Dr. David Weill shares his story about quitting his job—at the prime of his career—as the Director of the Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford. Wanting more balance and a more contemplative life, he says, “I had a real sense that it was time to go.” He now writes in the mornings and does consulting work with transplant hospitals in the afternoons. His new novel about a transplant doctor, All That Really Matters, just came out. 

 

Dr. Yvette Martinez-Vu shares her childhood realization that anything can happen and discusses how this insight has shaped her career and life. She describes difficult times where she felt unwell in her work and in her body, explaining that in each situation--from burnout to a covid-inspired career pivot--she continually chose her own wellness and wholeness. Yvette emphasizes the importance of self-trust, leaning on her own values, the strength embedded in her support system, and the resources available to her through the privileges she has been afforded. Find Dr. Yvette Martinez-Vu on LinkedIn, Instagram @gradschoolfemtoring, and https://gradschoolfemtoring.com/.

Dr. Dan Lair, Associate Dean of Faculty and Student Affairs at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, talks about the benefits of perceiving our academic work as “just a job.” Specifically, Dan explains what work means to him, the pitfalls of tying your job to your identity, the impact overwork by his academic spouse (me!) has had on him, and surprising findings from his institution’s attempt to address faculty workload issues. He shares simple advice for dealing with overwhelm and breaking the culture of busyness. 

Dr. Anna Clemens describes the differences she felt in her PhD program between her lab work and her writing work, realizing that when she was writing, she felt happier and more accomplished. It was at this point, after completing her PhD and taking some time to reflect on where her career might go, that she realized writing would be a center piece. Over the next three years, Anna tried on many different pieces of scientific writing and eventually, after much learning and experimenting, she built her own business as a scientific writing coach. She attributes much of her success to her optimism, vision, and the clarity she has about her own needs. Find Dr. Anna Clemens on LinkedIn or at her website, https://www.annaclemens.com/. Also, check out her course, "The Researchers Writing Academy" for STEM researchers at https://www.researcherswritingacademy.com/. 

Dr. Angela Gist-Mackey explains that her career journey began in advertising, but eventually she realized that not only was academia a better fit for her, it paved a path for her to fulfill a larger purpose. While in her advertising career, she experienced bullying by supervisors and was struck by the sharp differences in the organizational cultures in which she worked. Angela was fascinated by these organizational dynamics and so began her PhD in organizational communication some years later. Now, as a tenured professor at the University of Kansas, Angela has much wisdom to share about the career wellness lessons she has learned over the years. At the core of it all though, her sense of legacy and purpose steers her career as both a professor and co-founder of her family business. Find Dr. Angela Gist-Mackey at https://angelagistmackey.weebly.com/ or https://www.mackeyconsultingllc.com/. 

Sarah Dobson tells her story about how her health challenges changed her career trajectory, how she maintained a foot in her research even after leaving the traditional academic path, and how she ultimately turned that work into her own business: helping researchers to write strong and persuasive grant proposals. Sarah also discusses how she has learned--and continues to learn--about self care. She explains that we live in a challenging moment in history, where we are all at great risk of burnout and in light of this, she offers advice about how to approach our work with wellness in mind, from listening to our bodies to working within our own unique zones of genius. Find Sarah Dobson on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcdobson or Twitter at @sarahcdobson.    

Michelle Wilson describes her own experiences with toxic workplaces and bullying as well as her research and coaching on the topic. She explains that people who find themselves in such environments should do four things: 1) find a support system, 2) document, document, document, 3) engage in self-care, and 4) create an exit plan as soon as possible, even if it's ultimately not used. Find Michelle Wilson on LinkedIn and/or email her at highimpactstrategiesllc@gmail.com.  

Dr. Jane Jones discusses her work as a book-writing coach to academics, how she came to create and build a business, and the identity work she did in order to feel strong and stable in her new work. Jane talks about why academia was not a good fit and how once she left, the heaviness of the burnout she had accumulated in academia dissipated quickly. Jane also explains why "alt-ac," as a term, is problematic and argues that her career pivot was simply a career change, not an "alternative" to academia. Find Dr. Jane Jones at http://www.upinconsulting.com/. 

Dr. Jennifer Scott tells her story about turning down her dream job for her "dream life." She also discusses how her love for teaching sustained her while she was on the difficult academic job market and describes how her post-ac job presented itself after someone who liked her tweets, offered her a job. Jennifer also imparts invaluable wisdom about creating and sustaining a career/life vision including feeling your way into a vision, living the vision in bite-sized portions even before it's come fully into fruition, and giving the vision structure. Find Dr. Jennifer Scott at https://www.jenniferejones.work.  

Angela Han talks about how she navigates two careers: lawyer and life-coach. She also talks about how breakthroughs often come after breakdowns, the discomfort of listening to and following your intuition, how she has found a way to rest on a foundation of self-trust, how personal growth is ongoing, and the importance of challenging your closely held beliefs. Angela's philosophies and practices are both practical and inspirational for anyone who feels stuck in their career/life. Find Angela Han on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsangelahan/.  

Dr. Nicole Papaioannou discusses her journey from academia, to full-time work in instructional design, and finally, to freelancing/consulting work in instructional design. She discusses the wellness gap in her life when she was an academic and how, in her first full-time post-ac job, she was able to finally not only meet her needs for meaningful and challenging work, but also satisfy her needs for financially secure and stable work. Nicole offers interesting tidbits about instructional design as a career and describes what she misses about academia. She also explains how today, her entrepreneurial work offers her freedom to strike a work-life balance--a type of freedom she believes she would not have had in academia. 

Dr. Kemi Doll explains that we need to clear our own compasses so that we know how to navigate our academic careers with meaning and purpose. She describes how she keeps her own compass clear with self-care, self-examination, taking time with herself, as well as planning and prioritizing her academic work according to her own true north. Kemi notes that many academics lose themselves to academic culture and institutional expectations, allowing external pressures to cloud their purposeful reasons for wanting to be academics in the first place. In this way, as they settle and allow the things that were once personally meaningful to them to be stripped away, Kemi explains that they experience burnout in slow motion. She also offers rich and focused advice about how academics can find and dust off their internal compasses. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Kemi Doll also coaches women of color faculty in academic medicine and is the creator of the weekly podcast, Your Unapologetic Career. Find her at https://kemidoll.com. 

Dr. Emily Crookston describes her reasons for becoming an academic and her realization, in a yoga class, that her life as an academic was one of suffering. In this episode, Emily describes the joys and challenges of pursuing an entrepreneurial path, including the freedom she has to create anything she wants and live wherever she wants as well as the uncertainty that characterizes such a path. She describes the important role self-examination plays in building and sustaining a business, how her work day is freeing and usually very focused on the present moment, and how she is working toward securing for herself more time and space to create more of what she wants in her life and career. Find Dr. Emily Crookston on LinkedIn or at https://www.thepocketphd.com. 

Burnout and betrayal expert, Lora Cheadle, discusses how self-betrayal often masquerades as burnout, how we can begin the process of healing from self-betrayal, and how to "dance" our way to authenticity.

Dr. Brandy L. Simula explains how pandemic burnout is still very much with us and that it's important for us to give ourselves space to be human as opposed to expecting ourselves to show up fully--with 100% effort and totally on top of it--in everything we do. She explains how to make choices about what we put full effort into and what we don't, how to acknowledge to ourselves and others that life is often messy and hard, and to connect to people that can support us as we navigate the challenges of being human in the midst of a pandemic. Brandy also discusses her own career pivot and the moment she realized academia did not offer her the life she wanted--that it was too much of a sacrifice to continue down that path. Find Dr. Brandy Simula at https://www.brandysimula.com. 

Dr. Suchitra Shenoy Packer left her tenure-track job in order to relocate for her husband's new job. She did not want to give up her academic job, but she was committed to her family and marriage. Although she describes her exit from academia as emotionally difficult, she was comforted by her research about the diversity of meanings people attribute to their work and as she grappled with her changing identity, she started a blog for multicultural families, became an artist, and began working toward elementary teaching. She is now grateful for all the opportunities for self-discovery she has had since leaving academia and explains that had she not left, she would never have known all that she was capable of. You may reach Dr. Suchitra Shenoy Packer at suchitraspacker@outlook.com. 

Dr. Özgün Ünver explains how academics may be at greater risk of burnout compared to the rest of the population. She also describes how burnout manifests differently for different people, types of support one might want to seek when in burnout, as well as her own experience with burnout. Özgün also discusses the necessity of turning into difficult emotions as well as practicing self-acceptance and self-compassion when healing from burnout. Registration for her 4-week free course on burnout closes August 1, 2021. Sign up at https://www.mindyourownrevisions.com. 

Dr. Carol Parker Walsh explains the importance of listening to the inner voice that is telling you to do something else in your career. If you do not listen, she explains, you will not only continue an unmotivated and uninspired existence in your current career, but you will likely experience a spiritual-emotional-intellectual death. Carol explains that we regret not what we have done, but what we haven't done in our lives. Her coaching work addresses these issues, helping high-achieving (mostly) women to develop deeper relationships with themselves so they not only hear their inner voices, but listen to them, and take action on their behalf. Find Dr. Carol Parker Walsh at https://www.carolparkerwalsh.com. 

 

Dr. James Hedges, Director of Professional and Continuing Education at Westminster College, is devoted to understanding, negotiating, and managing the relationship his institution has to the chaotic and shifting environment within which it now finds itself. James describes his work, compares it to the work he did as a faculty member, and offers lessons learned from his current role: chaos can create opportunities, negotiation and confidence is key, discussing workplace issues with colleagues is important and therapeutic, and opening to and accepting ambiguity and failure is necessary, among others.  

In this solo episode, I continue what I started in Episode 62: I walk you through how to answer the questions on the decision guide about whether or not to leave academia for tenure-track faculty (Find the decision guide at https://selfcompassionateprofessor.com). I discuss how to create enough space for yourself so that you can answer the second set of questions as fully as possible. And drawing on research in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindful Self-Compassion, and Organizational Behavior, I show you how to create space for your career vision by clearing space in your mind, identity, emotions, and present experience as well as explain how to make space for your values and inspired career actions. Creating such space will help you to answer the second set of questions in the guide and help you to begin building a vision infused with integrity. 

Randy Olson left his tenured professorship twenty-five years ago to attend film school in California. There, he learned how to use narrative to improve science communication and now, as he puts it, he runs "Randy Olson University," where he teaches scientists and others to communicate using the framework he has poured many years of work into, writing five books on the subject. The career transition he made was long and difficult, but as he explains, having fun and accepting "slow periods" when they emerge are key to resilience.  

Dr. Malik Boykin discusses the important role "self-authorization" has played in his career as both an academic and hip hop artist. That is, rather than allowing others to direct his path, he authorizes himself to do the things that are important to him: setting big career goals, prioritizing his mentorship and research, and being willing to change course if his academic career becomes nothing more than stress. In this conversation, Dr. Boykin explains how his music is heavily influenced by his academic work as well as how self-authorization helps him to find wellness and balance. Find him at https://www.malikstarx.com/.  

Interpersonal development coach, Thomas Gelmi, explains how cultivating a deep relationship to self is key to fostering safe working environments, connecting authentically to others, collaborating, as well as experiencing clarity, creativity, and peace. Whether you are trying to repair broken working relationships, feel healthier in your academic career, decide whether or not to leave academia, or make a career pivot, this episode offers helpful tools and inspiring advice.  

Dr. Liz Smith explains how women often discount their own potential to run for public office, the necessity for women to be surrounded by a supportive community when taking the leap into a political career, and the challenges of running a campaign. Liz also talks about being called to run for office and how, despite great risk and uncertainty, she summoned the courage to do so and won! Liz Smith now holds the Office of Gunnison County Commissioner in Colorado. This episode is full of hope. 

Dr. Cynthia Ganote describes hiding her artistic interests in graduate school, believing that if her academic community found out that she sang, acted, and danced, she would not be taken seriously. When she took her tenure-track job, she put all of her energy and effort into it, letting go of her artistic work completely. While on the outside, Cynthia’s academic career appeared incredibly successful, on the inside, her spirit was dying. Cynthia describes the messages her body was sending at that time and how she came to eventually listen. In this way, Cynthia stresses the importance of “internal belonging”—belonging to yourself, behaving authentically, and letting the messages coming from within guide you in the career discernment process. Find Dr. Cynthia Ganote at cynthia@drcynthiaganote.com. 

And join us in the SELF-COMPASSIONATE PROFESSORS Facebook group! 

Dr. Shikta Das tells her story about transitioning from academia to industry. She talks about the challenge and importance of breaking free of social and cultural expectations as well as the necessity of acknowledging and acting on her own values so that she can leave a legacy she is proud of. 

Dr. Amani Said teaches us that doing the inner work of observing and changing our thoughts is key not only to finding peace, joy, and gratitude in the present, but also necessary for paving a dream career. She describes her own career transition journey, explaining that it was not until she became content in her present situation that she could begin to visualize her big career dreams. We discuss what it looks like to dream big as well as the fears that inevitably come with the dreams. We talk also about academics' general resistance to personal development and how research provides evidence to many of the ideas coaches use to help their clients. 

Dr. Mike Farmer discusses his search for workplace stability over the course of his career in industry and then in academia, where he first served as tenure-track faculty at a public university. More recently, he finds himself at a small private university where, as he explains, the university environment is more collaborative compared to the often competitive nature often found at larger public institutions. 

In this solo episode, I show you how to answer the first set of questions on the decision guide for tenure-track faculty (Find the guide at https://selfcompassionateprofessor.com.). In this episode, we go deep! I ask you to get really honest with yourself about what you like and dislike about your current academic work and because this question may challenge your identity and the culture(s) of which you are a part, it may feel deeply uncomfortable. Rather than being stuck in indecision though, moving through the discomfort is necessary so that you may find yourself on the other side, feeling both clear and confident about the career decisions that emerge in the process. 

Dr. Gertrude "Gee" Nonterah discusses her decision to leave academia as well as her entrepreneurial spirit. She explains how she has leveraged her scientific background and online marketing expertise to not only create opportunities for herself in the freelance world, but also more recently, find her dream job as a science writer. Gee offers advice to other academics who also want to build a personal brand and create content. Find her on LinkedIn or at GeeNonterah.com. 

After two years unpaid leave from her position as a full tenured professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Dr. Cathy Mazak is about to finally exit the academy. Her once side hustle is now a thriving business where she earns much more money than she ever earned as a professor. In this episode, Cathy argues that academic work is actually more risky than entrepreneurship because at the university, your paycheck depends on the financial health of the university system. She also talks about the unique set of skills each of us has and that it doesn't matter what container we practice those skills in: university, nonprofit, government, own business, etc. Being a professor is not your identity, she explains. It's just the container in which you happen to offer your gifts to the world. Cathy also discusses the importance of self-trust in building a business and how for women, it's a challenge because we have been socialized to mistrust ourselves.  

Although Dr. Meggin McIntosh loved her career in academia, between university politics and an inner knowing that she was destined for something else, she eventually left and started a successful business. In this episode, Meggin describes the moment she knew it was time to leave her academic career, explains the importance of listening to intuition, and offers advice to others about listening to their own intuition. Her conviction to build a meaningful career is clear throughout the interview and toward the end of the conversation, when Meggin describes the gratitude she feels for the coaching career she has built, she says, "THIS is what my whole life prepared me for." Her words are powerful, her conviction strong, and her wisdom deep. 

Victoria Crystal takes us back to graduate school and helps us to remember what actually drove us there and how much of those original longings are still with us now. In this interview, she tells us that she loves science AND that the academic research process felt restricting to her. So after finding the courage to leave her PhD program, she found a way to be a scientist on her own terms. She now teaches science in various ways to various audiences: to students in the college classroom, to the general public who visit national parks, as well as to kids listening to her podcast, Ask a Scientist.

Dr. Stacey Wieland discusses losing her tenured position to covid last summer, how she has grieved and begun to heal, as well as how the experience has opened her to new insights about her strengths as well as new career possibilities. Stacey discusses the importance of being able to hold both grief and hope simultaneously, strike a work-life balance, hold loosely to the future, use discernment to make solid career decisions, and lean into community and relationships. This conversation is full of wisdom for those navigating the loss of their academic jobs/careers. 

In this solo episode, my conversation (on Episode 54) with Dr. Lauren Broyles and the spring break season collide. I talk about the problem of overworking during spring break. I discuss why a spring break is necessary, how rest is actually a power position, and steps you can take to ensure you actually get a break this spring. After this episode, I hope you take a nap! 

No matter the career decisions in front of you--big or small--making choices from a place of wellness is key to paving a self-compassionate career path. We invite wellness when we invite slowness, connection to self, and connection to inner wisdom. Find your own self-compassionate career path in the Sabbatical Program, which begins September 1, 2023. Register here: https://danielledelamare.com/?page_id=1047

Dr. Jillian Powers explains that we do not have to leave our academic identities behind when we leave our academic jobs. Jillian describes how she has been able to hold on to and adapt her academic identity even after transitioning from an academic career to a career in industry. She now integrates, into her business anthropology work, the things about academia she loves. Interestingly, she has even refused to create a résumé and still uses a CV. 

Dr. Lauren Broyles speaks honestly and openly about the problem of addiction among academic women. As a former addiction researcher and a woman in recovery from both alcohol use disorder as well as work addiction, Lauren speaks about the pervasive problem in academia where women often "outsource" their emotions in order to cope with heavy workloads. This mental health crisis in academia, as Lauren notes, is rarely talked about or researched. For academic women in this situation, Lauren has a created a Facebook group called, “The Bigger Table.” 

Mark Herschberg shows us how developing new skills—even a tiny bit—can affect one’s impact in a big way. Drawing on his book, The Career Tool Kit, Mark shows us why it is important to recognize our weaknesses, how to develop them, and how to turn them into skills. Similarly, he also shows us how to increase our organizational impact: a process that requires people to open to new ways of doing things and work through challenges collectively.   

Dr. Karen Laurence calls out issues associated with academic isolation—issues academics rarely discuss, but feelings academics know deeply. She describes how her sense of home where she felt connected to close family and friends grounded her during an often intense and competitive graduate school experience. And when she eventually left home and those close connections, she became increasingly attached to her academic identity, which resulted in greater stress, anxiety, and a painful sense of isolation. She speaks also about the difficult road back home. In the end, she urges others who may feel unhappy in their academic careers to contemplate life and career possibilities beyond academia. 

As my first repeat guest, Dr. Margie Serrato and I start by talking about how her experience in academia is only a small part of her story. This insight leads us to a bigger conversation about how we, as academics, actively arrest our own development because we are afraid of what others might think. Margie urges us to expand our beliefs about what is acceptable, dismiss our inner judgments so that we can curiously explore new personal and career possibilities, and get to know ourselves honestly and deeply.   

Dr. Brian Witkowski urges us to think more flexibly about career, explaining how once you understand what you deeply care about, you can then translate your passion into a business model that allows you to do exactly the kind of work you want to do and earn a good living doing it. Brian emphasizes the need for academics to think about their work in new and different ways and shows us that we do not have to think of our careers in rigid and one-dimensional ways. Find Brian Witkowski on LinkedIn at the Lucrative Artist. 

Dr. Caitlin Faas tells a fascinating story about how she finally found peace in her job as a tenured professor--a job that once felt stifling. That peace opened up new opportunities for Caitlin. And eventually, she was able to walk away from her academic job with grace and ease. In this episode, Caitlin demonstrates how she has been able to talk herself through difficult life and career challenges as well as how she's able to facilitate that process for her clients. More than anything else, Caitlin describes the power of presence as we navigate both the good and the bad times. 

Dr. Emily Benson will leave behind her academic career in May/June of this year and begin working full-time in her growing career coaching business. In this episode she explains how her coaching business began, how she finally knew it was time to resign from her faculty position, the challenges of working in academia when you are a creative person, how she plans to say goodbye to academia in a healthy way, and the challenges of mid-career transition. Emily and I also chat about how, as HSPs (Highly Sensitive Persons), we crave meaningful work. We also discuss the importance of listening to our bodies. 

Dr. Sara Branch tells an open and honest story about reaching burnout as a tenure-track faculty member, including the challenges she faced in navigating intense mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion as well as depression. Sara describes having lost herself at that time. But Sara's life changed dramatically in 2018 when she left academia and found herself again. The joy and freedom she now feels is tangible in her voice during this conversation. She urges listeners to think about their values and decide whether or not their personality is a good fit for academia. 

Dr. Alissa Ackerman describes the healing power of finding her own personal voice within her academic work—a change that facilitated deeper connections to her research, her students, and herself. Having built deeper connections, Alissa found herself better positioned  to offer healing to a wider public audience and ultimately, able to create much greater healing impact in the world than she was able to do with her standard academic voice. She imparts that wisdom to listeners, asking them to get really still about what they want to do, notice whether or not their goals are congruent with the space they find themselves in, and accept responsibility to make necessary changes. 

I explain how to know when boundary work is needed, how to use Christina Maslach's six sources of chronic stress (workload, values, reward, control, fairness, community) to find your boundary gaps, and I offer a meditation by Karla McLaren about how to feel an embodied sense of boundaries. Please remember to leave a review of the podcast!

After having earned tenure, left academia, and built a wildly successful company (the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity), Dr. Kerry Ann Rockquemore retired three years ago at the age of 45. In this episode, she shares her deep wisdom about how she grew into a life grounded in purpose and health: pausing every year to reassess her life and ensure that she's on track to fulfill her own definition of success, working to let go of her entrenched childhood fears around financial insecurity, and willingly embracing a life free of attachment to particular identities and roles. In this episode, you'll hear and feel the unwavering commitment she has to living up to her own potential and helping others to do the same. 

Dr. Natalia Bielczyk tells the story of feeling burned out in her PhD program. And in an effort to rest and regain a sense of interest and excitement in her work, she decided to take a year off. In that time, she allowed herself to explore and engage her non-academic interests. This time investment led her to the career in which she now finds herself--a career she very much loves. For those who are struggling to feel a sense of ease and clarity in their academic careers, Natalia advises to watch your mental patterns and expectations, learn how to read people, and know that life does not have to be difficult. In the end, Natalia urges academics to be brave and if academia isn't working for them, try other career options because, as she notes, we only have one life. Find Natalia's offerings for early-career PhDs transitioning to industry at her website: https://ontologyofvalue.com/

Whether faculty, postdoc, or grad student, Allison explains the value of seeking support from career services on your campus, describes the dartboard strategy for networking, and tells her own career transition story. We also talk about the importance of paying attention to your emotions and keeping yourself organized throughout the career transition process.