4.3 Maintaining work-life balance
Sustained motivation requires managing energy, not just time. Engaging in hobbies, exercise, mindfulness, or meditation helps recharge mentally and physically. Setting boundaries between research and personal life prevents burnout and ensures consistent productivity.
Tip: Even short, intentional pauses improve focus and productivity.
In this video, Prof. Karen Olsson-Francis shares her perspective on sustaining motivation over time, particularly when balancing research with other life commitments. She highlights the importance of adaptability, self-care, and recognising that research journeys evolve alongside personal circumstances.
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 3: Adapting in research – sustainable motivation, setbacks, and life beyond work.
Transcript: Video 3: Adapting in research – sustainable motivation, setbacks, and life beyond work.
Karen Olsson-Francis
Hi everyone, my name is Karen Olsson-Francis.
I’m a professor of Geomicrobiology at The Open University.
So for me, resilience in research isn’t about pushing through at all costs.
It’s about staying healthy and engage when everything doesn’t go to plan.
And let’s be realistic, that’s a lot of times in research.
It’s learning how to bend without breaking and being OK with the fact that your career won’t always move in a straight line, especially after having a family.
Resilience is about accepting this change rather than fighting it.
Early in my career, motivation came out naturally from external milestones such as that paper being accepted or gaining a grant.
But over time, and particularly after having young children, this shifts.
I had to find motivation internally with things that are more sustainable.
Becoming a parent really focused me to think about why I’m doing this research, not just about what I’m producing.
I’ve learned that resilience grows when you stop trying to prove yourself with short term outputs and instead focusing on its long term values of research in the impact it can have.
I’ve become very practical about how I do this.
I break work into small meaningful chunks so I can see my progress.
I keep notes of small wins, a good comment from a colleague, a problem that finally clicked, or a student doing well.
These are all things that are easily forgotten when we’re busy.
I’m also much more protected of the time that I use.
I don’t try to re quote my pre-family working patterns because this just isn’t realistic.
Instead, I focus on using this time I have to do well and remind myself of the bigger picture.
Setbacks, however, are still a sting.
Rejected papers, failed experiments never stop disappointing, but I’ve learned not to panic when this happens.
I try to give myself a bit of space, then look at them analytically.
How can I learn from this?
What can I change for next time?
One important thing I’ve learnt is that resilience doesn’t mean not feeling disappointed.
It means recovering, re-calibrating and moving forward.
Talking things through with trusted colleagues helps a lot because science can feel very isolated sometimes.
Returning to work after maternity leave was probably the biggest challenge I have ever faced professionally.
I came back feeling less confident, very aware of how fast everything had moved on, and under pressure to prove that I was still serious about my career and still are trying to adjust to having life with a young family.
At first I tried to work exactly as I had before and it just didn’t work.
Things changed when I stopped seeing it as a return, instead starting to seeing it as a rebuild.
I became more selective about what I took on, more strategic about my time and were willing to acknowledge that the skills I developed through parenting, prioritising decision making, resilience under pressure were actually strengthening my work, not holding it back.
Over time my confidence came back, not because everything got easier, but because I learned to work in a way that was more sustainable and that made me a more resilient researcher in the long run.
Video 3: Adapting in research – sustainable motivation, setbacks, and life beyond work.
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