Friday, February 10, 2012

It's good to be back...

...working in the lab.

Other commitments (grants, manuscript writing, administrative duties, teaching) have not allowed me to spend as much time in the lab as I would have liked. But the good news is that next week I finally get a full week doing lab work. And it's about time - I'm not sure if I've lost my pipetting skills....

One of the things that I never appreciated is how other work-related projects can eat into lab time, and how it negatively effects productivity. Speaking from experience, I need to get much better at this. Although I've taken on a lot of extra work (to learn the ins and out of running a lab), I'm afraid I may have shot myself in the foot and my cv is suffering.

Historically, I've always had periods of intense research activity followed by periods of intense analysis/writing, but I think I need to balance this better. After all, I know it's not going to get any better once I get my own lab, and I truly feel that a more even approach is needed to sustain long-term research projects.

Wish me luck!

2 comments:

  1. Balance is such a great goal.

    I find it almost impossible to obtain but am always striving for it...

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    Replies
    1. My personal feeling is that balance (in anything) is impossible. It is the act of trying to achieve balance that is the important part....

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