How do you succeed in an environment that rewards intellectual achievement? Get great ideas? Adequate funding? Collaborative colleagues? The answer, according to Donald Hall, is not what you might think. He argues that success in academia depends on thinking strategically about how you spend every hour of your day. Hall writes in the Chronicle: “I wrote The Academic Self because I saw too many talented colleagues collapse professionally under the weight of heavy teaching loads, endless service expectations, and rising demands for research.” Consider his advice: Identify what matters most. Have a sharp focus. Set daily goals. Stick to them.
Hall, Donald E. The Academic Self: An Owners Manual. The Ohio State University, 2002, p. 59.