Nihil nimus ("nothing in excess")

Boice, Robert. (2000) Advice for New Faculty Members: Nihil Nimus. Allyn & Bacon Publishers. Needham Heights, MA. ISBN 0-205-28159-1.

On the train ride to and from Wisconsin last week, I made it through a book that had been recommended by Steve Jackson. He had said that despite the obvious audience targeting of the title, it was a useful book for doctoral students as well. I'm usually somewhat skeptical of self-help productivity books (placing them in the same conceptual genre as fad diet books); however, this one seemed solid - enough for me to put in some time and energy practicing the principles Boice preaches. Why? Two main reasons. First, faculty productivity and new faculty experiences are Boice's academic career foci, and the frank discussion of his research methods in generating this book, as well as providing research results, is convincing. Second, if this process actually works, I can't afford not to adopt this kind of production cycle.

I heard a number of times before that academics who write diligently for 20 minutes per day are, in the long run, far more productive and publish vastly more than those who wait for their muse and occasionally write in long, manic episodes (which has historically been my favored mode of production.) I realize that Boice's research was likely one of the sources of this statement.

While the book is highly repetitive (which, I suppose, promotes the age-old formula of "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then remind them of what you just told them), it forces you to automatically engage one of Boice's first principles of slowing down, waiting, and letting things come naturally. It's worth getting through some of the more pedantic prose to get at the useful information in the book. Fortunately, he distills the lessons at the end of each chapter and section. The sections are laid out in a sequence that should be not at all surprising for academics: teaching, writing/research, and service. It helps to have these three presented together, since balancing them is one of the most difficult aspects of academic life.

In short, he applies the same general template to all three areas, with some customizations for each of the activities. The general advice is:

• Wait


• Begin early


• Work in brief, regular sessions


• Stop


• Balance preliminaries with formal work


• Moderate overattachment and overreaction


• Moderate negative thoughts


• Moderate emotion


• Let others do some of the work


• Limit wasted effort

I won't go into detail on all of these (because you should buy the book for yourself). While it is easy to look at this list and criticize for its seeming obviousness, the explanations of each with accompanying practical exercises and supporting research-based evidence for efficacy are invaluable.

The one shortcoming I did detect in Boice's method comes not from following his process itself, but what happens when we scale up a level. For example, consider both a junior faculty member and a doctoral student who are working together and both following Boice's process. The faculty member is advised not to spend more than 10 minutes with any student, and focus on her own work. The student is encouraged to let someone do some of the work for him in the role of a mentor, which arguably requires more than 10 minutes of faculty involvement. Boice's method is likely to help individuals, as long as they are not situated in a community of scholars who are all following the same principles.