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Dear #AcademicTwitter, may I say a word about #burnout? As you may know, I went full phoenix & left academia. There were many factors, but 2 things stand out to me now. 1/5
First: there's a powerful pressure-- both from within and from others-- to keep piling work on, because others need you. You need to be on committee X because you're so great at whatever, you have to grade all weekend because your students need the feedback... (2/5)
But your burnout serves no one. My burnout *hurt* people. I was the campus expert on a writing requirement, and no one gets that expertise now. I left behind students who started a PhD program with me. My colleagues wanted to learn R, and I'm not going to teach them. (3/5)
Second, there's research on the fact that burnout is more a property of organizations than of individuals. Burning out isn't something you can fix with the latest time-management life hack that lets you meet unreasonable demands. (4/5) https://hbr.org/2019/12/burnout-is-about-your-workplace-not-your-people
So you have to protect yourself. Say no. Ask for help. But remember, most of all, that protecting yourself is not selfish-- because your burnout serves no one. (5/5)
