The last few weeks have seen a flood of people posting their 2018 achievements, promoting the academic currency of papers published, grants won, students mentored and conferences attended.
Without taking away from these achievements, I wanted to focus on viewing myself as more than my work, and especially more than the ‘publish or perish’-driven manuscript list. And so, here lives my reflection on the year that was. Lessons remain a crucial part; after all,
“If a man looks at the world when he is 50 the same way he looked at it when he was 20 and it hasn’t changed, then he has wasted 30 years of his life,”
Muhamed Ali
Of course, I would be remiss not to celebrate the high points – but I have tried to temper the ‘gloating’ with a few honest low points. Finally, I take a look to the future. By defining goals which will drive my personal and professional life in 2019, I hope to kick off a fulfilling and smooth-sailing year with the course charted and the wind in my sails.
Wins
A snapshot of the high points
- I received my first personal scientific project funding through an Early-Career Researcher Grant
- I had four papers published, including the last of my PhD research, and landed travel funds for an international conference
- I was priviledged to give too many conference presentations to count (Lornes, ABS-ABA, Winter School..)
- I developed and grew this page, with 20 blog posts including tools, conference reviews, book reviews and scicomm
- I produced hundreds (maybe thousands?) of lines of brand new code – but more importantly, saw a significant improvement in my ability and confidence when programming which has allowed me to assist others
- I attended my first PyLadies meetup, where I met people like me (in science, learning python independently) and some less like me (employed full time in programming or data analysis positions)
- I developed closer relationships with family and friends, as I worked harder to maintain and build these ties
- I read two more books than last year
- I consistently, regularly exercised, losing 15 kilograms
- I hit a saving milestone and we bought a house
Losses
A snapier shot of the low points
- I worked for two months on experiments that were to resuscitate one of my major projects
- I’m now left with no papers in the pipeline, leaving lots for the year ahead to wrap up these projects
- My coding projects are in somewhat of a state of disarray, in desperate need of a tidy and some documentation
- I only read 2 books, and put 8 kilograms back on
- I spent more than 50 hours writing six grants, all of which were unsuccessful
- I was quick to judge others and less approachable than I would like to be, letting my stress seep to the outside
- We unbought a hous
Lessons
The bits I wish I knew at the start of 2018, but had to learn the hard way
- Have the hard conversations – with your boss, your partner, yourself
- Self-care is about what you need – not what everyone else’s definition of rest and relaxation tells them (and they, therefore, tell you) you should be doing
- “There are less qualified people than you doing what you want to do, just because they decided to believe in themselves. Period.”
- Make a positivity folder and actively collect the warm fuzzy moments: emails, photos, messages, compliments, congratulations…
- If you want to do something, really want to, then make time. Do it. No one else is going to do it for you, and your schedule will not magically clear. Life is never going to get less hectic or stressful.
- Every day, hour,
minute you spend wishing your way to the next thing (job, house, friend, partner) you will equally spend wishing you had taken the time to value what you had, to revel in it. - Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise
Goals
Hopefully to help me meander with purpose through 2019
- It might be a little meta, but a big goal of mine this year is to learn to set SMART goals. Not so much “new years resolutions” – but personal and professional goals that I would like to work towards every day.
- If you’ve never heard of the SMART goal concept, you can find a more detailed description here, but in a nutshell SMART goals are:
- S – specific, significant, stretching
- M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
- A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
- R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
- T – time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable
- With this in mind, I have the following goals for 2019:
- Yoga at least two days in a fortnite during 2019. A flexible body -> flexible mind -> clarity of ideas, increased alertness and engagement with the task at hand. I would like to be able to better calm my mind when distraction threatens. I will track this goal via a calendar which records each session.
- Land the next job – be strong enough to throw myself into the applications and let go of the guilt of not chasing (limited) Australian funds. This will be measured via my application for at least 3 more Fellowship programs.
- Attitude adjustment – I will track this goal via weekly mini-reflections, where I will focus on (1) Learning to take control of what is within my reach, and to more rapidly accept that which is outside my control and move on, (2) Doing one self-positive task per day – learning, physical activity, kindness, and (3) Fostering self belief to replace self doubt, in personal relationships, professional settings and long-term career prospects
- Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise!
And with that, it’s time to say sayonara 2018 – bring on 2019.
May science be kind to you!
Image credit: @brookelark via Unplash
