Excellence Everywhere - National University of Ireland, Galway

Check your work: the 90-year thought experimentImagine how old you will be at the end of your life, if you are lucky and healthy. Now think backward.In other words, what do you want to be able to see when you look back at your life at age 90? What willyou need to be doing in your life at age 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30 for that dream to come true? What needsto be true about your life and your career this year, or ten years from now, if you want to be on track tobe the person you picture yourself to be at 90? If what you are doing today does not get you there, howcan you change course a little (or a lot) to make sure you achieve what you want to achieve? If yourtrack clearly leads away from your vision, does this tell you that what you think you want to be doing at90 is not really what is right for you? Or does it tell you that what you are doing today might not be yourheart’s desire? How can you prepare yourself and those around you for a life that may lead you somewherequite different from the common assumptions? Or if you want a life much like those of yourparents and grandparents, how can you make science fit into that tradition?Lifetime goalsAt the end of your life, looking back, what do youwant to see? Accomplishments? Wealth? Happy,healthy great-great-grandchildren? It is importantto check in with yourself now and then to makesure that the things you are chasing are really theones you want to catch.Long-term goalsThese goals can be achieved in three to five years.Before jotting down your long-term plans, first askyourself where you want to be after this stage inyour career. For example, if you are training in aforeign lab, do you plan to return to your homecountry or remain abroad? If you wish to remainabroad, for how long? A lifetime? A career?Until you are well-established? At what type ofinstitution? At a research-intensive institution?At a university much more dedicated to teachingstudents than to doing research? At a governmentministry? An international organization? When youhave those answers, then ask yourself, “What willI need to accomplish to make myself competitivefor that job?” If you are an assistant professor, youprobably want to work toward promotion. “Whatwill I need to do for that—how many papers,invited seminars, professional meetings, and otheraccomplishments?”Intermediate-term goalsThese goals can be achieved in six months to ayear. For example, you might be thinking aboutthe experiments needed to complete your nextpaper or to put together a poster. Completingpublishable chunks is an essential intermediatetermgoal for faculty. Other goals of similar scopeinclude obtaining preliminary results for a grant,putting together a new course, or organizing ascientific meeting.Short-term goalsThese goals can be achieved in one week to onemonth. They include preparing figures for thepaper you are writing, completing an experiment,preparing reagents for the next set of experiments,or writing letters and making phone callsto secure a seminar invitation. If you find it hardto get organized, make a daily or weekly to-do listand check tasks off as you complete them.managing your time73