To paper or not to paper? - The dilemma of an early career academic

 It’s 2 pm on a Saturday. Kojo is in the kitchen whipping up my favourite cocktail – a super-milky pina colada. I can hear the violence as he shakes his flask mixing the ingredients from one of his made-up recipes. Recipes which he never seems to perfect. It’s a compulsory lazy weekend for me. I am in my comfy reclining sofa, curled up in my favourite duvet, surrounded by a mountain of throw pillows. The front windows are open, letting in a cool breeze and the sound of birds. The plan is simple: to drink Kojo’s almost perfect cocktail whilst binge-watching whatever Netflix series Twitter is buzzing about currently. My phone vibrates and a notification pops up on the screen. It is an email from an Elsevier journal editor. A request for major revisions on the Cryptolepine paper I submitted four months ago. I stare at my MacBook; it stares back. Somewhere deep within its MacOS, it wonders why it was sold to this West African slave driver. Kojo walks in with the cocktails and sets them down beside me. He doesn’t say a word. But I can tell from his energy he knows what time it is. I hate to disappoint him but these papers won’t write themselves.

In case you’re wondering, Kojo is my artist husband whose recent epiphany has led him to believe he can extend his creativity from music to cocktails. Yesterday, he told me I work harder than most people on the planet. I had never given it much thought until then. He had a point. But academia is a tough terrain, especially for an early-career woman like myself. And even though I have seen academics get by with less, it is not justification for taming my ambition. Men are not criticized for putting work ahead of family. Women on the other hand are, and so must work harder at both, especially when trying to achieve that ever-elusive balance. Setting professional boundaries is key to achieving a balance between home and office. There is no law ‘set-in-stone’ for achieving said balance. In my case, I have taken a hard stance of not answering work-related calls after 6 pm, unless they are emergencies. But I still struggle with the constant emails. An obsession to say the least. There are times I want to finish Gabrielle Union’s “We are going to need more wine” so it stops collecting dust on my desk. 
But these papers won’t write themselves.

Sometimes, the cost of finishing a season of Grey’s Anatomy instead of analysing 5 sets of data, is fewer papers than I would need in a year towards my professorial quest. And that’s a price I cannot afford. On average, It takes 34 working days to prepare and submit an NIH grant. This is roughly the same amount of time needed to watch all 16 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy if you treated it as a full-time job. You would think that a casual evening walk on the evergreen campus on my university will represent a momentary break from all the pressures of work. Interestingly, my overachiever brain scouts around for potential research opportunities, ideas that would blow away an NIH study section. I may have over internalized the idea of walking meetings. Sometimes I reword sections of papers whilst getting a pedicure instead of enjoying the massage chair that is generously provided by the salon. But these papers…..you already know.

All that aside, I do try, very hard in fact. Although achieving work-life balance may seem like a myth, my journey towards placing more emphasis on the ‘life’ in ‘work-life’ has led me to these action items:

1. Don’t stress about being unbalanced: Acceptance is a powerful tool. Choose to allow what you can't change at that moment to be there, by creating space for it. Acceptance saves you from unproductive anxiety. Aim for progress, not perfection. Some days will be focused more on work; other days, more on home. Be open to change. Be fluid.
2. Know when it’s time to stop: They say don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done. This sounds like very good advice. However, the problem is that in Academia, you’re never done. So stop when you’re tired or even when you just feel like it. The work will still be there when you return. Focus on your health. 
3. Share the workload: I have always been a firm believer of having a personal assistant. Find someone who shares your vision and share the workload. Yet still, make it worthwhile for that individual. View delegation as an opportunity for professional development, an opportunity to mentor. Delegate and don’t think about it.
4. Reward yourself and celebrate little successes: After I submit a paper, grant or report, I reward myself. Sometimes with ice cream, other times with one of Kojo’s cocktails. I take it easy for a few days and give some attention to other aspects of my life. Sometimes I finish a book, sometimes I laze around. Try that.

The current global pandemic has changed the way we work. By placing everything in the same space, it has merged work and family. Despite feeling unsettled initially, some of the changes have been welcoming. Working from home is an opportunity for flexibility in schedules and more time with family which we must embrace.

As 2020 winds down, and we’re all zoom-ed out, I look forward to finally finishing Gabrielle’s book and binge-watching a Netflix series with Kojo’s fancy cocktail in hand. May 2021 bring us easier days. 

Written by:

Dr Priscilla Kolibea Mante
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.