How to achieve goals and bring it to life
How do you chart your career path and set goals for yourself? To be honest, at some point in my life, I completely abandon the intentions. As far as I recall, the last time I made a personalized and goal-oriented plan was for a college entrance exam. Since then, I've avoided thinking about the future because, frankly, it can cause stress and triggers when life is going on.
Since beginning to pursue a PhD, the difficulties have become more pressing, as there appear to be no set paths for where to go next. There is no better time to reestablish the habit and look forward to the future.
The inspiration for keeping a journal and planner comes from two occasions that happened in my PhD life. At first, I needed a space to keep track of applications for the fellowship, particularly for science journalism. Ever since I took an interest in science writing, I set my goal on earning, in my definition, the top best AAAS multimedia fellowship. The required materials for the application, from writing clips to outreach activities, have been the lighthouse in my journey of science communication.
The last straw that pushed me to the journal system was my pregnancy. Later in the summer of 2018, pregnant with my 2nd baby, I had weeks of, if not for months, feelings of depression and isolation. The 24/7 sickness almost prevented me from engaging in any activities that used to uplift my mood. All with raising a toddler and managing PhD work, the added complexity put me to a very lost phase. At one point, I decided to organize and help myself out.
This post is composed of three sections of setting up and breaking down goals. The key to building your version of the future envision is that, as I reflect, it’s more than tick off the to-do list, it’s about how you feel right to live your life.
Setting the scene
As I’ve grown up without many electronic devices around, (smartphones and cloud services appeared when I was 20-something), I adopt a hybrid system that is electronic and paper based. The nice thing about paper notebooks is that I get a better chance to access the legacy I’ve cultivated. Sometimes it’s a sweet surprise when coming across a passage that’s written 6 years ago, where I find similar thoughts shared with the past me.
One rabbit hole I’ve been fallen into is that it seems, at first, necessary to compose organized pages – better if it’s filled with doodles and decorations. But once I recognize that I just need to get it done because if it works, it works. The barrier of taking initiatives becomes less daunting. Therefore, start with whichever feels right because there’s no rule here!
Yearly Plan
When I started the bullet journal, the most pressing issue was a development plan for both my PhD and passion projects. The vision for them would not be complete, I thought intuitively, if not spread them out to the years to come. Here’s the first trial spread of my “years at a glance” record that filled with a 4-years imagination at professional and side hustle front. As I evolved, I added ideas that’s interesting or crossed out plans that doesn’t serve anymore.
Interestingly, I still reflect upon these memories and find inspiration.
Take preparing for the AAAS application as an example. I noticed that they seem to favor the applicants with some certain experiences that I lacked. My strategy was to break it down to separate fields and then put them down to when I could initiate the ideas. Though I didn’t achieve all the possible options, I managed most of them – write for multiple outlets and organize events. Some of the ideas, along the way, I found myself not particularly motivated by - for instance, to produce graphic illustration and host a podcast/YouTube. Although they are still on my mind, I decided to wait until pile up more thoughts.
Besides the journalism dream, my yearly pages evolve with various goals such as presentations at conferences. As I treat the research presenting as a milestone other than an extra burden, I try to put in suitable scholarship and presentation opportunities to make the career trajectory complete. And, the most important stage: get my PhD!
Monthly Plan
There’s one thing weird about how I see the individual monthly calendar – I don’t enjoy working with this type of structure. The reason comes from probably because I view things with simultaneous big pictures and details. When looking at one unit of monthly calendar, I get confused as in a sense, it’s too huge to convey the daily challenges and yet too small regarding long-term vision.
The most ideal layout, I find out, is to cluster multiple months into the same place. Here’s the examples of 2019 and 2020 spreads. By making the months on the side, I can overlook the future and, in the meantime, drop in plans on the side spaces.
At this point, those dreams, goals, and plans living in the “years at a glance” pages are mostly transferred to this space, where they are nicely sitting at more defined schedules. They can be application due dates, big writing assignments dues, or family related activities that need my close attention. One of the advantages is that I get better at energy management. By checking how full it is in each month, I have a better idea to see if I load myself with too many projects.
Weekly and Daily
Similar to the approach to the monthly plan, I work the best with a layout that visualizes weekly and daily structures simultaneously. It gives a fresh start at the beginning of the week and toward the end of the week, it serves as a sheet of a certificate.
In the past, I’ve used Passion Planner which has every detail I need – the bundled monthly calendars and two-paged weekly structure, along with blank space for brain dump. It works great in particular when I’m at limited energy because a set template is quick to get started. However, ever since working from home, I find that flexibility is much needed than the “normal” structured lab life. Using a bullet journal solves the problem as it’s easier to arrange routines for personal needs.
In terms of meetings and seminars, Google calendar is my long-time best friend. I use it for all the meeting schedules, doctor appointments, and even share activities with my husband. In essence, anything that involves interactions with other people, the first thing is to make sure it goes into the electronic record. It’s easy to edit, if any change coming up, while leaving no trace of altering marks. Once I start a new week, by just looking at the G-calendar I’d have a sense of how much time is at my end.
Most of the time I plan on the night before. I’ll make sure the meetings are aligned between G-calendar and the paper-based journal, and then I’ll fill in tasks by morning/afternoon/night shift. I discover the Get To Work Book shares a similar philosophy – it’s no time-stamped, so it’s more flexible to shift your energy to finish the tasks.
That’s it. You have it. These are the skeleton of my goal setting and plans to make it. If you want to know more detail, let me know and leave a comment!