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This is not normal: advice for stressed academics

With the overhaul of teaching, soaring workloads, childcare demands and other challenges presented by Covid-19, many academics are at risk of burn-out. Psychology professor and father-of-two Jay Van Bavel outlines steps that stressed lecturers can take to manage workloads

Jay Van Bavel's avatar
New York University
14 Dec 2020
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Key Details

This video will cover: 

00:35: The importance of acknowledging your own limitations 

01:21: Triaging your work commitments 

02:06: Easing your 鈥渘ormal鈥 demands and expectations of other staff and students  

Transcript

Hi, my name is Jay Van Bavel, I'm an associate鈥痯rofessor of psychology and neuroscience at New鈥痀ork University, and I write a column on academic鈥痬entoring and advice for early career scholars鈥痑t Science Careers.  

And one of the鈥痶opics I鈥檝e recently written on is鈥痟ow you can manage your stress during the鈥痗urrent pandemic.  

Obviously, this is an鈥痠ncredibly stressful time, and so we have a recent鈥痗olumn with some concrete advice that you can take鈥痶o make your work life a little more balanced and鈥痩ess stressful.  

The first thing that we recommend鈥痠s that you need to acknowledge that this is not鈥痭ormal. And that means that you鈥檙e not going to鈥痓e able to do the same amount of work that you鈥痭ormally do, at least most of us won鈥檛.  

And there鈥痑re a lot of barriers and stressors, and that is鈥痷nderstandable and human to be burdened with these鈥痶hings, and not be able to cope or keep up with鈥痶he normal level of productivity and scholarship鈥痑nd teaching and mentorship that you normally鈥痟old down.  

And so that first step is just鈥痑cknowledgement that we are not superhuman,鈥痺e are human, merely human.

The second鈥痶hing you need to do is start to develop some鈥痗oncrete strategies about how to deal with it.鈥 

And so we recommend a number of strategies.鈥 

One is think about how you can structure鈥痽our priorities better and so, for example, if you鈥痟ave something that is urgently due, you obviously need鈥痶o prioritise it.  

But a lot of things we have in鈥痑cademia are actually things that we would like鈥痶o accomplish. You know, broad or lofty goals or鈥痳equests that other people have asked of us.  

What we鈥痭eed to do now more than ever is triage, just like鈥痺e would if we were an ER nurse, to figure out what do鈥痺e urgently have to deal with, and what can be put鈥痮ff until after, you know, things are returned to鈥痭ormal, the vaccine is distributed, and we have the鈥痓andwidth and supports to get our normal work done.鈥 

So that鈥檚 the first thing.

If you鈥檙e a鈥痜aculty member and you鈥檙e listening to it,鈥痶hat means you have power. And so that power鈥痬eans you need to also communicate this鈥痶o people who work with you, your students and鈥痵taff and trainees, postdocs, PhD students.鈥 

You need to communicate to them that it鈥檚 not鈥痭ormal and also help them prioritise things鈥痑nd take a little bit of the pressure off them鈥痶hat they鈥檇 normally have that鈥檚 coming from you.鈥 

That might mean pushing back deadlines鈥痜or assignments that shouldn鈥檛 be urgent,鈥痳escaling your expectations for research projects,鈥痙issertations, proposals and teaching, and what鈥痽our students might be able to do.  

The other鈥痶hing you need to do is understand that some鈥痯eople are going to have it much more difficult.鈥 

In particular, parents, and especially mothers,鈥痑re overwhelmed. They鈥檙e experiencing a high鈥痙egree of stress and depression right now during鈥痶he pandemic, and we need to design strategies鈥痶hat allow them to cope and manage the workload.鈥 

And so if there are ways, for example,鈥痶o shuffle your teaching or service load鈥痵o that parents might have less meetings鈥痮r less workload now during the pandemic,鈥痑nd they might be able to pick it up, you know,鈥痭ext semester or in the summer or the following鈥痽ear.  

So if you can restructure things in the鈥痺ay that your lab works, or your department works,鈥痮r university works to help parents cope.鈥 

Many of them are home-schooling right now鈥痑nd it is absolutely overwhelming. I am a鈥痯arent of two kids and the home-schooling part鈥痟as been a complete struggle. And schools have鈥痮pened and then they have closed, and then鈥痙ay cares have opened and then they鈥檝e changed their hours. 

And schools are reopened but only,鈥痽ou know, for part time and so there鈥檚鈥痡ust an enormous amount of stress. 

This video was produced by Jay Van Bavel, associate professor of psychology and neural science at . 

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, .

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