Do you want a career or not?

This puts it…clearly:

A common misunderstanding among early-career scientists is the thought that their passion is their research focus. A more careful examination reveals that their passion is not so much the subject but rather, the promise of the life that academia might offer.

Painfully so, but clearly.

I’ve had to ask myself several times in my career if I was interested in TopicX More than I was with having a career. And occasionally the question forms itself in the other direction. Am I so focused on maintaining my career that the actual science isn’t any fun anymore*?

At times I have felt as though I would walk away if I couldn’t do TopicX. At other times, working on Topics Y and Z has (apparently) been sufficient*.

I am by no means done asking myself the questions, nor is it the case that I always have any choice, really.

I suggest you read the post...if for nothing else it may help you to think about how you make decisions about your career.

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*In truth, perhaps one of the biggest surprises of my career arc is the degree to which I find I am interested by at least something in just about every project. As it “Yeah, the overall goals here are cool and all but..whoa! What the heck is UP with this thing over here? Wow. Let’s get ON that for a few months…..[two years later]“