Instead of viewing rest as something that gets in the way of their success, faculty should take a cue from professional athletes who view high performance and rest as two sides of the same coin.

Teaching and service are gaseous in the sense that they will take up as much space as you give them. If you aren’t careful, you won’t have enough left over to devote to research, or you’ll end up working around the clock to fit it all in.

Being productive does mean maximizing activity, it means optimizing activity. It’s less about how many hours you work, and more about how you use your working hours. Instead of doing more things, focus on doing the right things in the right way.

Most assistant professors think that the only way to succeed on the tenure track is by working around the clock. But faculty who use the 80/20 rule know that you can get better results by working smarter, not harder.