You're listening to Significant Impact, the podcast for early career researchers ready to take the next step toward independence. I'm Sarah Dobson, Grant Consultant and Academic Career Coach, and on this show I help you navigate the transition from mentored K Awards to your first R01 without losing your mind, your focus, or your sense of purpose. If you're ready to move from I hope I'm ready to I know I'm ready, join the wait list for the next cohort of K2R Essentials at Sarahdobson.co slash K2R. That's S-A-R-A-H-D-O-B-S-O-N.co slash K number 2R. Now let's get to the episode. You're listening to Uncharted Academia, a series about navigating research careers in a time of transformation. In part four of this series, we talked about the importance of building up both research networks and career networks to help you thrive as you pursue your program of research and in the progress of your career. But even in those networks, even in spaces built on trust and collaboration, we sometimes can still catch ourselves using the same measuring sticks that the system gives us. The number of R01s, impact factors, prestigious roles or rewards, right? Those kinds of things. But longtime listeners of this show and graduates of KDAR Essentials know very well that those metrics have never really told the truth about your research or about your actual goals, if you've ever taken the time or space to think about what you wanted for yourself. But those external metrics did provide something comforting, which was the illusion of certainty. They told you when you had done enough. They gave you a finish line to run toward, even if it was one that shifted. Because sometimes those metrics were so vague that the only way to feel safe was to do the most, to write more, publish more, review more, in the hopes that all of that effort would eventually add up to enough. And sometimes you chased all of those goals only to find out that the goalposts had moved as soon as you reached them. What's interesting about this moment right now is that even those traditional metrics, as nebulous as they often were, are in flux. Because the structure that upheld them, the system of federal funding, institutional prestige, and academic hierarchy, that in itself is in flux. The ground is shifting. So if those old measures of success no longer mean what they used to, what takes their place? Well, we're not actually going to concern ourselves with what takes our place because you already know that around here we believe that the achievement of those external metrics is secondary to the achievement of your own metrics of success. So let's talk about what that means. I want you to ask yourself a few questions. What actually feels meaningful in your work? What outcomes would still matter if nobody ranked them? What tells you your research is making a difference? And what makes you uniquely positioned to do this work, not just scientifically, but personally? And as you are reflecting on those questions, I just want to remind you of something that we talk about inside the program and something that I've brought up on the show before, which is the difference between having an intellectual contribution and a relational contribution, right? So if you're answering those questions and thinking to yourself, well, what actually feels meaningful in your work is mentoring others and supporting them in achieving their goals, those are, of course, meaningful elements of your work, but also try to find the intellectual contribution that is meaningful, right? Because you can have that impact, relational impact, in a lot of different places, right? So if you can start to name those things clearly and proudly, you start to build your own metrics of success. And once you do, you can focus on them relentlessly. That's how you play the long game. Because listen, tenure is not a force field. NIH grants are not security. Real security comes from skills that travel with you. Resilience, communication, leadership, and your subject matter expertise. It comes from knowing that no matter what happens to the system, you have the tools to keep building meaningful work. And this is especially true for those of you who've never been fully protected by the old structures in the first place. So anybody who's considered underrepresented in NIH grant funding, right? Anybody who's doing health equity-based research at the moment, you've already been living this reality. You've always had to define success differently. You've always had to build meaning and momentum outside of the traditional metrics. You've always known that the only sustainable form of success is the one that you define for yourself. So every time you measure success differently, every time you choose integrity over optics, you're not just protecting your own career, you're changing the culture. You're redefining what counts and for whom. Because external metrics can always change, but internal alignment can't. When you can redefine success on your own terms, you'll find the security the system promised, but could never deliver. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Significant Impact from K Award to your first big R0. If you want to dig deeper into what we learned today and move a significant step closer to a smooth K-2R transition, visit Sarah Dobson.co slash pod and check out all the free stuff we have to help you do just that. Don't forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you hear new episodes as soon as they're released. And if today's episode made you think of a colleague or a friend, please tell them about it. Tune in next time and thanks again for listening.