At Halftime

12th April 2020

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. Yep, 25 years on Earth - or a quarter of my life already up as my parents put it. Its a pretty good time to be at home. Spring has arrived. Sun is out. Plenty of chocolate in the house. It's also halftime for the degree. Lots of exciting things to look back on and build towards.

- Led the Academic Medicine Society in my Second Year
- Summer Research Project in the Institute of Cancer Research at Newcastle University
- StaffBank Shifts at Epsom & St Helier.

Three exceptional opportunities that I've been able to carry on and build upon from previous university experiences. But what haven't I done?

- Reached Top 10%
- Published.

So there's the real question that matters. What matters to you most and what matters most to you now. We can spend time + look at patterns of how others have built their careers and sit in admiration and think about what we should do. But what matters to you is personal, might be original and in my mind. Everything else on leading societies / further summer research / healthcare assistant work have roles to play too: But let's be clear before we dig deeper - aka the need to further build upon what we've done.

Set some clear goals above your desk - just two sentences. What do you want to do with your time now? Just two years left at university. Make the most of it.