What is “sustainability”? The UN Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN, Academic Impact, Sustainability). This definition is apt. However, to take this one step further: we’d like you to create a scholarship plan that meets the needs of the present while ensuring your future self has the ability to meet their own needs. You can do this by identifying areas in your life that may be leading to burnout, mediating those stressors, and helping you thrive in the long term.

"Burnout is caused by work that demands continuous, long-term, physical, cognitive or emotional effort” (Gewin, 2021). You can engage in “physical, cognitive or emotional effort” when you:

• Do something you don’t want to do

• Do something you want to do but in a way, you don’t like or find difficult

• Do something you want to do but with someone, you don’t like

• Do something you want to do but continuously, over long periods of time.

When your work requires “cognitive or emotional effort” you are, in essence, putting your emotional, mental, or physical needs on hold, in order to get something done (Jeung, Kim & Chang 2018). If you put yourself on hold for extended periods, this can lead to burnout. 

It is important you recognize academia involves “work that demands continuous, long-term physical, cognitive or emotional effort”. 

“[P]hysical, cognitive or emotional effort” is an investment. As with any investment, a return or pay-off is expected, especially if that effort is expended over the long term. If there isn’t a return that is commensurate with the investment, burnout is more likely to happen. Thriving occurs when the return on investment outweighs the effort of investment.

While you often can't avoid the "physical, cognitive or emotional effort” and investment of academic work, you can find ways to ensure you receive a return on that investment. You can do this by identifying something that you are gaining from expending the effort. It may be a direct or an indirect gain you could acquire from the task or experience, and it will most likely vary between people.

Our aim in this workshop and workbook is to help you:

• Identify areas in your life that are unsustainable or that will not allow you to sustain a long and engaged academic career (Sections 1 & 2)

• Identify areas of strength and “flow” state that you can leverage into a proactive plan (Section 2)

• Plan for a thriving future that incorporates your values and strengths (Section 3)

These points will give you tools moving forward in your career to ensure a return on your emotional investment and help you sustainably enjoy a long career.

To this end, to create your sustainable plan, we’ll look at your present and your future by walking through the following steps:

1. Identify your core identity. This is who you are regardless of your age, time period, and context. Knowing your core identity will allow you to become resilient in the presence of short-term pain and adversity. It will also remind you of your inherent worth and value. We’ll do this by looking at past and current situations.

2. Identify your strengths. Often, we focus on our weaknesses, which isn’t always productive. Instead, we’re going to engage a strengths-based approach and discover what you’re good at. We’ll do this by looking at past and current situations. You’ll feel pretty good when we’re done and you’ll have something positive and constructive to use going forward.

3. Identify what puts you into a “flow” state. A “flow” state is when you are doing something and time disappears. It is a state in which a task usually becomes almost effortless. Usually, you’ll emerge feeling refreshed, fueled, or that you’ve accomplished a lot in comparison to the energy you expended. Much like a strengths-based approach, we’ll look for those areas or tasks which encourage you to enter a “flow” state so that you can do more of them.

4. Leverage your current state. Your plan begins now, not tomorrow, not next month. What are you doing right now that provides benefit to you? Let’s find a way for you to do more of that.

5. Explore your ideal future. You’ll envision your life – all aspects of your life – five and ten years from now. It’s important to see the details of your entire life so that you can attend to those in your plan.

6. Craft a customized plan with milestones and methods. Apply what you’ve learned about yourself and create a unique plan that integrates that knowledge with the tenure criteria and your personal goals. This is your chance to devise a way to attain tenure that suits you and allows you to thrive. While your goal of attaining tenure may a similar goal with many other early career academics, the path you take to attain that goal can be tailored to suit your individual needs and strengths.

7. Follow through “sustainably”. Understand the principles of your “sustainability” plan so that you can apply these principles to the next phase of your career and life.