IR theorist Cynthia Enloe is interviewed at E-IR. One brief answer from a very interesting interview.

e-IR: What is the most important advice you could give to young scholars of IR?

Read widely. Read fiction, read anthropology, read history. Make sure you have friends who are not academics. Choose your advisors carefully. But never let the ghosts of your dissertation committee haunt your classrooms. Learn from your students. Love teaching.