SMARTCUT #7: Learn from Others

Eleanor Roosevelt is said to have written, “Learn from the mistakes of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

This brings me to Smartcut #7: LEARN FROM OTHERS.

Speaking to someone who can tell you in advance about the obstacles and pitfalls you may be facing is a great way to figure out how you’re going to get around them. Who has done what you want to do? Can you ask them about it? What mistakes did they make? What do they wish they had done differently?

I think many people involved in research and academia have internalised a common message that we hear while growing up: “Do your own work.”

But outside of the artificial confines of the school classroom, it is necessary to look to others, whether for advice or collaboration.

So, go ahead and grab a coffee with someone and pick their brain about a problem you’re dealing with. Those that have been there and done that are often happy to share with you how you can avoid the same hurdles.

And this is a great example of a smartcut in action: that thirty-minute coffee break could have just saved you weeks of head-scratching and potential stress.