Thread by @fabiorojas

1/ How to be productive and not insane. Comments: on sustaining scholarly work over the long run.

2/ Background: Last year, a student at pro-seminar asked how I was to have such a healthy CV. Here is my answer.

3/ First, the size of the CV is partially an artifact of age. If you hang in there and keep at it, the CV just grows with all kinds of items.

4/ Second, I work religiously about 5 days a week. Except for vacations, illness, travel or emergencies, I go to work and I try to do *something* valuable. It might a little or a lot, but no day is wasted.

5/ Third, I minimize effort on low impact tasks and maximize effort on high impact tasks. Let me explain and give an example.

6/ You see, academia asks you for things that shape your career (publications and teaching) and things that don't have much impact (administrative tasks). So you need to spend a lot of effort on the first, not the later.

7/ Once you realize that, then you will need to shift the burden of time. For example, this week, I spent the entire day editing, line by line, an article for submission to a top journal. In contrast, I try to accomplish all teaching tasks in a day.

8/ Fourth, learn the mantra of "low marginal cost." If you want to be good at teaching, prep one class super well and then just recycle it. Prep a nice set of exams and then just re-use/slightly edit them for later classes.

9/ Fifth, learn the difference between excellence and "good enough." Students want a committed and prepared teacher. I can do that with moderate work. They don't want a master piece theater performance that requires tons of work- and they usually don't notice the extra work!

10/ Sixth, avoid toxic people. If there is a fellow grad student or prof who irks you, simply avoid them when possible. An old saying: When you are angry at others, they are in your mind and they don't pay rent!

11/ Seventh, resubmission and editing are friends. Unless you are an elite prof who shoots for "A" journals, you can have an amazing career by simply (a) writing a nice draft, (b) show friends and edit, and (c) ruthlessly submitting. After couple years, your CV will be nice.

12/ You'll notice that nothing I have written is magic. It's merely about staying on task, using scarce time on big tasks, reducing effort on low impact tasks, and just persistence.

13/ Finally, when possible, try to surround yourself with supportive friends, family, and colleagues. Having positive social relationships will definitely spill over into your work like and make the academic treadmill bearable.

14/ Bottom line: No advice works for everyone, but a lot of people might do well with strongly enforced time management, understanding academic priorities, ruthless submitting, and minimizing contact with toxic people. And you can do a lot in a normal work week.