I want to do, which is very often: absolutely nothing.

I hope some of these ideas will help you, too. I’ve been where you’re at, and it was truly awful. I ended up with crippling writer’s block, a chronic eye twitch, panic attacks, and a really nasty case of depression. I’m still not fully healed, so the above is also my attempt to continue to get healthier. The sooner you can halt and begin to heal your burnout, the better. Sending you good vibes!
posted by pinkacademic at 10:47 AM on June 13, 2024 [13 favorites]


Response by poster: thanks so much for that list pinkacademic. I'm sorry that you had to go through the burnout to get to these habits but there are lots of points here that I think could help me a lot. Making research and writing part of a sacrosanct morning routine is what I aspire to, and I've tried it in the past but always let it slide. Maybe if I start implementing it at this time of year, by the time teaching starts again it will be a firm habit. A fixed time for dealing with email would undoubtedly help me a lot too, and though again I've never stuck to it in the past, it might be time to take that seriously too. Thank you. I hope you continue to heal.
posted by surely sorley at 11:03 AM on June 13, 2024 [1 favorite]


I also want to point out that as a full prof who is relatively young and in an admin role, you have been hustling. But that admin work is in addition to the stuff you've traditionally done. Something has gotta give. I know we see examples of admins who are still highly engaged in research, but I am going to guess there are plenty who aren't!

Also, about the sabbatical: it's incredibly restorative. I also think it makes a lot of sense to push your research to your sabbatical. Also, you said you might step down in a year or two. Applying for sabbatical for fall 2025 is a great way to force the issue. And, if you're that close to burning out, you don't need to waste another year further exhausting yourself. Like, this is what sabbaticals are for. The admin jobs will be there when you get back, refreshed and renewed.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:09 AM on June 13, 2024 [1 favorite]


For the [slightly] longer term: Jot down a quick list of the PhD students whom you've supervised and who are still in academia; when you get invited to take on a service-to-the-profession task that would further a pre-tenure faculty member's career, recommend one of them in your place [especially if they are from an under-represented demographic]. Boosting your trainees' careers indirectly boosts your own (there's usually a place to brag about it in grant applications), and builds capacity in the profession as a whole.
posted by heatherlogan at 11:30 AM on June 13, 2024 [7 favorites]


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