Sleep(x)ness where x = y or x = less
Remember waiting space?
As expected, that waiting was responded to with answers in the form of invites. My batting average was higher than I expected which will result in two flights west for a grueling test of my cumulative experiences as a researcher and scholar.
I leave for 1 (of 2) tomorrow morning at an early hour, and I found myself just laying in bed, completely unable to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the questions keeping me awake are ones that I'm worried I'm not prepared for. Derive the perturbation of orbitals for the specific ligand set x. What are the possible mechanisms for getting to the product that you are suggesting? What is the density of states for the catalyst you are proposing?
Herein lies a secret to graduate school and most holders of a doctorate degree: it is typical to know a thing very well and very deep, but this comes at a cost of staying connected to deeper and sometimes broader basics.
I do know a lot about my previous specific field of study. I know a lot about my current specific field of study. Questions on these two topics, I will answer happily and confidently. Questions about things that I studied more than 3 years ago will be rusty. How do you study for meeting 33 people and being able to engage with them on their specific field of study? How do you prepare for 12 straight hours of chemistry talk? What do you do to sleep the night before all of this happens?
My answer is, you do your best. You study and prepare for the parts you have control over - namely your presentations, your general knowledge of the 33 people and the things they published on most recently. You review your basics that are most closely connected to the things that you do every day. And finally, you spill out your feelings to your 14 closest reader-friends at an absurdly late hour.
Within my religion we have a message every month from the Prophet or his counselors. This month it was explicitly about overcoming the obstacles that keep you from doing a hard thing. Here is a secret I know about myself: I can do hard things. I like to do hard things. I am confident in my ability to continue to do hard things. This is my secret. This is what makes my failure ok, because failure is not where is stops for me. Failure is an entry for growth. I get as tired as normal people do when they fail continuously. It is not always fun, and sometimes, I am emotionally taxed. However, when I find the motivation again, I am in awe of the things there are to learn and the myriad ways to apply knowledge to complex problems.
This weekend, this is what I am armed with. I will not know things. I will fail. However, my strength is in being undaunted, because this stumbling will not stop me from figuring out how to learn whatever it is that will help me solve the task at hand.
Friends, wish me luck.
As expected, that waiting was responded to with answers in the form of invites. My batting average was higher than I expected which will result in two flights west for a grueling test of my cumulative experiences as a researcher and scholar.
I leave for 1 (of 2) tomorrow morning at an early hour, and I found myself just laying in bed, completely unable to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the questions keeping me awake are ones that I'm worried I'm not prepared for. Derive the perturbation of orbitals for the specific ligand set x. What are the possible mechanisms for getting to the product that you are suggesting? What is the density of states for the catalyst you are proposing?
Herein lies a secret to graduate school and most holders of a doctorate degree: it is typical to know a thing very well and very deep, but this comes at a cost of staying connected to deeper and sometimes broader basics.
I do know a lot about my previous specific field of study. I know a lot about my current specific field of study. Questions on these two topics, I will answer happily and confidently. Questions about things that I studied more than 3 years ago will be rusty. How do you study for meeting 33 people and being able to engage with them on their specific field of study? How do you prepare for 12 straight hours of chemistry talk? What do you do to sleep the night before all of this happens?
My answer is, you do your best. You study and prepare for the parts you have control over - namely your presentations, your general knowledge of the 33 people and the things they published on most recently. You review your basics that are most closely connected to the things that you do every day. And finally, you spill out your feelings to your 14 closest reader-friends at an absurdly late hour.
Within my religion we have a message every month from the Prophet or his counselors. This month it was explicitly about overcoming the obstacles that keep you from doing a hard thing. Here is a secret I know about myself: I can do hard things. I like to do hard things. I am confident in my ability to continue to do hard things. This is my secret. This is what makes my failure ok, because failure is not where is stops for me. Failure is an entry for growth. I get as tired as normal people do when they fail continuously. It is not always fun, and sometimes, I am emotionally taxed. However, when I find the motivation again, I am in awe of the things there are to learn and the myriad ways to apply knowledge to complex problems.
This weekend, this is what I am armed with. I will not know things. I will fail. However, my strength is in being undaunted, because this stumbling will not stop me from figuring out how to learn whatever it is that will help me solve the task at hand.
Friends, wish me luck.
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