Reflecting on the Tenure Track From Mid‐Career

Abstract In this essay, I share ideas on why and how my career has worked for me. I have built a research program around the intersections of the carbon and water cycles with a particular focus on sustainable rice production. Throughout the essay, I include some of the lessons I wish I had discovered sooner. Many of these ideas are the gifts of my peers and mentors, or distillations from motivational texts, which I now enjoy sharing with my peers and mentees. I have organized the essay around the typical tenure‐track faculty position involving research, teaching, and service. The essay should also be relevant for a diversity of academic career types, stages, and perspectives. One of my goals in writing this essay is to help demystify the academy and provide ideas on how to progress through it. I hope this essay provides some insights to the reader on how we can make do with imperfect resources in a challenging profession to generate successful outcomes.