Since starting to seriously use Twitter a couple of weeks ago to follow like-minded researchers and tweet my own interests, I've begun to feel better informed about ecology and also more creative. These outcomes alone are excellent reasons to be using social media and I'm glad I've taken that step.
Perhaps I shouldn't admit this - but coming up with creative ideas for research is something that I've found challenging. Useful creativity requires a deep knowledge of your subject area as well as the ideas to advance it in a novel way.
Why has this been a problem for me? When I was younger I enjoyed and even excelled at traditionally "creative" activities such as creative writing, music and art. Yet somehow through university I lost that natural creative feeling. I suspect it was because I felt I should focus all my energy on learning, understanding and memorising in order to get good grades at the expense of taking time out to really think about things.
I've heard people say that your PhD is a time to really think about an area in depth and to enjoy it because you'll never get this chance again...implying perhaps that this is a time to be creative. However, I didn't find that this was how I tackled my PhD. With the pressure of having to complete it in three years due to funding constraints (everyone gets this one), coupled with the (totally correct) expectation that I should publish parts of my thesis before submission, I found myself feeling rather like I was on a treadmill.
I felt I had no time for "extraneous" things, which in my mind then included Twitter, blogging and time out to relax and contemplate. I used to stuff a sandwich into my face at my desk instead of taking a break and would make furtive dashes to Coffee Culture to grab a flat white, which I would get to take-away, because of the need to get back to work.
This probably squashed any creativity in me and it's totally my own doing!
I've decided to try and nurture my creativity and original thought. Even just admitting I need to do this has freed me to think in a less goal-orientated way for at least a little bit of the day.
Watch this space.
Perhaps I shouldn't admit this - but coming up with creative ideas for research is something that I've found challenging. Useful creativity requires a deep knowledge of your subject area as well as the ideas to advance it in a novel way.
Why has this been a problem for me? When I was younger I enjoyed and even excelled at traditionally "creative" activities such as creative writing, music and art. Yet somehow through university I lost that natural creative feeling. I suspect it was because I felt I should focus all my energy on learning, understanding and memorising in order to get good grades at the expense of taking time out to really think about things.
I've heard people say that your PhD is a time to really think about an area in depth and to enjoy it because you'll never get this chance again...implying perhaps that this is a time to be creative. However, I didn't find that this was how I tackled my PhD. With the pressure of having to complete it in three years due to funding constraints (everyone gets this one), coupled with the (totally correct) expectation that I should publish parts of my thesis before submission, I found myself feeling rather like I was on a treadmill.
I felt I had no time for "extraneous" things, which in my mind then included Twitter, blogging and time out to relax and contemplate. I used to stuff a sandwich into my face at my desk instead of taking a break and would make furtive dashes to Coffee Culture to grab a flat white, which I would get to take-away, because of the need to get back to work.
This probably squashed any creativity in me and it's totally my own doing!
I've decided to try and nurture my creativity and original thought. Even just admitting I need to do this has freed me to think in a less goal-orientated way for at least a little bit of the day.
Watch this space.
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