Episode 21 – Mastery vs. Perfection

May 25, 2020
Episode 21 – Mastery vs. Perfection
The Professor Is In
Episode 21 – Mastery vs. Perfection

May 25 2020 |

/

Show Notes

The trouble with academia is, you set out to master a field but you end up demanding perfection of yourself, forgetting that perfection is not possible. Real mastery is not an outcome but a process, ie, embracing continual curiosity and being unafraid to confront what you don’t know to open the door to learning more. Karen and Kel talk about recovering this beginner’s curiosity by asking: Who is the inner/outer critic telling you you’re not good enough, and remembering that no external validation will make you achieve “perfection” -especially when the systems of validation are racist, sexist, classist, and exclusionary. As Toni Morrison says: the goal of racism is distraction. In the end, you can say this: I don’t have prove it to you I just have to deliver it.

Other Episodes

Episode

February 25, 2020
Episode Cover

Episode 8 – What to Do If You Didn’t Get the Job (Or the Other Thing You Thought Your Future Depended On) – Part 1

Every winter, lots of folks have to confront the reality that they didn’t get the jobs (or grants or publication acceptances) that they’d been...

Listen

Episode

January 14, 2020
Episode Cover

Episode 2 – Publishing and Toxic Comparison

Publishing is a core requirement of the academic career that for lots of academics also fuels constant anxiety and comparison with peers and competitors....

Listen

Episode

October 27, 2020
Episode Cover

Episode 2.14 – A Hard Reset

In this episode, the final one we record on the Himalaya platform (the podcast will continue, just on a different platform – follow our...

Listen