Breaking Away from Academic Autopilot

Goal-Setting Strategies for Intentional Career Growth

Sep 07, 2024

Goal setting isn’t just a buzzword.

It’s a vital practice that can significantly impact our success in teaching, research, service, and beyond. As we embark on a new semester, it’s crucial to reflect on where we’re heading in our academic careers.

Today, we’ll explore why defining clear objectives is essential, especially in the face of tenure pressure and the multifaceted demands of academia.

Let’s dive in!

The Perils of Following the Crowd

Something within us tends to die when we blindly follow the crowd.

In academia, as in life, this death is often metaphorical. Still, it is no less significant. It may manifest as the slow fading of your drive to chase ambitious dreams.

It might surface as the stifling of that unique spark you hold within, your signature mark. But, sooner or later, too many of us decide to simply “shut up and dribble.”

Isaiah Hankel’s TED Talk, “Start with the End in Mind,” offers valuable insights that we can apply to our academic pursuits to stand out.

Here are three key reasons why setting clear goals is crucial for your academic career.

1. Breaking Away from the Herd Mentality

In his TED Talk, Hankel shares a fascinating story from his time as a sheep herder. He observed that by getting just 5% of his sheep to move, the entire herd would follow. Unfortunately, many people behave similarly, chasing carrots (rewards and accolades) and avoiding sticks (failures or disappointments).

In academia, it’s easy to fall into the trap of following established publishing norms and trends, chasing short-term validation on social media by diluting our expertise, sharing publication offers on Twitter/X merely for approval, and avoiding student disappointment by steering clear of sensitive topics in class.

However, passively following the crowd is the wrong way to grow as a leader.

You need to define your unique goals for teaching, research, service, and personal branding to carve out your career niche and make a meaningful impact in your field.

Example: Instead of adopting teaching methods simply because they’re popular (like the traditional Socratic method in legal academia), set a goal to develop innovative approaches that address the specific needs of your students and subject matter while reflecting your unique personality.

This might mean experimenting with flipped classrooms, integrating cutting-edge research into your curriculum, or incorporating guest speakers or experiential elements into your syllabus. There isn’t one approach that works for everyone.

The point is to discover what will work best for you.

When I was starting out, I attended the classes of senior colleagues to gather ideas.

I recommend trying out one new approach per semester in each course you teach. As you start your teaching journey, it’s crucial to first focus on mastering the fundamentals of your subject matter before attempting to transform the learning experience or develop your own materials.

With time, you’ll discover your unique style and truly begin to shine.

2. Increasing Resilience and Energy

Hankel also recounts Curt Richter’s fascinating 1950s experiment with rats and the survival instinct. Rats that were briefly saved before being placed back in water swam for an average of 60 hours, compared to just 15 minutes for those not given any hope.

The key difference was hope—a vision of what being saved looks like for someone like you.

Clear goals provide a similar sense of purpose that can sustain you through the challenges of academic life, including the pressures of pursuing tenure. Maintaining a clear vision instills hope, especially when it seems like everyone around you is drowning in work.

Example: When facing a tough research setback, publication rejection(s), or a particularly challenging semester, having a well-defined short-term and long-term research agenda (more on that later) and teaching philosophy can help you maintain a positive perspective and persevere through the storm.

Your goals become your “vision of being saved,” giving you the energy you need to keep swimming. Even more, they provide a framework to measure progress and adjust when things don’t go according to plan.

Put simply, clear goals become an anchor to keep you connected to the best path for you.

3. Identifying Opportunities

Hankel cites a Virginia Tech study showing that people with clearly defined goals earn nine times more than those without goals.

While money shouldn’t be the ultimate prize in academia—many of us left lucrative opportunities in private practice due to our commitment to public service through education—this statistic highlights the power of having clear objectives.

With clear goals, you’re more likely to recognize unique opportunities that align with your objectives across all areas of academic life. You are also more likely to recognize when opportunities are distractions in disguise, enabling you to confidently say, “No, thanks. Maybe next time.”

Example: If one of your service goals is to pursue interdisciplinary collaboration, you might be more attuned to opportunities for cross-departmental projects or committees. You might notice a call for proposals for an interdisciplinary conference that you would have otherwise overlooked.

Starting with the end in mind helps you identify alternate pathways to reach new heights. Stay tunes for more on these topics in the future.

Applying Goal Setting to Academia

Let’s break down how to set effective goals in the three primary areas of academic responsibility:

1. Teaching

When it comes to teaching, I recommend defining your teaching philosophy and setting goals that align with it for each of your courses every semester.

For instance, my teaching philosophy as a law professor is to foster critical thinking, encourage active learning, and integrate real-world issues with theoretical knowledge. Additionally, I aim to deepen my students’ understanding of the law’s historical and social context while ensuring they grasp complex legal principles.

How do I plan to align this teaching philosophy with my current courses?

In Contracts, I intend to integrate case studies and historical contexts that connect contract law to broader social and economic issues, helping students appreciate the real-world impact of legal decisions. I also plan to incorporate more small group discussions to ensure that students are actively engaged in their learning process.

In my Reconstruction Era Seminar, I will challenge students to draw parallels between Reconstruction-era legal challenges and contemporary socio-economic and political issues, fostering a deeper understanding of ongoing struggles for justice and equality. Additionally, I plan to introduce interactive simulations, role-playing exercises, and debates to bring historical events to life.

2. Research

For your research, I recommend the following steps:

outline a detailed research agenda for the upcoming year and for the next 3-5 years;
establish publication targets that align with your tenure requirements; and
strategize your approach for grant applications and potential collaborative projects, if applicable.

Later this month, I will provide more specific guidelines on crafting your scholarly agenda. In the meantime, focus on setting clear, preliminary research goals.

For example, my objectives this year include finalizing and submitting two law review articles, completing a book proposal, and making significant progress on a new article draft.

3. Service

Finally, for your service obligations, I recommend the following:

identify committees or leadership roles that genuinely interest you, and, if already assigned, express your preferences for future opportunities;
set goals for community engagement or outreach programs that align with your personal vision and mission statement (more on this later); and
develop a strategy to balance service commitments with teaching and research responsibilities (we’ll discuss this in more detail soon).

For instance, my service goals this year include actively contributing to my assigned faculty committee and leading the organization of our law school’s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy.

Additionally, I intend to support student organizations during their events whenever possible, and judiciously decline new opportunities that conflict with my existing commitments.

Managing Tenure Pressure

I know this all sounds like extra work. We already have enough on our plates—how will doing more help?

I firmly believe that setting clear goals is particularly crucial when navigating the path to tenure. By setting specific, measurable objectives in each area of academic responsibility, you will:

Ensure you’re meeting or exceeding tenure requirements (while learning not to do more than necessary in certain domains of academia);

Demonstrate your value and contributions to your department and institution (without being exploited due to a lack of established priorities); and

Maintain focus and motivation during the challenging pre-tenure years (because you don’t know how far you’ve walked until you start counting your steps).

Getting Started

Hankel suggests we first identify the kind of person we want to become in the future, map out how to get there on paper (often by identifying role models), and start working backward. Focus on small steps and commit to positive daily habits.

Here’s what I recommend:

Take 30 minutes to sketch out your vision for this semester in each of the key areas discussed above: teaching, research, and service.

Identify short-term goals (this semester) and brainstorm how they tie into your long-term (3-5 years) career aspirations.

Write these goals down and place them where you can review them regularly.

By starting with the end in mind and setting clear goals across all areas of academic life, you’re not just responding to the demands of academia—you’re shaping your own pathway to success.

Remember, as the Virginia Tech study showed, those who write down and regularly review their goals are far more likely to achieve them. This practice is more critical than many realize.

It’s a matter of professional life and death.

If you don’t start with the end in mind, you might find yourself in an academic “sheep pen” with no one to blame but yourself.

Looking Ahead

We have an exciting semester planned for this newsletter:

In September, we’ll delve into Vision and Purpose, discussing goal setting, personal branding, self-identity, and scholarly agendas in more depth.

In October, we’ll focus on Leadership and Influence, exploring leadership, friendship, and service in academia.

November’s theme is Mastery and Focus, where we’ll tackle prioritization, time management, setting boundaries, and habit formation.

We’ll wrap up the calendar year in December with Environment and Support, examining networking, leveraging relationships, and creating supportive work environments.

Throughout the semester, I’ll be providing some exclusive content for paid subscribers, including downloadable resources, templates, and eventually, some interviews with successful academics.

Next week, we will delve into personal branding, with a specific focus on the often-debated topic of classroom attire. In our upcoming newsletter, I will examine the role of authenticity in your choice of dress and weigh the pros and cons of dressing up versus adopting a more relaxed look.

I’ll share my own reasons for opting for a more formal approach in the law school classroom while also presenting alternative options. This discussion will help you understand how your attire can influence your self-identity and personal branding.

It will also set the stage for our next topic: establishing a positive academic identity, where we’ll explore how to define and project the professional image you wish to convey.

Becoming full,

P.S. Know someone who could benefit from this journey? Share this newsletter today and let’s grow this supportive academic community together!

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