Episode: Carman Neustaedter on research identity, work tracking surprises, and taking perspective
Episode pub date: 2018-03-08
Carman Neustaedter is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada and is also Director of the Connections Lab (cLab) research group. He talks about the importance for him of taking time to reconnect with his identity and values, and building in regular time for reflection, both on the bigger issues of where he is going and also on day to day work like writing challenges. He also discusses feeling overwhelmed and deciding to track his work time over a whole year, which led to surprising findings about how he actually spent his time and how he worked fewer hours than he thought he did. He also touches on issues around handling reviewer critique, managing his email inbox and how he structures time and prioritises family. A thread through a couple of stories is also the importance of being able to take on the perspective of others, whether these are the critical reviewers or colleagues.
“It’s really hard to figure out who you are because you’re often so focused…, you don’t stop to step back and say who am I and what is my path. But it’s so valuable to do.”
“It’s easy to slip into the habit of doing work at all sorts of hours. … It’s about choice and recognizing ahead of time what my priority is and making sure that priority is my family in the evening and at the weekend.”
“When I’m working, I’m really on and working really hard but then I purposely stop and say you know what it’s family time now, they deserve my time.”
“It’s really valuable for all walks of life just to empathise and understand others.”
Related Links
Saul Greenberg podcast – on supervising, building a lab, creating good work life balance
Sheelagh Carpendale – https://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~sheelagh/wiki/pmwiki.php
Joanna McGrenere – https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~joanna/
Jolanta Burke podcast – on burnout, harmonious passion, positive workplaces & helping others
Some articles on passion, obsessive passion and harmonious passion:
- Vallerand et al, 2003, Les Passions de l’Aˆ me: On Obsessive and Harmonious Passion, J Personality and Social Psychology, 2003, 85:4, 756-767
- Kaufmann, Why Your Passion for Work Could Ruin Your Career, Harvard Business Review, Aug. 2011
- Kaufman, Increase Your Passion for Work Without Becoming Obsessed, Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2011
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