As a #professor and in most #careers, you have to learn to detach to figure out how to keep going. Realize that the ups and downs do not matter. Whether somebody recognizes what you’re doing or doesn’t has a little consequence on who you are as a person. Your goal is to learn how to detach so you can keep taking steps forward regardless of the #progress that you’re actually making. I think we incorrectly suggest that making progress means that you’re always going in a linear path. We believe that making progress always has #incremental returns. Instead, what it feels like is that incremental returns never amount. What happens is that you have very little returns, and then one day you look back after a #decade and understand that what you were doing was worth it. given the structure of reality, you have to be more detached from any outcomes and what people will suggest. It doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re #failing.