When working towards big goals, we can focus in three different directions: looking forwards, sideways, or backwards. In academia, the pressure to publish, secure funding, and build a competitive CV often pushes early-career researchers to fixate on what lies ahead – the next experiment, the next paper, the thesis – or to constantly compare themselves with peers. While some forward-thinking and awareness of the field are necessary, an excessive focus in these directions can be detrimental to both progress and wellbeing.

A lesson from a personal experience

This lesson came to me unexpectedly, not during my academic journey, but through my personal experience recovering from long covid. Over the past year and a half, I found it extremely challenging to look forwards. My recovery followed a non-linear path – I would make progress on how I felt and then go backwards again, often losing hope when looking ahead. I was so far from being recovered that I thought I would never manage to feel good again. Like many others in similar situations, I spent a lot of time online looking for information and ways to cope with this condition. Inevitably, I started comparing my recovery speed to other long covid haulers, which strongly affected my motivation.

A lot changed when my physiotherapist opened my eyes and suggested I take the time to reflect on how far I had come already. During each appointment, we deliberately listed my improvements since the previous session. At the beginning of the process, the improvements seemed frustratingly small: walking one minute longer or managing to see a friend for 30 minutes. Initially, I found these numbers depressing, but she helped me look at them from another perspective – transforming an absolute number (+ 1 min walking) into a relative improvement (20% longer, woohoo!). Over the months, this strategy paid off. As my improvements grew bigger and bigger, my motivation to keep working hard towards recovery remained strong.

Looking forwards and sideways in academia

While reflecting on this experience, I realized that focusing on looking forwards and sideways is something that many early-career researchers do – myself included. During my PhD, I spent countless hours worrying about what still needed to be done to graduate: getting experiments to work, obtaining results, publishing papers, writing a thesis. I regularly compared my publication record and research progress to my peers. This attitude only brought me stress and anxiety, particularly when my experiments weren’t working well.

Practical strategies for shifting focus

Instead of focusing on what remains to be done or what others have been doing, I invite PhD students and postdocs to put more conscious emphasis on looking backwards – to acknowledge and realize what they have accomplished so far.

First, develop the habit of actively listing the small goals you have successfully achieved. These might include a set of successful experiments, an abstract submitted to a conference, a new person added to your network, or one of your students completing their internship.

Even with unsuccessful experiments, try to shift the narrative and focus on the skills you are developing through the process – not just the lack of results. You are building critical thinking, patience, resilience, adaptability, and many other valuable competencies – regardless of the tangible output.

When you find yourself overwhelmed by thoughts about the future and all the tasks that need to be completed within a certain timeframe, break down these tasks into much smaller chunks defined with SMART objectives (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound). This approach makes the remaining work less daunting and helps maintain motivation.

If you struggle with comparing yourself to others, take a step back and remember that every PhD or postdoc project is different. Numerous factors outside your control will impact it – your supervisor, infrastructure, host institute, project partners (including interns), or even a pandemic. Go at your own speed, focus on your own path, and avoid looking too much sideways if you find yourself affected by these comparisons.

The power of looking backwards

The path through academia is rarely linear. While the pressure to look forwards at remaining milestones or sideways at peers’ achievements can be overwhelming, the most sustainable source of motivation often lies in looking backwards. By acknowledging how far you’ve come – through both successes and setbacks – you build resilience and confidence in your ability to face future challenges. Every PhD and postdoc journey is unique, and the most important competition is with yourself: not to be better than others, but to be better than you were yesterday.