Category: motivation

Tricks of the Trade: LaTeX

Ok, guys. I’ve been studying as a baby statistician (scienctician? statscientist? ecologitician?)  for a little while now and I’m here to share some of their secrets. Before I started here at Penn State I had a couple ideas about what other grad students in my department would be like. First, everyone would be computer masters of any and all statistical programs: R, SAS, others that I hadn’t even heard of yet. Second, they’d all be completely on top of everything in all of our classes because they all would’ve completed undergraduate and master’s programs also in statistics. And thirdly, it’d be really hard to relate to other students because of my background in biology and my love for the outdoors (because clearly they’d all prefer sitting inside in front of their computers, right?). Thankfully, I was way off base and not only am I not left in the educational dust, but my cohort is full of awesome students with a wide variety of strengths and abilities. And I must collect them all. Yea, my new goal is to be like some sort of awesome Anna-Paquin-as-Rogue statistician and glean all of the amazing abilities and knowledge while I can. Except I think I’ll stick to taking the time to learn and practice things…instead of the whole touchy hurty thing she does. One of my absolute favorite new acquires is the ability to write code in LaTeX.


Another one of my pre-stats misconceptions was that whenever you saw an equation in a journal article it was created with Word’s super difficult equation editor.  Hopefully I’m not the only one who thought this, because now I feel really silly (Editor’s Note: I assumed mathematical witchcraft, so joke’s on me really.). LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting often used for technical or scientific documents. Long story short, you could be creating completely badass documents with lots of equations and badassery like these: [Homework with R Code, Homework with crazy stat stuff!]. I received my intro to LaTeX during one of the Cohort Workshops I have been arranging on Fridays for my department. Another grad student gave us a very brief introduction and showed us some of the basics. A few downloads, a bunch of googling, and several hours of practice later (not to mention an uninstall and redownload…) I was really starting to get the hang of it! Anyone who’s learning to program knows that you experience some of the most frustrating moments during that initial learning curve. WHY WON’T YOU JUST COMPILE AND SHOW ME A PDF OF MY NAME AND ‘HELLO WORLD’? I DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU TOLD ME…*deletes comma* Oh…well then. BEHOLD MY BRILLIANCE! FOR I HATH CREATED A MASTERPIECE!

I would like to encourage everyone to give it a go! I can answer basic questions, but I’ve found that the vast majority of my own beginner’s questions have been accomplished through a few key resources, including the Great Googily Moogily. Behold your starting point!

What to Download
  1. Tex – LaTeX is actually a sub-entity of Tex, sort of like Git and Github (which I also am just beginning to understand!) So you’ll actually need to download Tex in order to run LaTeX. Unfortunately, there are slightly different versions for Windows and Mac users but both deal with the same underlying program (if you run anything else, my apologies for being completely unaware of how to guide you).
  2. An Editor – The Tex download comes with everything you absolutely need, but I like using an editor for extra pretty colors and the option to code for other programming languages. I like working in Aquamacs, which is the Mac version of Emacs. (Update: I now use Sublime Text because Aquamacs kept giving me unhelpful error messages and I wasn’t having none of that.)
IMG_4569
Full disclosure: this took me a WHILE!
What to Try First
  1. Hello, World! – Your first task is to just compile and create a PDF file with the most basic of greetings. I used this website at Art of Problem Solving. Even still I spent way too long before I got my first code to compile and PDF produced. It’s a glorious achievement!
  3. Do a Homework in LaTeX – This is not applicable to everyone and for all classes. But if you have a math or stats course where the homework isn’t too intensive consider completing it in LaTeX! One of my professors even wrote lots of handy coding tips on one of my homeworks that helped me a lot the next time around. I love being able to feel accomplished at writing up a nice, clean looking final version even if the homework is crazy difficult. Helps me keep those imposter thoughts at bay!


Next Level Stuff
  1. Update your CV – This was one of my recommendations for our Motivation blog post last week. I used this one from Bradley P Carlin and you can check out my final form!
  2. Write and submit your next manuscript using LaTeX! – Now, I’m nowhere near this stage of my program but I’d wager that quite a few templates or style formatting guidelines available for submitting a paper using LaTeX! Go, go, go!
  3. Combine with RStudio to work with knitr and sweave to produce LaTeX documents with R code  and results spliced in!


 Basically part of my grand PhD scheme is to master a lot of the computing and presentation side of statistics so that I will be a valuable asset and worthy of ALL the jobs. At least a few options after graduating will be worth the toiling away finding that stray comma or misspelled command. Now that you’ve heard my favorite new tool I’ve learned so far please share yours! Or even if your favorite is also LaTeX tell me all the little tricks  you’ve picked up! I want all the tricks!

Getting a Motivation Makeover

Last week, doing anything was a struggle.  Literally all I wanted to do was watch cartoons, eat burritos, and perform the bare minimum tasks I could get away with doing (Editor’s note: This is me. Always).  Admitting these sorts of things is what makes the idea of an anonymous blog very appealing on occasion.  It’s not because I have a super exciting secret life or anything (spoiler alert: I find my own life very exciting on the whole), but because I think a lot of the things I struggle with as a scientist in training are widely felt but often actively overlooked.  Graduate school is where you learn how to learn (because as a scientist, the learning never stops), hone key skills, and net a set of accomplishments that will make you stand out in the job market.  It’s a place where people who are fired up about things go to dive deep into problems, and it’s no surprise that so many great innovations are the result of doctoral dissertations.  And I’d say, about 50 weeks out of the year, I feel fired up about science.  About conservation.  About freaking adorable invertebrates and gnarly invasive plants.  


Adorbs.
I’ve been in graduate school for over 5 years, 3 years for my Master’s and 2 full years of PhD work.  It would be disingenuous and unhelpful for me to say that, over the past 5 years, I haven’t had motivational slumps.  Do I believe there are people who are 100% juiced up all the time, who never have to search for a reason to get reignited over their work?  I really do.  And I wish I was one of them, but I’m not.  Further, I think there are plenty of graduate students who struggle from time to time with motivation.  There are a lot of reasons:  personal issues, burnout, loss of interest in a project, imposter syndrome.  The thing is, I think we are taught to pretend this isn’t happening.  I have stock advice I give to all new graduate students when we are chatting, “Anyone who pretends they have their act together is faking it.  Everyone is freaking out.”  I think I need to do a bit of taking my own advice.  I’m probably not the only one who occasionally sits at their desk and goes “blah.”  I don’t think feeling a periodic lack of motivation makes me (or you) a bad scientist.  I don’t think it indicates a lack of passion.  I think pretending it isn’t happening is less than authentic.  I think refusing to yield to these periods and rekindling your fire speaks volumes of capability, passion, and drive.      


So here is my truth, as I’ve experienced it on several occasions.  I’m sailing along fine, killing it in the lab, balancing several projects, keeping my little fingers tippy-tapping on my writing projects.  A large milestone approaches.  I start to feel like I’m not doing enough (ironically, these sorts of thought progressions usually happen after 8pm in the lab…) and a little touch of imposter syndrome starts to kick up.  How rude!  I make plans for how to attack said milestone, I budget out my time, I feel like I can totally do this!  Then I’m motionless for a stressful span of days, absolutely sure that as soon as I begin I’ll realize the task is impossible.  Things spiral, I consume an unnatural amount of peanut butter, then some action or event clicks things back into place and I’m sprinting again.  In the spirit of honestly, it’s absolutely frustrating to look at yourself in the mirror and say aloud, “What’s wrong with me this week?”  But, in the end, it’s almost like fighting with your best friend.  It’s going to happen at some point, and if you take the time to learn something about them and yourself in the process, you can come out the other side closer than ever.


After that overly honest preamble, I’ll present my non-exhaustive, in no particular order list of things that have gotten my butt back in gear in the past.  This is how I kiss and make-up with science when I’ve been neglecting it.   



  1. Take in some inspirational media (of the non-scholarly variety).  Here are my go-tos, but your milage may vary
    1. This essay about how science is SUPPOSED to make you feel stupid, dummy.
    2. This poem, always and forever.  “Practice resurrection.”
    3. This essay by Aldo Leopold on extinction.
    4. This poem that will make you want to be a better person.  “If you’re handing out flashlights in the night, start handing out stars.”
  2. Make a plan. I know, you had a plan before, but make a new one.  The old one obviously wasn’t working.
  3. Screen Shot 2014-10-20 at 9.57.58 PM.png
    Mer’s Plan involves detailed time breakdowns. 
    Kill the distractions. Is an ill family member nagging at your mind?  Call them and ease your worries.  Do some large batch cooking so you don’t have to worry about the dishes or food for the rest of the week.  For goodness sake, get off Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all the other good things to do with the internet.
  4. What helps you focus?  Do that. Exercise?  Yoga?  A good night’s sleep?  Get those things.  Trust yourself.  Trust that you know the difference between procrastination and positive self-care.   
  5. Talk to inspired people.  You are a very cool person with very cool friends.  Find the one who is the most lite up by their current project and parasitize their enthusiasm .  I had a super uplifting talk about education leadership with a friend earlier this month.  Obviously, I’m not an education scholar, but their passion was infectious (Editor’s note: Rach and I talked about this during our Productivity Meeting last week. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of my first PhD midterms and was NOT available for enthusiasm! I suppose on the flip side of this, when you are feeling on top of your game then you should share your enthusiasm with those who might needs a little extra.).
  6. My moral support.
    Freaking talk about it.  Get a coffee with your gradschool best friend, call your sister, Skype with your mom, chat with your cat, or anyone else who cares about you.  It’s great to be internally motivated and sure of your inherent worth or whatever, but when your best accomplishment from the last two days was getting your inbox to zero, you need someone else to remind you of the bigger picture of yourself.       
  7. Update your CV.  This seems like a time suck, right?  It can be, but adding all your most recent accomplishments to your resume will remind you of times when all your hard work has paid off for you.  The only thing better than having someone else remind you that you are awesome is reminding yourself.    
  8. Hey, you, this is your JOB, remember? Either someone is paying you to do this work or you are paying for the experience yourself.  Hopefully it’s the former.  Here’s to hoping we never dip below the minimum job performance we need to maintain.  Beyond that, would you give you a raise or a promotion?  Put on some business casual attire and go sit in your workspace.  Put yourself on the clock.  
  9. Make a vision board, write an affirmation. Am I really that much of a hippie?  Apparently so.  I’ve made some pretty impressive vision boards in my day.  First of all, it’s crafting, which is relaxing.  Second, if you put it somewhere where you are forced to stare at it everyday, you’ll be surprised how you realign your actions to start actually working toward your goals.  If you’re not into pictures and glue sticks, write an affirmation of your intentions and put it on your bathroom mirror, or the fridge, or wherever else you will see it everyday.  The important thing is to see it everyday.

  10. Take an actual break. No, don’t start reading fanfiction at 2am when the whole purpose of drinking that cup of coffee was to get some real work done.  I’m talking take a mental health day.  Draw a bubble bath, go for a hike, and eat all the freaking burritos.  Give yourself a break for goodness sake, then rally rally rally.


Don’t worry, get muddy.
Thanks for letting me share something real.  Authentic living feels so good.  I hope it helps someone else!  Anyone else have tips and tricks for snapping out of a funk?  I would love to hear them.  Until next time, I have some precious inverts to read about.
 

Editor’s Note: I think a big takeaway from this blog post is that while graduate school can be a huge undertaking that commands a lot of your time, that doesn’t mean you have to let to rule your entire life. Prioritize yourself and those important people in your life that you want to spend time with. You could work on Grad School Things all day and all night long and never really reach a stopping point. If you wait until you’re completely caught up on everything you want to do, then you’ll run out of hours in the day.  However, if you schedule yourself some Real Life Time along with your Productivity Time you’ll be able to enjoy some of what keeps you motivated and happy. I have been hyper-scheduling my days using my Mac’s iCal program, and I find it helps me stay on track while still allowing myself time to chill doing Life Things without feeling guilty about things I could be working on instead. Don’t let the fear and the guilt get you down or keep you from enjoying life.