From the Desk of the Committee for Early-Career Anatomists
Building margin in your scientific career
By Micah Schott, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Mayo Clinic
Everyone needs margin for the important things in life. Consider how you might plan for a big meeting, such as a job interview. You’d familiarize yourself with the job requirements and the company mission, and likely overprepare to account for the unexpected. You’d reserve plenty of time to ensure an early arrival, and use confident body language. These strategies reduce the likelihood of failure by creating a “buffer zone” called margin. More than just the spaces on either side of this paragraph, margin is the space that you create between yourself and failure. Adequate margin not only creates distance from an undesirable outcome, it also creates a sense of control that empowers you to achieve – think, for example, how empowered would you feel in the job interview if you created no margin for error?
Our scientific careers are incredible journeys filled with many unexpected events. Although there is no way to guarantee you will secure the perfect job, strategies exist to create margin for your career path and give you a higher likelihood for success. Here are three areas that I find particularly important:
Build your research portfolio, especially if your career is undecided: I strongly echo advice from the May 2016 Anatomy Now Leadership Corner – having a strong research portfolio gives you margin in the form of more potential career options, a stronger resume, and a greater earning potential. Since published work is the most valuable currency of our scientific careers, make sure you clearly understand how your current set of experiments will support a future publication. Take time to gather up your results, write an outline, and set a reasonable timeline and destination journal for your work.
Develop your leadership and entrepreneurial toolbox: Scientists may tend to bristle at these business terms, but consider viewing yourself as a leader and an entrepreneur. Leadership does not simply mean being in charge or making all the decisions. Rather, leaders influence others toward a positive, productive, and collaborative work environment. Effective leaders have great self-awareness and are intentional in their communication with others. Entrepreneurs are subtly different – they think outside the box to create novel and valuable products, and they effectively sell their idea to a target market. These concepts are well-described and directly applicable to you. Thinking in this way will add margin to your career by showing you new ways to think creatively, communicate effectively, and form useful collaborations. To learn more, I highly recommend the Entreleadership podcast as well as any book by Jim Collins, John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Cal Newport, and Steven Covey.
Use your time wisely: Simply working long hours may not be as effective as you think. It’s important to be intentional about planning each day, and include time margin to buffer against the unexpected. Early-career scientists often don’t give themselves enough time to think deeply about of their work or allow for spontaneous interactions. You might also consider adding margin for personal interests such as friends, family, and hobbies. Increasing your time margin will make you a more productive scientist and add balance to your busy life!
Building margin in your scientific career
By Micah Schott, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Mayo Clinic
Everyone needs margin for the important things in life. Consider how you might plan for a big meeting, such as a job interview. You’d familiarize yourself with the job requirements and the company mission, and likely overprepare to account for the unexpected. You’d reserve plenty of time to ensure an early arrival, and use confident body language. These strategies reduce the likelihood of failure by creating a “buffer zone” called margin. More than just the spaces on either side of this paragraph, margin is the space that you create between yourself and failure. Adequate margin not only creates distance from an undesirable outcome, it also creates a sense of control that empowers you to achieve – think, for example, how empowered would you feel in the job interview if you created no margin for error?
Our scientific careers are incredible journeys filled with many unexpected events. Although there is no way to guarantee you will secure the perfect job, strategies exist to create margin for your career path and give you a higher likelihood for success. Here are three areas that I find particularly important:
Build your research portfolio, especially if your career is undecided: I strongly echo advice from the May 2016 Anatomy Now Leadership Corner – having a strong research portfolio gives you margin in the form of more potential career options, a stronger resume, and a greater earning potential. Since published work is the most valuable currency of our scientific careers, make sure you clearly understand how your current set of experiments will support a future publication. Take time to gather up your results, write an outline, and set a reasonable timeline and destination journal for your work.
Develop your leadership and entrepreneurial toolbox: Scientists may tend to bristle at these business terms, but consider viewing yourself as a leader and an entrepreneur. Leadership does not simply mean being in charge or making all the decisions. Rather, leaders influence others toward a positive, productive, and collaborative work environment. Effective leaders have great self-awareness and are intentional in their communication with others. Entrepreneurs are subtly different – they think outside the box to create novel and valuable products, and they effectively sell their idea to a target market. These concepts are well-described and directly applicable to you. Thinking in this way will add margin to your career by showing you new ways to think creatively, communicate effectively, and form useful collaborations. To learn more, I highly recommend the Entreleadership podcast as well as any book by Jim Collins, John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Cal Newport, and Steven Covey.
Use your time wisely: Simply working long hours may not be as effective as you think. It’s important to be intentional about planning each day, and include time margin to buffer against the unexpected. Early-career scientists often don’t give themselves enough time to think deeply about of their work or allow for spontaneous interactions. You might also consider adding margin for personal interests such as friends, family, and hobbies. Increasing your time margin will make you a more productive scientist and add balance to your busy life!
