Slow down...
Slow down, happiness is trying to catch you...
The sentence is from a podcast that I love to listen - it talks about raising children with special needs, so for me, it allows a lot of opportunities to connect. But this spring, the slowing down has been so very meaningful. And so very challenging.
Slow down, happiness is trying to catch you... What is happiness in the academic world? Is it happy students who turn up in our classes, excited to learn new things? Is it grateful collaboration partners for whom we have managed to create added value with the research insights? Is it successful grant applications? Or successful publications? Citations? Conference invitations? Is if fame and glory? Or money? How do I know that happiness has finally caught up with me? Where is contentment in the academic world?
Yale University offers a free Happyness course, and while I have not managed to take the whole course (yet), I want to bring two insights from the course to consider when it comes to the ideas of happiness. (There might be more on this topic). And, yes, these will be trivial points, but it is my blog, and I am allowed to be trivial here :)
Point 1: Focus on your strengths.
What are you good at? The course links to a psychology test, and there you can evaluate more than a hundred statements to help you figure out what you are good at. And suggest picking the top five things and doing those you are good at every day. Integrating your strengths in the academic or recreational aspects of your every day is another challenge. The suggestion is that you practice. And I am good at being curious and creative, and I practice that by learning new things and creating something. Every day. And importantly, I note to myself - I have learned this. And I have created this. It does bring joy!
Point 2: Stop the comparisons.
This is so much harder to say than to do. Academia is all about comparing yourself with the others. Do you have better or worse grades than your peers? More or less right answers on your test? More publications? More students? More money? More awards? More time to do research? More ... more... more... This also gives the impression that it will be good once I have enough. I can finally be content. But you know that this is not the case as well as I do. There is always someone more clever, more competitive, more published, more recognised, and more cited. But knowing that one has to step out of this comparison game is easier said than done. Make peace, slow down and allow the happiness and contentment available through recognising your own strengths and space to be available for you.
Slow down, happiness is trying to catch you... What is happiness in the academic world? Is it happy students who turn up in our classes, excited to learn new things? Is it grateful collaboration partners for whom we have managed to create added value with the research insights? Is it successful grant applications? Or successful publications? Citations? Conference invitations? Is if fame and glory? Or money? How do I know that happiness has finally caught up with me? Where is contentment in the academic world?
Yale University offers a free Happyness course, and while I have not managed to take the whole course (yet), I want to bring two insights from the course to consider when it comes to the ideas of happiness. (There might be more on this topic). And, yes, these will be trivial points, but it is my blog, and I am allowed to be trivial here :)
Point 1: Focus on your strengths.
What are you good at? The course links to a psychology test, and there you can evaluate more than a hundred statements to help you figure out what you are good at. And suggest picking the top five things and doing those you are good at every day. Integrating your strengths in the academic or recreational aspects of your every day is another challenge. The suggestion is that you practice. And I am good at being curious and creative, and I practice that by learning new things and creating something. Every day. And importantly, I note to myself - I have learned this. And I have created this. It does bring joy!
Point 2: Stop the comparisons.
This is so much harder to say than to do. Academia is all about comparing yourself with the others. Do you have better or worse grades than your peers? More or less right answers on your test? More publications? More students? More money? More awards? More time to do research? More ... more... more... This also gives the impression that it will be good once I have enough. I can finally be content. But you know that this is not the case as well as I do. There is always someone more clever, more competitive, more published, more recognised, and more cited. But knowing that one has to step out of this comparison game is easier said than done. Make peace, slow down and allow the happiness and contentment available through recognising your own strengths and space to be available for you.
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