Quick: How do you motivate someone you don't often see? Sound like the opening of a bad joke? Not at all. Therein lies the fundamental challenge of managing professionals whose very career choice rests on the simultaneous hunger for freedom and dignity.

As my work on career-long growth and development for college teachers progresses, I continue to fret about the haphazard way we take care of our instructional health. To begin (and this is not our fault), we work hard and are way too busy. Whether it’s teaching five courses a semester or teaching less but having a research agenda that must be moving forward and continuously productive, we have precious little time for another thing other than the strenuous motions required to keep our heads above water.