There is No Progress Without Change (2)

Continued from previous post

How you react to getting scooped says a lot about you as a student, scientist, and person. Some people leave their group. Some leave grad school altogether, hoping to find something less stressful. People might overreact to getting scooped whether it was their fault or not. The trick is to make sure your getting scooped wasn’t your fault. Those who are at risk of getting scooped must always be one step ahead of the game: thinking of new reactions, different approaches, more efficient techniques. If they do not constantly adapt, they may get scooped, and it will be because of their laziness. They will be forced to change after the fact. And who’s to say the change they make will be a good one? They may end up leaving school. What a waste.

Sadly, I can’t give you any good examples of people changing on their own because I don’t feel comfortable calling people out. And those people are few and far between anyway. There are many more who have been forced to change out of necessity, myself included. Now, I didn’t get scooped (although it would have been my fault if I did) and I didn’t quit grad school, but have had to scramble to pick up the slack that my laziness over the past three years left behind. I am in my fourth year and have published one review paper. I have a handful of papers to write still and I am trying to pull it all together so I can graduate with my wife. If I was a more diligent student and better scientist, I know I would be having a much easier time right now.

But alas, I have adapted. I am doing much better now and I recognize the difference in my work now compared to when I was lazier. Even while writing this, it is four in the morning and I am running experiments. I wish I could be at home with my wife and dogs, but I’m doing this because I am a better scientist and I know I am ahead of the game. So if I get scooped, I know it won’t be my fault. Because I am always making small changes everyday to make sure I don’t fall behind or get into a rut.

So I urge you to make changes, even if you don’t want to. Be sure to not put yourself in a position to get scooped, no matter what your profession is at the moment. And if you still get scooped, make sure you did everything in your power so that it wasn’t your fault. Those who make mistakes need to learn from our mistakes, just as I did. But, we should be striving to not make those mistakes. And for goodness sake, make a full stop at stop signs.