Keep moving

Some people, (I have a specific former intern in mind) are scared to move forward. They don't know what to do. They may be working on an undergraduate degree and not getting the grades they want, because they know their studying technique isn't very good. Or maybe stuck in a job they don't like because they don't know what they want to do with their life.

I ask them for ideas, brainstorms. What do you want your life to look like? What classes do you do really well in? Why are those different? What things could happen today to make it a wonderful day?

They can often answer these questions, but don't know the next step. They're scared of doing something wrong, or worse, trying and then failing.

Seeing this multiple times and listening to people further along in their career than I have lead to the same conclusion.

Success is not the opposite of failure, it's the step after it.

Too many people I know are scared of failure. I want to say to them, "Failing is okay!" Failure happens. You can survive failure. It's lack of motion, lack of action that will kill you. It doesn't matter if the action you choose doesn't work the way you want it to. Once you start moving forward, you can more easily evaluate your position, and make changes to it. It's getting that first step that's the hard part.

I told my intern that was struggling with his grades, that it doesn't really matter what study habits he tries to change. The point is to change something, and see if it works. It may not. It probably won't. But he will  have tried something, he can check it off the list if it doesn't work and then try something else. He will eventually find a study method that works really well for him, and more importantly, learn which ones are a waste of his time.

A mentor said something that really stuck me: "It's like riding a bike, you need forward momentum before you can change direction." So get moving, fall a few times, fail a few times, and keep going.

2015 in Review & Looking Forward

At the end of 2014 I wrote a post about my goals for 2015, and revisited them  halfway through the year. Which did I accomplish and which will I carry to 2016?

Professional:

• Publish in a policy journal again - Sure didn't, although I did publish a first author research paper, and started writing a second one. I have some ideas for a policy paper, but need to make it a priority if I want it to actually happen. Research papers are a much higher priority, so this is a maybe for 2016.
• Plan & execute DC networking trip - I did a lot of networking this year, and met some really awesome people. My long term career goals have changed, so this is now off the list.
• Identify & explore specific science policy careers - I'm leaning more towards staying in academia and research labs, where I can still read, write, and think about policy issues. I still plan on exploring career options as the opportunities arise.
• Find session/panel to moderate at future conference - I found the professional society I want to be most involved in (American Society for Bone and Mineral Research), and am exploring how to do so in 2016.
• Finish strategic outreach plan for CCH - Done! Interesting side project, glad it's over.
• Co-moderate PhD Career Conference 2015 - Done! This was fun, stressful, and a great learning opportunity. I got to interact with all of the fantastic alumni we brought in. Now I have to decide if I want to help coordinate it again in 2017.
• New goal: Mentoring - We have new people starting in the lab this year. Rotation students, undergrads, and likely a new technician at some point. I enjoy mentoring and helping new people, and would like to continue to develop this skill. 
• New goal: Say no - I did a lot this year in terms of running student groups, moderating workshops, and volunteering. Most of it was fun, and I learned something from all of it. However, it was a lot to take on and I feel like my attention was never fully on any one thing. This year, I'm going to try the Derek Sivers approach of Hell Yeah or No. Unless it's something I'm super excited about, I'm going to pass. (Caveat: Considering my general enthusiasm for most things in life, this may not free up as much time as I hope...)

School:

• Submit F31 grant - Done! Submitted in December, which is a later deadline than originally intended, but it was a better grant this way. Now that I've struggled through this process once, I want to do it again. I'm hoping to be more involved in my PI's next few submissions, in addition to finding more grant writing opportunities for myself.
• Pass qualifying exam - DONE! The lead up was without a doubt the most chronic stress I've ever experienced. The exam itself was fun, in a weird way. I may write a more extensive post about this in the future.  
• Attend 2 conferences - Done! I actually went to three conferences in 2015, winning one poster award and two travel grants. I've been to enough conferences at this point that I'm going to be a little pickier about which I attend in the future. ASBMR is a definite, and I'd like to attend a Gordon Conference at some point as well.
• First author scientific paper - Done! Submitted, accepted, and already writing the next one.
• Read at least 1 paper per week - Not quite. I've been scanning more abstracts, but need to focus on more indepth reading. One of my goals for 2016 is to start blogging about our biweekly journal club. One comment from my qualifying exam is that I need to be more familiar with the literature. 
• New goal: Push my own research forward. My most recent papers were from finishing projects that had started in the lab before I joined. Now that I'm generating a decent amount of my own data, I need a broad outline of what needs to be done before this can be written up.

There are also a number of personal and fitness goals for 2016, but those are currently in flux, and don't seem as interesting to blog about. How was your 2015? What goals have you set for 2016?