The importance of maintaining a strict routine as a researcher
04/29/2024
Today, I’d like to discuss the importance of maintaining a strict routine in my research life and what that means to me. Research is about pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, and it often involves encountering numerous failures. Despite these setbacks, we researchers persist in our journey, holding onto the belief that one successful outcome can offset hundreds of failures. This journey is exciting yet filled with uncertainty.
On any given day, I might face multiple frustrations—failed experiments, rejected fellowship applications, or my first paper draft being turned down. But such setbacks are mere coincidences in the grand scheme, and it’s important not to be overly critical of oneself or give in to despair because of external misfortunes and bad luck.
Instead, I focus on being kind to myself and continuing my daily tasks. Acting responsibly towards my future self is essential. Consider this analogy: whether you throw a small pebble or a large rock into a vast ocean, does it really make a significant difference to the ocean? Similarly, our setbacks are just small ripples in the larger context of life.
My thoughts, like waves, may crash and swirl, but I strive to keep them focused and not let them hinder my progress. My response is to have a CONSTANT such as my own routine that does not change in the VARIABLES of the shaking world. Ultimately, I’ve concluded that the true value of life lies in living each day to the fullest.
I want to conclude by quoting what Professor June Huh, 2022 Fields Medal awardee, once said: “After overcoming all the violence of meaning and meaninglessness and experiencing each day fully, the goal I pursue is to become a person who welcomes me, a stranger who has been waiting for a long time at the end of the road, without any regrets.”
With an immunity to failure and a firm belief that a single success can negate numerous failures, I’ve learned that the world is abundant with opportunities. There is always room for improvement through feedback and persistent effort. Believe in yourself and push hard. Your disciplined routine will guide you to wherever you aim to be.”
Interpretation of failure
5/30/2022
What kind of mindset do those who will eventually become victors have when they lose? What difference do they have? A strong desire to win grows in their hearts. Instead of running away from the fact that you lost, they reflect on their previous defeats in order to win the next time. They vow to win next time, face defeat, and analyze the cause. They know that this is the only way they can win next time. Therefore, they lose, but on the contrary, they get closer to victory.
Why Fellowship/Grants/Scholarship is important?
5/10/2022
Definition of fellowship/grants/scholarship here: a payment made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement.
People say that the reason why fellowship is important is fellowship allows students to focus on their research 100%. Then, my next question is, “If I have full funding (tuition + stipend), are you saying I don’t need more fellowship or scholarship?”
It is difficult to find an explanation for the essential and fundamental answer to this question. I have been always curious about the deeper meaning of scholarship based on the following questions, “what is the meaning of additional scholarships for students who receive a full tuition waiver and stipend ?”, “is the time spent on preparing the fellowship simply turned into a scholarship with no further benefit?.” Now, I’ve come across more convincing explanations of how fellowships can give you the advantages, especially when living in academia, so I’d like to share it with you. You can go directly to the explanations 3 if you are busy. I want to say thank Dr. Ken Vickery (Director of Fellowships, Graduate College, UIUC) for giving me insights on this true meaning (in regard to explanation 3).
- It can save your time and money that should be otherwise spent on other things to be financially secure. For example, research assistantship allows you to devote yourself to conduct research by not doing TA, increasing your research performance.
- If you have the same track record as your competitors, your fellowship history can have a decisive influence. Fellowship history can provide additional qualification to you. “They chose me, why not you?”
- If the career you are pursuing in the future is a research oriented field, most of the courses require a process that asks for money. The process of finding a scholarship and writing an application is very similar to writing a research project to get research funding. You need to contemplate on making a clear and well-connected explanation to answer specific questions. The funders always have a preferred method, and applicants must submit their documents in that particular format. Most of the scholarships can train you to be familiar with these process so that you can survive doing research in the future without financial constraints. This process doesn’t include just applying for a scholarship that someone has told you or led you know. You should start from the beginning such as finding scholarships that you can apply for over and over and think about ways to connect your research with their needs. This is the explanation I could have been more satisfied with.
- On your way to becoming an awardee, you can find your role model. The process of becoming an awardee includes the following steps.
- Dream and design your specific future career
- Looking for available fellowships based on your financial need in your career
- Checking the average performance of the previous awardee or cohort
- Realizing that there are many outstanding researchers
- Dreaming of me becoming them
- Define the gap between me and them
- Have your brain work on a specific way to fill the gap (if there is no such experience of getting to know the good performers, this is not possible unless they are around you)
This also can become one other source that motivates you (instead of comparing yourself with your peers that have similar performance, you can aim yourself to the best of you by comparing current your status with the best being that you could be. We don’t have the ability to achieve what we don’t know. On the other hand, you can achieve what looks absolutely impossible once you know that someone already did it.
Other than theses, there are more reasons. I will refer to the what Dr. Kendra Nalubega-Booker wrote. Reference: https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/6397/764808. You can find more reasons like ‘plan ahead’, ‘stay up to date (like C.V)’, and ‘create support system with your PI’.
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