Getting Feedback can be difficult because of many people are hesitant to be critical. We can give them permission to be critical by asking two questions:

-Tell me one thing to do differently

-Tell me one thing I should keep doing

These questions could be included in an email asking for an IDP meeting to give your PI the chance to think about it beforehand.

Trust between the postdoc and PI is crucial, and even more so, because research is a high-pressue environment. For your PI and other colleagues to give you meaningful advice, it is important that they know where you are heading.

Motivate through postive actions: "Thats a cool result" can make a tremenous difference when it comes to motivating other people. For self-motivation, add more dimensions to your life, something that you enjoy doing outside of work.

-Written by Franziska Heydenreich, 2nd yr Postdoc, Kobilka lab