Did you ever make a New Year's Resolution, thinking that a year would be plenty of time to reach your goal, and then find yourself making the same resolution a year later? The three primary reasons that many resolutions do not become reality are 1) lack of clarity about your goals, 2) lack of a plan of how you will achieve your goals, and 3) not following through with your plan.

As an example, let's take one of the favorite resolutions for graduate students: "I will graduate next year." Did you ever meet graduate students who said that year after year? I know I have, and every year I was a little saddened that they were still in school. As a former graduate student, I know how challenging it is to finish your thesis. There were times when I thought I would never finish and, honestly, I did not even know what I needed to do to graduate. I had collected a lot of data, but I could not make a coherent research study out of it.

The turning point of my graduate school experience came one day, when I had an epiphany. All of a sudden, I had an image in my mind with the Table of Contents for my thesis. I did not have data for all the sections, but I now had a vision for what my thesis would be about. Finally, after many years of trying to bring my data together, I had a story to tell. Not all the pieces of the puzzle were there, but I knew what was missing. On this day, I completed the first part of a resolution: setting a clear goal. I knew what I needed to do to finish. (Some minor changes had to be made after discussing it with my advisor, but the basic blueprint was there).

If your goal is to lose weight, to make more money, or to spend more time with your family, how specific are you? How much weight do you want to lose? How much more money do you want to make? How much more time do you want to spend with your family? The more specific you are, the more likely it is that your dreams will become reality.

The second part of turning a dream into reality is to develop a plan. In the case of my thesis, I worked out this part with my supervisor. There was still a large chunk of my thesis missing, and I had to learn new skills to acquire the necessary data. Furthermore, I set milestones and deadlines for many smaller goals.

Finally, it is essential to have the perseverance to follow through. Although I had a plan, obstacles came my way nearly every day. Experiments did not turn out the way we wanted them to, reagents were backordered, machines broke down, and computers crashed (yep, I lost an entire chapter of my thesis and the automatic backup system did not work either- I had to retype it!). Yet, every day (the key here is every day), I made an effort, a small dent in finishing my thesis. Many days you will not feel like working on your goal. But, if you commit to 15 minutes a day, you will find that by the end of the 15 minutes you will be motivated to keep working. This is especially a great technique for overcoming writing blocks.

Need some discipline to follow through? Support groups for thesis writing, weight loss, and exercises are probably the best way to get a little inspiration every week. It is hard to slack off when others check in with you every week or multiple times a week.

Now, think about the goal that you would like to become a reality in 1 year. If you had a clear plan of action, and committed time to this goal every day for a year, where do you think you would be by the end of 2011? What about 2012?

Wishing you the best,

Dora Farkas, PhD, Founder, PhDNet

Author: "The Smart Way To Your PhD:200 Secrets From 100 Graduates."

www.phdnet.org

dora@phdnet.org

Now Available in Kindle Edition!

I recently received a question from a postdoc through Benchfly.com, which I think most dual-career couples face at some point in their lives. Lydia (not her real name) had been a postdoc for three years when her husband received a job offer in another city. At that point, Lydia had no first author papers although she was planning on publishing one in the coming year. Lydia was now faced with a difficult choice: cope with a long-distance marriage or leave her post-doc without publishing.

The specific details of Lydia's situation (how far her husband will be, how frequently they can visit, how long it would take her to finish her paper, and her own career plans) will eventually determine her decision, but this is a situation that almost all dual-career couples face. In academia, where the job market is becoming increasingly competitive, many couples have nearly given up the idea of getting positions in the same university or even city. One female professor, who received an offer from a university of Maryland, was happy that her husband got a faculty position in Virginia. At least they were in neighboring states.

While professionals in industry also face this dilemma, it is more common in academia because there are so few positions. Should couples apply as "unit" to a university, and only accept if both of them will be hired? There are different opinions regarding when one should bring up the job situation of their spouse during the interview process. In general, the consensus is that your first priority should be to demonstrate that you are the most qualified person for the position. Some candidates will discuss the situations of their spouses at the end of the interview or at the next round of interviews. (See references at the end of this blog for real stories.) Since positions are so competitive, many couples who are now in academia also applied to industry positions in the same geographical area.

One pattern I noted in the articles is that if the "trailing spouse" was also hired into the same department, he or she was sometimes treated with less respect. Other professors in the department felt that having spouses could create a conflict of interest and disrupt the academic direction of the department. It sounds like the spouse who was hired second needs to work extra hard to establish him or herself. This is less likely to occur if the spouse is in a different department, or if the applicants are still post-docs or graduate students. One student I spoke with noted that she was accepted to a very well-known graduate school, and they asked whether she had a "significant other issue." She replied that her boyfriend was already a student in another university (in a different field), and they offered to call the department at their school and inquire whether he could transfer.

Couples who end up in the same university or geographical location usually decide before they even apply to jobs that they want to stay together. They look for jobs together and consider commuting time a major factor in their decisions. Sometimes one of them needs to make a "sacrifice" (I put it in quotes because in the end they do not feel like it was a sacrifice) and take an industrial or other alternative career path. See the articles below for stories about how some couples coped with this situation.

http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2010/100826/full/nj7310-1144a.html

http://www.phds.org/jobs/the-two-body-problem/

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerprep/jobsearch/dualcareer.html

Wishing you the best,

Dora Farkas, PhD, Founder, PhDNet

Author: "The Smart Way To Your PhD:200 Secrets From 100 Graduates."

www.phdnet.org

dora@phdnet.org

Now Available in Kindle Edition!

Thanksgiving has come and gone (too quickly, it seems), but this feast-filled time of year reminds us of delicious foods that are sadly forgotten about the rest of the time. Pumpkin is a prime example a food that is packed with nutrients, but cooked very rarely. While pumpkin season runs from late Summer to early Spring, pumpkins (primarily in the form of pies) seem to occupy the dinner tables almost exclusively on Thanksgiving (except as candle holders on Halloween).

Yet, this bright orange fruit, which is thought to have been cultivated nearly 10,000 years ago in North America, is more than just a pie ingredient. Filled with loads of vitamins, minerals and fiber, pumpkin is literally a super food (see reference book at the end of the post). The most notable nutrients in pumpkins include alpha and beta carotenes, vitamins C and E, and potassium, which are essential for vision, immune function and cardiovascular health.

So, why don't we cook pumpkins more often? If you have ever tried to make pumpkin soup from scratch, you probably know that pureeing a pumpkin is no picnic. Although you would soon gain impressive biceps from trying mash its tough flesh, it is certainly tempting to just give up all together and reach for a can of Campbells instead.

The good news is that canned pumpkins, which are inexpensive, easy to eat, and just as nutritious as fresh ones, are available year round.

So, what can you do with a can of pumpkin? Here are just a few ideas:

• Pumpkins soup
• Pumpkin hummus
• Pumpkin curry
• Pumpkin chili
• Pumpkin risotto
• Pumpkin bread (really, really good with raisins)
• Pumpkin spice muffins
• Pumpkin cookies
• Pumpkin pie

(see recipe links at the end)

If you do venture to get your own pumpkin, there are ways to simplify the mashing process, such as microwaving it beforehand. If you do get fresh ones, be sure to save to pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas. Just spray them with olive oil and sprinkle some salt on them for a delicious snack.

I love to write about food for graduate students for a few reasons. First, many studies have found a strong correlation between healthy diets and good mental concentration. While we all know this, it is just too easy to skip the whole cooking process and get pizza instead when we are short on money and time. Having been a graduate student for many years (and never liking cafeteria food very much) I had to come up with creative solutions for quick dinners, and I love to share my ideas.

I also like to write about cooking to support students who have picked up cooking as a hobby during graduate school. Yep, that's right. Many students have claimed that their cooking skills soared when their studies were not going well. Was cooking a form of escapism from the lab or the library? Perhaps, but it is certainly one of the best hobbies one can pick up, especially if on the long run it will help you to become healthier and more productive (not to mention saving money. )

To get more pumpkin recipe ideas go to: improved significantly

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/healthy/canned-pumpkin-recipe-ideas

http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/baking-with-fresh-pumpkin/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/pumpkin-recipes/Detail.aspx

http://www.suite101.com/content/health-benefits-of-pumpkin-a153140#ixzz16yv8l0YE

SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steve Pratt and Mary Matthews

Wishing you the best,

Dora Farkas, PhD, Founder, PhDNet

Author: "The Smart Way To Your PhD:200 Secrets From 100 Graduates."

www.phdnet.org

dora@phdnet.org

Now Available in Kindle Edition!