The PhD Defense

Last April I had my PhD defense. I wanted to write about my this earlier, but I have been living in a roller coaster the last few months (a good one, but more about that in another post) so I could not find the time to write. However, my good friend and colleague Rita asked me, shortly after the defense, if I could write her an email about my impressions and emotions on the day of my defense. I was glad to have this request by her. This request could only come from Rita: she studies emotions but is also engaged in understanding them beyond a scientific perspective. I value her effort to understand the importance of emotions in daily life and the central role they have in our everyday routines. I sat down and reflected about my defense day (and the days preceding it, and the whole journey until then…) and here is what I wrote to her. I tend to live my life in an accelerated mode and sometimes I forget the importance of stopping and thinking. Thanks, Rita for making me stop to think about this day.

“Dear Rita,
As promised, here is a GIANT email about my impressions of my PhD defense day.
(…)
Preparing the presentation for my defense was a challenge. For some reason, I had convinced myself that putting together a presentation about my PhD was going to be easy: after all, all I had to do was putting together all my studies’ presentations, which I had presented at conferences, integrate feedback and it would be ready that way. After doing that, the result was far from what was expected. I realized that the presentation was way too long. Also, the presentation did not have a storyline and the committee would just fall asleep after a while. That was my first shock: How was I supposed to fit 4 years of work in a 20 minutes presentation? Including only the thesis studies, leaving all other side projects aside. This was very difficult. After several attempts I managed to have a presentation that I was happy with (it took me about two weeks to finally have a presentation that was satisfactory to me. Afterwards I still included feedback from my supervisor. Building the presentation, however scary at first, was very helpful in the end to make clear what the storyline was, that I wanted to tell. Finishing the presentation cleared things in my mind.

Definitely not what the committee would think after my first presentation draft…

While writing on the compilation of my thesis, I wrote down all the questions that popped up in my mind and which I thought the committee could ask. These questions referred to the way all the theoretical arguments and studies of the thesis connected to one another, the methodologies I used, and also to the logical and personal reasoning underlying each thought expressed in the thesis. I kept these questions during the writing period, and while making the presentation a few more popped up. In the weeks before the defense, while I prepared answers to these questions, I has a second shock: I did not know ANYTHING!!!! As I realized this, I looked back at my first year as a PhD student and saw myself full of confidence: I thought I knew so much! I went to conferences and thought that I was ready to answer any question because, after all, this was my research and I had the answers. Back then, I thought things were easy. I would never be nervous for a presentation because there was no question I could not answer. This was me at the beginning of the PhD and although such unreal self-confidence feeling had been fading away over the years, it had never been so clear to me as in that moment. As our dear Susana always says: learning is the process and not in the end itself. The truth is: I have learned a lot along the way. I learned that I know too little. I learned that there are no black and white answers and there are always other ways of perceiving things. I learned that now I was not ready to answer questions but ask even more questions and keep questioning everything, even myself. Therefore, even the questions I had been compiling over time now had no answer. I panicked for a moment. Afterwards I thought if I was humble and would answer based on the learnings I had had over the years all would be fine. I remember thinking that, contrarily to my beliefs as a first year student, I was not going to give peremptory answers to the questions I would be asked during the defense. I would now be humble and recognize that there are always several points of view on every topic of discussion. It was now time to recognize that the world is such as amazing place to live in and life is such a great learning experience because people think differently from one another and that is awesome. With this thought in mind, I moved on.
To prepare a bit more, besides having asked all of you (colleagues) to ask me critical questions, which were very useful, I tried to predict what were the viewpoints of each committee members on my research. This was, of course, related to their own research interests, which I could briefly address on the preparation stage.
While preparing for the defense I always kept in mind my beliefs as a researcher. In every answer I wanted to emphasize my personal beliefs which I also print into my research: I believe that every human being has the power to learn, transform, and develop her/himself into whatever they wish to become. This also helped to prepare my answers and argumentation but also to answer unexpected questions. I thought that if I always keep this thought in mind it is impossible to give a “wrong” answer, because I will only state what I believe in. In this sense I would always keep true to myself.

I could almost hear Ygritte in my head…

On the day before the defense, I rehearsed my presentation. It did not go well. I was nervous, my speech was not flowing… Anyway, a long bath in the evening and a good night sleep fixed this problem immediately. On the day itself, I was so so so nervous again… But as the time of the defense approached I could calm down. And when the defense really started, I was invaded by a zen mood and I just decided to enjoy the moment. And that’s what I did.
In the end, it was a conversation where I had the chance to expose my ideas, my beliefs and my opinions. It was actually…nice!

I took a long bath and a good night sleep. But hey, everyone has their own strategies…

I was very afraid of feeling disappointment in myself… That happens to me quite a lot and I engage in counterfactual thoughts like “I should have said this… I shouldn’t have done that”. Fortunately, I did not have these thoughts at all! In the end, I was even a little bit proud of myself :)
So my advice is: when your defense is there, enjoy it! It is a special day. It is not the end of anything but the beginning of a new stage. I know that for as much as I tell you not to be nervous, you will still be nervous. But believe me: all will be fine!”

Yay!!!

Is there an age for entrepreneurship?

Discussing entrepreneurship is always challenging. Recently I shared with you an interesting thought on being an entrepreneurial researcher that came up during a training session about entrepreneurship with scientists and researchers. Another interesting point of discussion was about the fact that most of the famous cases of entrepreneurship we know are done by rather young people. This was a general assumption and started a reflection about “is entrepreneurship only for the young?”. I received this question and I gave it back to the audience asking “what do you think?”. Eventually we ended up discussing this picture created by Anna Vital of Funders and Founders:

 

More than a matter of age, we came to the conclusion that it has to do with the phase of life one is in. The picture shows it very well. It is also a matter of resilience and finding opportunities in situations which seem to be threatening, such as a quarter/half life crisis. Usually such periods of life are characterized by a deep questioning over the purpose of one’s life, what one is doing with their limited time and a lack of feeling of achievement. These feelings can, of course, cause confusion and internal debate. Pursuing one’s passion, becoming the owner of one’s life and time, requires a lot of entrepreneurial competences. Therefore, training in entrepreneurship can also be seen as solution for these issues.
In the end we concluded that entrepreneurship has no age: if you are motivated to do it and invest in yourself to develop your entrepreneurial competences, you can become an entrepreneur and develop your entrepreneurial thinking. No one is ever too old to learn, therefore no one is ever too old to be an entrepreneur.

Do you agree? Is there an ideal age to become an entrepreneur?

Are you an entrepreneurial researcher?

Recently I had the opportunity of conducting again a training on entrepreneurship and business opportunities to academic staff, PhD’s and researchers in Germany. It is always very interesting and challenging. It usually turns out to be a great exchange of knowledge, perspectives and experiences about entrepreneurship.

There were lots of interesting discussions and nice business ideas, but a few questions popped up and generated the most engaging discussions. So I share them with you entrepreneurs and with you researchers, so you can reflect upon them and, if you’d be so kind, to share your views.

One of the researchers stated that he was participating in this workshop not because he would like to become an entrepreneur, but because he would like to write more entrepreneurial research proposals. This was a very interesting thought. To me this sounds like someone who says that he does not want to be an entrepreneur but wants to think like one. So what is the difference? Our discussion then started on the topic of “what is it to be an entrepreneur?”. Several times I have defended here the point that entrepreneurship is a mindset rather than only starting a company. What this colleague really wanted to know was how to think as an entrepreneur and show that on his research proposals. This is a very interesting point! How can we, researchers, write research proposals in a more entrepreneurial way? Do researchers have an entrepreneurial mindset? Does research answer questions which are important for entrepreneurs?

 

I would love to have your thoughts on this!

 

The other questions for reflection will follow soon, so stay tuned!

 

The International Experience – Part II

On last month’s edition of the UT Nieuws, the magazine of the University of Twente in the Netherlands, I was given the opportunity to talk about my research and about my thoughts about the Dutch culture! Here is the final result. Click here, to see the complete edition of the UT Nieuws.

Check also the other post about my international experience.

When you realize this, it will hit you!

Life is cyclical. Doing research is no different from going to the kindergarten. Just think about it for a second and you will see the similarities.

Picture, for example, a field trip in kindergarten: Someone decides for you that it will be good. You are a sponge: every experience will help you to develop. You go out of the school with the teacher, you have a partner to whom you have to hold on to no matter what (his/her hand or his/her shirt), never lose sight of that person. You get the bus fixed for you. You get the food fixed for you. You get to play a lot with other kids. There are fun activities! You get stuff during the field trip explained for you. You make a drawing of the subject of the field trip and get complimented on it. Someone might even give you something for free, like a toy or a balloon, that will always let you remember that field trip. Someone picks you up from the kindergarten and for two days you just can’t stop talking about the amazing adventure you just had. You didn’t have to do much: just enjoy it.

Picture now a field trip during your PhD: it’s called a conference. You have to find out where the field trip is. You have to discover if it is important for you. No one takes you there. You have to figure out how to get there: plane? train? Oh, and pay attention to your budget. You have a partner, called co-author, colleague or supervisor, to whom you have to hold on to no matter what (his/her ideas or his/her advice), never lose the reference of that person. Sometimes you still get the food fixed for you, other times you get to eat something really nasty out of your diet because, well, it is just a few days of conference, you deserve it. You get to talk a lot with other researchers, it’s now called networking. There are fun activities! They are called social events. You don’t get stuff explained for you, you have to explain your stuff and hope that others understand it and can help you to improve it. You present your contribution on the topic of the “field trip” and might get complimented on it, but most probably not. Sometimes you get some free advise which represents a breakthrough in your research and you will always remember that conference forever. You go back home. You feel like you need to work on the ideas you just got, non-stop, at least for the next two days. You had to do a lot and you still enjoyed it.

Life is cyclical. It brings you more predictability than you realize. What changes, though, is your freedom, your ability to decide and choose your own path. So what are we going to do about it?

I was not the first to realize this though :P Check this PhD Comic:

6 months of Do Not Talk Nerdy To Me

March is the blog’s 6 months anniversary! Six months ago I decided not to talk nerdy to you and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I received a lot of feedback from the readers who definitely helped this blog to improve and to meet everyone’s interests. I share with you the visibility that the blog has had during these months, which is amazing.

Finally, I would like to ask you to keep sending your suggestions for contents and ideas for posts, because they are most welcome! If you like to read Do Not Talk Nerdy To Me don’t keep it just for you and share it with your friends.

“I think, therefore I am” an Entrepreneur. Life after university – is Entrepreneurship a way to go? # 3

On the 10th anniversary of Facebook, let’s have a new post of the series “I think, therefore I am”… an Entrepreneur. And since we’re talking about inspirational entrepreneurs, let’s also talk about Steve Jobs.

The last myth I’m trying to bust with this series of posts is:

3.   The most famous entrepreneurs did not finish their university degrees, so there is really no point in having an entrepreneurial education stream.

There is a big trend in research nowadays regarding entrepreneurship education. Countless courses are taught; different approaches are used, tested and validated. Universities take pride in calling themselves entrepreneurial universities. However, some will say that this is all pointless, because if we look at some of the most remarkable entrepreneurs of our time, like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or MarK Zuckerberg, they didn’t even finish their degrees at university. Well, I don’t agree that educating towards entrepreneurship is wrong. I think that entrepreneurship is primarily a way of thinking! A way of thinking that is still not widespread or settled. It is still the exception and not the rule.  It is a way of thinking that makes the entrepreneur pop out from among the non-entrepreneurs. Thinking entrepreneurially consists in taking self-control in life, learnings, experiences and choices. In these specific cases of entrepreneurship, what should be pointed out is not the fact that they didn’t finish their degrees, but the fact that they all made the most out of their university experience.

In my research I look for cognitive competences that entrepreneurs possess and from which we can learn how to become more entrepreneurial and develop our entrepreneurial thinking. But talking in a non-nerdy way, let’s have a look at what we can learn from these popular entrepreneurs.

Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his university dorm in Harvard. A simple connecting the dots between a regular year book and his programing skills contributed to bring us closer than ever. Privacy issues and ownership rights aside, it was a great thing. This is a great example showing practical intelligence and a great sensibility to read what the surroundings and people need and ask for.

We all have also heard how Steve Jobs learned about calligraphy at Reed College, in his Standford’s Commencement Speech (link). In his words “The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting”. Steve Job’s drop out did not happen because he was lazy… It happened because he felt he could control his own learnings and develop himself as a person by following what he felt was interesting. He might not have passed courses, but he sure took the most out of his university experience. One of my favourite parts of his speech (and for the matter, one of my favourite quotes in life) is the following:

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

This is true. But who dares? Aren’t we much more focused in following the expected path instead of our hearts? This is also entrepreneurial thinking or… entrepreneurial feeling. Doing what one likes is essential to make one feel complete. So taking control of our own lives is being entrepreneurial. In the end we cannot forget that:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” (Steve Jobs).

So we do have a lot to learn from these and other examples. We do have a lot to do concerning impregnating entrepreneurial thinking at universities and other levels of education. But none of it is pointless, as long as we keep making the most out of our experiences, including going to university.

A final note on the series “I think, therefore I am”… an Entrepreneur:

Of course these are my opinions. I cannot talk from my experience because I am still doing my PhD and have no idea about what will happen next. As frightening or exciting as that might be, these reflections help me to see things clear and all the examples here stated inspire me.

Not to forget that all this, doing a PhD, thinking entrepreneurially, thinking about a career… is just a part of life. But if we like what we do in this part of our life it will for sure influence positively all the other roles we have.