The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has several definitions for the word "society" but I think this one is a pretty good starting place:
"a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests."

An alternative definition of society "an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another" also seems appropriate for this post. ​

We are all embedded within and participants in a variety of societal systems that affect us everyday. These range from economic systems (Capitalism, Socialism, Communism) to governing systems (representative democracies, parliamentary democracies, autocracies) and employment sectors (higher education, healthcare, finance). The interesting thing about systems is that while they are ultimately constructed by choices made by people, many individuals don't feel like they have agency within them. It is as if past choices made by others in power or with influence set out the parameters and rules to which we must now operate within. 

There have been growing critiques of many of our modern systems over the past several years including shareholder capitalism. These critiques have come largely from the young who feel the systems of the past aren't serving them well (and they may have valid points there). 

Gallup's World Happiness Report 2024 reveals some striking findings: among those below the age of 30, the United States ranks 62nd and Canada 58th in global happiness while among those age 60 and above, the US ranks 10th and Canada 8th in global happiness. Put another way, older adults in the US & Canada fall in the top 7% of countries in their happiness ratings while youth are in the 40th percentile or lower. This dichotomy between the perception of youth and older adults is also present in other high-income democratic countries including Japan (gap between young and older adults of 37 places), Germany (gap of 26 places), Spain (gap of 26 places), and France (gap of 23 places) and to a lesser degree Australia (gap of 10 places) and the United Kingdom (gap of 12 places). 

One potential explanation for this unhappiness in the young is we are in a time of immense change and uncertainty and this has led to heightened anxiety and depression, most likely enhanced by social media platforms. 

Additionally, it is difficult to argue with the notion that older individuals took advantage of economic cycles that allowed for their wealth and prosperity to grow in most of the capitalistic, democratic, neoliberal world order that emerged post World War II and reached new heights in the 1980s & 1990s. In fact, according to data from the United State's Federal Reserve, US Baby Boomers and older adults now hold more wealth than the rest of the population (those aged 55+ hold ~69% of US wealth compared with ~9% of wealth held by those under age 40). The rise of globalism as a potential driver of the disconnect between happiness amongst older adults and youth may be best seen in the Gallup World Happiness Report's data from China (a large beneficiary of globalization during the 1990s and early 2000s) where the gap in happiness is on par with the US and Canada (gap of 49 places) with Chinese youth in the 55th percentile (just ahead of Libya) while older Chinese are in the top 25% of countries (just behind Spain) for happiness. The rise of the Chinese Gen Z trend of "lying flat" epitomizes the fact that this youth discontent ​is not limited to democracies but perhaps a wider trend of modern society. 

The data are clear that youth disillusionment is on the rise across the globe and in 2021 the World Economic Forum went as far as to name it one of the top global risks. The report defines youth disillusionment as "youth disengagement and lack of confidence and/or trust with existing economic, political, and societal structures at a global scale" and that the consequence of its rise is "negatively impacting social stability, individual well-being, and economic productivity".

What one defines as "youth" is somewhat subjective but a global study found that Millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996 - with some now entering their 40s, are the most dissatisfied with democracy and more dissatisfied than Generation X or Baby Boomers were at the same age. The work also found a generation gap in satisfaction with democracy where on average Baby Boomers were more satisfied than Generation X who were more satisfied than Millennials. The report referenced above did not look at the newest generation to enter the workforce - Generation Z - but data released by Gallup in Fall 2023 suggest their faith in a variety of institutions in the United States is exceedingly low (50% indicate very little trust in Congress, 46% in the Presidency). ​

The lack of confidence in our societal systems and overall disillusionment of younger generations is a big problem. The young people of today are the future workforce of tomorrow, ultimately paying taxes that help keep our countries and their various entitlement programs running. ​

I work in the interesting "system" that is higher education and a research-intensive university, specifically. While many in the general public may believe higher education is more morally pure in its motives than, say, a for-profit corporation, this does not mean these institutions don't possess various hierarchies and power dynamics. ​

One point to remember about most social systems is they are constructed by people, specifically by those who are actively engaged in a common ideal or area of work. So, the system of higher education was created by academics and their choices over many years. These led to a variety of norms and attitudes they may seem to many today as "assumed" or as "the way we have always done things" but often those embedded deep in a social system lack perspective on said system. They only know what they have experienced or learned vicariously through others (mentors or peers). Alternatives to the status quo can be hard to see from within a system. Additionally, most systems provide security and power to incumbents and established entities within them (tenured professors in the case of higher education) and these incumbents thus have many incentives present that make it difficult for them to be for change. 

Why change a system that is working for you? Well, one reason could be that if a system becomes too exploitive or unequal individuals will at a minimum not want to participate in it and in extreme cases decide the only solution is to completely destroy it in its current form (the "burn it all down" approach). Furthermore, unhappy individuals within a system can lead to poorer outcomes for everyone including coworkers, collaborators, and the individuals the system serves (in the case of higher education, undergraduate students). ​

Big challenges face one group in the academy whom I have worked to support the past 5+ years: postdoctoral associates (postdocs). For those unfamiliar, a postdoc is an individual with a doctoral degree (often a Ph.D.) who embarks on a continued period of growth and development (somewhat akin to a residency for those with MD degrees). Traditionally, this period served as an apprenticeship where a newly-minted Ph.D. would work "under" a more senior scholar/researcher to learn the skills required to become an effective faculty member. 

The challenge to the current state of the postdoc is that it is a relatively tenuous position with limited job security, relatively low pay, and little institutional support. Many in academia are concerned that conditions for postdocs are gotten to a point where less recent Ph.D.s pursue them and recent data suggest the number of postdocs is declining in the United States. 

This has led to calls for change including the formation of a working group on Re-envisioning  NIH-supported Postdoctoral Training, who submitted a set of recommendations to the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in December 2023. The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) also recently released a new set of Recommended Postdoc Policies and Practices at its Annual Conference in mid-March 2024. Both documents call for a range of improvements to postdoc salaries, benefits, training environments, and processes to deal with and respond to problematic environments and working conditions.  

It is great to see these calls for change but institutions will be slow to adapt. 

Many postdocs (and graduate students) have taken matters into their own hands by banding together to pursue the formation of unions to help them more effectively advocate for their interests with institutional leadership. Given most postdocs are in the Millennial generation with Generation Z just now entering postdocs and making up a large portion of the graduate student ranks we might not be surprised by their activism and discontentment, given the points raised earlier from Gallup and the World Economic Forum on youth unhappiness and disillusionment. The topic of graduate student and postdoc unionization a complex one and not something I will get further into here. I will say, though, that certainly improved collective bargaining power can help with making conditions better for a group. The presence of union contracts and procedures could also lead to more adversarial relationships between parties or make academic relationships between students, postdocs, and faculty mentors more transactional and "employment-like" (though some might argue they have been this way anyway). Regardless of where one comes down on the topic of academic unionization, it is hard to argue that the push for it signals a growing discontent in key members of the ecosystem who feel unsupported and underappreciated. We must do better. 

For more on graduate student and postdoc labor movements see:

• Webinar panel hosted by the National Academies Roundtable on Mentorship, Well-being, and Professional Development in January 2024

The panelists shared a variety of readings and resources which I highlight and add to, below:

• Organize the Lab: Theory and Practice
• Postdoc Identity, Jurisdictional Issues, Ideologies, and Unions: Considerations in Organizing Professionals
• Analyzing the Upward Trend in Academic Unionization: Drivers and Influences
• Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy
• An Analysis of Academic Hiring Research and Practice and a Lens for the Future: How Labor Justice Can Make a Better Academy
  

In the end systems can be unjust and hard to change. This does not mean we shouldn't work to make our systems and society better. The challenge will be in convincing enough people that change will lead to improved outcomes for more stakeholders than the status quo. 

While anger at the state of our unequal societies and potentially unjust systems may be warranted, I am not for the "burn it all down" approach. Rather, I think we need to realize that the many individuals we could see as adversarial to our cause are, themselves, products of these systems. Sometimes they would like to see change but have been embedded so long in the status quo that they may be unable to see what could change about the environment. We also need to provide increased oversight and the ability for bad actors to be punished for activities that are clearly exploitative and egregious. ​

Change is hard but needed in higher education and beyond. We must work to restore faith in our societal institutions as they are critical to the functioning of a complex, interdependent nation and world. I surely don't have the answers but believe if enough voices are heard and we commit to collective action to improve our institutions, things can improve. This requires more active involvement in civic life, our communities, government, and non-profit organizations (which can also benefit you professionally while helping others) and doing the hard work that comes with volunteering in these areas, or even taking on causes outside your job description at your employer. And I would argue it requires young people to get more involved in these efforts to make sure their concerns and viewpoints are heard.  

To return to the definitions of society I started this post with: we must work to find common and collective activities and interests amongst diverse groups of stakeholders and generations AND realize that our society endures through cooperation. We each must do our part while also being willing to admit that all actions and approaches may not benefit us directly but that does not mean they aren't what is best for the greater good.  ​

An earlier version of this piece was published in Inside Higher Ed's Carpe Careers column on May 15, 2023. 

​Let’s start off with a statement that may read a bit alarming to the science and engineering graduate students and postdocs who are reading this: there is no “formula” for career success. No combination of your skills plus talent plus hard work definitively guarantees success in your career or life. This is partly a fact of the world not being predictable or “fair” but also acknowledges something that seems obvious when examined deeply and holistically but shocking when first encountered by an individual socialized in a modern, capitalist economy: your success isn’t up to you.  

“Greatness is in the agency of others” is a phrase often used by Scott Galloway, a faculty member at New York University’s Stern School of Business and influential blogger/podcaster.   

​The crux of this argument is that no one succeeds alone. Rather, we live in societies where collectively we produce success and opportunity, even if it is only evident to have been realized by a subset of the population. In fact, the only reason our modern economies function is through the collective and specialized actions of many individuals contributing, yes, their unique skills and abilities to the world. 

​The key word there is collective…we succeed together even if many of us don’t realize or acknowledge it. A central example is childcare and education. Even the most naturally gifted individual must be cared for as a baby and young child to reach an age where their potential can be realized. Furthermore, they need schooling and access to information that was created by others to understand the world and how they can build off the foundation of countless individuals to create new “breakthroughs” and potentially make money doing it. And this action may lead that individual to be rewarded financially and touted as a genius, a disrupter, or successful entrepreneur but their success is not 100% theirs. 

In an increasingly complex world with technology advancing at a blistering pace, no one can know it all or be 100% self-made. For many decades leveraging one’s technical skills and abilities to produce value was paramount to having a successful career. You needed to offer skills that were in demand in the current economy to be recognized as providing value in a purely economical sense. While this seemed to be rational and efficient it was not necessarily good for human flourishing. We are more than our skills and physical outputs and the acceleration in generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology has left many wondering what are we “good for” in a future where AI can produce similar creative and practical outputs to our own more efficiently and effectively? 

The famous American poet, writer, and activist Maya Angelou has a quote that nicely embodies what we all should strive for as human beings today and always:
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

​The enduring skills of the future of “work” are human skills…making others feel something: feel valued, feel heard, feel understood, feel important.  

Human skills or interpersonal skills include a variety of skills that help us work effectively with other human beings. Communication, empathy, emotional intelligence and other attributes fall under this larger umbrella. 

• Communication is critical to so many professional roles and ultimately facilitates (or hinders) teamwork and progress toward institutional goals. 
  
• Leadership and management center around how we understand the people who report to us enough to know how to motivate them and facilitate their success. 
  
• Compassion and empathy are critical to dealing with setbacks and challenges that are inevitable in life and demonstrate to others that we care and value them.  

​These human skills are essential to succeeding and enduring professionally. The fact of the matter is that while one’s skills and abilities can land you a job interview or often an entry level job, your interpersonal skills and other attributes of your personality will make someone want to have you as a colleague or work for you.

​Unfortunately, many individuals pursuing their graduate degrees or postdoctoral research dismiss the importance of these skills. They will often discuss a frustrating job search process with statements like “don’t my skills and abilities speak for themselves?” or “my work speaks for itself”. And while skills and abilities are surely important, they are often being assessed on more than their work. I think this is a good thing because we are all more than the skills, abilities, and accomplishments listed on a resume. 

​Even in research-focused roles at companies, someone with PhD-level training will often be hired with the intention that the company considers them to be a future project or program leader. Being placed in a leadership role might not occur right away but many employers will be looking for glimpses of these skills when interviewing candidates. 

More value is placed on transferable and interpersonal skills when a Ph.D. is transitioning into a non-research role. At that point, an employer doesn’t often care as much about your specific technical skills or research accomplishments but rather that by completing a graduate degree you showed the ability to think critically, problem solve, extract insight from data, and communicate your findings. Your Ph.D. experience provides a breadth of these transferable skills valued by employers.

How does one work to build interpersonal skills? 
Through putting yourself out there and practicing.

This is best accomplished when the stakes are low and could start out as simply as attending a graduate student or postdoctoral association event and chatting with a few people in attendance. Making “small talk” can seem trivial but it works to build connection with others. In fact, it may seem trivial to you to attend an event and listen to a fellow grad student or postdoc vent about their day or talk about their new dog but that doesn’t mean it is trivial to them. Sometimes people just need to be heard, to believe that what they have to say or share is worthy of another human being’s time and attention. For the introverts reading this (of which I count myself), I think we can all acknowledge we would most often rather listen than talk. The good news is you can go to one of these community events and mostly listen and affirm what you hear from others. 

​Busy graduate students, postdocs, and professionals will often cite the lack of time as a hurdle to making connections with others or engaging in organizations or activities that would benefit them professionally and personally. They see these social and community engagement activities as a combination of a luxury and distraction. Time is indeed a finite resource and while there will always be more work to be done than time to do it, time with others is time well spent. In addition, science shows you will feel better from having engaged in these “prosocial” behaviors. It feels good to engage with and help others. Importantly, by building these informal networks you can begin to have people you can rely on for help. This is essential as sometimes we are the helpers and sometimes we are the ones needing help. 

Human skills are more than just valuable to you professionally but also personally. This may go without saying but sometimes we can forget how important it can be to be a caring, compassionate human when interacting with others. Saying thank you and showing other signs of appreciation, remembering relevant personal information and milestones of your coworkers, and being willing to be helpful even if an ask is “outside your job description” go a long way. And our national loneliness epidemic could benefit from more human connection and compassion. Many people want more opportunities to socialize and bond with others but it often takes someone to be brave enough to initiate the process. Will that be you? 

​Embracing your humanity and honing your interpersonal skills through practice will allow you to better relate to and understand other human beings’ needs, hopes, and desires. This will in turn pay dividends in your work, life, and society as a whole. 

​No one succeeds alone and no one (consistently) succeeds on their skills and abilities alone. Rather, greatness is in the agency of others: engaging with others, listening to others, empathizing with others, and working collectively with others is essential not only for our own personal and professional fulfillment but for a functional and prosperous society for all. 

A version of this post originally ran in Inside Higher Ed's Carpe Careers column in October 2023

​Doctoral students nearing the end of their degree program must anticipate transitioning from graduate work—finalizing data analysis, writing and completing a dissertation—to searching for postgraduate opportunities. For many of you, especially those in the sciences, the next step is often an academic postdoctoral position to bolster your skills and research experiences as part of your career and professional advancement.

A previous Carpe Careers post in Inside Higher Ed by Tina Solvik provided expert advice for finding academic postdoctoral positions and what you should consider during the process. We will highlight in this piece additional resources and programs that you may want to leverage for identifying and transitioning into a postdoctoral opportunity, whether your career goal is a faculty position or employment in the for-profit sector or government. While there are several different types of postdoc experiences, you should always concentrate on developing new technical capabilities beyond graduate training; seeking opportunities for more independence in research; and gaining skills in leadership, project and people management, and mentoring. ​

​For many doctoral students nearing the completion of their degree, the question often becomes: to postdoc or not to postdoc…and where? Like all complex questions, the answer is: it depends. To determine what a postdoc would mean for your career, you should consider the costs and benefits of the time spent in such a position as well as explore other possible paths. 

​Here are two ways to begin that reflection process. 
1. Find job advertisements for career positions that are of interest. Do they require postdoc experience? Is it a preferred criterion? If so, then you should probably consider a postdoc. 
2. Seek advice from your network and engage in informational interviews with professionals in positions similar to what you want to obtain to determine if postdoc experience is necessary to get the jobs they have. 

​While few positions outside faculty roles require or prefer postdoctoral experience, leveraging a postdoc to build skills and crystalize your career plans can still be worthwhile.  

Historically, postdoc positions have been mainly available in STEM fields, but they have become more common recently in the humanities and social sciences. The graph below shows the steady growth of recent Ph.D.s in the humanities and arts, education, and psychology and social sciences pursuing a postdoc after graduation. From 2010 to 2022, the number of people seeking a postdoc grew 62 percent in the humanities and arts, 60 percent in education, and 26 percent in psychology and the social sciences. 

That said, one major disadvantage is that postdoctoral training decreases earnings and delays retirement savings, according to a study by Shulamit Kahn and Donna K. Ginther. So, while a postdoc can help you build skills and expand scholarly experiences that help you advance your career, you may pay a short-term financial cost.

​Choosing the proper postdoctoral training environment will be vital to your success. We highly recommend The Postdoc Academy, a free, online series of courses and resources, for anyone planning to transition from graduate work to a postdoc position. Its content focused on succeeding as a postdoc and creating productive conversations with a potential postdoc mentor may be especially relevant. 

​You should consider a variety of environments for your postdoctoral training. Learning about postdoc opportunities is part of networking. So it’s best to reach out to other researchers in the field you’re interested in and anticipate when open postdoc opportunities might occur. Many people who pursue a postdoc are ultimately seeking faculty careers and, as such, working at an academic institution as a postdoc can help you better prepare for succeeding in that space. 

​The vast majority of postdoctoral positions in academia are funded via external grant awards. Therefore, it can be helpful to use tools like NIH Reporter, NSF Awards Search, USDA NIFA Awards Search, and National Endowment for the Humanities to identify faculty working in your area of interest who may also have funding available to support you as a postdoc. While you may be primarily hoping to find faculty members with pending funding to support you in the future, if someone already has funding in an area, it usually a good predictor that more funds may be available. Proactive outreach to faculty who are doing work that interests you can help you explore a potential alignment of a pending grant with the timeline of your postdoc search. 

​The number of opportunities for commercialization or technology transfer postdoc positions at U.S. universities is also growing. Those programs either focus on training Ph.D.s for careers in the technology transfer space or assist in learning how to commercialize technology or other innovations coming from research work. 

If you are in the humanities, consider postdoc opportunities at universities, centers, libraries and institutes—especially if your interests are interdisciplinary and applied. Humanities Ph.D.s can find postdoc opportunities in fields such as digital humanities, public humanities, and science and humanities by searching this academic jobs wiki. These opportunities can give you the chance to work on cutting-edge research and develop new skills in different contexts.

​Keep in mind that you can also find a variety of opportunities to build skills and experiences in a mentored training position in environments other than academic institutions. If you are interested in a more research-focused career path or one where your research deals with applied questions, postdoc positions at U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories and similar organizations could be worth exploring. The platform Zintellect, managed by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, allows you to search for postdoc fellowship positions (and other roles) at multiple national labs and federal agencies. The NRC Research Associateship Programs are another great way to gain postdoc training in a U.S. government research lab or agency. In addition, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Park Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and companies like GlaxoSmithKline and the American Association for the Advancement of Science offer a variety of postdoc opportunities in nonacademic contexts.

​As we become a more global society, it’s worth considering positions at academic and research institutions across the world. Collaborating across different contexts and cultures can be an enriching experience as part of your career trajectory. EURAXESS is a comprehensive platform for connecting talented researchers with postdocs and research opportunities in the European Union while also providing a range of online career development resources. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship program also supports postdoctoral training in Europe or globally for nationals and residents of European Union member states.

​For foreign scholars considering postdoc opportunities in the United States, it’s important to learn as much as possible about the transition process. Moving to the United States for a postdoc can be a big adjustment. When deciding whether or not to do so, be sure to factor in the cost of living, the climate and the cultural differences. The National Postdoctoral Association provides a range of resources for international scholars, including quick guides to visas and income taxes. It also offers an Onboarding for International Postdocs guide that can be helpful for scholars moving to the U.S. for their postdoc and for the offices at U.S. institutions that support postdocs. 

​In conclusion, whether you decide to pursue a postdoc in academia, industry or government—or forgo one entirely—I hope you approach your post-Ph.D. career with intention. The postdoc training period can help you advance in many career paths that are satisfying and exciting, and that lead to new opportunities in the future. 

Life Advice, Personal Perspective, Creativity, Innovation

It is common for causal observers to see a big breakthrough, amazing creative achievement, or other big professional accomplishment from another and think to themselves "wow, that person must be super talented" or "they are so lucky!". And while talent and luck play a part in "success", what often gets less attention is the amount of work that goes into an "overnight success". 

Complex and ambitious achievements usually take even more time and effort to come to fruition. A particularly interesting set of stories comes from the Walt Disney Company's Pixar division (before they become part of Disney) and Disney's venerable Imagineering unit. 

Perhaps the name most synonymous with "magic" is Disney. The Walt Disney Company is dedicated to making magical experiences for its customers via its movies, shows, and, perhaps most prominently, its theme parks. The first park at Walt Disney World in Florida was literally named the Magic Kingdom when it opened in 1971. And having been to the park as a child, I can attest that it is, indeed, a magical place. Disney Parks are full of state-of-the-art attractions that can leave you speechless and wondering how they accomplished such feats.

If you are interested in learning more about what goes into creating the many fabulous rides and experiences at the Disney Parks, I highly recommend the Behind the Attraction series on the Disney+ streaming service. What struck me the most profoundly when watching episodes of this series was how much planning and work goes into creating (and updating) a Disney attraction. In essence, magical experiences come from hard work and planning, sometimes taking years to reach a final product. 

Often, the Disney "Imagineers" must invent new technology to bring a ride to life. For example, the Indiana Jones Adventure ride at Disneyland in California relied on an entirely new ride vehicle invented by the Imagineers to simulate the motion of an off-road jeep. In fact, the Imagineering team at Disney holds over 500 patents for new technologies they have developed to create the unique rides and attractions at the parks. 

Experiential and Emotional Impact Through Technology & Innovation

At Disney they firmly believe that the story and experience should drive the design and execution of all they do and that they can iron out technical details to bring an idea to life. Disney rarely sacrifices practicality for the sake of creative quality and experiential impact on their customers. ​

Disney's Pixar Animations Studios (which was an independent company from 1986 until 2006 when it was acquired by the Walt Disney Company) perhaps best illustrates how dedication and commitment to one's craft combined with a passion for creating memorable experiences can produce amazing results. 

Pixar invented new computer animated techniques and approaches beginning with its founding but its journey from start-up to box office hit maker took time. In some ways the technology had to catch up with the company's ambitions and its employees had to become more familiar and confident in the use of said technology. Pixar initially struggled with a business case focusing mostly on producing animated commercials in the 1980s and early 1990s to pay the bills. In 1991 the company numbered 42 employees (nearly the same size it was at its founding) as it removed hardware and software sales from its operations to focus on the core creative business. In that same year, Pixar signed an agreement with Disney to develop at least one computer-animated movie that Disney would market and distribute. That movie become Toy Story, which was released in November 1995 to critical acclaim and sensational audience reviewers on its way to ​earning nearly $400 million at the global box office (~$823 million in 2024 dollars). ​

This began a 20 YEAR run of amazing box office success for Pixar films with every movie they release from Toy Story 2 in 1999 to Inside Out in 2015 earning at least $500 million at the global box office with 2003's Finding Nemo hitting the $900+ million level and Toy Story 3 released in 2010 crossing $1 BILLION in ticket receipts (~$1.43 Billion in 2024 dollars). But if you watch the documentary The Pixar Story, you will realize that story is core to all they do. During its run of successful films from the mid-nineties to the 2010s, Pixar continued to push the envelope in what could be computer animated to drive new and novel story ideas from thousands of animated ants in A Bug's Life to life-like fur for Monsters Inc to water environments in Finding Nemo and human characters (with muscles) in The Incredibles. Technical innovation was core to making these stories come to life and making audiences feel connected to the worlds depicted in these films. 

Pixar's success during that time was undoubtedly fueled by its willingness to grow and innovate with each new project, never resting on its laurels. But the technology served the stories they were telling, never dictating or limiting the narratives. In addition, those at the company will tell you that its operation was driven by a willingness for creative and technically gifted individuals from diverse backgrounds to collaborate on projects that were driven at their core by stories to make the audience feel something.

The lesson to take from this is, I think, is to not innovate just to innovate but to think about how a new technology or idea serves others. Does it help solve a critical problem? Does it make peoples' lives or society better in some way? Does it bring joy to the world? Does it provide entertainment and life lessons (in the case of many movies)? Innovation without impact will fall flat. If the technologies or innovative ideas you are leveraging aren't in service of something that improves peoples' lives, they rarely resonate. In Pixar's case, they leveraged technology to create characters and stories audiences cared about and that spoke to human challenges, struggles, and ultimately triumphs (even if many of their characters weren't human, they amazingly made us care about bugs and fish!).  

"What most people call overnight success is actually the market suddenly realizing the value of a great product or service that had been kept in obscurity for too long while its creators refused to give up." - Entrepreneur and author Luis E. Romero, from Forbes

Another lesson from the Pixar story is the commitment and perseverance often required to see a novel concept "breakthrough". The conviction of Pixar's founders to stick to their core business over the first 5+ years as it gained its footing allowed it to be in a position to make Toy Story and what looked like an overnight success in 1995 after Toy Story's release was many years in the making. Pixar's animators developed their expertise on commercials and short films in the company's early years and realized producing a full-length computer animated film​ at its core is still an exercise in constructing a compelling and moving story. The combination of compelling narrative, endless storyboarding and editing (story development for a Pixar film can take YEARS), a committed and technically gifted team, and innovative technology allowed Pixar to create movie magic. The company and its employees gave audiences something they had never seen before and, in the process, left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry.   ​

Learn more about the animation innovations Pixar pioneered in the video from Business Insider, below (and the follow-up video here):

Disney Magic In Real Life - Innovation and Iteration

Crafting of real-word experiences through physical rides and attractions requires another level of commitment. Examples of technical and impactful achievements in the Disney parks include the floating mountains in the Pandora - World of Avatar land within Disney's Animal Kingdom, the creation of Cars Land (based on the Pixar movie) and its mountain range at Disney's California Adventure Park, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction at EPCOT, and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The combined efforts of designers and engineers led to the creation of immersive and unique experiences that help transport park visitors to locations they had only see on a movie screen before and in the process allows them to escape the worries and challenges of the real world, if only for a bit. 

None of the work Disney does is easy, especially when it comes to building actual rides and landscapes people interact with in their parks. Imagineers blend creativity with modern technology and an understanding of human perception to create amazing experiences. And the more you learn about how they build attractions the more you appreciate how Imagineers not only invent new technologies to bring an attraction to life but often build on previous designs and take lessons from the design of past attractions to make new ones. There are so many examples including leveraging the technology from Test Track in Epcot (opened in 1999) for Cars Land's Radiator Springs Racers (opened in 2012) to improving on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with new projection mapping technology and revolutionizing the classic Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride for the 21st Century with the installation of Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure (and use of technology to guide the boats through immersive sets) at Shanghai Disneyland. These examples highlight that Disney never stops innovating and improving, realizing that creating magical experiences requires learning from the past while constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and storytelling.     

As mentioned earlier when discussing Pixar films, storytelling at its heart requires the need to make the recipient feel something, to care about the characters, relate to their challenges, and celebrate in their triumphs. To be an effective story it must relate to our human experiences including struggle, loss, love, friendship, and family and the realization that happily ever after is often the result of overcoming adversity in our lives. 

The Story Comes Together

In my last post, I reflected on our human relationship to time. Recently, while watching the Behind the Attraction series on Disney+ that I mentioned above I learned about this amazing "nighttime spectacular" at Hong Kong Disneyland titled "Momentous". Learning about the history of creating this show we discover that when Hong Kong Disneyland was renovating and updating their castle, the technology for Momentous was literally built into the castle's redesign. The show has been described as "a love letter to the memories we make throughout our lives" and if you watch the video of it below you can see that the creators of this spectacular incorporate Disney and Pixar characters, stories, and songs over the past 30+ years from The Little Mermaid and The Lion King to Aladdin, Moana, and Up. Featured songs include classics like "Kiss the Girl", "You'll Be in My Heart", "A Whole New World" and lesser-known but appropriate songs like "Friends on the Other Side" from the Princess and the Frog and "Remember Me" from Coco. 

The feelings the show generates are tied up in the audience's memories of Disney movies and it can only achieve the effect of moving onlookers due to the fact that it builds on the creative efforts of the thousands or animators, artists, and musicians who contributed to the creation of the content. In addition, the spectacular itself relies on a variety of technological advancements from the Disney Company including projection mapping technology, water screen projections, and sophistically timed pyrotechnics and fireworks that can be positioned with pinpoint accuracy via compressed air. The result of all these efforts is magical. 

Live the Moment & Love the Memories - Momentous Nighttime Spectacular's Tagline

The show's "theme song", Love the Memory, that unites its various chapters has a super catchy and impactful chorus:
Time's always moving, we can't slow the hands
Won't last forever, so take every chance
To learn and to love and to dream and to dance
Live the moment and love the memory

Momentous's songs and storytelling remind us that life is a journey and ultimately consists of the impact we have on others and them on us. It is filled with highs and lows, love and loss, but through all these things we learn and grow, hopefully becoming better versions of ourselves in the process. A powerful notion, for sure.  

Making Impact Everyday

While most of this post has contained reflections on the Walt Disney Company's and Pixar Animation Studios' quest to create memorable experiences through creativity, technology, and hard work, I think the lessons from their efforts can apply to everyone's work and life. 

We often seek the "magical solution" to our problems or want a quick fix to the challenges we encounter. We want to lose weight NOW, we want to earn more NOW, we want to be more productive NOW, we want to be recognized for our achievements NOW. But these things are most often the result of consistent work and incremental improvements that slowly and steadily build on themselves to achieve the desired result. And sometimes, maybe even often, the end result of our efforts is more impactful than we could imagine when we begin on our journey. I don't think the creators of The Little Mermaid when it was released in 1989 would have ever imagined its scenes and songs would be projected on a water "screen" and physical castle at a Disney theme park in Hong Kong purpose built for these projections but that is what ultimately occurred. 

Good content and story that touches us as human beings is timeless and transcends any specific media. Much the same way, each of us doing "good work" and making "good decisions" ultimately leads to good outcomes and impact ​in time. We all know deep down what is good and right and will ultimately lead to the outcomes we want for ourselves (eat more healthily, exercise more, stress less, make more time for those we care about, help others etc...) but the consistent commitment to these actions over time (often in the face of very little short-term "results") is what is needed to produce the magical (ie, impactful) results we are looking for. 

It is also worth mentioning here that we often cannot fully predict how our work and actions now will impact our (and others) future. And we shouldn't necessarily try to map all our actions to some future state because the future is always in flux. Rather, we should work to do good and important work now and realize that the positive impacts of this will resonate over time. This work may also be built on and improved upon by others to produce further innovation and impact, as is often the case with the Disney attractions and experiences mentioned above. 

So, what ideas do you want to share with the world?
How can you contribute your gifts and talents to society to impact others?

• See my Career Exploration 101 piece to help with your self-reflection

​What story are you trying to tell about yourself? 
How can you collaborate with others as part of a larger narrative and goal?

• Learn more about volunteering and the impact of cultivating serendipity through your relationships  

The Often Long, Methodical Grind to "Success" 

So, what's my story? How do I see my gifts and talents contributing to the world? ​

Well, I have always been interested in helping others, even from a young age. I am fairly empathetic and find a lot of joy in teaching and mentoring others. I do this to some extent in my day job helping support postdoctoral researchers at Virginia Tech. I also use this blog and platforms like LinkedIn to share resources, programs, and opportunities with a wide audience. My hope is by doing this I can help others realize how their skills, interests, and values can be applied productively to activities and careers that benefit the world in distinct and important ways. I firmly believe we all have something to contribute. Personally, I have been working on building my platform and finding my voice so I can reach and impact more people, including those of you reading this post or leveraging the information shared on my blog and website. 

And the statistics show I am slowly making progress in these areas. ​

In a blog post from January 2021 I spoke to the fact that returns on our efforts to build skills, invest in our networks, and growth our brand often compound. Seeing measurable growth in these metrics can be slow at first but many online activities result in network effects where knowledge accumulation and impact can increase over time non-linearly. For example, building one skill early on helps you develop a related one more easily next time or one connection can lead to another. Similarly, the publication of one piece of creative or scholarly work can lead to citations by or engagement with others who then amplify your work to their networks and, in the process, help your ideas and content spread more rapidly than you could manage alone. 

I figured now, three years from when I spoke to the compounding returns I was seeing from my creative and scholarly works, would be good time to revisit the stats. For context, I launched this personal website in August 2014 as I began my postdoc position at Vanderbilt University. I figured I need to work on building my professional brand as a neuroscientist at the time and later launched this blog in April 2019 after having written pieces on my postdoc experience for the NIH BEST website (see those archived here). The blog launch was an attempt to build up a writing portfolio for potential future use in my career. I also enjoyed the process of sharing resources, advice, and research focused on a variety of topics from career and professional development to Ph.D. career pathways, the job search, and neuroscience findings with others.  

As you can see from the chart above that only reports my personal website traffic data over full calendar years, for 5 YEARS yearly unique visits to my website were under 2,000 and from 2015 to 2017 struggled to cross 1,000 (in 2017 the number of unique site visits for the year was 1,068 or an average of 89 per month). Beginning in 2020, however, visitors to the site began to rapidly grow (rising 243% from 2019 to 2020 and another 117% from 2020 to 2021). Essentially, unique visits to my site more than tripled from 2019 to 2020 and then more than doubled from that level from 2020 to 2021. Growth has slowed since then but now I average more unique site visits per month than I did in all of any year from 2015 to 2017: average monthly visits August - December 2023: 753 versus unique visits compared to 341, 476, and 626 unique visits in the years 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively.  

Compounding growth like the stats mentioned above is hard for us to wrap our minds around.

​In the case of my website, growth in visits is most likely the result of several factors:
1) In 2021 I launched a newsletter (now with 181 subscribers) to share resources and readings with interested individuals, where I also highlight my new blog posts as well as a few select posts from my blog archive 
2) As I create more content there is more for a visitor to my website to engage with
3) I have added content beyond the blog over the years including job search resources, funding resources, and a growing list of career and professional development research studies
4) I often point to past content in new posts so individuals can "rediscover" older posts/content and this may, in turn lead to the growth in overall views of my content
5) As I grow my network and professional brand outside my website, when I point to blog pieces or resources on LinkedIn or X/Twitter more individuals see my posts on these platforms

I also believe well-written and useful content ultimately resonates with people and hopefully I am providing that via this platform. 

But my own journey to greater reach and impact has not happened overnight. It requires commitment and dedication. I have written 55 blog posts over the 57 months from April 2019 (when I launched my blog) to now, January 2024, or nearly one post per month. I try to consistently share something interesting and thought provoking here. Mostly I do it for myself, to keep my writing skills sharp. But I also do it for those who read these posts and in the process hopefully learn something or are made to think more introspectively about their lives and the impact they can have on the world. Sometimes this is accomplished through a resource or process I share to aid readers in their career and professional development but other times it is through sharing an insight into neuroscience research, like findings illustrating the power of our mindsets and beliefs. In a way, I seek to inspire others to take steps to improve their lives, whether that be spending more time with loved ones or realizing that finding fulfilling work is a process. I plan to keep doing this hard work (this post alone is probably the culmination of at least 30 hours of research, writing, and revision) because I think I have something important to say and I hope it helps my readers live better, more fulfilled, and more impactful lives.  

Growing One's Network & Scholarly Impact

In my blog post on network effects from January 2021 I also mentioned LinkedIn as a powerful tool for professional networking and how one's reach on the platform can grow with both a commitment to engaging on it and time to allow for growth. For a superb guide to leveraging the platform for career success, including building your network and engaging in career exploration, see the 2022 book Linked: Conquer LinkedIn. Get Your Dream Job. Own Your Future. by Garriott and Schifeling. 

Over the years the number of my LinkedIn connections continues to grow as I interact with new colleagues and coworkers, meet people at professional conferences, or work with new leaders and volunteers in organizations I am involved in. Additionally, individuals will reach out to me to connect and I almost never turn down a personalized LinkedIn connection request.  

I joined LinkedIn in April 2013 and by the end of that year had 43 connections. I really worked to expand my network on the platform during my postdoc position, which began in August 2014. In the graph below you can see the steady rise in my cumulative LinkedIn connections for calendar year 2014 to 2023. Steady investments in leveraging the platform have resulted in my total connections increasing 36-fold over 10 years. 

Big things can come from small beginnings and consistent effort. ​

Over the past few years I have leveraged LinkedIn's "Creator Mode" to better broadcast the content and resources I share and have moved away from gathering connections (Creator Mode replaces the default network option on LinkedIn from "Connect" to "Follow"). In 2023, my follower count grew by 19.5% and now allows the content and resources I share on career development, the job search, networking, mentorship, and more to reach thousands of people. Through the technological platform that is LinkedIn I am able to amplify my impact, helping more people learn of opportunities and resources to assist them in their career development and professional journeys. 

I firmly believe LinkedIn is a powerful multiplier for networking and brand building that you simply cannot ignore as a professional in the 21st Century. So, start investing in that platform today.​

As an administrator who supports early career researchers (graduate students and postdocs in particular), I understand that growing one's scholarly profile is essential to academic success. One of the most important metrics for a scholar is one's citation count as it indicates other researchers acknowledge your work in theirs. By definition, citations of your work take time to accumulate as your work must be disseminated first (passing through an often lengthy and grueling peer review process to get published), others must read and cite it, and then they must also publish their work before your citation is registered in various systems (Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science). So, it can take years for citations to accumulate on your work. This can sometimes discourage early career researchers as they don't feel they are gaining traction at the beginning. Patience and persistence is required in one's academic scholarship. If you are putting out work that contributes to your field by asking important questions and addressing critical topics, it will eventually be cited. It also takes time and some promotion to help get your work discovered.  

My first peer-reviewed publication was in February 2012 and I did not start seeing citations of it until 2013. Over the years I published more publications in neuroscience from 2012 until 2019 (and to a lesser extent now as a researcher interested in mentorship and the faculty job search) and slowly the citations of this work grew along with the number of my peer-reviewed publications. So, the chart above is the result of continuing to publish, even as an academic administrator, and letting time work for my prior work's visibility. 

You can certainly see in the Google Scholar stats the effect of me transitioning from postdoctoral researcher to postdoctoral affairs administrator in January 2019 and a stunting in my citation momentum in 2020 but in June 2020 I was listed as an author on my first non-neuroscience paper, focused on a survey-based analysis of the academic job market which led to new connections and research directions for me. Recently, I was involved in important work on mentorship of which our analysis of faculty mentoring experiences was published in December 2023. I expect to continue to work in these areas as a postdoctoral affairs administrator as these topics relate to my work supporting this population and, as a result, my scholarly output may increase in the coming years. And while it is nice to put out work that gets recognized and cited, that isn't really ​why I do it. Rather, I try to be part of teams contributing important insights into processes that need improvement in higher education including the hiring of faculty members and providing increased support and training for aspiring and new faculty members. 

And though I don't actively publish in the neuroscience area anymore, my past research is still being cited and contributing to new knowledge in reward processing, decision making, and substance abuse risk. That prior work is, in effect, still having an impact. When you publish scientific findings, you are leaving a legacy and contributing to the broad, upward trajectory of human knowledge and progress. When you are in the thick of the scholarly work, though, you can sometimes forget this but know that "good work" can have an impact and though it might not immediately be recognized that does not mean it won't be of value to future researchers.    ​

Your Mileage May Vary

Before wrapping up this piece I want to emphasize that the personal metrics presented above reflect my priorities in brand building (personal website, LinkedIn followers) and networking (LinkedIn connections). Growing one's scholarly metrics is mostly out of your direct control but ultimately does partially depend on producing good work consistently that others value. The activities and platforms you leverage to measure your "success" could look very different. The metrics you care about may also differ from those I shared. 

Everyone's goals are unique and the pathway to achieving them distinct. I hope seeing how my metrics and impact grew from small beginnings with time drives home the point that if you invest in activities important to you, their reach and impact can expand through consistent effort and commitment over many years. The key is to decide what you value in terms of your personal and professional growth and invest your time in those areas. Success won't come overnight but I believe you can increase the odds of making an impact through dedicated action that is genuine, internally motivated by your values, and leverages your unique skills and gifts. ​

Final Thoughts

In today's post, hopefully you can see that to have an impact you have to start by taking action to share your knowledge and gifts with the world. That looks different for each of us. It might be putting out creative works or thought pieces on the internet, it could be publishing scientific and scholarly papers, or making YouTube videos explaining complex research topics to the public. It could be as simple (and important) as showing a student in your research group how to perform a new experiment or analysis (ie, mentoring them). Whatever you are doing and sharing, the process requires engaging with others in some way. You can also take advantage of network effects to ensure your message is being amplified by reaching others you don't know but who could benefit (ie, your connections shares it with their connections or the student you teach shares the knowledge with another and then another and so on and so forth). Only by sharing our skills, talents, and ideas with others can we truly spread them. Similarly, others can only build off your ideas if they know about them. So put your thoughts out there in the world! 

Magical outcomes, which we might rightfully call innovation, begin with novel ideas that through collaboration with others and the combination of hard work, creativity, and technical know-how result in real-world impact. The impact might be creative, scholarly, or entrepreneurial. To achieve these results, though, requires a person to reach and impact others and in the process make their lives better - more informed, more efficient, more joyous, more fun, or more meaningful. The final result can often to an outsider seem like magic or overnight success but it rarely is that. Rather, consistent effort, belief in your craft, and the right group of people in your network combined with, yes, some luck, is essential.

Furthermore, the impact from one's creative or innovative efforts will only endure if you and those who come after you build off prior work and knowledge to make it even more impactful, allowing it to compound to a level of scope and reach its original creator could never have imagined. In the process these efforts hopefully move others to contribute to making the world a happier, healthier, safer, and more prosperous place through the deployment of their own gifts, skills, and actions. That's when the magic happens. ​

More from the Blog

• Career Exploration 101
• Compounded Returns: Growing Your Network and Personal Brand
• Past, Present, Future: Reflections on Time
• Mind Over Matter
• To Be Rather Than to Seem
• Giving Thanks: Finding Personal Fulfillment
• Find Your Passion? Finding Meaning and Purpose in Your Work & Life

Additional Readings & Content

• Disney & Technology: A History of Standard-Setting Innovation
• The Imagineering Story documentary series on Disney+
• Pixar Animation Studios - Our Story Timeline
• The 22 Rules of Storytelling, According to Pixar
• Pixar follows 5 storytelling rules to make every movie feel so perfect (video)
• Pixar in a Box - The Art of Storytelling (Online Learning from Khan Academy)

As we approach the end of the calendar year and are in the midst of the holiday season, time is often top of mind. Both reminiscing on the year that was or holidays past are common in December. Memories often made with those we love can bring comfort if we are apart or if those individuals are no longer with us. We can mentally time travel back to the past and in the process drag the positive feelings from that time into the present, if only for a bit. 

In addition, as the calendar transitions to January many people begin to think about the new year and our goals for the future. We project ourselves into the future and ask: what can we do now and in the immediate months ahead to get us where we aspire to be years from now? Getting more "in shape" today will make us healthier long-term, saving a bit more for retirement now will pay off when we are older, learning a new skill over the next few months can make us more marketable for a future career. These are all worthy goals that involve simulating how our actions in the present will potentially impact our future. ​

In both instances mentioned above we are constructing other moments in time in our heads and using them to affect our current state or guide near-term actions. Thinking about both the past and future also reminds us that the passage of time is constant and persistent and that the present is quite fleeting. The clock ticks on around us pushing the present into "the past" and pulling "the future" into the present. And while we are certainly aware that time is a real, objective thing that can be measured in second, hours, days, and years it is also, in a way, a subjective experience that can be hard to fully describe.   

Time is certainly an intriguing concept, especially to human beings. We have all experienced time seeming to slow down or speed up in our daily lives. In some ways it can seem arbitrary (who decided a minute is 60 seconds?) but in other ways it is very tangible and real, relentlessly moving forward (regardless of how you measure it) and in the process reminding us that it is personally limited. ​Time is our most precious resource as it is finite. You cannot create more of it. Objectively, time is constant and immutable in the sense that one cannot escape it. 

"To be human is to be aware of the passage of time; no concept lies closer to the core of our consciousness."
                    - Dan Falk from In Search of Time: The History, Physics, and Philosophy of Time

Our fascination with and fixation on time is most certainly related to our mortality in that we all will die in time. All living things have an expiration date and one could reasonably argue that the act of living is the delaying of death through information and action. 

Time as our most precious commodity can perhaps best illustrated by the fact that some of the world's most wealthy and powerful people have been working hard to extend the time they have on Earth with investments in Altos Labs, Unity Biotechnology, Juvenescence, and Calico Labs and organizations like the Methuselah Foundation. It has become popular these days for many of us to try to hack our longevity (for more see the work of Peter Attia including his podcast and new book Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity for more on this). And while certainly having information and resources could increase one's longevity and potentially extend one's time on Earth, time as a daily commodity is the same for everyone. ​

We all have 24 hours in our days which we fill with commitments (work, raising a family), biological functions (eating, sleeping), and exercising our own preferences and desires. And while certainly those with means and privilege may be able to spend less hours on "basic needs", they can't extract more than 24 hours out of a day. Those 24 hours are limited and precious for everyone. So, what will you do with the 24 hours you have each day? Should you seek to optimize them to the hilt (to try to squeeze all utility out of them) or is their value in "wasting time" or enjoying your time? And how should you balance the allocation of these activities?  ​

The quote "How we spend our days is how we spend our lives" is attributed to the author Annie Dillard in her book ​The Writing Life. She goes on to speak to the value of daily schedules defending us from "chaos and whim" and that "a schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living." 

This quote speaks to both the unpredictability of the future and inability for us to completely "master time" (chaos and whim; the wreck of time) while also conveying the value of having structure in our lives to ensure we make time for what is important to us. This could include key work priorities or making time for companionship and fun, all of which are important to human flourishing. But in our limited time, how do we prioritize amongst the many things we could be doing while also ensuring we make progress on what we have to do to survive? There are no easy answers. Rather, we must try to the best of our human ability to plan for the future while not letting the present pass us by.  ​

Given that most of us perceive we lack sufficient time in our daily lives, many search (often unsuccessfully) for various approaches to boost their productivity and "maximize their time." The rise of smart phones and communication technology like Slack and Zoom make it possible for us to work from virtually anywhere at anytime. It is exceedingly difficult to disconnect in such an environment. I think many of us believed, especially with the rise of "remote work" in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 that we would be liberated from the bounds of an office, strict working schedules, and the dreadful daily commute. And in a way we were but when the lines between work and home blur it makes separating one's "work time" from "personal time" a challenge. Even the most exciting sounding possibility for remote work technology - work from anywhere, including while on vacation - seems to miss the point that one takes a vacation to, at least conceptually, escape work. 

There are plenty of resources and writings that try to address time management in the digital age or successfully setting and maintaining work/life boundaries. Various tools and apps promise to help. And while certainly there may be some value in these approaches, I think we have all found a "solution" to our time management problems elusive. So did author Oliver Burkeman who, in his book Four Thousand Week: Time Management for Mortals, comes to a shocking but perhaps accurate conclusion that we have more responsibilities and work to be done than can ever be accomplished in our lifetime (the average length of which is 4,000 weeks). He says we should accept this reality and in the process try to liberate ourselves from the notion that there is some hack or approach that will help us accomplish our many tasks. When I read this book, its central thesis shocked me at first. I expected to get some practical tips or insights on time management and was left with the hard truth of the inability to ever "accomplish my work". This is something I am still coming to terms with even though at my core I realize it is, in fact, true. 

​However, there are always new things we will (or feel we) need to do...the to-do list is essentially never able to be fully checked off. The challenge we all encounter is the idealized future we are "working toward" is often a future that we never pull into the present...it never reaches us. 

So, why be so worried about all these responsibilities and to-dos if they prevent us from living in the now? Why not just live fully in the present - YOLO and all of that? Well, living too much in the present, the NOW, also has its issues. 

A quick detour into how our brains perceive time. First, there is very interesting work from Thomas Suddendorf and Michael Corballis suggesting that "mental time travel" (ie, the ability to transport our consciousness to the past - episodic memory - or future - prospection) may make humans unique or at least is a process more developed in humans. These researchers also speculate that human language may have evolved to facilitate group mental time travel through stories from the past and/or coordinating/planning future, collective goals. 

So, our brains are built for time traveling. They also can get fixated at different points in time to our peril - ruminating too much on the past and/or becoming too anxious about the "unpredictable" future. We also struggle calculating the time value of money and are rightly biased to be more concerned about having a resource like money to spend today versus investing it for a future purpose. ​

Living wholly in the present has its appeal and deep biological origins in our animalistic need for survival. Humans and other animals indeed will "discount the future," favoring rewards available NOW (or soon) over those delivered in the future, even if the future rewards are large. Academics call this tendency to favor NOW over LATER delay discounting behavior. 

In short, we are biologically biased to favor the NOW over LATER, though some of us more than others. My Ph.D. dissertation work at the University of North Carolina was focused on investigating these individual differences in delay discounting behavior in humans. As mentioned, we know from years or research on a variety of species that rewards have less value if they are delayed and the degree to which individuals discount this delay varies. In humans, these variations in delay discounting are based partially on biology and our environment but can also be susceptible to temporary states such as acute stress. And understanding this phenomenon is important as delay discounting has also been shown to be associated with drug addiction and may indeed be a risk factor in developing addictive behaviors. 

While certainly we can see how thinking only about the NOW and our impulsive urges may be problematic, so too is an over-emphasis of our thoughts on the past or future. It has been demonstrated that depression is more associated with past events while anxiety more often associates with future events. This indicates that an unusual fixation on both the past and future can also be problematic to our mental health and well-being. 

The cliché phrase (attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, among others):
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that is why they call it the Present.   
​May by a bit trite but that doesn't mean there is not wisdom in it. 
It speaks to the idea that the present is within our control as it is happening now. 

Focusing too much on the past or future prevents us from living in the moment and taking actual action in the here and now. 

In some ways we think living in the present moment (right now) should be easy. However, to be really present in a moment requires you to resist distraction. Sitting with your thoughts or being engaged in the presence of others (ie, having meaningful conversations and connections) can be surprisingly uncomfortable if you haven't done it frequently. 

In an age of unlimited work and entertainment distractions, one of the most difficult things for us is to be truly present in a moment. Part of the challenge is that we know at a deep level that our time is finite and limited and so we often attempt to master it, to maximize it. Sitting in the moment and enjoying it can seem somehow wasteful and superfluous - what do we get from being "in the moment"? Well, being present in the moment is effectively at the center of the practice of mindfulness, which has shown a range of positive effects on human health and well-being. Despite this knowledge that being in the moment is valuable, we almost can't help our thoughts from drifting to our "to-do list" or the need to use our time "better". 

At the center of our focus on optimizing time is the realization that we are mortal and finite...that we will die. Time will run out for all of us. The irony of this fact, though, is that when we accept this, really accept this we can stop trying to convince ourselves that by maximizing our schedules and time we will somehow create more of it. Rather, realizing our mortality and relishing the present can help us focus on what matter most to us and stop waiting for "one day" to come. 

In the personal finance realm, a focus on saving for the future is seen as an unequivocally good thing. Indeed saving for the future is critical to retiring in a financially stable position (especially if your government does not provide a strong social safety net to retirees). However, it is very easy for many individuals, especially those obsessed with the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement to overly focus on future retirement instead of present satisfaction. Many individuals have gone to great lengths to cut so much out of their current lives to expand their savings rate that they live lives of immense deprivation (NOTE: there is a difference between frugality and deprivation). 

But one should reflect during their working lives and ask: What are they saving this money for? What is the purpose of having retirement savings? Upon deeper self-reflection you could come to the conclusion that there is such a thing as delaying one's consumption too much into the future. 

Also, as none of us really know how long we will live, we could be saving for a future that may not come. The influential book Die With Zero may have an extreme title but its thesis seems correct to me: one should think critically about when it makes sense to spend money NOW on experiences that should not be delayed for a future retirement. 

In the book, the author speaks to the need for us to consider when we should have certain experiences and questions whether waiting "until retirement" is the right answer. Backpacking through Europe is probably best done in your twenties, for instance. Even something like hiking a beautiful trail may be more feasible when you are forty or fifty not seventy. And the thought experiment goes even further when it brings up the point that you can only do certain activities with others during select windows of time. You can't constantly put off playing baseball with your 10-year old because they won't be 10 for more than 365 days. You can't keep delaying that big family trip with your parents until "your work slows down" because their time on Earth is probably more limited than yours (and the work will probably never "slow down"). When you bring other people and their mortality into the equation or, less grimly, the fact that they are also aging and moving into different seasons of life themselves, you reach the conclusion that you can't afford to wait to do certain things with them. This doesn't have to be a morbid or depressing experience (ie, focusing on a loved one's aging and mortality) but hopefully it is a motivating force to take action NOW to have memorable experiences with the people important to you. 

These memorable experiences produce what the author of Die With Zero calls "memory dividends". Essentially, these experiences with others live on in our memories for years and the recalling of them can bring joy and fulfillment well into the future. So, by investing the time in key experiences and moments NOW we reap the benefits in the future via our memories and recollection of "that time when" story. This is not unlike investing for retirement and reaping dividends on our capital...we put money in now for a payoff later. But in the case of memory dividends we often sacrifice money now for experiences we will treasure forever. Money can't buy happiness but it can provide us with the means to have special experiences with others we will treasure. 

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past. For example, we often look back on our times as children fondly when we perceive life was simpler and less stressful. And data show older adults are more likely to be nostalgic as they riminess on their youth or days gone by and in general these nostalgic experiences lead to higher subjective well-being in the elderly. So, in a way, nostalgia and positively remembering the past allows us to cope with approaching the inevitability of death as we age. It seems a bit morbid at first but our brains and consciousness are probably doing us a big favor by increasing our subjective well-being as we age. It often helps us feel we had a good life. 

We have already covered this secret. Your existence, your impact, your story can live on in others. When we interact with those around us we are laying the groundwork for a sort of oral history of ourselves. How we treat them will often be recounted. The person we were in their eyes can persist for years to come. So, what kind of person do you want to be remembered as?

This brings to mind the concept of "resume virtues" and "eulogy virtues" from David Brooks. Brooks argues that what we all should be focused on are the actions that could end up in a funeral eulogy (he was a kind, caring husband and father who gave much of his time to his favorite charity after retirement) and not points on a resume (he rose to the rank of senior vice president). In the moment, however, we often are more fixated on the resume items. It is up to us to reflect often on our actions and ask ourselves if the things we are obsessed by in the now will be things we and others care about in the future. ​

We build our eulogy virtues through caring for others. ​

And, lest we forget, if you are a creative, writer, or scientist, we also build our legacy through our work. So, doing good work is important in the sense that if it produces a piece of knowledge or creative work that others can consume, be inspired by, and build on and through this process has the potential to live on after us. And sometimes what we put out there in the world can have an effect or impact we can't even imagine (or experience) during our life. For example, in the sciences there are many who question the value of "basic research" but this type of work can inform big breakthroughs, often years later (see for example, Mendelian genetics, the decades-long development of technology for mRNA vaccines, and an overview of other innovations from fundamental research published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine). I say all this to emphasize that anything you put out in the world, from a product of your creative or cognitive labor to the way you treat others, can have long-lasting and unexpected effects. The key is to do these things without always questioning (or obsessing over) their "value" in the now. I know that is easier said than done but history shows underappreciated work can have a big impact later. 

And while "history" may not chronicle the impact good deeds and kindness have on others at an individual level we all know at our core that how others treat us affects us. Think back to an elementary school teacher in your life...they almost certainly positively impacted you in ways they may never know. And they do the work because they care and aren't necessarily focused on "measuring" or "tracking" the product of their labor. In the immediate term there are crude and ineffective ways to "measure" ​a teacher's impact (ie, test scores) but in the long term their impact is immeasurable (igniting curiosity in young people, encouraging a student to pursue a passion, or modeling how to be a caring citizen). Measuring one's impact on others is hard unless they tell you explicitly about it but that doesn't mean an impact wasn't made. 

In the end, all of you reading this (at least with the current state of technology in late 2023) will eventually move on to whatever comes after life. As such, your life is precious and limited. So, how will you spend it? 

In my mind, our jobs as living beings is to try our best to bring joy, happiness, and meaning to ourselves and others while also adding value to the world. Sometimes the value you add is obvious, sometimes less so. In a way, it is not for you to judge or measure your value (though I know we all do it...hey, we are human beings after all). But if you deeply examine how you can take actions or deploy your skills to serve others today and in the future, whether they be family, friends, or your fellow man, I promise you that you will have made good use of your limited time on Earth. ​

More from the blog:

• The power of human connection
• Why you should get involved in things outside the lab/work
• Cultivate serendipity by giving back and getting involved 
• Find your passion? Finding meaning and purpose in your work and life

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For Further Reading:

• The Science of Mental Time Travel and Why Our Ability to Imagine the Future Is Essential to Our Humanity
• In Search of Time: The History, Physics, and Philosophy of Time (Book)
• Your Brain is a Time Machine (Book)
• Die With Zero (Book)

Watch:

• How to stop fighting against time - Tedx Talk by Oliver Burkeman 
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals video summary
• Die With Zero book video summary 
• A longer watch: Die With Zero - Net Fulfillment Over Net Worth, an interview with the author