Friday, August 27, 2010

on staying motivated

Research at times can be tedious, and sometimes it's easy to lose motivation, especially when I have to repeat experiments because I completely screwed it up the first time. Even if I didn't screw up the experimental setup, it can get mind-boggling just thinking about what there is left to get done... and on some days it's hard just to get started.

I was talking to one of my friends (in a different department) a while back, and she was considering switching labs due to the lack of positive results --among other reasons-- and she asked me how I stay motivated about my work. Granted, I go alternate between super-productive mode and sloth mode, but I think the days I go into sloth mode are the ones where I start losing track of what the overall goal is.

Sometimes I'll get motivated by reading other papers that relate to the topic at hand, especially if it's a well written one. Other times it could be an episode of Planet Earth, or spending some time with people who have no idea what I'm talking about. And by "no idea" it means they studied something completely different or they don't even want to hear about my work.

A college friend of mine (who now works overseas) was a history and poli sci major, and now works in a business-related field. We have this unspoken rule on "no talking about science" which I think we've done a pretty good job of following. It's refreshing in a sense because (1) face it, talking about science 24/7 is dull and (2) I don't have to turn into a robot.

Don't get me wrong... I love biology and what I work on, but I don't want it to end up defining me. I think the two key components to staying motivated about research is to remind myself of the big picture (easier said than done) and to maintain my ties to my science-hating friends. I mean, my friends who would rather talk about something else. (Adam, come back to the States! I owe you coffee!)

I hope I can keep those two things in mind the next time I come home all cross-eyed from doing more than 100 dissections...