For many Germans, tomorrow is the first day back to work after the long Christmas holidays. What better day to reflect on 2013 and plan for 2014?
Some of my aspirational goals for 2014 are (in no particular order):
1. Live more. Stress over work less. I was surprised this past year to see how much non-productive time my post-doc consumed, or rather, how much time I let it consume. I love the work that I do, and because I love it, I would ideally spend 90% of my time on research and 10% on the necessary administration and miscellaneous duties. Instead, I ended up spending at least 50% of my time, if not more, on administration and tasks that did not move my research forward. This is partly due to the difference between academic flex-time and the 9-5 world of a research institution. It is also partly due to poor scheduling on my part to compensate for the difference (for which I was admittedly unprepared). 2014 is going to include more proactive scheduling and more time recharging in places like the Schlossgarten park, where I was today.
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| Unterer Schlossgarten |
2. Continue to publish papers. This is a given if I want to have any sort of research career. More specifically, I want to publish at least four papers this year, at least two of which where I am the first author. I have already started three of the four papers; the fourth is in the works.
3. Have a job lined up for 2015 by November 1, 2014. My post-doc ends (more or less) by the end of 2014. As my next step, I am looking at academic positions and research NGOs and have been working intensely on applications. November 1 should be a reasonable target date to have an offer in writing.
4. Visit three new cities by June 1. See #1: live more, stress less. When I studied abroad in college, I traveled nearly every weekend. (Long weekends for Catholic holidays (and no class) helped this statistic considerably.) If this year's winter in Stuttgart is anything like last year's winter (cloudy, rainy, lifeless, and miserable), the best way to survive will be to get out of the city as much as possible. According to iCal, I have 17 free weekends between now and June 1. I have been keeping a list of new cities to visit and at the top of that list are Heidelberg, Dresden, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. Perhaps I'll even visit all four.
5. Skype more often with family and friends. What's the point of being all the way over here if I don't share it with the people who mean the most to me? Blogs and phones are great; Skype is even better.
What are some of your New Year's goals and/or resolutions?
