I tend to throw myself into things at 10000 miles an hour. Sometimes this can be good (I also have a small problem saying ‘no’ to things) and it has provided me with lots of great experiences from doing things that were not really ‘me’. I attacked my PhD at the start with the same amount of gusto and enthusiasm as I do with everything else (and I was excited about it).
I have been learning a lesson recently, one of patience and taking time over things. PhDs do not happen overnight, they take time, an awful lot of time (and patience). My PhD is lab based. Experiments that I think are pretty simple and will not take any time to get going have been the ones that have tripped me up. I had a reminder this week that thinking time is important and can save time in the long run. I launched into doing something in the lab thinking that I could repeat what someone else had done and it would be OK – it wasn’t. Now I am having to peddle back on myself to work out how I can make it work. A learning curve – but I am getting there and I have learnt from it. Take a an hour/half a day/ a day out to think regularly to make sure that what you are doing is correct and plans for the future will work out as you wish. I think thinking can be as important as doing!
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