I am going to relay a story from a friend of mine who got his PhD in the life sciences:
My PhD advisers always had champagne in the laboratory fridge. When I joined their lab, I said “Why is there always bubbles in the fridge?”
They explained that in science, the vast majority of the time you get it wrong. In the few instances where you learn something new or interesting, even if its small, celebrate it immediately. I asked why it had to be immediate. She explained that because you have to be so disciplined and detailed about your new discoveries, you may notice-perhaps even the next day-that it wasn’t as exciting as you thought, or that you got it wrong and it was really nothing.
If you wait to verify to celebrate, the moment would pass or be lost. In all cases, you would celebrate very infrequently and that’s no way to go about life!
So, there are a couple of things to learn from this story:
- Always keep that bottle of sparkling around and ready to celebrate with,
- Celebrate the small things as quickly as the big ones,
- Look for reasons (milestones that others reach, kindnesses that others do, etc.) and don’t ask, celebrate.
It doesn’t have to be the fanciest bottle of champagne, and it is okay to leave that bottle in the fridge, the scientists say so! Just be ready when someone does something that can spark a celebration and pop that bottle of bubbles.
