Welcome back to our 12 Steps to a New Job series, where we use the 12-Step model (completely secularized, we promise) to guide you through leaving academia.
I’m Kel Weinhold, productivity coach for The Professor Is In. I work with postdocs and academics at every stage of transition, and if you’re interested in talking through your options with me, you can always reach me at postac@theprofessorisin.com.
And, of course, each week on our free webinar, I’m joined by Dr. Karen Kelsky, founder of The Professor Is In and The Professor Is Out, who’s been helping academics both stay in and get out since 2011.
Below is the synopsis!
12 Steps to a New Job — Step 10: Keep Checking, Keep Adjusting
Last week (Step 9) we talked about amends to others and to yourself because leaving academia leaves marks in both directions. This week, Step 10 builds on that: once you’ve repaired what you can, you commit to ongoing self-reflection so you don’t unconsciously recreate the same harms or drift back into the same traps.
In AA, Step 10 is: “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.”
Our secular rewrite for career transition:
Practice sustainable awareness. Notice drift early. Course-correct quickly.
This isn’t a one-and-done epiphany. It’s maintenance. You will slip. You will overwork, people-please, or chase status again. You will take a job that looked right and realize in a year: oh! Nope. That’s not failure; that’s data. Step 10 is how you use the data.
The Three Sticky Allures: Money, Status, Stability
Most of us pursued (or stayed in) academia for a shifting mix of three things:
- Money (for some, not most)
- Status (the professor title is real and heady)
- Stability (the fantasy of “do the hard thing ? get tenure ? ride it out”)
Step 10 asks you to keep naming which one is tugging at you right now. Because those tugs, especially status and stability, are the fastest way to sell out your own values without noticing.
And about that word “overqualified.” It’s not a diagnosis; it’s a discourse. Often it masks an employer’s pay ceiling or our internal expectation of where we “should” be. If you feel that sting, ask: Do I want the status I had, or the life I want? Different questions. Different answers.
The Toad-to-Frog Metaphor (or, Why This Feels So Weird)
For years you were a toad on the riverbank: solid ground, one burrow, predictable in/out. Overnight, evolution shoved you into frog-hood: water, lily pads, constant micro-adjustments. Step 10 is frog skills: scan, land, re-balance, leap again without judging yourself for not being a toad anymore.
What Step 10 Looks Like in Practice
1) Regular Check-Ins (tiny, boring, lifesaving)
Do a 10-minute review weekly or monthly:
- Boundaries: Am I creeping back into unpaid labor or 24/7 availability?
- Body tells: Where am I tight, angry, numb? What set that off?
- Values fit: Where do my day-to-day tasks align with my values, and where don’t they?
Pro tip: Put your Top 10 Job Non-Negotiables on the fridge (or phone). When an offer appears, compare it to the list—then decide eyes open. “I’ll take it but keep looking” is a valid, honest choice.
2) Early Warning Signs (catch the drift)
Watch for: perfectionism lapses, “I’ll just do it all myself,” chasing prestige titles, hiding academic jargon in non-academic spaces, resentment that leaks into interviews (“this is beneath me”). None of these make you a bad person. They make you… a former academic.
3) Course-Correct Fast (no drama required)
- Reset a boundary (“I can deliver X by Friday, not Thursday”).
- Stop calling it a “career.” Call it a step. Steps are easier to change.
- If you took a misfit job, set a timeline to pivot. Adjust the budget. Keep moving.
Values, Not Vibes
You can’t evaluate fit if you don’t know your values. Many PhDs struggle to name them—understandable when the institution kept moving the goalposts to make you stay. Try a structured list (Brené Brown’s is one option) and pick three. Mine orbit authenticity, community, and well-being. Money matters because capitalism, but it’s not my value. That clarity changed every decision.
And yes, values evolve with the world. Autocracy rises? Maybe “knowing my neighbors” moves up your list. Step 10 gives you permission to update reality into your plan.
Translating Yourself (So You Don’t Sabotage Interviews)
If there’s even a whisper in your head that academia was the “real” thing and everything else is a comedown, recruiters will smell it. Replace prestige-talk with impact-talk.
- Drop: “Assistant Professor who led a graduate seminar.”
- Use the WHO frame: What you did, How you did it, Outcome.
- Led multi-stakeholder projects; built workflows; supervised up to 120 participants; delivered on time; increased engagement 33%.
- Ditch academic terms. Use the target field’s language. Do 10 minutes of research so you can talk sincerely about their world (yes, a trucking company runs on logistics, maintenance, and customer ops. If that lights you up, say so).
A note on honesty: outside academia, appropriate vulnerability reads as trustworthy. “I’m excited about X because it aligns with Y value. I’m also looking for a sane schedule so I can contribute long-term.” That lands.
Four Guiding Questions for Your Step-10 Review
- Am I honoring the boundaries I set when I left my toxic job?
- Where have old habits (perfectionism, overwork, people-pleasing) crept back in?
- What am I proud of in how I’m showing up right now? (Yes, celebration is part of the work.)
- What needs a reset this month—role, routine, narrative, or expectation?
Write quick answers. Don’t overthink. Adjust one thing.
The Creativity Cycle That Keeps You Moving
I recommend this to my productivity clients for everything—from a resume to a garden to a major pivot:
Ideation ? Conceptualization ? Creation ? Celebration
Capitalism pressures you to skip straight from idea to output and to scorn celebration as frivolous. Resist. The pause to celebrate locks in momentum and inoculates you against relapse into “never enough.”
Closing Pep Talk (with Queer Audacity)
You don’t need perfect conditions or permission. You need one small, audacious first step: send the email, show up to the meetup, apply, ask for the informational interview. Momentum follows action, not the other way around.
Leaving academia is a grief and a relief. Step 10 is how you keep choosing your life on purpose—lily pad by lily pad.
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Want help making Step 10 concrete? Kel does the hands-on translation—skills inventories, hybrid resumes that pass AI screens, interview prep without the academic tells. Karen does the structural truth-telling (and cheerleading) so you stop gaslighting yourself. Together, we keep you moving.
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