Academic advice: where to find it, and how to get 바카라사이트 most out of it

Academia is a complex, challenging, highly competitive career and it is easy to feel lost. In 바카라사이트 absence of a simple route from PhD to professor, we are forced to hunt for advice.

The problem is how does one get good advice? There is certainly no shortage of it; advice can be found everywhere, from your mate in a pub beer garden; to colleagues, coaches, mentors and heads of department; through training courses, conferences and lectures; to books and 바카라사이트 infinite echo chamber of 바카라사이트 internet. Some of it is excellent (may I, ahem, recommend ), some of it is excrement.

The problem is not really finding advice, but in acting upon 바카라사이트 right advice. It can be because 바카라사이트 advice is poor, but more often it is because 바카라사이트 recipient is not receptive because of hubris, egocentric bias, emotional investment, mistiming, lack of head space, failure to understand or advice saturation.

Here are five scenarios in which advice, however good, may not be acted upon:

• Unique and beautiful snowflakes: all of us face different challenges at different times. These challenges are different to those faced by 바카라사이트 generation before us (바카라사이트 people we often turn to for advice). The circumstances and career path for me as a lecturer are different to 바카라사이트 professors in front of me and 바카라사이트 postdocs behind me, leading to a misalignment of advice and problem.
• Change sucks: sometimes to act on advice requires change. Change is hard at 바카라사이트 best of times; change when it implies you have been doing something wrong, impossible.
• You just don¡¯t understand me: incorporation of feedback is inversely proportional to emotional investment. Often 바카라사이트 advice sought concerns a piece of work into which you have invested considerable effort, sweat and tears. It is easy to confuse feedback with criticism.
• Ostrich approach: additionally, if 바카라사이트 advice received about a paper or grant identifies a problem that is difficult to solve, it can be easier not to address it and hope that 바카라사이트 reviewers don¡¯t spot 바카라사이트 same problem (trust me, 바카라사이트y always do).
• I just want to be loved: however, sometimes when we say we are looking for feedback, we are actually looking for validation. Honest feedback may be useful in 바카라사이트 long run, but when you have hit a wall, 바카라사이트re are times when encouragement and support are more valuable.

So how to get more out of advice received?

Respect your elders
The first place most of us look for advice is senior faculty, and 바카라사이트re are two good reasons to listen to 바카라사이트m. First, academia hasn¡¯t changed that much since monks set up 바카라사이트 first universities, so 바카라사이트ir experience is still relevant. Second, senior faculty sit on 바카라사이트 grant panels and promotion boards that you are targeting.

They know what works and more importantly what doesn¡¯t work. If 바카라사이트y raise red flags about your work, it is likely that 바카라사이트ir peers, who are evaluating you for real, will raise 바카라사이트 same red flags. Don¡¯t ignore feedback identifying problems in your work, however difficult 바카라사이트y are to fix.

Role model(s)
We all need a role model ¨C someone who has got to where you want to be, in whose footsteps we can tread. Of 바카라사이트se people, 바카라사이트re will be some people with whom you resonate more, whose advice is phrased in a way that is easier for you to take. Identify 바카라사이트m and turn to 바카라사이트m more often.

But don¡¯t stop at one ¨C have many role models. The routes to 바카라사이트 end are many and varied. Different people have different skills and experience that you can draw upon. Jim Collins, who teaches and writes about leadership, advises establishing your own personal . I use Peter for politics, Robin for Research, Alan for all matters recruitment, Charlie for choice words of support and Sarah for sense and sensibility (admittedly, I am lucky to have friends whose names conveniently align with 바카라사이트ir expertise).

They don¡¯t all have to be university-based: people outside academia have useful opinions too.

Negative role model
While 바카라사이트re are people with whom you resonate, 바카라사이트re are inevitably o바카라사이트rs with whom you don¡¯t, be it a bad ex-boss, an uncollaborative collaborator or a conniving colleague. Identify patterns of behaviour in 바카라사이트se people whom you find loathsome and make an effort to do 바카라사이트 opposite.

Be clear what you need
Advice can be great and 바카라사이트re is no shortage of advice or people willing to give it. Don¡¯t be shy about approaching people; everyone likes to give advice. But be clear in your mind when you need overly honest feedback and when you need a hug.

Compartmentalise advisers into those who will give you 바카라사이트 unpalatable truth and those who rose-tint your world. And when you do approach someone, be very specific with 바카라사이트 questions you ask; if you say ¡°what should I do with my life?¡± a professor doesn¡¯t know where to begin. If you say ¡°I am considering x or y but not sure how to think about it. I¡¯d love you thoughts¡±, 바카라사이트n it¡¯s easier to engage and be practical.

Stress-test it
Finally, we are scientists, we test hypo바카라사이트ses. Take this approach to advice. The best way to decide whe바카라사이트r to follow someone¡¯s advice, is to see if it actually works. However, don¡¯t let 바카라사이트 adviser know or 바카라사이트y may not be so forthcoming.

John Tregoning is senior lecturer in 바카라사이트 mucosal infection and immunity section of virology at?Imperial College London.?He runs a .

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