Thread by @VnVrinda

15 lessons from all my supervisors/professors so far...

You probably know all of them but still, it serves as a reminder.

A 🧵

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1. Learn things one at a time: You don’t need to learn everything at once. Break them into tiny segments and learn daily. The idea is to not feel overwhelmed by all the new topics.

2. Make achievable and realistic goals: It's good to be ambitious but imagine if you fail to accomplish a goal that went out of your hand. You will feel discouraged in your work.

3. A negative result is also a result: Like Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

4. You should make mistakes: Acknowledge your mistake gracefully. It will only help you grow.

5. Don’t grow only on compliments: Compliments are great, but you equally need impactful feedbacks and suggestions that will make you better at your work.

6. Always think of giving back meaningful dialogues: If you learned something, make sure you share it among people. There will be a few people who would be grateful for it. I think I am doing this pretty well… I guess so!

7. It’s okay to ask for help: Whether in research or for your mental health. You will find a support system.

8. Schedule your time for reading and writing: To be a good writer, you should be an even better reader.

9. Enjoy the process of research: In the search for results, deadlines and million other things. We often forget to enjoy the entire process of finding or discovering something new.

10. Don’t keep any space for grudges: You may come across harsh criticism, comments, or failures from any person or any situation. Don’t let that ruin your thought process and peace of mind.

11. Go to workshops/meet-ups: It’s a great way to know other researchers and their work.

12. Coffee breaks are a must: Even though, I kind of missed a few in the Winter semester but sitting down with your lab members and talking about general things is a good exercise.

13. You should take breaks: Guilty…Guilty…Guilty. I should be out called for this because I haven’t taken an actual break for some time.

But again, I think I have garnered many interests outside work, so I don’t feel like I am working continuously. The key takeaway is—you should take “BREAK”.

14. Start right now: Don’t keep your work pending for too long because we know that—we are masters of procrastination.

15. Follow all the lessons!

I hope you liked my little motivation. Thank you for reading!