Yup!

Today I want to talk about one of the best pieces of advice that I think I've ever been given.  The advice relates to a habit that I think is all too common in everyday life.  For me (and I suspect many in academia), this habit is so strong it's essentially an automatic reflex!  The habit goes as follows:

Random Person - "Here is an idea or technique that could help to solve a problem."

Person Listening - "Here are all the reasons why I believe you or I cannot use it to actually solve the/our/my problem." 

For many years I thought that this was a reasonable exchange, particularly within the context of academia.  If there is an idea you should, nay, you MUST try to poke holes in it.  Hmm. True enough.  It is a very important function to identify the potential challenges and pitfalls associated with a new idea.  This critical thinking ability is highly encouraged in grad school and I would wager that most graduate students must become very good at it.

In 2008 I had a conversation with my uncle about just this topic.  At the time I was in the middle of a research oriented co-op placement in a different city.  My aunt and uncle who lived there generously offered to let me live with them for the term.  One day, my uncle picked me up on the way home from work and on the drive we began to discuss my plans for after graduation from undergrad which was coming up within a year.  He asked what I thought my skills were and what careers they might be suitable for.  I replied with a "Ummmm I dunno", but after much furrowing of the brow I came up with,

"I think I'm really good at figuring out the flaws in things, like y'know, what could go wrong and stuff.  Why can't there be a job for that?"  

To which my Uncle sagely replied (paraphrasing)

"You know, there might just be.  But figuring out what's wrong with something is just one side of things.  People don't want to hear only about problems - they really want to hear about solutions.  So given that you believe you have the ability to see problems, possibly before others, you should use this skill to get a head start on coming up with their solutions.  If you can see a problem people don't yet know exists but come up with a potential solution before you mention it then you can really go far!"

Maybe this is obvious to some people, but to me, it was a huge eye-opener.  Despite understanding what he meant at the time, it took a long time for me to accept it and figure out how to actually use the advice in practice.  The key stumbling block for me was that I did not consider myself to be particularly creative and therefore generally unable to come up with solutions to the problems I might identify.  And of course, coming up with solutions is often challenging and may not be possible in all circumstances.  So what could I possibly do with the advice?

It wasn't until recently that I realized how appropriate this advice might be for graduate students.  The truth is, you can always find a reason why something can't work out if you try hard enough - especially if you've developed a skill for it as I believe that graduate students generally do.  Throw in some risk-averse tendencies caused by some frequent or poorly-timed setbacks and the "find all the reasons why things can't work", or the "Nope!" mentality, goes into instinctual overdrive!

New things can go wrong, and when you're already having trouble you can't have anything more go wrong so you'll find all the reasons something might go wrong in advance so you can avoid it altogether.  But if you don't try new things you won't go anywhere at all!*  The "Nope!" mentality becomes a crutch that perpetually hobbles you.  Looking back at some of my less happier days I realize that I was definitely double-crutchin!

So where does this advice fit in?  Afterall, self-actualization is pretty damn hard.  If people could tell they were rockin this "nope" mentality they'd probably try to stop anyway right?  Maybe.  At any rate, I've finally learned what I can do with my Uncle's advice to protect myself and I think it can be wrapped up into a nice little habit like so many other awesome things.

Every time you express a "Nope!" sentiment ALWAYS immediately facilitate discussion towards a potential solution or alternative.

It can be as simple as throwing out a first half baked idea or adding a "...but can we think of a way to overcome some of these challenges?" after each tirade.  The point is to maximize the amount of time spent on discussing solutions.  You gotta keep the ball rolling even if you don't know which direction it should go!
 
--------------
*This is in no way an endorsement of cat leashes...they demean us all.