As I continue working on my research project this summer I’ve realized that in order to keep things in perspective that it is important that I think and plan about my future. By planning out my future I make it easier for myself to understand what I need to do now in order to accomplish them. I look forward towards my plans, ranging from short term goals for the next few years, to long term goals further down the line. It is through the completion of different short term goals that I accomplish medium term goals, which eventually lead to my long-term goals. While the picture painted by short-term goals is often clear, the specifics on longer-term goals can often be less distinct, and thus it is important to be flexible in order to shift either your approach to a goal, or to shift the goal itself. My short term goals often are designed in mind to help me accomplish more medium and long term goals and thus I often find it helpful to consider these further goals first. Overall, I would say that I’ve known my overall career goal for a long time; that is, to go into academia, and thus, only my short term goals change significantly while my long term goals have remained relatively constant.  In the short term, I hope to continue working in my current lab during this academic year, and I plan on continuing working in labs for the rest of my undergraduate career. Through work in labs, as well as my continued studies, I hope to be able to identify the field of physics that I am most interested in by the end of my undergraduate studies, and to choose which graduate schools to apply based on the field I want to work in. Later down the line, after I get my Ph.D., I hope to continue in academia by working as a postdoctoral researcher and by eventually becoming a professor, and it is with this overall plan that I hope to accomplish my goal of working in academia.