September is a blur to me. I have lost half a week of work in terms of the hours worked, but I don’t know either when or why.
I will go through 9 categories and try to score them from 0 to 3, where 0 is no progress, 1 is tiny progress, 2 is some progress and 3 is gigantic progress.
1. I will learn a new research method this year
Nothing new here, Qualisys most of the days, and I am still way behind. I have processed data for one team this month though.
Progress: 2/3.
2. I will master one new statistical concept this year
Nothing to report here this month, mainly doing data processing and writing.
Progress: 0/3.
3. I will invest in relationships
I have done some networking this month. I am also preparing for a conference at the end of October.
Progress: 2/3.
4. I will set up a healthy schedule/lifestyle
Bad month. But I did participate in my first weightlifting competition. That was an interesting experience. I have done 5 out of 6 lifts and definitely enjoyed the atmosphere.
Sleep was down though, and so was nutrition.
Overall: 2/3.
5. I will set up an outreach plan
I have done #TheLeveragedPhD challenge this month again. It was a lot of fun. I have set up Twitter account and tried to do the challenge there too. In an attempt to achieve any consistency, I have set up Hootsuite. It worked well for the first week, but then I kind of gave up. The thing Hootsuite worked brilliantly for was LinkedIn though. Setting up the whole month of posts took me one hour.
I have published a blog post on using templates on the www.AlternativePostdoc.com.
Progress: 3/3.
6. I will come up with (my dream) a job
No new applications. No replies to previous applications too. I have listened to the whole Academics Mean Business podcast series. It gave me some courage to explore other options than a traditional academic path.
Progress: 0/3.
7. I will make a plan for the future (20 years)
I am still writing a book about writing. I did not stop.
Progress: 2/3.
8. I will dare to start the project which I have always wanted to do but did not have a chance to realize
A passion project is progressing and making me proud. A full draft of the results’ publication has been sent to co-authors. It still needs some more work, but hopefully is closer to being submitted.
Progress: 3/3.
9. Postdoc progress
I have finished processing data for the second team and started the third one. So much work still to be done…
Progress: 3/3.
Summary for September
Learning (points 1 + 2 + 9) = 2 + 0 + 3 = 5
Development (points 3 + 4 + 5) = 2 + 2 + 3 = 7
Future (points 6 + 7 + 8) = 0 + 2 + 3 = 5
This totals at 17 (out of 27) for September 2019. Not too bad.