Author: Lisa Hanasono, Ph.D.
The overwhelm is real! For many academics, it seems like there always will be more work to do than can possibly be done in a day, month, year, or career. From floods of emails and requests to jam-packed calendars and ever-expanding task lists, academics are managing a growing number of responsibilities, roles, and requests.
At the NCFDD and in our Faculty Success Program (FSP), we support academics who want to have more space, energy, and time for what truly matters in their lives. As an FSP coach, I often listen to faculty who want to align their time with their priorities in ways that support their writing, well-being, relationships, professional goals, and personal growth. However, many faculty indicate that it can be difficult to make room for their key priorities when they are constantly triaging their inboxes, tackling never-ending to do lists, and juggling multiple roles and responsibilities.
Developing and maintaining healthy boundaries can help academics create more space, time, and energy for what really matters in our lives.
Here are some ways to identify and develop boundaries:
1. Define Your Priorities
To begin, it can be helpful to identify your personal and professional priorities for this season of your life. For example, some academics might want to protect their time and energy for their writing and well-being. Others might want to prioritize the preparation of their promotion dossier and/or being more present with their loved ones. Understanding your priorities can help you identify what aspects of your life you want to protect and which boundaries might be most helpful.
2. Create Your Criteria
From invitations to join committees, review manuscripts, and write letters of recommendation to requests to collaborate on research projects, deliver invited presentations, attend meetings, and advise students, academics receive numerous asks from colleagues, students, and academic leaders. To manage these requests, it can help to create some criteria or decision-making guidelines. For example, one of my colleagues used to regularly teach a large undergraduate course, and she received many recommendation letter requests from her students. At first, she felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of requests— including from some students she didn’t know very well. Over time, she developed a clear set of criteria for responding to letter requests and a streamlined system for gathering key information to draft strong letters for her students. What are some common requests you receive? What decision-making guidelines or criteria would help you respond to those requests?
Another approach is to create clear professional “yes” zones (i.e., professional domains where you will channel your time and energy). What are your core areas of expertise and interests? What type of work energizes you? Given your areas of expertise and interests, how might you best engage in and contribute to your academic communities? Answering these questions can help you craft the contours of your professional “yes” zones. For example, one of my favorite zones is the area of faculty development. When asked to engage in new projects, collaborations, and research related to faculty development, I am more likely to say “yes!” However, when approached about work that falls well outside of my areas of expertise, I am more likely to decline.
3. Communicate Your Boundaries
Once you have your boundaries in place, it is important to communicate them with your colleagues and students. We can convey some boundaries formally, such as explicitly stating expectations and policies around email in our syllabi. Institutions and academic leaders also can help create and reinforce professional boundaries in formal documents like faculty handbooks and by shaping supportive organizational norms and expectations. For example, my School Director, Dr. Cheryl Bracken, includes a statement in her email signature that indicates she respects people’s boundaries—and that if a recipient receives an email from her beyond their designated work hours, they can protect their time and respond during their regular workday.
We also can communicate boundaries through informal methods. For example, I often get work done in my office on campus. I use my office door to communicate boundaries around my availability. When my office door is open, my students know they are welcome to stop by and chat. When my door is cracked, my students know they can stop by, but our impromptu meeting might be briefer than usual. When my door is shut, my students know that I am not available—as I might be attending a Zoom meeting, completing an in-depth writing session, or away from my campus office. How do you communicate your boundaries with your colleagues and students?
4. Create Friction around Your Boundaries
In addition to communicating our boundaries with colleagues and students, it can be beneficial to develop practices that help us maintain our own boundaries. For example, I often feel compelled to check my email as soon as I begin my writing sessions. As a preventative measure, I make sure my email program is closed whenever I start my writing sessions. I also add some friction to stop me from mindlessly checking my email while I am working on my research. For example, I usually charge my cell phone across the room (so I am not tempted to pick up my phone and check my email or social media accounts). I also adjusted my email access to require duo authentication. This means that whenever I want to check my email during a writing session, I will need to log into my email account and complete an extra layer of authentication (using my smartphone) to access it. Adding these extra steps creates a friction-filled boundary between my writing and email distractions.
5. Surround Yourself with Support
Finally, please know that you are not alone! It can be helpful to surround yourself with supportive people who affirm and respect your boundaries. When I was an early career faculty member, I also had wonderful mentors who helped me develop and negotiate boundaries with colleagues who had more institutional power. I also found the NCFDD and FSP to be incredibly supportive spaces for learning how to create and maintain healthy boundaries.
Want to learn more?
Please join us at our live webinar titled “How to Create and Maintain Healthy Boundaries” from 2:00 to 3:00pm Eastern Time on February 19. Drs. Rachel McLaren, Maurice Stevens, and Elizabeth Parks will share a great collection of approaches, tips, techniques, and ideas. All NCFDD members are welcome to attend!
To learn more about this webinar and/or register, please log into the NCFDD’s website and visit this event’s webpage.
In addition, here are some NCFDD resources that can help academics create and maintain healthy boundaries: