At work, I was asked to take over another project about two months ago. During this short period, I had to condense and pick up what he had been doing for two years. Things had to be learnt fast which is not my usual strategy of slow and steady wins the race (the hare and tortoise story). In today's situation, there is a need to balance between the fast pace of producing results and the mental capability to learn new things.
Recently, I am having difficulties sleeping because my mind is thinking about work subconsciously. The machine which was used to purify proteins started giving me problems. It had to 'complain' just when I was all alone and not when my colleague was present.
However, problems are not all bad. It depends on how you look at them. For me, it forced me to read the machine manual so that I could troubleshoot and solve the problems. They are opportunities to test the boundaries of your comfort zone. By solving them, it helps you to understand what you are doing instead of fretting over what to do. A vital virtue in research is to never give up in times of adversities and failures. That's what makes research interesting. It's all about discovery and learning new things.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It's good that you are taking things positively. The more you troubleshoot, the better u'd become at it.
Keep on going! Cheers! =)
hehe, last night i went out for dinner with boss and his previous student who is now doing her PhD @ stanford. we talked about what we can get from a PhD and postdoc training: it is that you will be mentally stronger after the training.
best wishes.
zimin
Well, PhD has an infamous acronym called Permanent Head Damage. The process of getting a PhD is really a mental exercise where you are tested to your limits. Once you have been pushed to your limits, I do agree with you that you will emerged mentally stronger.
Post a Comment