**Did you sense that academic joy?** //The difference between a good student and a great one is that a good student is concerned more about the outcome while a great one is fascinated by the process of learning. - Richard Feynman// {{:ricky.png?400|}} Keep playing cool is one way to maintain a long-term interest. I was told if studying is somewhat like playing video games, then it will never be boring. However, there is another saying arguing that the best way to destroy your interest is to turn it into your day-to-day work. Let’s first leave it there to judge the soundness of two viewpoints. Work is undoubtedly important for living, ‘cause that’s where the money comes. However, the attitudes for working can be varied when doing specific things. We always heard people become master and creative on some jobs, such as carving flowers on Tofu, grass cutting into different shapes, more personalized way of teaching. As an early career researcher, I have been always envisioning what it looks like after checking around other researchers. I think it is a lot fun to treat it as upgrading as video game role: the success of PhD defence, the first first-author publication, the first high impact journal publication, the first-time reviewer role, the first-time editor role, the first-time international conference presenter, the first international conference organizer, the first time fund application, the first undergraduate tutor role, etc. When looking at the academic career in such a joyful way, I cannot help hoping for the next challenge/reward. {{:academic_pathway.jpg?400|}} Source from anonymous Twitter user