Editor’s Column: Broken Record, or a Truth That Bears Repeating? (Both? Both.)

Adriane M. F. Sanders

Ahhh, the fall issue! Here in Tennessee, we’ve finally gotten a little crispness to our mornings (although it’s still likely to warm past the point of comfort throughout the day). After a full Saturday of family yard work, I’m writing this on a slow-start Sunday morning. Today, the hubs is out having some much needed solo hobby time while I, the kiddo, and the doggo have returned from our coffee run and neighborhood drive. Spotify has suggested “jazz standard big band Sunday” for me, and it’s hitting just right (Mingus, Hancock, Coltrane, take me away!). We’re all draped across various spots on the couch. It’s downright idyllic—as long as you don’t look too closely or turn your head.

Allow me to expand the view for you: A dapper skeleton in a cape hangs from the mantel in front of us because we started getting the fall decorations out 2 weeks ago, but only because my daughter wanted to decorate her room for Halloween (that was Sept. 22 😳). So now this skeleton hangs in utter confusion against the summertime bird canvas also still on the mantel, right behind a cute illustration of a cat my child got (I don’t know, 6 months ago?) that we neither framed nor removed the price sticker (on the front of course). There’s two tv trays set up from last night’s takeout dinner; couch pillows on the floor; a bathroom trashcan to collect all the snotty tissues the kid is going through. Our dining room is a separate room that holds all the remaining fall decorations with an unusable table, littered with literally everything else I managed to move off the kitchen counter over the course of this month. As I think about moving from this couch, I don’t because: laundry. cat yak. clutter. dried play-doh. don’t even ask about the state of my floors or blinds. Perhaps you’re thinking, “yeah, sometimes that happens so you can be on top of other things, like work!” To open my computer this morning, I had to promise myself I would close all my other apps because I have an avalanche of feedback I owe my students, because I had to prioritize some impromptu program recruitment tasks, SIOP submissions, a client deliverable, a campus proposal (that has taken so many more meetings, drafts, and conversations than we anticipated and still know it will likely be gutted and reassembled until it is unrecognizable–what would Vroom say about me plugging along with maxed out valence but zero expectancy or instrumentality?).

I have been doing the same kind of work for over a decade and somehow I still have the deep rooted belief that one day I will “catch up.” Ok, ok, I know! It’s a pipedream! And if I could just let it go, I would be better for it! Well, if I could let go of that and figure out how to manage all the competing priorities. There are too many, and they all seem to have the same level of urgency and importance, and who has the time to make an Eisenhower matrix anyway in the midst of all that stuff I listed above? Lately I’ve been thinking about how it’s all too much. Too much stuff in the house to sort, store, clean–but googling “minimalist” living just makes me jealous and overwhelmed in a new way. Too much paper pushing, email checking, administrative obligations, committee work–but googling “how to start a commune” (for recovering academics) reads an awful lot like starting your own consulting firm, blech. So, I think rather than being in the weeds, trying to sort and triage at the task level, I need to revisit my own org-level strategy—what is my mission? My vision? If I can remind myself of those, perhaps the “order” of all the individual tasks will become more clear. I know I must sound like a broken record, but here’s an interesting thought: What if feeling like you’ve been in this spot before, said these things before, isn’t an indicator of still not having “it” figured out (which brings with it a complimentary side dish of shame and guilt) but rather a recognition of the typical ebbs and flows. A reminder that any good organizational strategy and performance management system needs a built in timeline/process for review: Are goals still aligned with strategy? Are tasks aligned with goals? Of course this sounds fairly simple–get those sorted and everything will fall into place. But there will still be competing demands within those tasks even if they are well-aligned to strategy. What then?

Well, something I did this week was reach out to my students to let them know how overwhelmed I was. I was completely transparent. I didn’t have an agenda, I just spoke my heart, complete with awkward pauses and lots of rambling (what, you thought this column was the only place I rambled?). It was 20 minutes of complete vulnerability that I forced myself to share despite feeling very anxious about it. I’ve talked about this kind of transparency and vulnerability before; how many of us never had mentors who modeled or shared any aspects of their own personal overwhelm (Editor’s Column, Winter 2023). I absolutely think this lack of transparency is a major reason why so many of us feel like imposters or less-than when we have these incredibly natural and universal experiences. And ya know what? Sharing all this with my students, in an unfiltered and unpolished way, really did something to move that crushing weight off my shoulders. It didn’t move the load of work into a more manageable place, but I didn’t realize how much the emotional load was blocking me. I had certainly vented and lamented with my support network of peer friends, but I had not realized the power of opening up to my students specifically. In hindsight it makes sense given that I had the most guilt connected to how I (perceived I) was letting them down.  By letting go of the additional effort of impression management and emotion regulation, I had opened a narrow corridor to just take the next step on the actual work tasks. The number of incredibly thoughtful, kind, often equally vulnerable, messages of thanks, support, and encouragement from so many of my students, made my heart swell and reassured me that being whole and real with people you care about and respect just feels right. No, it is not a student’s responsibility to motivate their professor, but isn’t this part of what we teach in LMX theory? What whole human doesn’t need to know that they are still good, still more-than, even when they struggle? I hope my students (and colleagues, and department chair, etc.) feel it when I’m trying to reflect that sentiment right back to them.

Now, if you’re still reading, I want to share a couple of fun developments for TIP! We have officially chosen the incoming editor! Please join me in welcoming Myia S. Williams! She has extensive experience (in fact, dual appointments) in practice and academics, a track record of applied research at the intersection of I-O and tech (e.g., AI, automation), inclusive org culture, upskilling, and a variety of occupational health topics, plus a passion for training the next generation of leaders in our field. She is an excellent choice to represent the varied interests of SIOP members and steer TIP into its next era. She has jumped right into this new role, already assisting with goal setting, committee reports, and innovative, yet actionable, ideas about the future of this publication. And we couldn’t be more excited to help her make these ideas a reality when she fully takes the helm after the 2025 annual conference!

I also want to draw your attention to a little idea our esteemed staffer, Jen Baker, and I cooked up, called Timeless TIP! Timeless TIP is a way to spotlight and reflect on past columns and articles from the archives, and help them reach the eyes of newer TIP readers. These reprints will be clearly labeled and will feature a little introductory note from yours truly. We don’t have a set rule as to how many of these will occur each issue, but for this first round it was so hard to choose just one or two, so you’ve got four. If you would like to recommend a past article to be featured, please email me at siop.tip.editor@gmail.com.

And if you haven’t heard it recently, THANK YOU. Thank you for all the hard work you’re doing–not the stuff everyone knows you’re doing or expects you to do, but all that other stuff you do. Thank you for the effort you put in that may be less visible but makes others’ lives (students, family, friends, colleagues, total strangers) just a little bit easier, or makes their goals a little more attainable, or just shows another whole human a little bit of kindness. I hope you feel it returned to you tenfold!*