A Message from Chuck Black

insights from the CFN Director

January 24, 2022

The new year is here and I've only just caught my breath, but we're already off and running. Like some of you, I hope, my holidays were spent with family and friends — and a little bit of time away from nanoscience. The holiday break has left me feeling optimistic. As I do each January, I find myself looking forward to the year ahead and eagerly anticipating the research advances that will be made by CFN users and staff.

Without a doubt, 2021 was a slog. Our continuing efforts to control the SARS-CoV-2 hazard meant that only about half the number of staff and users could be in the facility each day. This and other measures made the CFN safer, but also a lot quieter. While we continued to execute our nanoscience mission, operating under these prolonged, stressful conditions has been tiring and difficult for us all.

We can all be proud that CFN supported the research of 571 users in 2021 — around half of them remotely. This accomplishment shows our perseverance, dedication, and commitment to finding ways to advance nanoscience. Here are some snippets of information about the make-up of CFN users in 2021:

• You are 571 people.
• 282 of you worked onsite and 289 of you engaged with the CFN remotely.
• For 233 of you, 2021 was your first year using CFN (41% of you).
• 135 of you self-identified as women (24%) and 436 as men.
• You are young! 207 of you are under age 30. 415 of you are under age 40 (nearly 75%!)
• 232 of you are students.
• 117 of you are postdocs.
• 222 of you are faculty/professional scientists.

Although I'm full of optimism for 2022, I feel differently compared to other years. Lately, I've noticed myself feeling vaguely tired, even after a good rest like the one I just had over the holidays. I'm having a slightly harder time focusing, and I'm missing the energy I typically feel at the start of a year. I was thinking about this as I re-read a recent article by Professor Adam Grant, who calls the 'blah' we've been feeling languishing.

Grant writes that languishing is different from burnout, because we still have some energy. It's not depression, because we don't feel hopeless. Languishing is just a sort of joyless and aimless feeling, which can dull our motivations.

For me, that sounds about right. And maybe for some of you, too?

The CFN staff discussed languishing during our annual retreat this past fall. Even more importantly, we talked about actions to get us on track and work ourselves out of it. Here are some things we can do:

Decide on our core values.  When we're languishing, it's essential to remind ourselves of those things that matter most to us. It's easy to lose track of these during the busy-ness of daily life. By taking time to remind ourselves of our core values, we provide ourselves with some of the most important reasons to do our work.

We talk frequently in the CFN about the core values that define us. I've written about these before:

• We believe in cooperation and collaboration, and that we can do more working together than by working separately.
• We believe that our skill and expertise brings value to our users.
• We find our balance between supporting user science and achieving our personal research goals. This duality is embedded in the CFN culture and is an essential element of our mission.
• We strive for excellence. Our goal is surpassing expectations — in our research, in our support for users, and in our facility operations.
• We are resilient in everything we do. We use setbacks as opportunities to improve and not as reasons to quit.
• We are deeply fulfilled by working as members of something larger than ourselves, knowing that by accomplishing our mission, we serve the nation and the world.

Knowing and believing in our core values can nudge us to show up each day in service of them.

Believe we're doing work that matters.  I frequently talk about the profound ways throughout history that advances in materials have dramatically improved human life. In the CFN, our highest aspiration is for users and staff, working together, to be at the forefront of impactful nanomaterial advances of the 21st century. This is our challenge and tremendous opportunity, if we are bold enough to imagine and pursue it.

I encourage all of us, CFN users and staff alike, to ask ourselves challenging questions about our research. Are we working to solve important nanoscience problems? Will the outcome of our work be meaningful? Are we “Daring Mighty Things?”

And, most importantly, can we explain why our work is important, meaningful, and mighty —  to anyone who asks? If not, then why not? What can we change so that we can answer “Yes!”?

Do less. Not more.  When we're languishing, it's all too easy to fill our days with little tasks, which soak up our time and feel like work, but don't really make any meaningful difference. Things like answering emails or attending meetings. When we spend time on these small tasks, we feel busy but unfulfilled. Our time and energy are better spent elsewhere.

Steven Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” captured this important idea in a timeless, awkward phrase, writing: "The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing."

Similarly, author and coach Brad Stulberg encourages us to evaluate our activities as we do them, continually asking ourselves, “What is the main thing I'm working on here?" And to assess: "Does the action I'm performing right now support or move me forward on the main thing?” And most importantly, “If not, then why am I doing it?"

Performing these self-assessments appropriately can eliminate small, unimportant tasks from our to-do lists. The result can be to make us both less busy and more fulfilled, by giving us time and energy to spend on meaningful work.

I'm so excited for 2022 and really looking forward to seeing everyone in CFN. This year especially, I encourage everyone to consider your core values, recommit to doing work that truly matters, and strive to do less, not more — by keeping the main thing, the main thing. In these ways, we can find energy to accompany our excitement for the year ahead.

And, as always, CFN staff and users can rely on each other. Find a colleague sometime and discuss the things you're excited about for the coming year. Let's keep working together to make a difference.

— Charles Black 
CFN Director  

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