During my PhD, I won 1st place in all 3 conference competitions where I gave scientific presentations. I was extremely humbled, grateful, and was ecstatic every single time. All other competitors were all overwhelmingly intelligent and talented and we all got to know each other well and celebrated the night afterwards. I wanted to share some personal tips that helped me deliver strong presentations:

​When I first thought about which resolutions were important for me, I immediately thought “excel in my job and sleep more!” because those are areas that affect me every day. However, when I reflect on  my work-life balance, mental health, relationships with friends and family, I'm reminded many other areas could use improvement to bring greater joy and purpose to my life.

Each of us have several roles – whether it’s being a student, employee, manager, partner, parent, friend, sibling, etc… it’s important to realize all areas of our lives affect our well-being. To brainstorm what areas in your life could use improvement, write down different categories (including roles/relationships, diet, fitness, finances, etc), rate each one on a scale from 1 to 10, and comment on what you would like to improve in each area. This method can help you focus on which areas could use more attention than others. Here are 30 ideas for new years resolutions that apply to different categories of life.

I can’t believe there are just a few days left in 2017! If you’re anything like me, you’re probably already thinking about setting some New Year’s resolutions.  Did you know that only about 10% of people keep their resolutions, and 30% of people don’t even make it past the first month? Here are a few tips on how to make your goal-setting less stressful and more inspiring: