Triskelion #7 Being 'good enough'
A paper, a quote, and a thought
After a bit of a break, here’s the seventh installment in a series called Triskelion. The triskelion is an ancient symbol consisting of a triple spiral (or legs) exhibiting rotational symmetry. The triskelion has different meanings across cultures, but all meanings revolve around a rule of 3’s. In this series, I’ll share three things — a paper, a quote, and a thought. I'll post these whenever I can fill up the three branches of the triskelion. I hope you enjoy.
A Paper
Scott et al., published the minireview "Widespread dissolved inorganic carbon-modifying toolkits in genomes of autotrophic Bacteria and Archaea and how they are likely to bridge supply from the environment to demand by autotrophic pathways" in Applied & Environmental Microbiology.
This is a tour de force summary of how microbes interact with environmental dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). DIC is sensitive to environmental conditions (notably pH). And there are a myriad of ways microbes interact with it biochemically.
The review summarizes the relevant microbial pathways and gene distribution across prokaryotes. They discuss the role of DIC related to engineering microbes for industrial or agricultural applications.
A Quote
Imagine taking a visit to a university, and having a chance to chat with everybody in an academic department to learn what they do for work. Office managers pull together many pieces to keep things running. Advisors advise. Lab prep people prep the labs. Research techs do research. Lecturers teach. And professors do, it seems, a little bit of everything? Some of us might do more research, some of us might do more teaching, but we all do a lot of the other stuff.
—Science for Everyone by Terry McGlynn
A Thought
Terry's post reminded me of an earlier version of myself in late 2019. I was about halfway into my tenure track position. And I was a mess. “Stressed” puts it lightly. This led to health problems (mental and physical). I was trying to optimize everything at work and home. Adding more blocks to the calendar in an attempt to be ever more efficient with my time. Adding activities to de-stress. Like training for an erg marathon (I did it, but in retrospect this was silly). Meditation. Adding more and more to the plate to find the right combination to unlock a more manageable balance.
Of course, this didn't help—it made things worse! I arrived at the same conclusion that Terry described in his post. I needed to do less, not more.
But how to do that when your job requires so much? I read It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. (And shortly after Rework—also helpful, but for other reasons). These books resonated with me. All this busyness doesn't have to be that way.
I made deliberate changes to how I organized my day. Being spread too thin was gone in favor of large blocks of uninterrupted time. I completely changed how I ran the lab. And re-envisioned my purpose as a professor.
My mantra? Be good enough.
Academia tends to select a certain type of individual who can juggle all the balls. I learned that juggling act from years of feeling like no matter what I had done, it wasn't enough. I needed to do more. More papers. Better teaching reviews. More grants submitted. Happy lab group. Happy family. More, more, and more. So I became more efficient and accomplished more—at the expense of myself.
Academia, like other professions, can be a mountain with no summit. You think the pinnacle is around the corner, but as soon as you get there, there's more to climb. Because there is no top. There's always more to do.
Good enough is plenty. Good enough means acknowledging and accepting imperfection. That trying to juggle everything means that I’m focused on juggling, not the individual tasks themselves. I say "no" to more than I ever have. I focus on my physical and mental well-being way more than I did in 2019. If I'm not 100%, I can't be the best dad or husband. If I'm not 100%, my mind isn't in the game at work and my lab and my students suffer. This approach leaves me with less time to spend on work-related activities. Which means I can't do as much. I've learned to be OK with that. Good enough is more than enough.