Research Every winning proposal starts with this structure: Topic X is interesting. But. Everything is in place to make progress on “but” (except funding). All three must be covered in the first page of the proposal.

Teaching Teaching becomes less onerous if: you minimize the number of new courses you constrain the time you devote to course prep (only in the morning before class, only in the evening after the kids go to bed, etc)

Service Only agree to committee work if: you care about the outcome you can influence the outcome you can learn something you need/want to learn