As the new academic year looms ever-nearer--for some of us almost immediately, for others at the end of the month, it might be useful to think for a second about why you’re teaching. The rhetoric of teaching as a vocation encourages people to talk about teaching as a passion. A good example of this rhetoric is Matt Damon’s recent defense of teachers and tenure, which anyone who teaches at any level of education has probably had forwarded to them several hundred times over the past week. Damon’s argument amounts to, “why else would you teach, unless you love it?”
But if you teach because you love it, what happens if you don’t anymore? Or maybe it’s fine, but you don’t find yourself loving teaching the same way you did when you were younger? Maybe the thought of pulling together yet another syllabus for that one intro class fills you with not-so-quiet desperation?
Scott Barry Kaufman last week wrote an interesting post recapping recent cognitive psychology research about the problem of passion and burnout:
Like those with harmonious passion, those with obsessive passion perceive their work as representing a passion for them, and view their work as highly valued. A major difference is that they have an uncontrollable urge to engage in their work. As a result, they report feeling more conflict between their passion and the other activities in their life. Questionnaire items measuring obsessive passion include: “The urge is so strong. I can’t help myself from doing this activity,” “I am emotionally dependent on this activity,” and “My mood depends on me being able to do this activity.”
Those who find themselves obsessed by their work, Kaufman explains, often find themselves increasingly frustrated by and angry about their work, or plagued by self-loathing. These feelings aren’t limited to work alone, but spill out into all areas of a person’s life--precisely as the obsession with work does. The key, it seems, is to be able to disengage from work comfortable. (As Cary Nelson has somewhere said, it’s not a vocation, it’s a job! Unplugging is ok.)
Kaufman offers two questions that might help people evaluate their passion for work:
Do you gain intrinsic satisfaction from your work, or do you feel as though you are constantly working to prove things to others? Do you feel a compulsive need to work or are you easily able to disengage and enjoy other interests in life?
Obviously, these feelings ebb and flow at various times. When you’re at a key moment in a research project, for example, you may well feel compelled to work out a problem until it’s done. But if those feelings aren’t cyclical, if you’re constantly engaged with work, even when you’re ostensibly doing other things you enjoy--then burnout may be a problem.
Also on burnout: see my post last year on Kathleen Norris’s book on acedia and Dr. Crazy’s post from April with ten strategies for avoiding burnout.
Do you have strategies for avoiding burnout? Let us know in comments!
Photo by Flickr user Mr. Usaji / Creative Commons licensed