Remember Your Why

day 13: remember your why

12/19/2018

Why do we write?

To communicate the science.

More immediately, we write for our CV, for our tenure packet, for our career.

But originally, we wrote to communicate the science in a time before email and the Internet.

Perhaps you study a disease because it’s touched you or a loved one.

Maybe you have always thought the disease was interesting.

Or maybe some causes have always spoken to you, such as access to quality to healthcare for all.

No matter your why, or how long you’ve been working, or if you’re still a student – we all get bogged down with the day-to-day tasks, the meetings, the classes, the exams, the stress, at some time or another.

And sometimes with the stress, we burrow deeper into the science.

We think about confounders and the sample size, but not the comorbidities and events they actually represent. [See Malcolm's tweet below - click image to link to tweet.]

I created a function in my personal #rstats package to remind me that, whatever I'm working on, those points represent real people, and if I forgot, I'm a dummy. Plan to incorporate into my regular workflow pic.twitter.com/8WzrfXtecv
— Malcolm Barrett □□ (@malco_barrett) November 6, 2018

On Day 11, with Strengthening Your Argument, I included the quote “if science isn’t read, it doesn’t exist.”

Looping back to our why – is your why to win “Never Missed A Pointless Meeting?” or “Stayed Latest Running Code At The Office?”

Orient your own goals with that overarching mission, and writing becomes less stuck on the nitty gritty frustrations of delayed coauthor comments, awful Reviewer #3’s, and whatever else pops up.

What brought you into science?

What topics really make you feel “Yes, this is why I do it!”?

Quote of the Day

“Start telling stories that only you can tell. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that, but you are the only you.”
– Neil Gaiman