How to prioritize the 20%

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,180 program. 7 00:00:29,180 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,060 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:03,060 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,060 --> 00:01:08,660 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene and it is an absolute pleasure to be talking with you today. 14 00:01:08,660 --> 00:01:09,660 Thank you for listening. 15 00:01:09,660 --> 00:01:15,520 I am excited to be talking with you today about the 20%. 16 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,080 These are the keys to your 2024, keys to succeeding in 2024. 17 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,500 We are well, well into 2024 now, but you always need keys for success. 18 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:26,980 Today I'm talking about the 20%. 19 00:01:26,980 --> 00:01:35,620 The 20% comes from the Pareto principle, and that is the principle that 80% of your productivity 20 00:01:35,620 --> 00:01:43,260 or 80% of your benefits or your profits come from 20% of the things that you do. 21 00:01:43,260 --> 00:01:49,900 This principle was highlighted specifically in the book, The 80-20 Rule by Richard Koch, 22 00:01:49,900 --> 00:01:51,700 and it is a really great book. 23 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:53,800 I totally recommend reading it. 24 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,740 What he talks about is that the 80-20 rule is not really like a number. 25 00:01:58,740 --> 00:02:02,700 It's not really like 80% comes from 20%. 26 00:02:02,700 --> 00:02:04,780 It's really like a ratio. 27 00:02:04,780 --> 00:02:09,260 It's recognizing that of all the things you do, of all the things that move you forward, 28 00:02:09,260 --> 00:02:14,060 very, very few things actually count to enhance your productivity. 29 00:02:14,060 --> 00:02:17,940 Very few things count to move you forward. 30 00:02:17,940 --> 00:02:22,540 Everything is moving you forward potentially, but some are moving you forward more significantly 31 00:02:22,540 --> 00:02:23,820 than others. 32 00:02:23,820 --> 00:02:28,660 If you look back, let's say you look back at your weekly calendar and you look at the 33 00:02:28,660 --> 00:02:34,420 time you spent writing, how much of that time actually produced the manuscript that you 34 00:02:34,420 --> 00:02:36,260 were planning to finish? 35 00:02:36,260 --> 00:02:39,980 You look at it and you recognize that every time you write in the afternoon, you spend 36 00:02:39,980 --> 00:02:44,220 a lot of hours writing, but you don't produce very much content, as opposed to when you 37 00:02:44,220 --> 00:02:49,820 write in the morning, wow, a couple of paragraphs produced or several, several sections were 38 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:51,540 completed. 39 00:02:51,540 --> 00:02:58,020 You know that your 20% is the morning time that you put into writing because that's the 40 00:02:58,020 --> 00:03:03,100 time that allows you to really move the needle forward in producing as far as writing is 41 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:04,100 concerned. 42 00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:07,980 I use that example because I am a morning writer, I'm one of those people who's got 43 00:03:07,980 --> 00:03:12,620 to get it done in the morning and I can write at any time of the day, but I am so much slower 44 00:03:12,620 --> 00:03:15,860 in the afternoon, I produce much less in the afternoon. 45 00:03:15,860 --> 00:03:18,860 For that reason, my 20% is to write in the morning. 46 00:03:18,860 --> 00:03:24,580 So that's the example, comes from the Pareto principle and it's really described well in 47 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:30,660 the 80-20 rule by Richard Koch and it's also described well in the book Essentialism by 48 00:03:30,660 --> 00:03:34,820 McKeon. 49 00:03:34,820 --> 00:03:41,180 So I'm talking about the 20% and how do you succeed in your research program by thinking 50 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:42,180 about the 20%? 51 00:03:42,180 --> 00:03:46,020 Well, let's talk first about the 20% in your writing. 52 00:03:46,020 --> 00:03:50,660 Now, one of the things I say all the time and I think it's important to recognize that 53 00:03:50,660 --> 00:03:55,500 when you are a clinician researcher, you are a science communicator and that may be one 54 00:03:55,500 --> 00:04:00,820 of your greatest gifts of all time is your ability to communicate your science. 55 00:04:00,820 --> 00:04:04,460 Actually, you communicate not only your science, you communicate other people's science as 56 00:04:04,460 --> 00:04:11,220 well because you are communicating your science in the context of other people's science. 57 00:04:11,220 --> 00:04:17,620 And so your writing is one of your, or at least should be, one of your 20% items. 58 00:04:17,620 --> 00:04:23,180 And by writing, it's like everything that moves you forward from concept, from idea 59 00:04:23,180 --> 00:04:29,300 to your final published work, whether that's your final published manuscript, whether that's 60 00:04:29,300 --> 00:04:34,980 your final presentation, whether that's your finally submitted protocol, whether that's 61 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:39,860 your finally submitted grant proposal, that all counts as writing. 62 00:04:39,860 --> 00:04:43,420 And no, it's not always fingers on the keyboard typing. 63 00:04:43,420 --> 00:04:45,540 It's also the work that you're doing to read. 64 00:04:45,540 --> 00:04:50,820 It's the work that you're doing to do the research or analyze data. 65 00:04:50,820 --> 00:04:55,100 All of that is what I'm counting as writing in your science communication. 66 00:04:55,100 --> 00:04:57,660 Let's talk a little bit about the science communication. 67 00:04:57,660 --> 00:05:02,620 For one, the most important person you're communicating with is yourself. 68 00:05:02,620 --> 00:05:03,620 You're number one. 69 00:05:03,620 --> 00:05:06,140 You got to understand the work that you're doing. 70 00:05:06,140 --> 00:05:10,500 If you don't understand it, you're going to have a hard time helping other people understand 71 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:11,500 it. 72 00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:14,980 And this is not so much a challenge as you grow in your research career. 73 00:05:14,980 --> 00:05:18,300 It's more of a challenge when you're first starting out, especially when you're working 74 00:05:18,300 --> 00:05:22,660 on projects that mentors are recommending that you have no clue about, and you're studying 75 00:05:22,660 --> 00:05:24,340 and you're trying to figure it out. 76 00:05:24,340 --> 00:05:28,340 And sometimes there's a sense of, let me just go by faith and believe all that the mentor 77 00:05:28,340 --> 00:05:29,340 told me. 78 00:05:29,340 --> 00:05:30,820 And I'm not saying you shouldn't believe your mentors. 79 00:05:30,820 --> 00:05:32,460 I think mentors are great. 80 00:05:32,460 --> 00:05:37,020 And I think in order to be able to fully own your work, you have to understand it. 81 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:40,060 And you cannot own what you do not understand. 82 00:05:40,060 --> 00:05:45,900 Now this was highlighted in a recent, actually it's been about a year now, when I was an 83 00:05:45,900 --> 00:05:51,660 interviewer for finalists who were being considered for a grant award. 84 00:05:51,660 --> 00:05:56,780 And so these are finalists who had submitted proposals and we're now showing up to defend 85 00:05:56,780 --> 00:05:58,580 their proposals. 86 00:05:58,580 --> 00:06:01,820 And some of them had amazing, outstanding proposals. 87 00:06:01,820 --> 00:06:06,740 I mean, the proposal was like butter to read if proposals could ever be like butter. 88 00:06:06,740 --> 00:06:08,820 I mean, it was smooth and so beautiful. 89 00:06:08,820 --> 00:06:14,660 When it came to discussing it, when it came to defending it, wow, they had no clue what 90 00:06:14,660 --> 00:06:15,660 they had written about. 91 00:06:15,660 --> 00:06:16,660 They were just totally clueless. 92 00:06:16,660 --> 00:06:18,900 And they're like, well, it's my mentor's project. 93 00:06:18,900 --> 00:06:21,380 And it's like, no, no, not okay. 94 00:06:21,380 --> 00:06:27,620 The most important person that you need to communicate with in terms of science, your 95 00:06:27,620 --> 00:06:29,860 science is you. 96 00:06:29,860 --> 00:06:33,940 And so you want to focus on making sure you understand what you're doing. 97 00:06:33,940 --> 00:06:37,300 And if you don't understand it or you don't like it, sometimes when you don't like something, 98 00:06:37,300 --> 00:06:39,900 it doesn't matter how well people explain it, you're like, I just don't like this. 99 00:06:39,900 --> 00:06:40,900 I hate it. 100 00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:48,940 Me that's cell receptor signaling or receptor cell signaling, do you see? 101 00:06:48,940 --> 00:06:51,620 It's just the one project. 102 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:56,780 It's one of the things I won't do because I can understand it, but I'm like, I just 103 00:06:56,780 --> 00:06:57,780 don't care that much. 104 00:06:57,780 --> 00:07:02,140 I mean, it's good work and thank you to all the scientists who are doing that work, but 105 00:07:02,140 --> 00:07:04,980 just saying that it's not the thing I am primarily interested in. 106 00:07:04,980 --> 00:07:10,180 And so it makes it difficult to communicate with myself if I was doing a project in that 107 00:07:10,180 --> 00:07:11,180 area. 108 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:12,180 Okay. 109 00:07:12,180 --> 00:07:13,180 So you're a science communicator. 110 00:07:13,180 --> 00:07:15,180 You communicate with yourself first. 111 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:16,940 You also communicate with funders. 112 00:07:16,940 --> 00:07:21,980 And this is important because funders fund your work, whether those be internal funders, 113 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:29,300 whether those be funders in the NIH, at the NIH, whether those be funders at foundations, 114 00:07:29,300 --> 00:07:31,540 you are communicating your work to them. 115 00:07:31,540 --> 00:07:35,500 And if they don't get your work, if you don't communicate your science well, and they don't 116 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:39,460 get moved to fund you, they don't understand the significance of your work, they don't 117 00:07:39,460 --> 00:07:40,460 move to fund you. 118 00:07:40,460 --> 00:07:44,220 But it's the funders, but it's the reviewers that also represent the funders. 119 00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:48,940 So you're in communication with them and you write proposals and submit them so that you 120 00:07:48,940 --> 00:07:49,940 can communicate well. 121 00:07:49,940 --> 00:07:50,940 Right? 122 00:07:50,940 --> 00:07:54,660 So you focus on the 20% of increasing the skill so that you can continue to do that 123 00:07:54,660 --> 00:07:55,700 well. 124 00:07:55,700 --> 00:08:00,420 And then another thing, another channel of your communication, and so the scientific 125 00:08:00,420 --> 00:08:03,980 community is submitting manuscripts all the time. 126 00:08:03,980 --> 00:08:08,060 You're interacting with editors, kind of behind closed doors, because the editors are interacting 127 00:08:08,060 --> 00:08:11,020 with your work and they're not talking to you as they're making decisions as to whether 128 00:08:11,020 --> 00:08:12,940 they move it forward for peer review or not. 129 00:08:12,940 --> 00:08:16,940 And the peer reviewers are certainly not talking with you as they review your work. 130 00:08:16,940 --> 00:08:20,820 So you're communicating with the scientific community every time you submit your work 131 00:08:20,820 --> 00:08:23,900 to be published or you submit abstracts to be reviewed. 132 00:08:23,900 --> 00:08:27,140 You're always communicating with the scientific community. 133 00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:32,260 And then the group that you communicate with, that's also not always fully, you know, front 134 00:08:32,260 --> 00:08:35,780 and center, but is always there and in the background is the lay public. 135 00:08:35,780 --> 00:08:39,460 The lay public who is interpreting your work one way or the other. 136 00:08:39,460 --> 00:08:41,900 So you are a science communicator. 137 00:08:41,900 --> 00:08:44,740 If you're someone who's going to get funded, you're a science communicator. 138 00:08:44,740 --> 00:08:48,420 If you're someone who's going to get invited to give presentations, you are a science 139 00:08:48,420 --> 00:08:49,420 communicator. 140 00:08:49,420 --> 00:08:52,780 If you're somebody who's going to have their work read by the scientific community all 141 00:08:52,780 --> 00:08:56,180 over, you are a science communicator. 142 00:08:56,180 --> 00:09:01,300 And so you want to make sure that when you're prioritizing what your 20% is, especially 143 00:09:01,300 --> 00:09:08,380 as a clinician scientist, you prioritize your ability to enhance, grow, and make space for 144 00:09:08,380 --> 00:09:12,820 and make room for your science communication, which is your writing. 145 00:09:12,820 --> 00:09:16,540 Okay, that's number 120% is your writing. 146 00:09:16,540 --> 00:09:18,360 Number two is your interactions. 147 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:20,600 And here's what I mean about your interactions. 148 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:25,900 If you look at all the interactions you've had, tally them over the last four weeks, 149 00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:31,420 and you can look and say, here is where my energy was completely drained, and at the 150 00:09:31,420 --> 00:09:35,740 end of the conversation, it was only five minutes with this person, I was no longer 151 00:09:35,740 --> 00:09:37,660 able to do any work. 152 00:09:37,660 --> 00:09:42,900 And then you can trace the people who you spoke to for even 10 minutes, who totally 153 00:09:42,900 --> 00:09:47,160 transformed your experience, and they helped you see that you could do it. 154 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,100 They helped you see that you absolutely had what it took. 155 00:09:50,100 --> 00:09:54,480 They encouraged you, and you came away from that conversation with a lightheartedness 156 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:55,480 in your step. 157 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,260 You're like, I can totally do this. 158 00:09:57,260 --> 00:09:58,500 This is not going to hurt me. 159 00:09:58,500 --> 00:09:59,820 I can do this. 160 00:09:59,820 --> 00:10:01,420 Yes, there are those people. 161 00:10:01,420 --> 00:10:05,980 And then there are those people who just make you feel crummy about yourself all the time. 162 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:09,260 You don't even have to see them for them to affect your experience. 163 00:10:09,260 --> 00:10:18,980 Okay, if you're going to enhance your experience, you're going to want to minimize the 80% that 164 00:10:18,980 --> 00:10:19,980 drain you. 165 00:10:19,980 --> 00:10:25,740 And that may be bathroom conversations, that may be water cooler conversations, it may 166 00:10:25,740 --> 00:10:31,060 be the caucus that forms after the Grand Rounds presentation. 167 00:10:31,060 --> 00:10:35,880 I don't know what it is, you know, but there are environments that keep you from doing 168 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:36,880 your work. 169 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,420 Now, for me, part of the 80% was asking people how they're doing. 170 00:10:40,420 --> 00:10:42,140 I love people. 171 00:10:42,140 --> 00:10:44,340 And if I see you, I want to know how you're doing. 172 00:10:44,340 --> 00:10:46,220 I want to know how your dog is doing. 173 00:10:46,220 --> 00:10:47,880 I just want to know. 174 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,020 And to some extent, some of that is a people pleasing tendency. 175 00:10:52,020 --> 00:10:54,580 I want people to know that I care about them. 176 00:10:54,580 --> 00:10:59,320 And so sometimes I'm willing to continue to do that to the detriment of my work. 177 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:06,100 And so part of my people pleasing strategy and my weakness was being at conference physically, 178 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:09,380 because at the end of conference, I just felt like I needed to talk to everybody. 179 00:11:09,380 --> 00:11:13,500 And I felt like I just needed to, you know, make sure everybody who was there was doing 180 00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:14,500 fine. 181 00:11:14,500 --> 00:11:18,980 And there are some people who when they start talking, wow, they don't stop. 182 00:11:18,980 --> 00:11:21,660 And they don't really care that you have anything else going on. 183 00:11:21,660 --> 00:11:26,540 And so what started as what may have felt to you as a kind gesture becomes a situation 184 00:11:26,540 --> 00:11:32,740 in which you're strategizing in your head, like, how do I end this without seeming rude? 185 00:11:32,740 --> 00:11:38,420 And in focusing on the 20%, what you do is you say, what are the interactions that enhance 186 00:11:38,420 --> 00:11:39,420 me? 187 00:11:39,420 --> 00:11:41,660 What are the interactions that allow me to continue to do my work? 188 00:11:41,660 --> 00:11:46,140 What are the interactions that pull energy from me, drain me or keep me from going to 189 00:11:46,140 --> 00:11:47,140 my work? 190 00:11:47,140 --> 00:11:50,100 And so for me, part of that 80% was going to conference. 191 00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:53,140 I don't go physically as much as I used to. 192 00:11:53,140 --> 00:12:00,100 I go, I go virtually or, you know, intermittently in person, because as much as the collaborations 193 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:06,780 and the connections are critical, one of my flaws is the need to continue to talk to people 194 00:12:06,780 --> 00:12:11,280 and find out how they're doing to the detriment of the work I'm supposed to be doing. 195 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:16,740 And so you want to understand what interactions you have that keep you from moving forward. 196 00:12:16,740 --> 00:12:19,980 You want to identify the interactions that keep you moving forward. 197 00:12:19,980 --> 00:12:21,960 You want to up those interactions. 198 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:26,100 You want to up those communities and you want to downgrade the ones that do not move you 199 00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:27,100 forward. 200 00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:29,780 So focus on the 20% in your interactions. 201 00:12:29,780 --> 00:12:30,780 Okay. 202 00:12:30,780 --> 00:12:34,500 The next one is a 20% of the spaces to which you show up. 203 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:35,500 Now this is really important. 204 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:41,060 And I want to speak specifically, honestly, in this way to people who are underrepresented 205 00:12:41,060 --> 00:12:45,820 in academia, you know, not every space is a safe space. 206 00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:47,820 And it's important to just acknowledge that. 207 00:12:47,820 --> 00:12:52,220 And I'm just acknowledging that, that not every space is a safe space. 208 00:12:52,220 --> 00:13:00,140 We would hope that academic institutions are bastions of learning and acceptance and tolerance. 209 00:13:00,140 --> 00:13:02,380 And we would love to believe that. 210 00:13:02,380 --> 00:13:04,620 But the experience of many people is different. 211 00:13:04,620 --> 00:13:09,060 And there are spaces to which we show up where we're having to defend ourselves more than 212 00:13:09,060 --> 00:13:11,420 anybody else is, more than we've ever had to. 213 00:13:11,420 --> 00:13:16,020 There are spaces to which we show up where we get up to give a simple presentation and 214 00:13:16,020 --> 00:13:18,180 we're challenged and then we're challenged again. 215 00:13:18,180 --> 00:13:22,220 And then we feel like we need to prove that we were correct. 216 00:13:22,220 --> 00:13:27,180 And there's a lot of energy that goes into showing up in those spaces, preparing for 217 00:13:27,180 --> 00:13:32,540 those spaces, you know, making sure that we recover at the end of being in those spaces. 218 00:13:32,540 --> 00:13:36,620 And I just want to encourage you to think 20%. 219 00:13:36,620 --> 00:13:38,420 What spaces do you show up to? 220 00:13:38,420 --> 00:13:40,180 What really nourish and encourage you? 221 00:13:40,180 --> 00:13:45,540 And what are the spaces you show up to that, frankly, do not? 222 00:13:45,540 --> 00:13:50,460 And it's important because, you know, yeah, you might have to work in all the spaces, 223 00:13:50,460 --> 00:13:55,780 but how could you minimize your time in spaces that do not affirm you? 224 00:13:55,780 --> 00:14:01,060 So okay, everybody has to present at 8 a.m. conference every Monday morning. 225 00:14:01,060 --> 00:14:06,620 But 8 a.m. conference is where there's this tiger of a surgeon who gets mad and starts 226 00:14:06,620 --> 00:14:09,180 yelling at people and telling them that work sucks. 227 00:14:09,180 --> 00:14:11,260 Okay, how many times do you have to present? 228 00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:15,540 What is the bare minimum number of times you need to present in that space? 229 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:21,860 Mark it, you prepare for it, you coach, you sit with a coach and navigate every time you're 230 00:14:21,860 --> 00:14:23,220 going to that space. 231 00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:26,620 What strategies you're going to use to be calm, cool. 232 00:14:26,620 --> 00:14:31,260 You're going to have a plan for when this person starts to ask the kinds of questions 233 00:14:31,260 --> 00:14:32,660 that get under your skin. 234 00:14:32,660 --> 00:14:33,660 You're going to have a plan. 235 00:14:33,660 --> 00:14:35,220 You're going to have a plan. 236 00:14:35,220 --> 00:14:38,060 And then you're going to not show up to that space very much. 237 00:14:38,060 --> 00:14:41,740 And sometimes there's this sense that like, oh no, if I keep showing up, then I'll be 238 00:14:41,740 --> 00:14:43,980 able to get conditioned to the space. 239 00:14:43,980 --> 00:14:47,060 It's like, no, no, there is not enough time. 240 00:14:47,060 --> 00:14:52,380 There is not enough time to try to grow thick skin while someone is trying to hammer and 241 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:53,660 batter you down. 242 00:14:53,660 --> 00:14:55,220 You got a lot of work to do. 243 00:14:55,220 --> 00:15:01,380 And the work you need to do to move your scholarship program forward is not worth investing, it's 244 00:15:01,380 --> 00:15:06,060 not worth investing that energy in trying to help people love you more and trying to 245 00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:10,620 help people be convinced that you're worthy or that you know what you're doing or that 246 00:15:10,620 --> 00:15:11,920 you are intelligent. 247 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:13,460 It's not necessary. 248 00:15:13,460 --> 00:15:17,140 People who don't believe you can, don't believe you can because they have evidence. 249 00:15:17,140 --> 00:15:21,340 They don't believe you can because for whatever reason they have a bias. 250 00:15:21,340 --> 00:15:26,100 Because if people are giving you feedback, at the end of feedback, there is a win on 251 00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:27,500 all sides. 252 00:15:27,500 --> 00:15:32,420 If you are left with feedback that leaves you feeling worthless, then I would suggest 253 00:15:32,420 --> 00:15:35,180 that that probably doesn't count as feedback. 254 00:15:35,180 --> 00:15:40,500 And so maybe, maybe you stop asking for feedback from the person who's always tearing you down 255 00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:41,900 in the name of feedback. 256 00:15:41,900 --> 00:15:43,380 I don't know what the answer is for you. 257 00:15:43,380 --> 00:15:51,180 I just know that there are some spaces where you are not affirmed for who you are. 258 00:15:51,180 --> 00:15:57,380 And I'm saying just minimize the number of times you show up in those spaces and maximize 259 00:15:57,380 --> 00:16:01,900 the times that you show up in communities where you are nourished, where you are affirmed, 260 00:16:01,900 --> 00:16:04,180 and where people celebrate you. 261 00:16:04,180 --> 00:16:07,660 Okay, at 20% in the spaces where you show up. 262 00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:10,940 Or maybe there are meetings that you show up to. 263 00:16:10,940 --> 00:16:13,700 And at the end of the meeting, you look at yourself, you look at the time and you're 264 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:16,180 like, what did we talk about again? 265 00:16:16,180 --> 00:16:17,180 Hmm. 266 00:16:17,180 --> 00:16:18,300 And you're not sure. 267 00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:22,220 You can't really clarify what was accomplished in the meeting. 268 00:16:22,220 --> 00:16:23,940 And this is not a one time event. 269 00:16:23,940 --> 00:16:27,700 This happens over and over and over again. 270 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:32,460 I want you to mark that meeting and begin to think of ways to negotiate out of it. 271 00:16:32,460 --> 00:16:35,460 It's not a toxic space, but it's not a productive space. 272 00:16:35,460 --> 00:16:39,540 And you, my friend, when you are moving your research program forward, when you're moving 273 00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:44,580 your program of scholarship forward, you are about efficiency and productivity. 274 00:16:44,580 --> 00:16:49,700 And therefore any space that is neither efficient nor productive is space that shouldn't feature 275 00:16:49,700 --> 00:16:51,100 as much on your calendar. 276 00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:52,100 All right. 277 00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:53,100 That's enough about spaces. 278 00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:56,180 But 20% in the spaces to which you show up. 279 00:16:56,180 --> 00:17:01,220 And the 20% in your presentations and grant submissions. 280 00:17:01,220 --> 00:17:06,980 And I grouped these two together because, actually, they could be grouped separately, 281 00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:08,820 but I'm just trying to get the five. 282 00:17:08,820 --> 00:17:10,300 So bear with me. 283 00:17:10,300 --> 00:17:11,300 Okay. 284 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:14,660 So 20% in your presentations and grant submissions. 285 00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:16,100 What does that mean? 286 00:17:16,100 --> 00:17:19,020 You're a clinician and your field is so broad. 287 00:17:19,020 --> 00:17:23,700 For example, I'm a hematologist and I can do hemostasis, bleeding disorders. 288 00:17:23,700 --> 00:17:25,900 I can do thrombosis, clotting disorders. 289 00:17:25,900 --> 00:17:29,540 I can do hemoglobinopathies, disorders like sickle cell. 290 00:17:29,540 --> 00:17:31,660 I can also do red cell disorders. 291 00:17:31,660 --> 00:17:39,300 Sickle cell is part of that, but also anemias or hemolytic anemias, all the anemias. 292 00:17:39,300 --> 00:17:41,300 And then there are white cell disorders. 293 00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:43,260 Remember the patient has leukocytosis. 294 00:17:43,260 --> 00:17:44,260 That's not cancer. 295 00:17:44,260 --> 00:17:48,060 There are a lot of areas in which you could call me to give a talk and I could absolutely 296 00:17:48,060 --> 00:17:49,220 pull the talk together. 297 00:17:49,220 --> 00:17:51,580 But here's what happens. 298 00:17:51,580 --> 00:18:01,220 You know, over time, there are maybe 20% of topics that you keep getting called to present 299 00:18:01,220 --> 00:18:08,900 on and there are 80% of topics that you present on maybe once every three years. 300 00:18:08,900 --> 00:18:13,020 And so when they call you to do the once every three year presentation and you have to dust 301 00:18:13,020 --> 00:18:19,140 up your slides, it takes a long time to catch up again on all the things you haven't read 302 00:18:19,140 --> 00:18:22,140 in the last three years because that's not your area of focus. 303 00:18:22,140 --> 00:18:27,160 So what you want to do is you want to make sure there's just a narrow area of focus that 304 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:31,800 you present in so that every time someone says, hey, come present, you're not starting 305 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:33,700 a new presentation from scratch. 306 00:18:33,700 --> 00:18:34,700 You're ready to go. 307 00:18:34,700 --> 00:18:40,820 I mean, yeah, no presentation is without the need for, you know, dusting up every once 308 00:18:40,820 --> 00:18:46,540 in a while, but what you don't want to do is to be creating a presentation every time. 309 00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:48,940 So define your field, define it. 310 00:18:48,940 --> 00:18:53,180 And if you're a clinician researcher, you're moving scholarly program forward in one specific 311 00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:54,180 area. 312 00:18:54,180 --> 00:18:57,380 And it can be a broad area, but it's just got to have a theme. 313 00:18:57,380 --> 00:19:02,420 And if you find yourself creating a new presentation every time you're invited to speak, that may 314 00:19:02,420 --> 00:19:07,640 be a sign that maybe it's too broad or maybe your criteria are not narrow enough. 315 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,320 What you want to do is go back to all your presentations. 316 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:14,020 Pick the ones you love the most, pick the ones that are most interesting to you and 317 00:19:14,020 --> 00:19:17,340 the ones that people continue to invite you back to speak about. 318 00:19:17,340 --> 00:19:19,860 And you want to move those ones forward. 319 00:19:19,860 --> 00:19:21,860 In your grant submissions, the same thing. 320 00:19:21,860 --> 00:19:26,860 You know, you have a big program, you have funding from this person and funding from 321 00:19:26,860 --> 00:19:29,220 that person. 322 00:19:29,220 --> 00:19:34,780 And there are just some of the programs or some of the grant funding agencies that really 323 00:19:34,780 --> 00:19:37,260 give you a big bang for your buck. 324 00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:43,420 And so maybe you submit 12 proposals, only one or two really gave you the big payday. 325 00:19:43,420 --> 00:19:45,780 You want to spend 20%... 326 00:19:45,780 --> 00:19:50,700 The 20% is to spend time on the grants that give you the biggest payoff. 327 00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:55,940 You could apply for many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many small grants 328 00:19:55,940 --> 00:19:59,140 that you're competitive for, you're able to move forward. 329 00:19:59,140 --> 00:20:04,500 But at the end of the day, you collate them together and it's like, oh, wow, I got $50,000 330 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:08,460 from this, you know, these 20 applications that I sent out. 331 00:20:08,460 --> 00:20:12,700 And maybe you could have maybe invested more time in one big application that could have 332 00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:17,940 given you a bigger payday and less time involvement over time. 333 00:20:17,940 --> 00:20:19,980 And so those are the kinds of things to think about. 334 00:20:19,980 --> 00:20:24,700 I think I'm not saying don't submit grants or don't submit as many as possible, but think 335 00:20:24,700 --> 00:20:30,660 about what is the threshold of money that will get me out of bed to submit this grant? 336 00:20:30,660 --> 00:20:31,660 I think it's important. 337 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:36,780 When you start, you know, you do start small because it gives you momentum, it builds your 338 00:20:36,780 --> 00:20:37,780 momentum. 339 00:20:37,780 --> 00:20:43,620 And so I'm not saying don't apply for monies that are considered small, but as you progress, 340 00:20:43,620 --> 00:20:47,700 especially as you begin to have a bigger research program and you have more needs to your research 341 00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:54,900 program, you start asking the question, what more, what more can I get from the same amount 342 00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:56,900 of time, the same amount of effort? 343 00:20:56,900 --> 00:21:02,420 And as you start to build your team, you start to ask the question, how much more of my team 344 00:21:02,420 --> 00:21:07,460 can support me in this really big thing so that I'm not trying to do it all by myself? 345 00:21:07,460 --> 00:21:12,380 I want to just pause there and say, hey, if you are writing grants all by yourself, there's 346 00:21:12,380 --> 00:21:16,140 opportunity to invite people to be part of the process with you. 347 00:21:16,140 --> 00:21:20,140 And if you have people in your program who have expertise, say in biostatistics, so they 348 00:21:20,140 --> 00:21:25,620 have expertise in a certain methodology, they should be helping you write the grant. 349 00:21:25,620 --> 00:21:28,140 Absolutely should be helping you write the grant. 350 00:21:28,140 --> 00:21:31,280 They can't write the whole grant for you because that's why you're the leader. 351 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,100 That's why you're the person with foresight and oversight of the team. 352 00:21:35,100 --> 00:21:39,700 But they really can help you so that you're really coming to the grant or coming to the 353 00:21:39,700 --> 00:21:48,260 proposal as a master, as a master, what's the word, the master, the lead researcher, 354 00:21:48,260 --> 00:21:51,540 you know, the lead, the PI. 355 00:21:51,540 --> 00:21:53,260 The word I'm looking for is PI. 356 00:21:53,260 --> 00:21:54,260 You are the PI. 357 00:21:54,260 --> 00:21:57,740 You're the one who thinks about the direction of the research program. 358 00:21:57,740 --> 00:22:04,660 And so to the extent to which your community, the community that you lead, the community 359 00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:11,740 that depends on you to find funding, to the extent to which they can help you, you want 360 00:22:11,740 --> 00:22:16,780 to take them up on that offer so that they can help you think critically about components 361 00:22:16,780 --> 00:22:20,240 of the grant or at least give you first drafts for you to really, really shape. 362 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:24,000 So you want to think about that as you're doing presentations and doing grant submissions 363 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,000 as well. 364 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,000 OK. 365 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,020 Number five is the 20% in your productive time. 366 00:22:30,020 --> 00:22:33,220 Now I alluded to this earlier when I talked about being a morning person. 367 00:22:33,220 --> 00:22:36,060 I'm the person who rises early, early, early. 368 00:22:36,060 --> 00:22:40,660 I'm the person who's writing before people wake up because it's just my best time of 369 00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:41,660 day. 370 00:22:41,660 --> 00:22:46,100 When I look at my productivity, I see that in the morning I get the most done. 371 00:22:46,100 --> 00:22:47,580 I have the most ideas. 372 00:22:47,580 --> 00:22:50,060 It's so beautiful, so awesome. 373 00:22:50,060 --> 00:22:52,940 And I get to go right in the afternoon because I'm able to do all things. 374 00:22:52,940 --> 00:22:57,220 But I don't get as much out of it when I write in the afternoon. 375 00:22:57,220 --> 00:23:05,140 And so for that reason, it's really important that you recognize what is your peak productivity 376 00:23:05,140 --> 00:23:06,140 time. 377 00:23:06,140 --> 00:23:12,140 And you want to give that time, you know, you want to make sure that you put in that 378 00:23:12,140 --> 00:23:14,540 peak productivity time the most important things. 379 00:23:14,540 --> 00:23:17,900 And there are some things that, you know, are not as important. 380 00:23:17,900 --> 00:23:20,140 For example, checking email. 381 00:23:20,140 --> 00:23:23,780 Yeah, you do need to communicate with people. 382 00:23:23,780 --> 00:23:25,700 You don't need to spend all day on it. 383 00:23:25,700 --> 00:23:30,980 And if you spend the best, most productive time checking your email in which, you know, 384 00:23:30,980 --> 00:23:34,980 that inbox is a hot bed of stuff, right? 385 00:23:34,980 --> 00:23:37,180 There are things in there that you have to respond to. 386 00:23:37,180 --> 00:23:39,700 There are emails in there that make you so mad. 387 00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:42,680 Take away your energy, waste your time. 388 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,720 And then you come away from that and you're like, wow, I don't even have the energy to 389 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,180 write I'm so mad. 390 00:23:47,180 --> 00:23:48,180 Exactly. 391 00:23:48,180 --> 00:23:51,420 So what you want to do is you want to reserve those activities for later in the day. 392 00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:54,740 When you're like, you know what, okay, that's fine. 393 00:23:54,740 --> 00:23:55,740 Okay. 394 00:23:55,740 --> 00:24:00,260 And you know, you're just more tired and you can read the email and respond, or you can 395 00:24:00,260 --> 00:24:01,260 just let things go. 396 00:24:01,260 --> 00:24:05,940 But you don't want to use your peak productive time to do the things that you could do at 397 00:24:05,940 --> 00:24:06,980 any time of the day. 398 00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:09,140 For example, putting your desk together. 399 00:24:09,140 --> 00:24:11,940 I hope you have somebody else help you put your desk together. 400 00:24:11,940 --> 00:24:13,660 But let's say you have to do it. 401 00:24:13,660 --> 00:24:15,860 Don't do it in the time when you should be writing. 402 00:24:15,860 --> 00:24:18,260 Don't do it in the time that's most important. 403 00:24:18,260 --> 00:24:19,820 Okay, so that's the 20%. 404 00:24:19,820 --> 00:24:22,420 I want to share one more thing with you. 405 00:24:22,420 --> 00:24:26,820 This is the way I think about the 20% in my research program. 406 00:24:26,820 --> 00:24:31,660 I think about my 20% in one making offers, and that's really submitting grants. 407 00:24:31,660 --> 00:24:37,400 I make as many offers as I can, because the more proposals I submit, the more opportunities 408 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,900 I have to have funding to move my research program forward. 409 00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:44,420 So I do prioritize submitting proposals. 410 00:24:44,420 --> 00:24:48,020 The second thing I prioritize is really maintaining my own platform. 411 00:24:48,020 --> 00:24:50,260 Nobody knows what you're doing until you publish it. 412 00:24:50,260 --> 00:24:51,640 You may look busy. 413 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,800 You may be like, oh my goodness, it was so tough in the lab yesterday, or oh my gosh, 414 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,340 this program of research is so crazy. 415 00:24:58,340 --> 00:25:02,860 But until it is out there in the public domain, people don't know what they're doing. 416 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:07,420 That's why people talk about manuscripts as the currency of academic medicine. 417 00:25:07,420 --> 00:25:10,820 And so what you want to do is prioritize getting those manuscripts out. 418 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:15,140 We're doing all these projects, but the manuscripts are piled up. 419 00:25:15,140 --> 00:25:17,060 It's like, I'll get to it, I'll get to it. 420 00:25:17,060 --> 00:25:18,980 Don't be the bottleneck. 421 00:25:18,980 --> 00:25:22,060 I have been the bottleneck for my research program. 422 00:25:22,060 --> 00:25:26,780 Until recently, I started finding first authors who would finish my manuscripts for me. 423 00:25:26,780 --> 00:25:31,620 And they get a manuscript, a first author manuscript publication, and I get my work 424 00:25:31,620 --> 00:25:32,620 finished. 425 00:25:32,620 --> 00:25:37,420 And so it's really important that I prioritize that, getting the manuscripts out, because 426 00:25:37,420 --> 00:25:39,660 they are the evidence for the work that I'm doing. 427 00:25:39,660 --> 00:25:40,660 So those are two things. 428 00:25:40,660 --> 00:25:46,580 The third thing I also prioritize is getting on other people's platforms, meaning going 429 00:25:46,580 --> 00:25:48,500 and presenting my work. 430 00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:52,780 And the more work you have out there, the more people invite you. 431 00:25:52,780 --> 00:25:56,380 But some of it also is the more they see your work, the more they think of you. 432 00:25:56,380 --> 00:26:01,500 And so sometimes what you want to do is to reach out to someone and say, hey, I'm growing 433 00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:03,700 my expertise in XYZ. 434 00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:06,100 May I come and give grand rounds at your institution? 435 00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:09,420 Yes, invite yourself if they don't invite you. 436 00:26:09,420 --> 00:26:12,780 There are some of us, especially those of us who are underrepresented in the academy, 437 00:26:12,780 --> 00:26:17,060 and people just don't think about us because we're not part of the large networks where 438 00:26:17,060 --> 00:26:19,820 people maybe meet each other all the time. 439 00:26:19,820 --> 00:26:23,900 And so you just have to think strategically about doing things differently. 440 00:26:23,900 --> 00:26:28,580 If you're not invited, look around at institutions, find people you know and say, hey, I would 441 00:26:28,580 --> 00:26:31,300 really love to come give a talk about XYZ. 442 00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:34,300 And here's how I think it will provide value to your faculty. 443 00:26:34,300 --> 00:26:35,840 Would you care to have me? 444 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,260 People are always looking for grand round speakers to fill the schedule. 445 00:26:39,260 --> 00:26:40,700 Of course they would love to have you. 446 00:26:40,700 --> 00:26:44,220 They've never thought of you because they didn't know. 447 00:26:44,220 --> 00:26:46,100 And that was your area of expertise. 448 00:26:46,100 --> 00:26:50,260 And I know that every time you submit manuscript, you're like, by now people should know me. 449 00:26:50,260 --> 00:26:51,260 And they don't. 450 00:26:51,260 --> 00:26:52,260 And it's OK. 451 00:26:52,260 --> 00:26:53,660 It'll take time for them to know you. 452 00:26:53,660 --> 00:26:57,660 And until then, you're going to ask them if you can come and present. 453 00:26:57,660 --> 00:27:02,700 And so one of the things I want to invite you to do as we are closing this episode out 454 00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:08,940 is to make a list of 10 institutions at which you want to give a talk this year, 10 institutions. 455 00:27:08,940 --> 00:27:11,500 And don't tell me, oh, I'm not really an expert yet. 456 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:12,500 You're a physician. 457 00:27:12,500 --> 00:27:13,500 You can read. 458 00:27:13,500 --> 00:27:14,500 You can write. 459 00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:18,860 You are an expert as long as you start doing the work and giving the presentations. 460 00:27:18,860 --> 00:27:20,540 And of course, you're leading a program of studies. 461 00:27:20,540 --> 00:27:22,060 So of course you're the expert. 462 00:27:22,060 --> 00:27:23,060 OK. 463 00:27:23,060 --> 00:27:24,420 So you're going to write a list. 464 00:27:24,420 --> 00:27:29,140 I'm asking you to write a list of 10 institutions at which you want to give a talk this year. 465 00:27:29,140 --> 00:27:34,800 Then I invite you to name 10 people who are at the institute, or not 10 people, but just 466 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,900 for each institution, one person per institution. 467 00:27:38,900 --> 00:27:42,620 And you're going to end up with a list of 10 names of people that you know, either directly 468 00:27:42,620 --> 00:27:43,620 or peripherally. 469 00:27:43,620 --> 00:27:46,380 So remember, six degrees of separation. 470 00:27:46,380 --> 00:27:48,700 There's always someone who knows someone who knows someone. 471 00:27:48,700 --> 00:27:52,620 And then I want you to reach out to just one person this week and say, hey, I'm building 472 00:27:52,620 --> 00:27:55,140 my reputation in this area. 473 00:27:55,140 --> 00:27:56,580 Here is a paper I've published in the field. 474 00:27:56,580 --> 00:27:58,900 Or if you haven't published anything, that's OK, too. 475 00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:04,060 Say, may I come and give a Grand Rounds talk on XYZ? 476 00:28:04,060 --> 00:28:05,860 And I think it's a great thing. 477 00:28:05,860 --> 00:28:08,060 And you can do that and see what happens. 478 00:28:08,060 --> 00:28:09,060 And you know what? 479 00:28:09,060 --> 00:28:10,060 Come tell me about it. 480 00:28:10,060 --> 00:28:13,820 Come tell me about it on Instagram, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook as well. 481 00:28:13,820 --> 00:28:18,780 Or you can just come to our podcast website, clinicianresearcherpodcast.com, and leave 482 00:28:18,780 --> 00:28:19,940 a voicemail for me. 483 00:28:19,940 --> 00:28:22,620 Would love to share your voicemail with the audience. 484 00:28:22,620 --> 00:28:23,620 All right. 485 00:28:23,620 --> 00:28:24,620 That's all. 486 00:28:24,620 --> 00:28:25,620 It's been a pleasure talking with you today. 487 00:28:25,620 --> 00:28:35,180 I look forward to talking with you again the next week. 488 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:40,540 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 489 00:28:40,540 --> 00:28:45,980 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 490 00:28:45,980 --> 00:28:47,340 have a mentor. 491 00:28:47,340 --> 00:28:53,460 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 492 00:28:53,460 --> 00:28:55,180 Someone else needs to hear it. 493 00:28:55,180 --> 00:28:59,260 So take a minute right now and share it. 494 00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:04,700 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 495 00:29:04,700 --> 00:29:10,660 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.