The Achievement Habit for Science: Ladies, Don’t Hold Back
Sometimes highly competent people doubt themselves far too often. And too often, that doubt holds them back from succeeding.
Finally! Data on What Study Section Really Cares About
In 2009, NIH revamped their scoring system asking reviewers to provide numbers ranging from 1 (best) to 9 (worst) assessing applications Environment, Investigator, Innovation, Approach, and Significance. NIH has emphasized Innovation (insert jazz hands), leaving many a weary grant writer to feel a need to invent fabulous new techniques to take DNA out of things, […]
Nine New Year’s Resolutions for Academics
Think, write, teach, discover and read. These are the things we love and why we joined this great profession, but so many things are in your way and killing your joy. Our resident Fighty Squirrel offers a couple resolutions and protips to let you do the thing you love. Your job. Enjoy and Happy New […]
Live Beneath Your Means
“I don’t want to miss the details of the resurrection. You always said becoming a division head would happen over your dead body, what gives?” After some warm-up, the facts spilled out: My friend wasn’t looking forward to being director of a large division. Her husband’s cancer, children approaching college, diminishing retirement contributions in a […]
You’re Never Going to Bounce Back, So Stop Trying: Academic Version
I’m in midst of a fantastic read by Navy Seal Eric Greitens called Resilience. If you want your philosophy in the form of a solid gut punch from someone who is trained to kill you about 300 different ways, this is the book for you. Early on in the book, Greitens warns against trying to bounce back […]
Collected Links on Busyness, Boundaries, and Balance
Several pieces on being busy, and why it might not be for the best.
The 125 Hour Work Week
Recently, if you listened hard enough, you could hear the collective sob of well-read junior scientists as Science Careers posted a commentary from Eleftherios P. Diamandis. Dr. Diamandis attributed his success to decades of consistently working 16-17 hour days, every day. He goes on to say…. “How did I manage it? My wife—also a […]
5 Ways to Instantly Appear More Confident
It’s fall conference season. Put your best foot forward as you speak and network with five tips from Nerd Fitness. Today I’m going to teach how you to appear more confident. Why? Because confidence is one of the most important skills in life that you can acquire (other than learning to use the Force, obviously). […]
Scientists and Clinicians: PR is Not a Four Letter Word
Many of us were trained to avoid reporters like the plague. We were told that our words would be misconstrued, our colleagues would judge us as being ‘showy’ and that we would be beseiged by the public if we engaged with the media. As academics hid from the limelight, the national stage for medical and scientific […]
Midcareer Mentoring
Much has been written about how much time an assistant professor should spend on “service” work and what types of service might be important for career advancement, as opposed to a poor use of time, not to mention soul-destroying. The typical advice is: “do some but not a lot.” Once you have tenure, those questions […]