Lessons Learned from Lab

I haven't really reflected much about lab and life lately, so I think I will do that here:

First, a coworker was talking about isolating an inorganic complex. She had already succeeded in obtaining the more difficult of the two analogous complexes (the one in a higher oxidation state that is significantly less stable). Currently, she was having a bit of trouble getting the more reactive and supposedly more stable of the two isolated. Laughingly she said "And this isn't even supposed to be the hard part!"

How often does that happen? It seems to me that, often enough, I find that I am surprised by how well things go that are supposed to be really hard, and then when the effort is put forth to do the "less hard" analogous thing, I am shocked to find that it's more difficult than the "more hard" thing. Luckily, the lesson learned from lab, is to just laugh, accept that it is hard, even though it's not supposed to be and keep trying it.

2  Second, every now and then, I will find myself walking to an instrument room here or there and will find myself looking into lab doors that are open along the way. At least once a week, I see someone dancing a little bit at their workspace or hood. It makes me happy to know that I am not the only one dancing in lab. Seems to me that it's a great way to make standing on your feet for a long period of time seem less of a long time. And, it makes other people smile if they catch you.

Third, interactions with others are surprising (both good and bad). Chemists in particular are somewhat awkward when walking down the hall, and often look at their shoes, or whatever printed document they are holding so that they don't have to acknowledge you all the way down the hall. Then they seem to time the looking up in acknowledgment with their walking velocity so that they have minimal interaction time. There's not really an analogy for this, other than that it's awkward and needs to become less common. The worst, is catching someone counting the dots on the grid of the absorbent material they picked up for a chemical spill. Really? Is that necessary?
Despite these two unrelated examples of surprising bad - there is surprising good too. When someone you haven't talked to in a while joyfully mentions they visited your home state and loved it. Or someone asks you about how your job search is going and you are able to ask them about theirs, and despite the despairing job market, you both come away hoping the best for the other person and really feeling that you work with a bunch of great happy people.

4  Fourth, seems like the little things always get in the way. I have to do dishes way more often than I like to, and taking out my solid and liquid waste seems like a never-ending task but these things need to get done. And, something to be learned from lab that is entirely applicable to life in general, is that the people who share those same resources really appreciate a quick turn around time when it comes to getting these "chores" done.

Fifth, it's been really hard to go to work every day and feel like more than 50% of the stuff I have tried has failed. That's generous; it's more like more than 80%. However, I have to keep remembering that I have been learning from all the failures. Although most days I may feel like a worse chemist for it, I'm learning things that I probably wouldn't have learned any other way - or at least not as quickly, and the lesson wouldn't have stuck around as long since the pain feels so real. I can say that now because I think I'm okay with it. I've come to terms with the fact that failure is not necessarily failure unless I claim it to be so. All my failures are really just lessons getting me to think harder and quicker and better than I did up to that point.

And it seems like that is a good lesson to learn from working in a lab indeed.