Working 80 hour weeks in academia - Is this how it's going to be forever?

dimanche 15 novembre 2015

Ever since 2nd year of grad school, I have been consistently working 80 hour weeks - no exaggeration (~8 AM - 6 PM, and then 8 PM - 12 PM M-F) and then 5 hours or so Saturday morning and Sunday Night!

I love what I do but it's getting emotionally and physically difficulty to keep up this schedule, not to mention it is hard to keep up with other responsibilities well (like family and friends!)... although I think the worst part is the constant thinking about work all the time and feeling like there's something that I should be doing (because there's always something on my to do list, no matter how much work I do - it's almost like work generates more work in academia)

Question for those of you that are out of grad school and academia:
1. Does it ever get better?
2. Is this what you need to get a tenure-track job and eventually tenure? Because as much as I love what I do, I think if I have to keep working these hours it will come with a lot of sacrifices that may not be worth it until the end.
3. How many hours did you work in grad school, post-doc, and then tenure-track or AMC jobs?
4. Any tips on managing the "constantly having to be working" feeling - I feel like if this continues it will wreck my personal life (my husband is already sick of this!)

I am curious about these questions because all of this constant work and stress (publish! publish! get lots of hours!) is making me seriously question a research career, despite the fact that there's no work that I love more than the research that I do. I am totally fine with it if I have to put in my dues for a couple of years to set me on the right track, but I do not think this is worth if it will be this way in the long term.

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Working 80 hour weeks in academia - Is this how it's going to be forever?

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