Finally had the chance to listen to some of Anthony Robbins' "Awaken the Giant Within" audio lecture (nice thing about having an MP3 player -- highly recommended for all students or commuters) on my way to work and back yesterday. Really had me thinking about my situation. I'll distill down for you what I've listened to so far.
Essentially, your life is dictated by the choices you make -- hmm, sounds like the Matrix doesn't it? Beyond choices, however, Tony Robbins tells us to think proactively and make decisions, not just choices. The difference? Well, the difference is something I've contrived, but in essence, when you make a decision, you are exercising your "decision-making muscles" as Robbins puts it. It is exactly what you'd imagine -- you are actively deciding on an action, to execute it and learn from the results.
Well, for the first part of his talk, the theme was empowering yourself to make decisions. The second part of the talk had the theme of beliefs and how your beliefs dictate your decision-making. I'll comment on the second part another time -- well, actually, when I finish listening to it. However, the first part of his talk opened up a plethora of observations. The obvious question was "how does this theme pertain to me as a scientist?" The obvious response, then, was "scientists should have the inherent ability to make well-thought out decisions based on past experiences." Well, needless to say, this brought me down to a feeling of utter bottomless despair. Why haven't I been able to make the correct decisions that lead to fruitful results? After all, I am a scientist right?
In an effort to mend my feelings of outright failure, I continued listening to Anthony Robbins further. In one anecdotal account, he describes how one scheduled seminar at Glendale, CA caused a traffic jam in and around the convention center hosting his seminar. He had, as he recounted, about 7000 people attempting to attend a seminar in a hall that could only house 5000 people max. Now, if what he's telling us is true, for that many people wanting to attend his talk, it means that there are at least equally as many people in that area that have felt what I felt -- a total failure. Follow me so far? So it must not be unfathomable to think that there are scientists out there who feel the way I do? So if this is the case, the assumption that scientists should "inherently" be able to make the right decisions is false. Now, debunking this myth means that I had to go on and try to find a fix -- hence, I listened even more intently to Robbins.
The answer as to why I am in this "rut" was suddenly apparent to me. All along, I've been going with the flow, in terms of my science and even my education/learning-process -- trying to gauge what my mentor thought was the next step in the experimental process. I needed to be more proactive in my decision-making regarding the scientific process. In fact, I needed to wrestle total control over what I am doing at work. The more I make decisions and learn from them (on my own), the better and stronger my "decision-making muscles." For me to get out of this "rut," I have to: 1) re-evaluate what is important to me at work, 2) actively decide on a course of action, 3) learn from the consequences that result from these actions, and 4) re-apply what I've learned to my next decision-making moment -- these are the four tenets that Robbins layed out, and quite obvious, these are the four steps that successful scientists essentially take day-in and day-out. Bottom-line: I had to be more PROACTIVE in my decision-making. Enough about me.
The second thought that came to me while listening to Robbins was "man! 7000 is a lot of people. Lots of unsuccessful people who are missing something enough to want to listen to Tony Robbins!" Strangely, I then thought: "would that many people show up if he was in a Third World/developing country?" I then digressed into this thought of how developed countries like the U.S. have a disproportionate number of people who are glutinous -- complacent in their situation, well-fed enough to not really care about anything else. Why, then, should this complacent behaviour be any different in other aspects of life, like "decision-making." Having more complacent people in the population should mean that there are more people who would rather just "go with the flow" and not be proactive in their decision-making process. Hence, because of the disproportionate number of people who are lax in their decision-making here in the U.S., when the "s#@* hits the fan," more of them will be coming to Tony Robbins. Am I wrong in this sequence of associations? What a strange sequence of thoughts. To validate this belief, think about the number of recent immigrants that become successful here in the U.S. For these individuals to come here, it must mean they are highly proactive in their decision-making -- a behaviour that is tough to lose when finally here.
I'll just close here. If you are a graduate student, and my thoughts here reflect your situation, please place a comment about it. However, if you are a student who has found the key to a successful scientific career, I would love for you to comment as well. I really want to know -- are there more grad students like me (feeling like a total failure), or am I the exception to the rule?
Posted by johnvu at May 26, 2003 10:45 PM