The #1 Threat to Your Grant Success...Procrastination

It always feels ironic when I'm researching procrastination. I ask myself, do I really need to be spending this much time learning about procrastination, or am I just putting off writing my weekly blog? This is part of the haziness around procrastination that makes it so easy to justify. Really, only the procrastinator truly knows that they are procrastinating, and sometimes they're not even sure.

ORDE and other grant experts recommend that grant developers spend at least six months developing a grant application. Yet, when I suggest that to our researchers, I follow-up very quickly saying that if you don't have that much time for whatever reason, you should at least include the important elements on the timeline in a shorter time period before they laugh me off.

According to Psychology Today, approximately 20% of the population are chronic procrastinators. They clarify that although everyone procrastinates at some point on some task, it is the chronic procrastinators that experience more dramatic and ongoing consequences in their lives and work.Chronic procrastinators have a difficult time weighing long-term rewards against immediate gratification. They may also procrastinate due to fear of failure or success.  And, procrastination seems to be a larger and larger problem in the technology age. Canadian Psychologist, Timothy Psychl says that "50% of the time people are online, they are procrastinating." That's a remarkable statistic when you consider how many people are constantly online for work or with their smart phones!

Although I don't have the research to back it up, I would suggest that grant development is a task that is often procrastinated - it somehow takes all of those drivers of procrastination and puts them into one effort - fear of failure, unclear/unsure rewards, and a large amount of time and thought required. So, because we often see our researchers avoid getting started on that next grant, here are some remedies to combat this great enemy - procrastination.

Work with someone: Forming a writing group with other grant-writers/colleagues can keep you on task and give you a group to bounce ideas off of and review your work.

Build a routine: Try setting aside a small amount of time everyday to work on your grant and gradually see if you can increase that amount. Maybe start with 20 min.

Write in the morning: People tend to do their best and most thoughtful work best in the morning, yet many waste that time on less creative/thoughtful work, e.g., checking email.

Write grants or nothing: One extreme solution posed by writer, Gretchen Rubin, is to set aside a large block of time each day where you can either write or do nothing.  She doesn't force herself to write, but she won't let herself do anything else.

Reduce/eliminate distractions: Since email, texting, social media, and the Internet in general are such large distractions for people, try to disconnect for a while or even just silence you phone to try and allow yourself some time to focus.

Many experts compare and link procrastination to other addictions, such as alcoholism or gambling. So, it makes sense that awareness can be the first step for procrastinators, too. Try to recognize when you're procrastinating and identify why. Then you can begin to remedy the situation.

Resources
Articles on procrastination - Psychology Today
Grant Development Timeline - ORDE

Grant Development Resource: Video Clips

As another outlet/format for grant development education, ORDE has edited short video clips from our seminars from the past year.  These clips are around five minutes long each and feature one of our seasoned faculty researchers discussing their experiences in grant development. Below, please find descriptions and links to these videos. We hope you find them useful!

Grant Development Videos

• NIH grant development tips
• Conveying your case in visuals, research strategy, and innovation
• How do you persuade your reviewers that your research is important?
• Showing impact and significance in an NIH grant
• Project summary examples and lessons learned
• Incorporating passion
• What makes a strong proposal for NSF
• Overview of the NSF grant

Agency Specific Videos:

PCORI:

• An Overview of PCORI
• PCORI priorities
• PCORI criteria
• PCORI hints
• PCORI patient centeredness

NIH:

• NIH grant development tips
• Conveying your case in visuals, research strategy, and innovation

NSF:

• Project summary examples and lessons learned
• Incorporating passion
• What makes a strong proposal for NSF
• Overview of the NSF grant

Institute for Education Sciences (IES):

• IES: Tips for intervention studies
• IES: Focusing on methodology
• IES: Attrition and letters of cooperation

Research Career Development

• Choosing and working with collaborators on your grant
• When to apply for grant funding
• Maintaining focus and flexibility
• Effectively using mentoring
• Recruiting mentors
• Rethinking Work/Life Balance

Grant Development - Guiding Questions

There are many questions that need to be answered in a grant application. The mistake that many grant writers make is to begin answering these questions when they are actually writing the grant. Without clarity at the front end, grant writers often find their writing muddy and must spend more time writing and re-writing. Now re-writing/revising should always be a part of the grant-development process. Remember the grad school adage, "write to re-write." However, when you go into grant-writing clear on your message, you can spend your revising time on making your grant clear and compelling, instead of spending your time just getting it to understandable.

Below are some guiding questions to use to build a clear case for your grant before you write. You may want to use the questions to draft an outline of your project. You might also consider sitting down with a colleague and having them interview you using the questions and expanding on them to draw you into articulating your story clearly.

• What is your project?
• Who benefits from this project and how? 
• What are the human, financial, and ethical benefits to your project?
• What will be the major costs to complete this project?
• What is the timeline you anticipate for your project?
• How could you scale this project down and up based on the funding you're able to get?
• What is the long-term vision for your research that your project fits into?
• How will you fund your long-term vision?
• Why are you the best person to lead this project?
• Who will be on your team and how will that be the best team to complete the project?
• What funding agencies would be interested in this research?
• Why is your project the best fit for the agency?
• How will you prove that your project is the best fit?

Certainly this list could go on and get more detailed, but it gives you a sense of how you need to clarify and articulate your research and research project, as well as how you need to understand your sponsor(s) and how your work fits with their goals.

By doing this work first, you can identify gaps in your work early on so that you can begin to correct them. And, you set yourself on the path to developing a more focused grant.

Resources

Proposal Development Resources - ORDE

Grant Writer Resources - National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP)

Sabbatical Funding

The word sabbatical refers to a time of rest - and certainly faculty need and deserve this time to recoup. But, of course, for most, this is also a time to conduct or develop research or work on the book or project that you haven't had time for.

When considering what work and exploration you will pursue on sabbatical, it's important to consider the costs for that work and your time and to explore what grant opportunities might be in line with your sabbatical research. In doing so, consider the following:

Start looking early
In all the hustle and bustle, many faculty researchers don't consider what funding might be available for their sabbatical until it's too late to apply for that funding. ORDE suggests that applicants give themselves six months to prepare a solid grant application, and review and award processes can take as long as a year. So, you want to give yourself at least a year beforehand to start grant-writing. Ideally, you want a one and a half to two years to seek funding for your sabbatical.

Figure out what's fundable
You may have a very cool idea or something brand new planned for your sabbatical, but is it something that sponsors will invest in?  As you begin considering sabbatical funding, take a look at the types of sabbatical funding that are typically available in ORDE's e-book on sabbatical funding opportunities.

Also, ask you senior colleagues where they looked for funding and what their experience was in attaining funding - what were their lessons learned and suggestions for you?

Consider the long term
Although faculty going on sabbatical often have just received tenure, it's important to consider how any projects you take on in your sabbatical fit with your longer term research career development. With tenure under your belt, what do the next five years hold for you? What are your goals and how can you use your sabbatical and sabbatical support to strategically position you to hit the ground running when you get back?

Being strategic in these three ways can provide you with a rewarding and productive sabbatical.

Resources
e-book on sabbatical funding - ORDE
How to enjoy a sabbatical - InsideHigherEd