Giant squid see the world somewhat differently than humans.... To follow on from this morning's post, I would like to invite you all to regard life from a new, and different angle, from the eyes of a giant squid. (Yes this is helpful to your work, as it is a great example of looking at things from a different perspective... but is also fun.... fun too, is helpful for your work). Go to www.squidsquid.com to learn more about how squid view life, and to take a break- we deserve it! I highly recommend the "find your squid name" page, the SQ test, the aquatic animal personality test, (I am a Beaver) and the squidifier!
A change of perspective... we all need that from time to time... to look at our work from a different angle, and shake out the cobwebs.
Sometimes I find I get bogged down with trying too hard to solve a problem that seemingly can't be solved. We've all been there right? You work and toil and obsess over one little thing, how to analyse something lets say, or the best way to word a certain phrase... and after a while it eats away at you, taunting you with its impossibility. And then, just as you are at your wits end, just as your last hair is being pulled from your head, someone else looks at it... fresh... and within a matter of seconds, says.... have you tried it this way? And suddenly like the heavens parting, you see it! All you needed was to look at it from a different angle... approach it when it was asleep, sneak up from a new side, and say "Gotcha!".
For me these problems seem to always be solved by either someone completely removed from the sphere of science (my mommy), or my supervisor. He makes me wait three weeks for a meeting, all the while I slave away at said problem, becoming increasingly panicked and desperate, then he gives me 5 minutes, and wham bam, he's solved it. Just like that. And you know why? (Well yes, one reason is that he has been doing this for years and actually sometimes does know what he's talking about).... but also, I believe it's because he looks at it from a different perspective. And while it would be nice if he had done that three weeks ago when I first asked for a meeting, I believe we can ALL do it ourselves.
So, today. Monday. Start of a new week... I encourage all of us to look at one problem we are having from a new angle... I bet it helps! What's my new angle? Well, the picture at the start of this post says it all....
Everyone says to tackle the thesis one step at a time, but I think the time has come to look the bigger picture right in the face. I think we need longterm goals. So in the interests of motivating all of you, I've selflessly thrown myself to the wolves and arranged my holidays to Prague for the end of August. So while there is agony aplenty ahead, I have a longterm goal by which time I intend to (perhaps ridiculously) have the bulk of my thesis written! Ta-dah! It's really that easy. Apparently the key to happiness is having something to look forward to, so perhaps the key to hap-phd-ness is a fixed date in time by which we will be done. So I urge you to make that date with destiny, book that sun holiday...
or perhaps that ninja training camp ...and then (in the words of John) we can all leave and be happy :-)
Just a short one here, but I reached a sort of revelation just a few hours ago, and I thought I'd share it...
We all get stuck. Overwhelmed. We don't know where to start. It all seems just too immense. We should have been reading the literature from the start, and now with only a few months to go, we suddenly realize we know very little about what we actually do (on the broader scale) and why... right? I can tell you exactly how best to transport marine invertebrates in a car without killing them, but why? Or what they actually do in the world.... I draw a blank!
Well, for me at least, this has been a big problem. I left it too late, felt too scared by all of the information out there, so I buried my head in the sand, and hoped it would all go away. Unfortunately it did not. In fact, it manifested itself in the form of a presentation I must give in three days time, followed by the fear of questions I cannot comprehend on topics I should have been an expert on three years ago.
So, what can we do? I know it all seems too great a mountain to climb, but there is a way! The way - the internet. With a small pinch of salt, an afternoon, and a computer, you too can become easily and quickly eased into the world of your supposed "expertise".
I found that with a simple wiki search on my overall broad topic, I not only was introduced nicely into the whole thing, but it also provided references to some of the more widely known papers etc, which can quickly lead onto more and more. Now I know that wiki could be written by a Dalmatian, but its a start right? It gets you going. Gives you a nice easing into things, and before you know it, you are actually understanding what you do.... and I'll tell ya, it's a good feeling.
So try it.... try it today. It IS scary, and yes, there is a lot to know, but we can all do it, it's just how to approach it! If you had never learned to swim would you start by cannonballing into the deep end of a pool? No. You'd put on some water-wings and paddle in the shallows until you felt braver!
So paddle on Almost Doctors, and fear not, the water is warmer than you think!
I don't know if you guys have noticed but I'm not particularly good at mornings. Since the start of the year I'd say I could count on one hand the number of times I've been in the lab before noon. Mornings are a dot to me. The thing is, while I'll agree I'm pretty lazy, I'm not amazingly lazy. I usually do a full day's worth of work. I had no trouble getting up during my undergrad years, or the 2 years of early-morning travel to the institute for leaving cert. Not to mention the various jobs I've managed to not get fired from for excessive tardiness over the years. I think I've just gotten into a bad habit. Plus the fact that there are no consequences for getting in late to work. With that in mind I think it's high time to pull myself back from the brink of being completely nocturnal and research some successful habits for getting up early.
1. Set 2 alarms. Sounds obvious, but here's the kicker. Set them exactly 2 minutes apart! Place one beside your bed and have it play soothing music to wake you up slowly, then place the other on the other side of the room and have it play really that really annoying alarm sound. - This is a slight twist on a fairly basic technique. It may be a winner though.
2. Set an automatic coffee maker to start making coffee in the morning and be awoken by the aroma wafting to your nostrils. - I don't have what it takes for this, either a coffee machine OR a love of coffee. I presume this can be replaced by anything smelly though; a fry up, the smell of napalm in the morning or even the bin-lorry. A variation of this is to get a cat, feed it regularly at your desired wake-up time and then if you sleep in, it'll burst into your room and crawl all over your face until your get up and give it breakfast. Lousy cats.
3. Get some sort of "unorthodox" alarm clock. (This is as close to a robot dinosaur as I think this post will allow.) ... ... Ah feck it:
(Also on my travels I found possibly the coolest thing EVER: )
- I think I might get that flying alarm clock, that looks pretty cool. But right now I have to go and find my old transformers and see how I can turn them into ipod docks.
4. Consequences. Nothing gets you out of bed like the threat of being fired. Or of missing your bus. Or of missing someone's viva talk. Or of being stomped on by a giant robot... you get the idea. At the moment I, and presumably all of you, have no real consequences to suffer for being late. Here's what I propose: we form Team Consequence. (Team-name poll coming soon). All members of the team (you guys) are sworn to pester, cajole and slag the other members (me) into getting up and in to work (relatively) early. I feel if we all pull together we can beat this thing!
As a final thought, here is a video showing just some of the consequences of having a robot ninja dinosaur in your life:
What about you guys? How do you manage to drag your ugly butts out of bed in the morning? Share your tips in the comment section.
Hello Sports-fans! This will be a quick one, as I am not technically "host of posts" (LOL) this month (Gary... we're waiting).... but Suz and I had a ponderment that required a new poll....
We sometimes meet in that spot on where the path meets the road between Physics, Computer Sci, and Nursing.... and it's a lengthy description, which IMO makes it a lesser used meeting point, as it's too time-consuming to say, "Let's meet at that place where the path meets the road between Physics, Computer Sci, and Nursing"
Thus, a new poll has been born! Cast your vote on what we should now refer to said meeting place as, and thus it shall be called, and verily and merrily we shall meetith there henceforth! (When we're headed that was that is, otherwise it's actually quite out of the way)
Feel free to add more name choices, there were really only two so far, and I added two more to complete the poll... but the poll can be adjusted for new options!
Happy working my lil worker bees... Today will be a day of great motivation, high productivity, and much satisfaction. I feel it! *hugs*
Are you in... outer Mongolia?
What about Rio?
Or even.... the moon....
We're waiting Rob...
