Have you ever set goals that you were not able to meet so you decided to just completely give up? Statistics show that less than 10% of people stick with their New Year’s Resolutions.Instead of setting goals that frequently lead to frustration, I would like to invite you to set your intentions instead. What in the world is that?- you might ask.
An intention is a mindset and it is much more powerful that a goal. As a diligent graduate student I was hoping to graduate after 5 long years. I set many goals along the way such as “By December I will finish experiment XYZ and by February I will have completed my manuscript.” Due to the whimsical nature of research (as I am sure you can all relate), there were forces beyond my control that prevented me from completing the desired experiments by my arbitrary deadline. December, January and February came and went, but due to one reason or another I could not complete the desired experiments.
Realizing that setting goals with strict deadlines did not fit the nature of my research, I changed my focus from a dry to-do list with deadlines (which is demoralizing for anyone) to a big picture plan with a purpose. Specifically, I set my mind to designing an experiment that would elucidate how healthy cells were in culture. Now my days were completely different. When a setback occurred (e.g. my cells died, or an instrument stopped working), I no longer slumped back into my chair feeling helpless. I knew what I had to do, such as get new cells, call someone to fix the instrument etc. Sure, these unexpected things set me back by a week but I was still on track. “What about strict deadlines? Doesn’t this strategy lose sight of timelines?”, you might ask.
On the contrary. When you focus on the big picture you are more likely to come up with creative solutions. Clarifying your intentions helps you step back and think about the result you are striving for. Once I consciously decided to investigate ways to improve cells culture conditions and design experiments to study the health of the cells, my motivation increased dramatically. I was excited to get out of bed in the mornings, because there was real reason to go to work. I worked 12-14 hours days as I got closer to graduation, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Setting my intentions and clarifying the purpose of my thesis paid off. II graduated just 6 months after switching directions.
Sounds easy, right? Unless you already have a very deep-rooted purpose in life, you will need to work a little on clarifying your intentions. You need to be very clear on what you want and why do you want it (i.e. what’s the purpose of your dissertation?) A very empowering visualization for graduate students is imagining their thesis defense. Think about what you will say that day, particularly the take-home message of your thesis, and visualize it multiple times a day (if you want to have some fun imagine the food and the cake at your thesis defense party). There is a good chance that you will need to work with your PI on the specific details of your thesis plan, and you can change your visualization accordingly. To boost your energy, remind yourself every morning of the results you are trying to achieve and watch your motivation, excitement and productivity get stronger!