(gentle music)
- If you were to map out your goals on a timeline,
they might look something like this.
I want to improve my writing skills.
I want to write a paper this year, expand my network.
What I like to encourage students in post-docs to do then
is to go a little bit more specific and deep.
What actions will they take to accomplish
each of those goals?
I encourage students in post-docs
to take it a step further and create an action plan.
The action plan takes each of those broad goals,
a broad goal for example being
that I want to improve my writing,
and lays out the actions that they'll take
to accomplish that goal.
- So my strategy for goal setting as
my project progressed was primarily a consequence
of this exercise of writing papers in my head.
In executing that process, you basically start out
with the data that you already have,
which you think might constitute figure one
or figure two of that paper.
And then you basically go through the exercise of
saying to yourself, okay if I were reading this paper,
what would I want to see next?
Like what do I think is necessary in order
to round this out and really prove my points?
Even though you haven't done them, just answering
that question specifically, those become
your scientific goals.
- So when you create your action plan, I want
you to think about the s.m.a.r.t. principle.
The s.m.a.r.t. principle is not something
specific to science.
It's something specific to goal setting.
s.m.a.r.t. stands for goals that are specific.
They're measurable.
That is, someone could assess whether you
did them or not.
They're action-oriented.
They define what action you will actually take
to accomplish the goal.
They're realistic and they're time bound.
So they have some kind of timeframe
associated with each goal.
Often, students in post-docs do put timeframes
around their research goals, perhaps because
they're discussing those in more depth
with their thesis committee.
But then I might see goals that say, you know,
improve my writing skills
or expand my network.
So it's missing the actions for what
they might need to do
and there's no timeframe.
So I like to encourage them to include
a start time and an end time.
So that might be, you know, I have a fellowship
application due in February.
And so I know I'm going to be really busy
writing that.
But once February ends, I'm going to plan
in the next two months after that, March and April,
to attend three different events
and meet people in companies, in start-up companies,
which I'm especially interested in learning about.
So defining that start and end date means
that you don't need to feel guilty about
not starting earlier.
You can put off that goal until that start time.
But you're going to do it during that timeframe.
- How to figure out the scope of a project
is an ongoing process.
Nobody's going to be perfect at it,
sort of estimating the time that things are really
going to take and the amount of stuff you're
really going to be able to do during your time in the lab.
The way that the people in my lab and I try to
become good enough at this
is by being really deliberate about
when we check in over it.
So at the beginning of every year, we have
a planning meeting where we talk about
the accomplishments of the year before
and the goals for the upcoming year,
both in terms of research and our personal
and professional goals.
But the last part of that meeting is a calendar
that's just one page long.
And we try to estimate, given the things that are
going to happen in the year, right, like
are you going to do, you know, go to a conference.
Or do you have a paper to write.
Or a fellowship to write or whatever.
We block that off on the calendar.
And then we try to think, realistically
how are these goals going to fit into the calendar.
And let's give it extra time, right.
So if in an ideal world it takes a month,
let's give it two.
And we check in halfway through the year.
And if the things that we wanted to do
really aren't happening or aren't
getting done on time, then we use that
as a way to think about why.
Without the main answer to why being like,
you haven't been working hard enough.
Everybody works hard enough, right.
I've never had the problem amongst
scientists that I work with, that they
don't work hard enough.
They work incredibly hard.
So if it's not happening, then either our estimation
about how long these experiments actually take is off
or we've switched priorities such that
something else is in the way
or you don't have the resources that you need
in order to get this done.
But the point is that as you go, to be
realistic and generous with yourself
about how long things are actually taking
and to adjust the timeline such that
you're not constantly disappointed in yourself,
right, because you were too ambitious.
Set goals for yourself that you can meet
because meeting your goals feels great.
And when you set goals for yourself that you can't meet,
ask why and learn to set better goals.