Another great blog post from the Tenured Radical (hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education since last year).
Living In The Middle; Or, What I Learned At My First Job
December 31, 2011, 1:51 pm
By Claire Potter
There are moments when you wrestle with terrible self doubt and realize that mistakes have been made — and if you are fortunate, they are balanced out by the moments in which you get to look around you and compliment yourself for a job well done. That sensation also usually does not last, in my experience, and a great deal of life is lived in the middle. It is the business of making life in the middle worthwhile that matters most, I think.
The five tips offered are:
- If it isn’t right for you, no matter how good a job you have, you can always leave.
- If you leave your job, you don’t have to leave for a job that is “better” by all the conventional standards of the academy.
- If you figure out what work will make you happy and do it with integrity, you will probably succeed.
- Commit to whatever you are doing in such a way that you discover, or rediscover, your love for it.
- Plan.