Tenure Doesn't Have to Cost You Your Sanity: How to Avoid Burnout as a Tenure-Track Professor

Aug 10

For folks pursuing an academic career, the tenure process can feel daunting and overwhelming. Although there’s typically 5-7 years to complete the requirements, the sheer amount of work can make that amount of time feel like a drop in the bucket.

Research is also typically unstructured and self-motivated, so for professors who thrive on structure and external reinforcement, the process can feel like a giant, ambiguous mess.

Faculty who are going through the tenure process typically reach out to me at one of two points:

They feel paralyzed and shut down by their work, leading to procrastination and feeling behind, which in turn just fuels more paralysis.
They’re doing the work, but they’re so burned out that other areas of their life are now suffering, and they have no idea how to cut back without anxiety rearing its ugly head.

And unfortunately, many professors believe that the tenure process HAS to be this way - that burnout, procrastination, and paralysis are just inevitable parts of running the academic marathon. This is often fueled by other colleagues who got tenure but sacrificed their own well-being along the way to get there.

The reality is that the tenure process doesn’t actually have to be miserable. In fact, success is MORE likely if you’re not miserable and if you’re taking care of yourself along the way.

Think about it like a marathon. If you try to sprint your way through the race as fast as possible without taking any breaks, you’re likely to burn out long before finishing. But if you pace yourself, hydrate, and fuel, you set yourself up for success.

So what does taking care of yourself in the tenure process actually look like?

How to Take Care of Yourself as a Tenure-Track Professor

Here are my top recommendations for professors trying to maintain a healthy relationship with the tenure process:

Use trial and error to find a routine that works for you.
One of the biggest mistakes I see professors run into is that they try to apply someone else’s routine, when it doesn’t work for their unique personality and life circumstances. For example, if you’re navigating life with kids, then finding a six hour block of time for research might not be realistic. In that case, try blocking off smaller amounts of time for research instead.
No matter what you decide on, start with a routine that you think might work for you, and then change it up if it doesn’t work. Keep doing this until you find something that works well for you, not for someone else.
And as a side note, just because a colleague of yours chooses to respond to emails at 5:00am or 12:00pm doesn’t mean that you need to. Find the times of day to work that feel good to you.
Create a structured but flexible routine.
I typically see faculty fall into two opposite ends of the spectrum on this. Either they have no structure or routine, or they adhere to a very rigid structure, both of which can be paralyzing in their own ways. Instead, create a routine for yourself that can bend when life happens. For example, there should be enough room to adjust your schedule so that if you get sick, it’s not going to massively derail your long-term plans.
Break tasks down into really small pieces.
When I ask professors how they have their tasks written down on their to-do lists, often they say things like “work on research” or “run analyses”. Tasks like these are so big and ambiguous that they can easily contribute to overwhelm and paralysis. Instead, keep breaking your tasks down into smaller and smaller pieces until whatever you have written down feels manageable to complete.
Here are a few examples.
ᐧ Read 10 pages (or less if 10 feels overwhelming) of this particular article.
ᐧ Write the next two pages of this particular research paper.
ᐧ Spend 30 minutes running these particular analyses.
ᐧ Draft email to this colleague to ask them my specific question.
Focus on what is actually required for getting tenure.
Individuals who pursue academia for a career path are often overachievers. They want to do everything and help everyone, so they often end up pouring their time into things that aren’t actually going to help them get tenure. So make sure to clearly identify what requirements you need to meet in order to get tenure for your specific program, and try to minimize tasks and work that aren’t aligned with these requirements.
This can be particularly challenging if the things you enjoy most aren’t the ones required for tenure. If that’s the case, then try to find a balance between the two. Spend enough time on the activities that you enjoy to fulfill you, but not so much time that it significantly detracts from the time that you need to be putting towards the required activities.
Try to stick to no more than a 40-hour work week.
A comprehensive study published in Environment International in 2021 by Pega and colleagues found that individuals who worked more than 55 hours per week had a significantly higher risk of heart disease and stroke than individuals who worked 35-40 hours per week. By focusing on the quality of your work time, rather than the quantity, you can still maintain momentum towards tenure while also making sure that you’re taking care of your health as well.
Find social support.
Often when I work with academics, they feel like they’re the only person experiencing what they’re experiencing, and yet typically what they’re going through is incredibly common. I find that it can be helpful for faculty when they’re able to connect with others going through the same process and realize that they’re not alone in their experiences.
It can also be helpful to find supportive mentors who have gone through the process and can provide feedback and support when you’re needing it. This might be a previous academic advisor, or a colleague who is a year or two ahead of you in the tenure process.
Maintain work-life balance.
You do NOT have to sacrifice all joy and happiness in your life in order to get tenure. In fact, if you have things that you enjoy outside of work, the time that you do spend on work is much more likely to be productive and efficient. And when I say activities that you enjoy, I mean truly restorative activities, like time with friends, being outdoors in nature, dancing, crafting, reading, etc. This does not mean absently scrolling on your phone for hours. Whether your time “off” of work is truly restorative or not will make a huge difference as to how your time working feels.

If You're Feeling Stuck During Tenure

At the end of the day, there are a lot of ways to make the tenure process a manageable one. That doesn’t mean that it won’t feel like hard work, or that there won’t be times that feel particularly challenging, but it also doesn’t have to detract from the rest of your life or tank your mental health.

And if you’ve tried all of these strategies and are still feeling stuck, that’s often a sign that there’s more going on underneath that needs to be addressed, such as negative self-talk, beliefs about productivity and worth, or old patterns that are playing out. If that’s the case and you need the help of a therapist, then please don’t hesitate to reach out - I’m happy to help.