Goals in a crisis: When just getting by already feels like too much
It’s fall, which means a new school year and the time when many of us in academia think about our “New Year’s resolutions” and other goals.
Except that this year is not normal. The very act of setting goals may feel overwhelming (or even ridiculous) if you are facing an existential career threat like losing your job, research funding, or student visa. At the same time, navigating these challenges could make goal setting more important than ever.
Whatever challenge you are currently facing is your unique experience and I won’t claim to be able to understand or fully relate. However, I can speak from my own experience of facing down a challenge that looked like it would be the end of my academic career (and being one of those people wondering about research funding now).
Ten years ago, I thought everything was going well – my research group was bringing in grants and publishing papers and I was receiving awards for innovation in the classroom…and then the day of my tenure vote came along, and it was not good.
I was devastated. My group and I had worked so hard to build a thriving research program and we had met all of the typical metrics for tenure. But because of one faculty vote, it looked like it could all disappear.
I’ll admit there were moments when I wanted to give up. However, the people around me – my group, mentors, family – encouraged me to keep going. Setting goals in the midst of a career crisis made a difference for me and maybe it can for you also.
At a time when many things were out of my control, I focused on what I could control.
Some of the goals I set were focused on career survival – we submitted more grant proposals in the two months following my bad tenure vote than I’ve ever submitted in a similar time period. The members of our group showed up with even greater focus and drive for moving their projects ahead.
I also set goals that brought me joy – I had started teaching an innovative lab curriculum, and instead of just falling back into a standard approach, I leaned into more creativity, which offered me a welcome distraction and a fun outlet (and was clearly better for the students).
None of this was easy. I still needed to cry or vent often. I still fought for what I had earned. But mindfully setting goals helped me to focus all of those emotions into the actions that could make a difference.
If you’re in the midst of a career crisis and setting goals feels too overwhelming to approach, don’t go it alone. Call on a trusted friend, mentor, or coach and ask them to help you think about what you can do right now to up your chances of weathering this storm and care for your own mental health in the process. If that feels like too much, consider engaging with a counselor, therapist, or other mental health professional who can help you get to a place where even having the conversation feels approachable, and then go from there.
What you’re facing is likely not fair and definitely not easy, but the goals you set can have a real impact on the outcome.