Timing your e-mails

Sooo tired…

The reason: My supervisor has discovered the art of delegating. The student request that all PIs in our department should attend a management course has seriously backfired.

Overoptimism

Can project planning ever be realistic? I keep a spreadsheet with a list of projects that I would like to do and a neat Gantt chart showing when I plan to do them (surely a sign that I've written way to many fellowship proposals?). Had a look at it today and realised that I have scheduled myself to work on eight projects in the next 15 months. Hmm…

But even though I don't for a second believe that I will be able to do everything, I like having an ambitious plan. When I get stuck on one particular analysis I take a peek at the chart and daydream about all the marvellous science I'm going to do as soon as I finish [insert troublesome project with no results, violated assumptions and heaps of technical problems].

I guess I must be a very sad person for being motivated by a multi-coloured graph.

Postdocology 101

Postdocs are the angsty teenagers of academia. We are past the kindergarten days of course curricula and clear expectations. We have not yet arrived at the top of the ivory tower where milk and honey flood the corridors and work contracts extend beyond two years.

Here we are, in the middle of nowhere, grappling with the big existential questions. Who are we? Where are we headed? Are we good enough? And meanwhile - as many a seasoned professor will tell us - we are supposed to HAVE THE TIME OF OUR LIVES.