It’s taken me a long time to get here but I’ve finally realised that saying ‘no’ in higher education is partly a matter of simply realising that being interesting is an insufficient reason to commit to something. There are many interesting things we could be doing and I’ve started to perceive the opportunity costs involved in any commitment i.e. deciding to do one thing inevitably means there are other things you won’t be doing. Therefore restraining your propensity towards shiny new thing syndrome* means having additional criteria by which you assess potential projects (e.g. will I enjoy it? Is it socially useful? Will it be recognised by my employer?) alongside an awareness of the impact of saying ‘yes’ on other things you might want to do.
*A term I picked up from Emma Jackson from Goldsmiths
Though having written this post I was struck by a sense of deja vu about this line of thought. It’s entirely possible I’ve had this realisation before, significantly cut down my commitments and then managed to let a whole set of other things rush into fill the void 🤔
Mark Carrigan 