A few months back, Dr. Jane Lawrence Sumner(University of Minnessota) asked me if I had ever written on setting goals. Her request made me ponder whether I had one specific blog post on goal-setting as an important, strategic, research planning activity. I had a dormant Twitter thread that I wanted to save for posterity, so I looked for it this morning.
I have written a lot about planning, and more specifically, Granular Planning and the Rule of Three, but this thread (and blog post) lays out, step-by-step what I do to set goals, and how I help my own students (undergraduate and graduate) set their own, based on my strategy.
I used to do academic year but then I realized a lot of stuff isn’t out (e.g. dates and locations) so I can’t plan in August. My process looks like this https://t.co/oZvQE8XaBc I recommend that my students do the same (plan their year). I have suggested they use Gantt charts.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 16, 2018
Obviously, tenure-track faculty members & graduate students who work in labs and therefore publish papers as they go can use different strategies, which align with @MattLebo4 ‘s Managing Your Research Pipeline https://t.co/ZhpcsaWFCg process. I also like @prof_mirya ‘s templates
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 16, 2018
What my doctoral, Masters and undergraduate students told me THEY struggled with was developing a structured daily routine, so I wrote this post to help them https://t.co/zszfikTn6V (this post explains MY routine, but obviously can be adapted for others). My biggest concern…
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 16, 2018
I am by no means perfect, nor are my processes, so these are just guidelines that people may adapt. The more I teach the more I realize that my students struggle with time management, fighting procrastination and managing multiple demands on their time while maintaining sanity
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 16, 2018
Post-script. I also review my goals and progress towards the end of the month and the end of the week (hence my Sunday night planning) https://t.co/Km7FY3asIX
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 16, 2018
Hopefully this post will be useful to those seeking a structured approach to goal-setting.
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