The short answer is unfortunately yes. I have never seen (or had) a student or postdoc who has done well and NOT worked hard (trust me I have seen a LOT). When I was seriously doing experiments (not that long ago), my experience was that I had to give every fibre of my being to find anything that was really new. So I suppose putting in long hours is kindof important, but I have come to realize that there is a specific time when one needs to really, really work hard. And that is the time time when everything is going really really well.
When one is just starting out, and simply "fooling round", trying to find something interesting to do, perhaps it is not that critical to work hard. In fact it may be argued that one should not work that hard during this time. This is a time that is typically filled with disappointment and frustration, and perhaps a cavalier attitude is best. Try your best and come what may ("whatever" as teenagers now say). Trying too hard will only lead to greater frustration, so stay focused but loose. But when you get on the right track after a few months and in your mind's eye can see what mother nature is really saying, that's really the time to work really really hard. This is the time when the methods are all working, the constructs are all made, the experiments are all lined out (pretty much), there is only one thing to do. WORK WORK AND WORK. Get it done. There will be lots of lazy afternoons afterwards. Undoubtedly there will still be setbacks and frustrations (that's how this works, OK), but in the end the pleasure is - as Feynman famously said - in findings things out!
8 Comments
What makes a good PI? Good students and good postdocs. Its simple.
The best thing about a "Brief Communication" is that the abbreviated format allows only a minimal exposure of your ignorance.
Anytime you think that "numbers don't tell the whole story", take a look at the numbers in a football/baseball game (passes, interceptions, ERAs, YAC's whatever), and see if the LOSING team has better numbers.
If the experiment is clean, the NUMBERS DON'T LIE. In the wake of all the failed trials with anti amyloid-beta agents, I will say this for the record. I have read the literature, and being a neuropathologist I have seen hundreds of Alzheimer's brains over the years. Nothing else makes sense. If it is really not amyloid-beta, boy we are REALLY screwed.
Who isin't. That stupid experiment is not working, the project you thought was cool is a damp squib after all, the paper is floating in that glossy journal for a year. Stop for a second to think that at the instant you look at these words, a billion neurons are firing, making it possible for you to see, process and understand the words - all in the blink of an eye. And that's just a small fraction of what's working to keep you alive at this instant.
Doing Science was never easy. The truth is that you can only do this if you must, and there is just nothing else you can really do. OK well you can, but at least you need to give this Science thing your best shot. OK here's a checklist to publishing in a glossy journal:
1. Read the literature extensively. 2. Identify a key "given" in the field that has never been accurately tested (yes, there are LOTS of them apples). 3. Design a PERFECT experiment to test the given dogma (PS from experience: Its almost certain that you will either find the dogma entirely wrong, or find major loopholes in it). 4. Believe in the data. Unfortunately, implementing this four-point rule is harder than it seems (I'm still trying). Good luck! Just came back from a Gordon conference, realizing again how funny and entertaining scientists can be. We just want to talk about more than the last episode of 'Glee'...that's all...
Heard a funny comment that someone (who publishes numerous papers every year) has figured out the "Least Publishabe Unit" or LPU...:))
Before dismissing the "old data", we should keep in mind that something that was true in 1994 will still be true today...and also in 2099!
|
Some old ones Reposted...8/18/13 - A Classification of PI's - find yours' in the list!
7/6/12 - Way to a "Science paper" 5/30/11 - 20/20 Hindsights 9/30/11 - Evolution of a bizzare, new Idea 11/17/2011 - Rationale for curiosty-driven research... lessons from a 4 year old 1/28/12 - "GTFM" - hilarious article on grant writing! The PI BlogThis blog exists because my wife seemed a bit tired of being the only recipient of my random pontifications on life and Science for many years; and gently encouraged me to vent in a blog instead. From time to time, I put down thoughts that occur to me as I naiively stumble through a life in Science - bestowed upon me by accident (literally!). Please keep in mind that these musings are rather obvious things of little or no use to anyone, and are certainly not personally targeted in any way, even though they are obviously derived from my experiences. OK, enough said. Archives
December 2020
Categories |