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1. When people make announcements on science twitter they are typically joyous announcements about tenure, & grants & papers. But I think a key aspect of the job of being a scientists, maybe the most important one, is dealing with failure. So here are some thoughts about failure!
2. I found out today that neither of our CIHR grant applications got funded. This means that since 2016 our CIHR success rate is 1 for 12 (funding rates are ~14% so this is a above avg. failure rate). Obviously this is very disappointing, how does one deal with ongoing failure?
3. My philosophy about dealing w/ failure comes from my running. I am a terrible runner: slow & lumbering. But I try to run 5-6K 4-5 times week. My strength as a runner is not my innate ability but in my consistency & endurance. This is the same approach I use to deal w/ failure.
4. When an experiment fails, or when a grant or a paper gets rejected. It is helpful to take some time to process (& grieve) but the hardest & most important thing is pick yourself up & try again. This is where consistency & endurance are your best friends.
5. For most of us a long career in science doesn't mean being more successful than the avg. It means showing consistency & endurance. The career moments I am most proud of are the times, when after a massive failure I showed up & picked up the pipette or the laptop & tried again.
6. What has always allowed me to pick up & carry on has been my absolute belief in the science we did (are doing!). I think that a long career in science requires you to do work you believe in & are 100% committed to. If you don't LOVE the science you do it is hard to endure.
7. Also give yourself a break! There are many reasons for failure, often they have nothing to do with you. Of our 11 failed CIHR grant applications many have been in the top 25% of grants in the pool. I believe they were good grants, but many stochastic factors came into play.
8. Having been in science for a while it is easier to have belief in the quality of the work you do. But it can be hard for younger scientists to feel that way. Resist the temptation to blame yourself every time you fail! better to focus on trying to work better within the system
9. Finally, it's normal to feel bad/jealous/frustrated. These are normal human feelings but I try not to dwell on those. You have control over exactly one thing in science, the quality of the work you do. The best response to failure is to come back & do the best science you can
