I recently attended a workshop for early career academics. The session revolved around setting out a career vision, and a subsequent 3-5 year plan. The idea makes a lot of sense: to know which goals to strive for, you have to know what career you are striving for. It helps to have a sense of what outcomes meet your vision, particularly when navigating the labyrinthine world of career paths and decisions that is academia. When an opportunity presents itself, a career vision helps answer the question of whether to accept or reject the opportunity.

Going one level deeper than the workshop, I think that a personal manifesto is a useful cornerstone for making decisions - including informing a career vision. A personal manifesto is a statement of the principles and values by which you live your life. Narrowing the scope to that of a career, a personal manifesto describes the motives, intentions, and values that underpin what you choose to work on, as well as how you perform the work.

I am motivated by finding solutions to problems, as well as making a positive impact on the world around me. I value precision and reliability. These concepts help guide my work - I do not need intrinsic motivation to carefully perform a boring task, when my motivation is tied to my identity as a careful scientist, and to be a careful scientist I need to do that task. These values also guide my career vision, as I am limited to career options with a certain level of autonomy and puzzle-solving.

This helps immensely in narrowing my choices in job opportunities. If I can’t see the position soon aligning with my core values, then I don’t pursue it. The caveat with my personal manifesto is that autonomy is almost never available at the very start, so that is something I have to accept as unavailable at the beginning - but the career must include a move towards autonomy.

Taking a step back to think about my career and the potential paths is confronting, but I find that guiding my career vision with a personal manifesto helps keep some perspective.