New technology and big data helping small producers take on the big food suppliers, citizen-led medical healthcare and universities taking on the major global challenges – these are just three of the Top 10 predictions for 2016, published 
by innovation charity, NESTA.
If you had to make a similar list of predictions for 2016, but focussed on your career, what would be on it? What plans (big or small) do you have this year that could have a positive impact on your future? Maybe a Top 10 list is too much to compile in one go, so how about your Top 5 to start off with? Making plans doesn’t mean you have to stick to them, but it’s useful to have a flexible personal strategy. This will help you to keep in mind what you’d like to achieve for your career, as well as making progress with your research project.
Here are some example resolutions that came to my mind during this first week of 2016 (but note these ideas may be only partially relevant to your situation, so feel free to ignore and make your own list):
- My primary resolution for 2016 is to try to stop ‘faffing about’ and ensure that most days I’m being productive. It’s easy to get distracted with trivia or checking emails, so I aim to stay focussed on the things that matter and prioritise the most important tasks.
- Procrastination and putting things off affects most of us and can become an ever-present background distraction if not dealt with. For my part, I intend to sort out and paint my house this year, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I plan to start small and eventually the whole house will be done (this is probably going to be a year-long project!). Clearing out your physical clutter can help clear your mind too (according to Feng Shui philosophy).
- Looking ahead to the coming year, it can be useful to break it down into months or weeks to give a more detailed picture of your short- and medium-term plans. Insert key immovable events (e.g. meetings, courses, events and even holidays) around which you can pencil in your everyday plans. A hardcopy or electronic diary can help you to view the year ahead and add in events as they crop up – I add in personal and social activities, which are all too easily overlooked such as departmental lectures, training, sport and even lunch dates.
- Consider your career strategy for the coming year – what can you be doing to enhance your employment prospects? Looking beyond your core research activities will help you to extend your professional profile. Is there a paper or grant proposal that needs writing? Are there events you could be getting involved with? What about useful courses you could attend to increase your knowledge or skills (some of which have grants and scholarships to attend). Take a look at my career calendar as some of the events may be of interest to you.
- Being part of relevant communities helps us to extend our knowledge and professional networks. I’m a member of quite a few different communities relevant to science, careers, women in science, education and science communication as these are central to my job. Think about building on your own current research community and expanding into others (research and non-research) that may be useful to you in the future. You can do this via personal and professional contacts, reaching out to people in professions of potential interest to you, joining social media networks, volunteering to run events, getting involved and interacting with others, communicating your work through publications, presentations and other platforms.`
So, to conclude my first blog of the year, I’ll leave you with this list and the promise of a second instalment in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, I’m off to put some dates in my diary and choose some paint for my house. Happy New Year to you all – may it be successful and productive!