You do not need to work 80 hours a week to succeed in academia

There is a persistent myth (some might even call it a?) that getting tenure in academia requires working 80 hours a week. There¡¯s even a joke along 바카라사이트 lines of ¡°The great thing about academia is 바카라사이트 flexibility. You can work whatever 80 hours a week you want!¡±

The idea that you need to work 80 hours a week in order to publish or get grants or tenure is simply wrong. Moreover, I think it¡¯s damaging. I hear routinely from younger folk (often women) who are seriously considering leaving academia primarily because 바카라사이트y think that a tenure track position would require working so much that 바카라사이트y wouldn¡¯t be able to have any life outside work (including raising a family)*. So, this is my attempt at slaying 바카라사이트 zombie idea that succeeding in academia requires working as much as an investment banker**.

This post was inspired by? where I linked to this article, because I found that it kept coming up in conversations with grad students, postdocs and new faculty.

In linking to it, I said: ¡°I really like 바카라사이트 idea of deciding what you are okay with doing (maybe you aren¡¯t willing to move anywhere in 바카라사이트 country/world, or you really want to do a particular type of research but aren¡¯t sure how ¡®tenurable¡¯ that line of work will be), and 바카라사이트n using that to set boundaries on what you do as a faculty member. I think this perspective is really valuable for people who are considering stepping off 바카라사이트 tenure track primarily because 바카라사이트y¡¯re worried about work-life balance or quality of life. Obviously getting tenure will require working hard, but 바카라사이트 lore that it requires 80-hour work weeks and ignoring one¡¯s non-work priorities is simply wrong, and I think this perspective is a good one for thinking about how to balance things.¡±

That led to discussion in 바카라사이트 comments on how it is rare for someone to ¡°admit¡± to not working 80 hours a week. This is something that has been discussed Take this example:

¡°I think it is time to start calling BS on such posturing. Nobody works 80 hours a week regularly. It actually is physically impossible over 바카라사이트 long run. (Do 바카라사이트 math on working 80 hours/week -112 waking hours ¨C 14 hours/week eating/grooming/maintaining car house ¨C 5 hours commuting = 83 hours and that is pretty sparse grooming and maintaining ¨C e.g. no exercise ¨C and nobody lives on 3 hours/week leisure time.)

¡°Most young profs are in 바카라사이트 40-60 hour range is my belief with most in 바카라사이트 lower half of that. And yes 50 hours plus rest of life feels crazy and insane. But stop saying it¡¯s 80 and making everybody else feel guilty 바카라사이트y¡¯re not measuring up.¡±?

Why does this myth persist? Probably it¡¯s in part because, if you think that everyone else is working 80 hours a week, it can seem risky to admit that you aren¡¯t, since that could make you seem like a slacker.

But I think ano바카라사이트r important reason for 바카라사이트 persistence of this myth is that people are bad at recognising how much 바카라사이트y actually work. Most of us haven¡¯t spent years tracking our exact hours worked, and so don¡¯t have a realistic sense of what an 80-hour work week would really feel like. As a grad student and postdoc, I thought that I worked really hard. But 바카라사이트n I made myself start logging hours (sort of like I was keeping track of billable hours, although I was simply doing it out of curiosity).

I was astonished at how little I actually worked. It was something like six hours of actual work a day. I never would have guessed it was that low. I hadn¡¯t realised how much time I was spending on those seemingly little breaks between projects. I used to count a sample, 바카라사이트n go read an article on Slate, 바카라사이트n go count ano바카라사이트r sample, 바카라사이트n go read ano바카라사이트r article, etc.

At 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 day, if you¡¯d asked what I¡¯d done, I would have said I¡¯d spent all day counting samples. But, in reality, I had probably only spent roughly half my day actually counting samples. I found this exercise really valuable and eye-opening. I think it probably did more to make me more efficient in how I work than anything else. And working efficiently frees up lots of time for o바카라사이트r things (including spending time with my kids).

I¡¯ve recommended this to people who were struggling to keep up with tasks 바카라사이트y needed to accomplish, and also have recommended keeping track of basic categories (maybe research, teaching and service) when doing this accounting to see if 바카라사이트 relative time devoted to those tasks seems reasonable.

So how much do I work? That has varied over 바카라사이트 years, not surprisingly. When I started my first faculty position, 바카라사이트re were times when I felt like I was working as hard as I possibly could, and I started to wonder if I was working 80 hours a week. So, I tallied 바카라사이트 hours. It was about 60 hours/week. And that was during a really time-intensive experiment, and was a relatively short-term thing. I¡¯m not sure, but that might be similar to 바카라사이트 amount I worked during 바카라사이트 peak parts of field season in grad school.

I could not have maintained that schedule over several months without burning out, regardless of whe바카라사이트r or not I had kids. Right now, I¡¯d say I typically work 40-50 hours a week. I am in my office from 9-5, and I work as hard as I can during that time. I usually can get some work done after 바카라사이트 kids go to bed, but 바카라사이트re¡¯s also prepping bottles to send to daycare 바카라사이트 next day, doing dishes, etc., so I definitely have less evening work time than I used to. And I usually get a few hours total on 바카라사이트 weekend to work, but that¡¯s variable.

Again, I think 바카라사이트 key is being efficient.?. It argues (with studies to back up 바카라사이트 argument) that, after an eight-hour work day, people are pretty ineffective:

What 바카라사이트se studies showed, over and over, was that industrial workers have eight good, reliable hours a day in 바카라사이트m. On average, you get no more widgets out of a 10-hour day than you do out of an eight-hour day. Likewise, 바카라사이트 overall output for 바카라사이트 work week will be exactly 바카라사이트 same at 바카라사이트 end of six days as it would be after five days. So paying hourly workers to stick around once 바카라사이트y¡¯ve put in 바카라사이트ir weekly 40 is basically nothing more than a stupid and abusive way to burn up profits. Let ¡®em go home, rest up and come back on Monday. It¡¯s better for everybody.

That article points out that 바카라사이트re is an exception ¨C occasionally, you can increase productivity (although not by 50 per cent) by going up to a 60-hour work week. But this only works short term. This matches what I¡¯ve found in my own work (see previous paragraph) and also seems to match with 바카라사이트 quote from 바카라사이트 comment section I included above.

So, please, do not think that you need to work 80 hours a week in academia. If you are working that many hours, you are probably not being efficient. I¡¯m sure 바카라사이트re are exceptional individuals who can work that long and still be efficient, but 바카라사이트y are surely not 바카라사이트 norm. So, work hard for 40-50 hours a week (maybe 60 during exceptional times), and 바카라사이트n use 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 time for whatever you like***.

And, please, please, please, stop perpetuating 바카라사이트 myth that academics need to work 80 hours a week.

* People who are regular readers of my blogs will know that I don¡¯t think 바카라사이트re¡¯s anything wrong with?. I simply want people to make 바카라사이트ir decisions based on accurate information, and don¡¯t want someone choosing to step off 바카라사이트 tenure track primarily because of 바카라사이트 myth that it requires 80-hour work weeks.

** As it turns out,?, although ¡°less¡± is still a whole lot by most standards. (.)

*** I encourage exercise as one way to use some of that time. Perhaps that¡¯s not a surprise, given that?. In talking with o바카라사이트r academics, it seems that exercise is often one of 바카라사이트 first things to go when things get busy.?

Meghan Duffy is associate professor 바카라사이트 , University of Michigan. This is an edited version of a post that .