Motivation

I’m putting together the things I want to have done for my tenure package and for the summer.  Everyone has their own goals, and normally, I’m all about ensuring my students finish their goals, but this summer it’s about me.  I’m already starting to push the pretty hard; especially since I missed a few weeks.  This involves a few critical papers in some (relatively) high impact journals.  I want to get these fully accepted in the next two months, and that’s a tall order since the two students (my superstars) that I’m relying on have pretty full schedules.  So I’m basically pulling them off of helping with other projects that I’d like to get a grant submitted based upon, and a few conference submissions.

My time in industry helped me do project management.  Tight deadlines, getting the team rallied, and ‘wow’-ing management were my specialties.  I haven’t busted out a Ghant chart yet (I swear I will NEVER use Microsoft Project ever again), but I do have a calendar up with when we need critical data and specific parts written and submitted.  The days are getting a little more packed every day.  I can tell my students aren’t digging it either.  After all, in industry if people rallied they would get an extra bonus or a promotion.  When my students rally I buy them a pizza or have them over at my house for food and games.  Nothing compared to an extra $10k in their pocket.  Ultimately, this is to benefit me, and get a line on my student’s resumes.  All of whom want to go to industry, so won’t be needing a huge publication record.  So keeping them motivated is tough regardless of my master project management skills.

I’m trying to figure out what to do for this push, since it will be the craziest.  I think I’ll take them out of town.  Maybe get a huge Airbnb for them and their families.  But that’s the light at the end of the tunnel.  In the meantime I don’t want to order from Papa John’s, but there’s a few New York style pizza places, and Mexican and Sushi places up the street.  Time for some coffee and tacos to keep the home fires burning.

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