Yoda Moment: Being Stupid

I am a bit of a nerd and really love my Star Wars quotes. The famous Yoda saying "...fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering" is very applicable to being a postgraduate student, but in our case it does not lead to the Dark Side. In most cases we fear not being able to succeed. 

Now success is a difficult thing when you are doing science because you have to change your view about it a little. Most of the time it is one step forward and two steps back. The scale is always in favour of failure but this is the beauty of science. We learn just as much, if not more,  from our failures. Every aspects of your research is an opportunity to learn something, whether or not you learn what you intended is up to you. 

Martin A. Schwartz wrote an essay titled: The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research. In the essay he highlights how important it is to realise that stupidity is a good thing in science. Stupidity means that you don't know what is going on, this is the realm in which scientific discovery takes place. Don't be afraid to say I don't know or understand what is going on, this is an opportunity to learn. If you fear being stupid it will lead to anger and frustration that causes undue suffering (see what I did there?). Approach your research as a journey and be mindful of where your knowledge and understanding is lacking, this often leads to new avenues for research.