Defining your win

Abstract

I finally did it. This year, I earned the title of “full professor.” Because I navigated a challenging tenure process earlier in my career, the gravity of this promotion is not lost on me. But the time directly after tenure or promotion can also be a time when faculty feel most lost, as we’re suddenly faced with the question of “Now what?” If you recently celebrated a graduation from college or graduate school or reached some other milestone, you may be experiencing similarly mixed emotions. The reality is that no matter where you are on your career path, achieving goals can feel somewhat empty if you’ve never taken the time to define what a win is for you. What does it mean to win? If you’ve competed in sports, you might say that winning is scoring the most points or having the fastest time. But I would argue that even