I’ve gotten a few rejections this week, but I’m doing okay. I’d like to emphasize, however, that this has nothing to do with the power of positive thinking.
Admittedly, this is probably a better illustration of angst than despair.
I’m living proof that persistence trumps positivity — as Dr. $hiraz loves to point out, I was remarkably successful at the career I hated, because I was persistent. Sending out the letters, submitting the articles, blundering into some sort of network because I kept going to conferences. Was I doing it because I saw a light at the end of the tunnel? Hell no. I was doing it because I knew that’s what professors were supposed to do. And it kept working, dammit.
I suspect that natural-born optimists simply cannot imagine being persistent without a positive vision to work towards, which is why they persist in imposing their beliefs on the rest of the world. And yup, I’m a pessimist and proud of it, so please spare me your outraged comments on how The Secret changed your life.
When I occasionally write about “the horrors of academia” I am chiefly thinking of the profession’s outstanding ability to induce depression in legions of otherwise healthy people. Depression is an interesting existential exercise, because when you’re depressed, your brain has no “positive thinking.” You really can’t see the point of anything you’re doing at a given moment.
But you do it anyway. If you’re going to remain at all functional, you make a list of things that need to happen, and you do them. Not because you believe that they will work, or make your life better, but because they have to be done. That is why many, many depressed teachers I’ve known can get their butts out of bed. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because positive visions of “making a difference” dance merrily in their heads, it is because they know they have to be there or they will get fired.
Applying for academic jobs is a similar experience. Sending letter after letter, with no real hope that anything will actually happen because of it, makes you into an accidental Buddhist, performing the actions and not expecting any result. (Actually, I think that may be in the Bhagavad Gita. It’s been a while.)
(And of course, there are varieties of depression that make you completely non-functional or suicidal, which are a different ball of wax. But — despite the fact that these days practically every department seems to have a not-too-distant suicide story if you scratch the surface — that’s not the kind of depression I’ve observed in the majority of cases. I’d also add, in light of the recent “It Gets Better” campaign, as bad as work-induced depression can be, it isn’t nearly as devastating as school bullying. That does, indeed, get better when you leave school.)
If positivity helps you, that’s great. But don’t assume that “being positive” is a requirement, or God forbid, a substitute, for persistence. Your most special-est happy thoughts will get you — nothing! Getting your ass in (or out) of that chair might get you somewhere, but — girlfriend, please! — the universe gives no guarantees. Wish as hard as you might, nobody gets everything they want. But, in the words of the world’s least-recognized Stoics, “if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.”
Vegetable despair.
So I will continue filling out more applications, not because I am thinking positively, but because it is a necessary action. No job will magically appear without my communicating a sincere interest in keeping food on the table to my potential employers. And for you optimists out there, here’s a cheerful coda: As Dr. $hiraz reminds me, given my “accidental” success in a field I hate, she can only imagine how much more successful I’ll be at something I don’t hate.
She may have a point.
Love the bell pepper!
What jobs are you applying for?
Vegetable humor is always good. And I’m only now getting into the thick of the application process, applying for jobs in several different arenas of IT, design, and management…so we’ll see!
“I’d also add, in light of the recent “It Gets Better” campaign, as bad as work-induced depression can be, it isn’t nearly as devastating as school bullying. That does, indeed, get better when you leave school.”
Unless you choose to work within a school. Hehe, then sometimes it gets worst!
I love my school and most of my coworkers, but there are times when I question if I am a character in Mean Girls 2.
P.S. I would be the ‘weirdo’ that gets bullied by a queen bee (present day) Lohan, who never cast off her plastic army. Weapons of platinum blonde, smudged black eyeliner, FU nails, and too fat/too skinny ‘compliments’
Wow, that sucks! It’s true that some people never grow out of that BS. But does that make you Tina Fey or Janice Ian?
I hope this persistence thing is true because I’ve never really had that much of a positive attitude about work or life in general. Even back in high school my mom used to encourage me to put down the books and newspapers (and the lattes) and be more upbeat. When I was worried about the state of the world, or my own life, her solution to everything was: “Why not go bowling? Why not go to the football game this weekend? Have you tried making some new (i.e. positive) friends?”
Sure, I had a more positive vision of the academic life back in my early 20s, or I wouldn’t have taken out loans to fund my flights of fancy, but it wasn’t optimism in the job market or my field that got me through grad school. As one of my favorite history profs said during my 1st grad seminar, “You don’t have to be brilliant to get a PhD. Just persistent.” Alcohol helps too, I discovered.
Well, I agree with your mother on the going out more — this is especially important as a step away from the academic mindset — but being “positive” has always struck me as overrated. Good for your prof; I do so appreciate it when people admit that a PhD is really only about being persistent, and not brilliant. And as for the alcohol, well, I think that’s its own post!
I’m not sure I agree 100%. It’s true, a lot of academics are persistent, and that’s why they earn PhDs, publish, find continued employment, etc. But the field itself does not much value persistence, rather positivity. It’s not just that we all know the ABD who got a plum job despite not being finished, and who then took two more years to do so, and then didn’t get tenure – that’s a case of the field valuing potential and assigning the most positive outlook possible to a hire whose potential is their selling point, instead of taking into account the persistence of a more experienced candidate.
Persistence will get you strings of temporary jobs. It will get you lots of publications, as it has me, and a good reputation along with it. It will get you good teaching evaluations, if that’s the direction you’re persistent in. It’s a good quality to have in any profession, but academia tends to value more the people who fit in, the people who seem like they might be great (but, realistically, probably won’t be), the people with glamorous “hot” research, not the people who have had their nose to the grindstone. Unless your persistence takes the form of transforming yourself into that ideal job candidate, forget it.
I think persistence can easily co-exist with its possibly evil twin, ambition. I totally agree that “hot” gets you more than persistent, esp. on the market. But then there’s that stupid-ass martyr culture once you get the job, and it rewards the constant re-iteration of how hard you’re working on your book, how little life you have, etc. I’m not sure I’d say those hot candidates are genuinely positive, either. Given their abysmal behavior at times I tend to think that they’re just violent narcissists, obsessively driven, or (worst case scenario) clever sociopaths who’ve learned to mime positive human emotions.
I guess that’s my philosophical interest in the question. If you are insanely persistent towards a goal, you may well get it, but it’s certainly not the same as being happy or positive. I wasn’t insanely persistent, nor was I willing to participate in the “oh my God I’m working so hard all the time” club and I still managed to make pretty good progress. But yes, you’re absolutely right, the most successful people use their persistence to make themselves in the image of the ideal, don’t-rock-the-boat candidate.
OK, I’ll buy that. It is true that many of the “hot” candidates I’ve known do have a highly-developed sense of self-esteem, which I suspect is one thing that makes them so attractive to others.
I have grown to hate the “omg, how hard I work” club. If someone is whining about how hard you work, they must either be deliberately making themselves miserable or they actually enjoy the work. Either way, the constant reiteration of dedication doesn’t apply.
You have to be in it to win it. Keep at it girl!
I agree 100%. Do or do not, there is not try.
This is a good argument for persistence. Sometimes I wonder how people get through the day without a nervous breakdown.
I also think that there is an element of positivity in success, only in the sense that you need to like what you are doing along the way. Then you can be more positive about the future. If you don’t, you probably still won’t like it once you achieve your goal, that’s for sure. And there’s nothing wrong with making a change if you want to get to a more positive place.
Maybe it’s that the action comes first, followed by the cheery optimism. Anyone who feels accomplished and confident can afford to be an optimist! And the two can feed each other, but only if you have the persistence to set up such a system.
Actually you’ve hit upon a central tenet of cognitive therapy: motivation follows action. And I think that’s why it bugs me so much when people focus on the mindset and not the things you’re doing — or expected to do. All too often, this “positive attitude” stuff is a weapon used by certain exploitative professions, as in “well, if you just had a positive attitude, it wouldn’t be so bad…” HA!
[...] which might make you depressed and/or desperate. Worst Professor Ever has a terrific post on how persistence trumps positivity, and it can help you get over a rejection-related bout of [...]