Day 41: 5/11/2018
I woke up almost two hours late this morning feeling not so refreshed. I guess it was because of the work last night. Given that, I managed to get some work done (some side jobs, no reading) in the morning.
After breakfast, I attended the EGR meeting hosted by my favorite Dr. Chris today. I learned so much about writing ‘the most important 300 words you will ever have to write in your life,’ to quote Chris. The meeting was only an hour and it was incredible how Chris managed to tell us about the organization of a 300-work PhD abstract and have all students work on two samples and decide whether they were good, OK, or week. It was very fun and informative.
Right after the EGR meeting, I attended an event called ‘Lunchtime Mingle with Early Career Researchers’ hosted by the Department of Education. It was the first time I got to meet and hear inspiring stories of some lecturers and professors’ career paths. I was specially impressed by Clementine (in grey shirt above), who was also the organizer of the event, first by her look and later her brain. She did her PhD at Cambridge and gained some lectureship there. On top of that, she worked her way to publish in many major journal articles even before she graduated. By the time she received her PhD, her resume was filled with impressive work experiences and a long list of publications. Given all these accomplishments, she remained so humble. I was both extremely impressed and intensively inspired.
I hope one day I can be a bit like Clementine.
To summarize the main ideas of the event, two of the main takeaways were:
1) always look for opportunities long in advance and
2) never stop improving
I also love an idea that two of the speakers shared, ‘you always have to look for posts in advance so you still have time to work on things you lack before you graduate’. You can never be over-prepared anyways. I learned so much more about academia in many ways today.
My afternoon was filled with side jobs (by ‘side jobs’ I mean non-academic tasks). I worked on filling out job form application, and many other things that could totally drain my energy.
I am trying (so hard) to be positive now. Since the past few days have been pretty much like a rollercoaster ride — productive and not-very-productive — and my very own thoughts that I have not been working hard enough is killing me.
I guess it is time to reevaluate my everyday as it happens. I also have to learn to ‘do it one day at a time’ (well, with some planning involved, of course).
Lesson learned today: Do it one day at a time.
5/12/2018 12.12 am
