2-node-supercomputer.net 2022-02-02

Designing Your Career

This basically taken more or less verbatim from the Design Your Postdoc Prework Assignment. This prework assignment is required and must be filled out before the workshop. Save the result as a text file at the end.

Uncover Your Needs

Why are you here?

Please spend some time reflecting on the purpose of your work. Write a general statement on your view:

Why work?

What defines good work?

What do purpose, fulfillment, and growth have to do with it?

What might success and failure look like? What effect would success and failure have?

What are your goals?

Please spend some time brainstorming what you want to achieve.

What do I want to do after my current situation ends? What are my career goals?

What things do I want to achieve while I’m here?

What milestones or deliverables will I need to get to my next step?

Are there any useful connections I should try to make (names or types of people)? How might I meet them?

I want to be a

I want to achieve/do:

Other milestones/deliverables I need:

The people I want to meet include:

Other goals I have while still in the current position are:

What training do you need?

You might need some additional training in some areas. Maybe it is in writing, public speaking, coding, time management, leadership, personal development, specific skills, etc.

What are your Values?

At the Designing Your Postdoc workshop they said that when people are unhappiest, it is often linked to a disjuncture between their values and their lives. So, what are your values?

Below is a list of values. Pick the ones most important to you. Don’t think too much about it but go by your gut.

Achievement. Advancement. Adventure. Autonomy. Basic Research. Clearly defined roles. Collective action. Community. Competition. Cooperation. Creativity. Cutting edge. Discovering new knowledge. Diversity. Elitism. Equality. Excellence. Excitement. Fairness. Family. Flexibility. Giving back. Harmony. Health. Helping. Impact. Inspiring the next generation. Integrity. Intellectual challenge. Learning. Location. Loyalty. Open communication. Passion. Prestige. Productivity. Recognition. Relationships. Respect. Service. Sharing knowledge. Stability. Structure. Success. Surroundings. Teamwork. Trust. Variety. Wealth.

Which of these are high priority values (up to 20)?

Do you have other important values not listed?

What are your top 3-5 guiding values themes?

Analyze Your Balance

In this workshop they did not talk about work-life balance. Instead, they say, there are four things that need to be fulfilled to some extent: Love, Play, Work, and Health. See this video for an intro.

What makes up your balance?

Love is what gives you a sense of connection. It can be fulfilled by friends, family, and a community. Play includes things you do for fun, e.g., your hobbies, music, and games. Work is the stuff you do. Health concerns your mind, body, and spirit. For example, what you eat, how you exercise, and your spiritual practice.

What are the things that fill love for you?
What are the things that fill play for you?
What are the things that fill work for you?
What are the things that fill health for you?

How is your balance?

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Maintain your balance

In order to maintain your balance in each of these areas, think about what you can do to improve your balance or to rebalance when things go askew.

What do you want to KEEP going forward?

What do you want to CHANGE going forward?

What do you want to ADD going forward?