Blning Your Life Ides tht might help you Pul Hoskin Summer 2007 Let s e honest if one lists off the responsiilities nd hoies tht eh of us hve nd ssigns weekly hourly time tht eh needs to e fulfilled, then there would need to e 40 hours in every dy nd 10 dys per week. There simply isn t enough time to do well, to high level of stisftion, ll of the things tht one needs to do. There s only one wy to del with this prolem suessfully: know who you re, know wht you wnt, ept ompromise s norml, nd mke pln. Know who you re: Hve you ever relly tken time to think out who you re s person? Wht motivtes you? Wht mkes you hppy? Do you need people round you, or re you oky eing on your own? Wht re the most importnt things in your life right now? Do you think tht you will nswer differently in 5 yers from now? Let s nswer some of these questions: (1) Rnk these in importne from 1 (most) to 3: vried jo environment (tehing, reserh, servie) leding suessful high-profile reserh group lned home nd work life (2) Wht 3 things do you need to do to keep you hppy s person (e.g., surfing, grdening, et.)? (3) Are you motivted enough for n demi position to give up for time or seriously ut-k on the three things tht you listed ove? YES NO (4) How do you est work? Quikly nd effiiently Slowly, methodilly, ut get the jo done Slowly, not so orgnized, finlly get it done (5) How do you ope with relentless low-level stress nd tiredness? No prolem, I lugh t it I ve lerned to suk it up It s oky for while if I know it s going to end soon I need shoulder to ry on
Know wht you wnt: And then work towrd tht. It s not good ide to ept tenure-trk position in Knss or North Dkot if it s the sltwter eh tht you need. Think out the things tht you wnt in your reer, the lifestyle tht you wnt, nd then work towrd ttining it. But e honest with yourself. If you know tht you don t hndle stress very well, then perhps you shouldn t e leding lrge reserh group or trying to live off soft-money grnts. If you need to e on the utting-edge perhps you should restrit your jo serh to lrge well-funded institutions tht ttrt top-noth grdute students nd post-dos. Let s think out this for little it euse getting these right will help you ttin lne in your life: (6) Geogrphy: strike out the ples tht you know you n t live in: New Englnd Middle Atlnti The South The Midwest The Southwest The West (south) The West (Pifi Northwest) Alsk (7) The est fit for me is (hoose one): A reserh only jo A reserh intensive jo with minor tehing A tehing position with lower reserh expettions A tehing position (with or without the reserh) (8) I ould see myself working t (hoose nd rnk up to three): Ntionl lortory (e.g., Argonne Nt. L., Los Almos, Ok Ridge, et.) Government or Stte geny (e.g., NASA, EPA, USGS, et.) Privte lierl rts ollege Stte funded 4-yer regionl ollege Puli reserh university Privte reserh university Junior 2-yer ollege or Community College (8) Given my preferenes, wht do I need to do to e in the zone : Nothing, I nerly hve or just got my Ph.D. nd I m redy to go Get visiting or stil replement to get tehing experiene Do reserh post-do Do seond reserh post-do
Mke plns nd stik to them: Now tht you hve got tht jo tht you wnted, you find tht life is out-of-ontrol. Mke plns nd get ontrol k. Pln your life out t different time sles. Pln your dy. Pln your week. Hve pln for the demi yer. Pln the 6 or 7 yers from strt to tenure. If you don t ontrol nd orgnize your life, then everything else nd everyone else will. Be delierte nd direted. Tht s wht suessful people do to e suessful. As n indition, these re the things tht you need to pln for: SELF HOME WORK Exerise Spouse nd Children Reserh Entertinment Yrd nd Home Duties Tehing Spiritulity Vtion Servie These res of your life will ply-off ginst eh other nd will tke priority over eh other t different times of the dy, week, nd yer. You ll find it helpful if you hve good sense of this plyoff nd how it works for you. Relize lso tht stisftion nd suess will e ttined in different res t different times. The sooner you get omfortle with trding priorities off ginst eh other, the sooner you will mke time for the most importnt things. For exmple, perhps you deide not to uy house until you hve finished your seond post-do. In this wy, you mke time for yourself euse you proly won t hve yrd duties to ttend to. You might deide not to tke 3 weeks of vtion every yer, ut only every seond yer until you get tenure. Your Deprtment my only require deprtmentl servie (nd not Fulty or University-level servie) prior to tenure. I find it helpful to visulize these time-ompeting res visully (over pge):
Yrd & Home Duties Vtion Tehing Servie HOME WORK 2 3 Spouse & hildren Reserh 1 Entertinment Spiritulity SELF Exerise
(9) Using numers + letters nd nmes (e.g., 3, Reserh), list off your urrent top 7 time priorities on the left; on the right, ntiipte wht your time priorities might e when you re two yers into the #1 rnked jo tht you indited in Question 8: (i) NOW (ii) 2-YEARS INTO DREAM JOB (1) (1) (2) (2) (3) (3) (4) (4) (5) (5) (6) (6) (7) (7) (10) Are you hppy with your NOW nswers given your nswer to Question 2? If not, wht hnges will you mke? (11) Let s sy tht you hve hild in yer 4 of your Drem Jo. How will your priorities hnge? Are you prepred to re-order them? For how long? (12) Think of your urrent grdute or post-do dvisor. As est s you n, to the right of your nswers for Question 9(ii), list using numers + letters wht you think their priorities in life re. How losely do they mth wht you wrote for 9(ii)? Will you e hppy if in 15 yers from now your priorities resemle losely those of your dvisor? If not, how will you ensure tht you will e different you re oth produts of the sme system, re you not?