{"id":99,"date":"2019-02-17T19:47:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T10:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alternativepostdoc.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2020-03-18T15:59:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T06:59:29","slug":"4-reasons-why-collaborators-will-save-your-life-in-academia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alternativepostdoc.com\/4-reasons-why-collaborators-will-save-your-life-in-academia\/","title":{"rendered":"4 reasons why collaborators will save your life in academia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting your research journey you may be wondering: \u201cI have so much to do, how I will find time to collaborate? I just want to get things done, quickly&#8230;\u201d Although these thoughts are natural, seem logical and will serve you in a short run, they will also ruin your career\u2026 seriously! Unfortunately&#8230; If luck of collaborators will not shutter &nbsp;your opportunities for jobs, it will surely contribute to the burnout. Did I scare you enough? <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Frankly, the above reasons were not good enough reasons for me. Fortunately, I was lucky to kind of naturally develop beautiful relationships with likeminded people who I admire and genuinely like. I am so grateful for each one of them. Let me tell you why I think that collaborators are the reason I fight to stay in academia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaborators allow you to do <strong>better work<\/strong><br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are things I would never come up with if I would not have had collaborators. No doubt about it. There are also challenges that would take me a long time to overcome by myself. Instead, they took one meeting with a brilliant person to solve. Some golden nuggets which highly influence my work are inherited from the bright people I collaborate with. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborators are a diverse bunch of people. Each one of them is a special human being with a unique personality, set of skills and knowledge. This diversity allows us to draw on strengths of each person, at least to some extent.  We no longer have to be a jack of all trades. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, the things three people can do are not only three times, but often 10 or 15 times better than one person can do. Maybe I am exaggerating, but maybe not. This relationship is surely not linear, and that is a true beauty and magic of collaboration. People often feed out of each other in unexpected ways. This stimulation allows to create things that would never possible in separation. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brainstorming with collaborators is my favorite thing to do. It opens so many doors in my brain in such a short time. I am regularly left in awe on how human brain works, and how interaction with other human being, no matter how small, can spark an eruption of ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaborators allow you to do <strong>more work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s face it, some projects would simply not happen, if I couldn\u2019t relay on collaborators to do some of the work. Collaborators\u2019 work allows you to handle more projects at the same time. To some of them you contribute less, which allows you to contribute more to the others. Overall, at each given moment, you are able to handle more projects than you would working solo. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having collaborators allows you do progress with any given project quicker. There is certain amount of work that has to be done in research. It can be manual work, writing, reading, searching, experimenting, running analysis, and they all have to take place. There is just no way around it. Having more people working on a project allows you to finish all these tasks quicker. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, let\u2019s not forget that because there are more highly qualified people available (not only you) to take on various tasks, the project can be bigger and more complicated. The team can afford to handle more complexity in a project, extend the types of experiments or analysis and still assure a great quality. I guess you could say: collaborators allow you to do more better work. &nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaborators provide you with <strong>different perspective<\/strong><br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborators are different people, not only they knowledge, technical skills and training will differ from yours, but also their life experiences. This is will offer you a different perspective on an array of research complexities. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborators are different people, not only they knowledge, technical skills and training will differ from yours, but also their life experiences. This is will offer you a different perspective on an array of research complexities. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is sometimes hard to predict for researchers what is a specialist and what is a \u201ccommon\u201d knowledge. This is the main reason for example why it is so hard to write for different audiences. (More on writing for different audiences here: <a href=\"\/3-stages-of-writing-for-research-the-writing-process-that-will-change-your-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">3 stages of writing for research &#8211; the writing process that will change your life<\/a>) Quite frankly, sometimes it is necessary to test whether our explanations are appropriate for a particular audience. Collaborators may be the first people you can do it on, especially it they are more experienced than you. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborators are also great to talk though your ideas, issues with methodology or research process. They are on your side, but also removed just enough to provide you with some additional points, questions or suggestions, you would not think off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaborators fuel your <strong>passion<\/strong><br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>They definitely fuel mine. Talking about your research with a person equally enthusiastic and engaged can be refreshing. Doing research with this type of person is definitely rewording on so many levels. Not only your work usually goes well but also you get inspired every time you get to catch up on a project. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking about research is not necessary something you can do with anyone anywhere. Although it depends on a level of complexity you want your conversation to be at. If you want to go deep into technical details, you better have someone who is as passionate and knowledgeable about the topic as you are. Otherwise you will put them to sleep. Luckily, your collaborators are not only on similar level of technical knowledge, but also they are engaged and invested in the project, so interested almost by definition. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborators are also great to lean on when things are not going well for you. Anytime things are rough, I can always count on a chat, email or a call from one of the awesome people I collaborate with. These people are not only a source of solutions, but also serenity. I have put this reason as the last one, but in reality, I think this is the most important one. The best prevention of burnout, I would say, is a bunch of passionate collaborators (and an appropriate schedule, more on it here: <a href=\"\/how-to-schedule-your-research-work-is-working-on-weekends-really-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">How to schedule your research work &#8211; is working on weekends really necessary?<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Side note: If you are lucky like I, you can make collaborators from some of your best PhD buddies. Then, you have a perfectly logical reason to systematically hang out with them \u201cfor work\u201d. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I dedicate this blog post to all my beautiful Collaborators. You are amazing human beings and a reason I enjoy research so much. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are your thoughts on a role of collaboration in research process? Do you collaborate or prefer to work solo? <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting your research journey you may be wondering: \u201cI have so much to do, how I will find time to collaborate? I just want to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[41,7],"tags":[58,55,56,57,13,27,60],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4 reasons why collaborators will save your life in academia - Alternative Postdoc<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alternativepostdoc.com\/4-reasons-why-collaborators-will-save-your-life-in-academia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 reasons why collaborators will save your life in academia - Alternative Postdoc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Starting your research journey you may be wondering: \u201cI have so much to do, how I will find time to collaborate? 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