How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?...
We can answer this with a multiple choice question...
Jake manages to find time to blog because
A) he writes while waiting for gels to run, reactions to run their course, cells to grow, etc.
B) he has little or no other personal life.
C) he has been heavily sleep deprived since some time in the late Clinton administration.
The answer is D, all of the above.
In fact, I do often blog while I am waiting for stuff to happen in lab. In an ideal world I would also read articles related to my field -- and I do -- but I have broad interests so I often find my mind wandering. With respect to personal life I remember telling a friend of mine the following recently (this is in fact a quote): "I remember sex. I enjoyed it, and frankly I would like to have it again some time." I am also primarily a night person, so I get a lot of this stuff done late at night.
This question is somewhat revealing about a question I have been puzzling over lately. I see a lot of people -- faculty-type people -- who spend all their time at work. Their personal lives seem to be suffering. How do you balance your personal and professional life in a profession that requires as much personal investment as science does? I don't have a good answer to that yet.
The answer I have figured out so far is that you have to make little changes to your life. This is the list I have come up with so far: 1) Always take at least one day off completely. 2) If something fails -- as it often does -- go home and have a beer. Do not attempt to repeat. Find beer. 3) Don't talk about work at home. Don't become that doctor who can only talk about medicine. If you find yourself lacking other things to talk about, it is time to get a hobby, a pet, or a kid.
I would love to hear other suggestions. I think that everyone figures this out in lesser or greater degrees in graduate school, and I am honest enough to admit that I haven't found the balance quite yet.
- Log in to post comments
Hi, my boyfriend is a theoretical physicist (I am a physicist as well, but I am more a scientific communicator than a scientist; I can understand what a scientist's life is, though). The best solution we could find to cope with his committment to science is: living 2000 km far away from each other. I know it sounds weird, but when we used to live together it was always him thinking about his job stuff late at night and me wanting to go out or whatever. Now we see each other once a month, more or less, but the three, four days we spend together are... for us. No field theories, no programs debugging, just the two of us.
Think about it, I am much happier now, and I think he is as well, although would never admit it :-)
Good luck!
I think it helps to have a hobby that allows you take your mind entirely off work. Blogging does not count as such as hobby, unless you blog about something totally isolated from your work. Things that involve physical exertion work well (running, going to the gym, playing sports) because they accomplish two tasks: take your mind off work and keep you healthy.