Academic Skills: Focusing

Abstract

questions in different ways. Therefore, there is no bulletproof manner to answer all these questions but... Cheer up! There is a useful approach to begin getting things done in successful manner. A way of thinking and acting that will ease your way into achieving success in whatever you have to do. The approach is known as ‘focusing’ and is not an exclusive property of scientists but of everybody setting out to accomplish goals. For instance, let’s say for a second that you want to climb Mount Everest. How do you think that people do it? Well, they focus on the goal, study, plan, develop an approach, acquire the materials and methods, learn the techniques of mountain climbing, hire guides and helpers, and, more importantly, think about nothing else but reaching the peak of the giant mountain. Therefore, in this regard, ‘focusing’ can give you all the best results you want. However, I promise that the questions outlined above will continue haunting you and more likely distracting you. By nature, a scientific mind is curious and obsessive. We cannot ask questions without curiosity and continue the project day by day, month by month, year by year without a touch of either self-discipline or, even better, obsessive love and loyalty to complete a sound body of scientific work. Thus, fighting against pursuing many ideas is your primary job and dedication. Pursuing many ideas dilutes your resources. Your time, the time of your people, and money are essential resources for a laboratory. Thus, it is a good exercise to contrast the action of two individuals who have the same resources but spend them differently. Individual A is very creative but unfocused. This individual follows many projects. Each perThis editorial is part of the series of commentaries entitled ‘Academic Skills’ which Pancreatology offers as a guide to new investigators as well as students and postdoctoral fellows whose goal is to set up an independent laboratory. We hope that the brief comments which fit into this short allotted space will improve your life and science as you move forward in your career or help others to do so. Do you remember the day that you faced the reality that having a great idea in science was not an easy undertaking? Do you remember, when entering into science, the fears of never having an idea? What about those moments when you had an idea but had no idea how to pursue it? Do you remember how frustrating it is to have a second of inspiration, a great idea coming to you as fast as you can realize and yet spending 3 years or longer following this idea until it becomes a publishable study? How many ideas do you need to run a successful laboratory? Are all the ideas worth being followed? How do you make the distinction between good ideas and those not that good? Which ideas go to a postdoctoral fellow and which ones to a technician? Is the collaborator’s idea worth you slowing down the completion of your own research? How much involvement justifies collaboration? Which ideas are better suited for grants and which ones for papers? Many of these questions and more have passed through my mind, the minds of your colleagues, the minds of your mentors, and the minds of your collaborators and highly likely your own mind. The truth is that there is no one single truth. The reality is that different people solve these Published online: February 8, 2007