A RESEARCHER’S JOURNAL ENTRY#2: LIVE WHEN YOUR BRAIN IS ON LEAVE

Some days you will be actively working on those experiments, enthusiastically finding answers to your questions, writing results, and reading papers. Some days, you just can’t – I promise you those days will come. When your neurons are not firing the same way as they did yesterday, do them a favor: drop your pen and paper, stay off your computer. Your brain will thank you later.

I’ve recently accomplished a non-thesis related milestone. Finally, I can get back to thesis writing after 2 days off. Well, surprise, for some reason, I can’t find myself back to analyzing and writing my implementation results with the same enthusiasm I had 2 days ago. I’ve completed my morning routine, ate my breakfast, sat in front of the computer to warm up for an hour like how I’d usually do. But then, boom! It’s 30 minutes past my focus hours, and I still haven’t got my neurons firing the way I expected. My brain is on leave today. I decided it will be.

So here I am writing. Yes! I still am writing, but this time I am not bounded by the formality and correctness of my thoughts, but I am writing to leave a reminder to every researcher reading this — It’s frustrating to know you got a lot to do, yet not so sure what exactly to do, and how you’re supposed to do it. But, come on, what is research when you already know the answers?!

What is life when you already know how to live it? What’s exciting when your day goes by the way you always want it to go? So, get out, work on your hobbies, cook yourself a good meal. Water your succulents. EAT.

A Researcher’s Journal (Entry #1)

There is no such thing as total novelty.

One primary reason aspiring researchers become frustrated is the worry that his work might not be unique (enough).

Eureka! Remember that time when just after you realize your research topic interest,  you get saddened after reading related literatures and realize, ‘Aww, this has been done’. Not by one, but more than a dozen published research, perhaps.

You get the urge to change topic. But mind you, it’s too early to enter the trap.

Dig deeper. All research is but an offspring of previous researches and knowledge-guided insights of the researcher. That’s you!

The novelty in your research is your integration and consolidation of previously known facts and current knowledge. This may include your primary assessment of the problem, primary hypothesis and even primary results.

Dig deeper into the topic first, understand and work on a few initial experiments and simulations. Document your findings — ugly and promising results. Only then that you will realize that there’s much more to work on, more research questions arise, more research opportunities… novelty comes in when you start creating your own specific research questions… after you dig-in deeper.

Let me this post with this: You cannot show the uniqueness of your work if you first can’t show it exists.

 

Always remember, Idowi Koyenikan once said: “If you quit on the process, you quit on the result”.

10 April 2020. 1414 HRS.