学术界的地狱
In high school I read a book called地狱通过但丁。你可能有也可能没有读我t, but this is what happens: Dante is taken through hell, which is depicted as nine circles of suffering, just to end up back on Earth at the end. In a more light and slightly comical take on this famous poem, I want to take you through the nine circles of suffering every graduate student experiences on their journey to defending their thesis. I’m sure there are far more than nine forms of struggle that graduate students go through, but for the purpose of the analogy, we will stick with nine.
第一个痛苦是失败– a circle we all know too well. In my experience, almost everything fails: experiments fail, hypotheses fail, and even entire projects fail. Lucky for us, our goal isn’t to不是失败，但这是为了最大化每个失败中隐藏的学习机会。
The next circle is恐惧。Fear is the few minutes right before your committee meeting begins. It is your PI’s reaction when you tell him none of your experiments from the past week worked. Fear is standing up in front of your colleagues and allowing them to tear apart your presentation. Fear rears its ugly head in so many situations; it feels like sweaty palms and a pit in your stomach. I’m not sure if it serves a purpose other than giving you stress acne and keeping you from sleeping – but it is definitely a circle of suffering.
第三个痛苦 -exhaustion。疲惫可能是身体上的。这是您知道您不应该拥有的第四杯咖啡，或者努力在下午4点的研讨会上睁开眼睛。根据我的经验，身体疲惫通常会导致狂热的咯咯笑声不起作用，并在第十四次将我的Western印迹转移到后退。疲惫也可能是情绪激动的。有时，科学感觉就像是一个na的男朋友，占用了所有的时间和精力，只是让您心痛。在这种情况下，我们实验室中最好的补救措施是吃巧克力，爆炸拉丁音乐并跳舞。我在这个圈子中唯一的建议是找到对您有用的东西，但重要的是要与好人在一起。归根结底，无论您多么精疲力尽，至少您并不孤单。
愤怒…在疲惫之后策略性地放置。为什么？因为没有什么比在八个小时的实验的最后一步更令人发指了，而且咖啡因不足，以至于您不可避免地会搞砸一些东西。这么多小时的工作，这么多天的准备工作 - 一无所有。通过这个圈子，我了解到，无论我想在PJs吃奶酪的沙发上多么糟糕，都必须像我在第一步一样在最后一步中像我的第一步一样细节，并且永远不要走捷径。
The fifth circle of graduate school suffering is单调。I understand that as scientists there is an inherent level of repetition, but I am referring to the art of balance. Here is where organization and time management come into play. The most productive weeks for me are ones where I have planned and carried out my experiments, gone to seminars, attended journal club, read new papers, maybe even had a coffee date with friends. When your week consists of different activities (all contributing to your graduate education of course) it is easier to maximize productivity and enjoy your time during each activity.
The sixth circle of suffering iscomplacency.这是一个艰难的事情，因为我们常常陷入自满状态，甚至没有意识到。自满可能无法反思您的实验和结果。自满可能是在不花时间理解为什么这是回答您的问题的最佳实验的情况下进行的实验。有无尽的自满表现，因此我发现不时进行心理检查以保持警惕非常重要。
自卑…房间里的白大象。那件事我们在某个时候都感觉到了，但是没有人谈论。如果您不熟悉这个圈子，让我让您熟悉 - 它坐在一个高级学生的房间里，想：“我永远不会像他们那样知道”。感觉您不够聪明，无法上研究生。希望您的项目与实验室伴侣一样快。在这个圈子中陷入困境是危险的，但对您来说很幸运，它是自我伤害和避免的。绝不compare yourself to others. As someone once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” So bottom line – your past self is your only competition. Don’t compare yourself to your colleagues.
打败是研究生非常熟悉的另一个圈子。它经常发生，以至于研究生院的两年标记，我们大多数人似乎都对此脱节。我们学会将自我价值与我们的工作价值分开，并专注于尽力而为，而不会让失败妨碍我们的信心。我们构建了更厚的皮肤，如果没有别的，那么这种痛苦圈子将使我们在一生中遭受拒绝的赠款和令人讨厌的“评论家三”的严厉批评。
这使我们进入了最后一个甚至最危险的圆圈 -doubt.成为科学家的一部分是怀疑者。但是，如果您不断怀疑自己，进步或想法，您将不可避免地使您的研究生经历成为痛苦的。自信地朝着您追求的方向前进，如果您失败了 - 那么您就回到Circle One。