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Dear friends,
Hope this message finds you thriving! I’m looking out the window at the rain and wondering when it will start to feel like spring. This month’s theme is inspired by two recent meetings with mid-career faculty, who are in the position of being asked to do many more things—mentor a junior person, give a talk, teach a class, take on a new project or role—than are humanly possible. Talking with them forced me to crystallize my framework for deciding whether to add something new to my plate. I’ll walk you through questions in the picture, with a recent example from my own career decision-making.
Mission: Your mission should be the guiding purpose behind all of your work. My mission is health equity, and it’s sufficiently broad that I can’t do everything that comes across my plate in keeping with it.
Priorities: Priorities connect your mission to your day-to-day tasks. Mine are (1) doing my funded work; (2) moving my mentees’ work forward; (3) working towards long term goals of sustainable funding and leadership; and (4) academic altruism, which include activities like reading/ advising on a friend’s K24 application, for example. While these are more specific than my mission, they still would justify a wide range of activities. We can’t stop there!
People: Life is too short to work with people you don’t like. Enough said.
Timing: It can be easy to say “yes” to future commitments, so put yourself in your future self’s shoes. If something sounds good, but you can’t imagine finding the time in the next 2 weeks, then reconsider. You might have to step away from something you’re currently doing in order to have time for this great new opportunity. That brings me to the final step, the gut check. If you go through this list and the thought of adding this “opportunity” gives you a sinking feeling, stop there! Listen to your instincts! If you are a “yes” person whose instincts inevitably land you with a very full plate (like me!), you might still end up overloaded. This is where a mentor or peer can really help. Share the opportunity and your decision process and get their feedback.
I was recently given the opportunity to step into a new role, director of our Primary Care Research Fellowship, as the current director Margot Kushel has gained new responsibilities, and I used this framework to jump at the chance! I’m eager to hear how this framework works for you, and what you might add or change when you are offered too many opportunities!
This month I have too many shout-outs to choose from, so instead I have a request. For those of you who are physicians, please check out the SHARE website. This unfunded collaborative is an online platform for anonymously collecting stories of sexual harassment of physicians by patients, and we need your help in distributing widely. Thank you in advance! As always, send me your good news- it makes me happy and I love to amplify your work through social media.
Warmly,
Urmimala