On the art of finishing projects
Hey neurons,
This week, I was reflecting a lot on the art of finishing a project. Many of us start projects, but I think most of us, at least I, struggle with finishing the last little details and therefore leave quite a lot of unfinished mess behind.
I’m currently in a big transition moment, as I’m moving to London for my next research position on Schizophrenia. This means that for a short period of time, I will have a lot of overlap, both within my small daily tasks as well as my larger ongoing projects. I notice that during these moments of transition, it is very tempting to rush ahead and dive headfirst into newer (often shinier) projects and forget to neatly wrap up everything you have done before. That is why I want to talk a little about the art of finishing up projects, not only for yourself, but also for your future colleagues who might need to finish some of your work. A mountain of half-finished projects means a lot of information gets lost over time, which, in my eyes, is quite wasteful.
Make a list of final projects
Make a list of final projects that you are mainly responsible for that need to be finished. Usually, when we truly consider "what am I truly responsible for?". There are many projects that could actually be finished by someone else, with some proper guidance. It would therefore be good to sit down and honestly look at all the projects you have been involved in over the last few years, and consider primarily the ones that without you will not get finished.
Delegate earlier rather than later
On that note, delegating the other tasks and starting this process months before the transition point can make a big difference. During my postdoc, I was involved in quite a few committees. For these committees, I had to handle quite a few smaller tasks. Many of these could easily be done by someone else; what I often see happening is that people wait until the last minute to ask someone else to take over their tasks. Then they struggle to find someone who can jump in at the last minute.
Have a clear breakpoint
In academia, we have the tendency to keep going: after a bachelor's comes a master’s program, then a PhD, and finally hopping from postdoc to postdoc until we one day hopefully get tenure. Although this works in the short term, the risk in the long term is that you never stop to appreciate what you have achieved or properly close any chapter in your life. I think that at the end of every chapter, it is wise to have a clear breakpoint, where you clean up all the little details of the previous one.
In the end, as a message to you and maybe also to myself, I think it is important to take a moment in time to enjoy how far you have come before rushing on to the next big adventure.
📚 Something to read
📚 Book - The Will of the Many - by James Islington - Currently, I am reading quite a bit more fantasy, and I have to say that this book really grabbed my attention. The book takes place in something similar to ancient Rome, combining both the intricate political turmoil of that time with a unique magic system. It reflects on big themes related to the power of the masses and who is truly responsible for upholding a ruthless system. It made me reflect on the fact that we all, as individuals, through our daily choices, bear some responsibility for the systems that these choices produce.
🧠 NeuroSnips Community
Lastly, I'm creating a membership for anyone who wants to support the channel and mailing list, and access to a specially curated resource bank designed for bachelor's, master's, and PhD students.
- Access to curated templates, goal planners, and reading trackers
- Access to dedicated Notion workspaces for (PhD) students: meta-learning dashboards.
- Future access to the Beta version of The Infinity Lab community upon launch
Charlotte Fraza