Table of Contents

1. Preface

2. Main Article

3. New Video

Preface

When I sat down to write this newsletter, I had three types of people in mind:

⚫ Doctors who don’t find research interesting but have to do it to get promoted.

⚫ Students who are working on a research project as part of their studies.

⚫ Senior scientists seeking to “spice up” their routine.

So buckle up.

Number 70 is here.

Main Article

Let's face it: research isn't always exciting.

Even I, passionate about my work, find myself bored when it comes to grant proposals or the endless cycle of manuscript edits.

Whether science is your calling or just a checkbox on your to-do list, we must find a way to make it more fun and productive.

“Fun?! In research? Are you serious?”

I can feel your eyes rolling. 🙄

But bear with me. I've been doing it for 15 years.

Here are 3 ways to enhance your research productivity (and fun):

1️⃣ Make it Relatable

When someone asks you about your research, and you explain it, do they seem engaged and excited?

If you're bored with your research, the answer is probably “no”.

How can someone else be excited about something that bores you?

So, let's use it as a tool today: focus on captivating your audience first.

Start with "Figure 1”.

“Figure 1” is your visual ambassador. It’s the first thing your audience sees. And you can put whatever you want in Figure 1.

Animations, colorful diagrams, or even real-life pictures you took with your phone during your experiments.

This part usually doesn’t require much effort, and for most people, it’s fun.

All that is left is to add your preliminary results, toss it on a PowerPoint presentation, and there you have it! A cool 5-minute summary anyone can understand and get excited about.

You can even use it for conferences and poster presentations.

If that hadn’t excited you, at least you got a poster out of it.

🏡 Take home message:

Prepare your “Figure 1”. Make it fun and colorful.

2️⃣ Make it Hi-Tech

Repetitive tasks are the essence of research. Repeating experiments is crucial to prove the strength of your results and to show they’re statistically significant.

But some tasks are not that important. They're simply repetitive and annoying.

What if you could automate them?

What if you could have a computer do it for you?

I incorporated many automation into my workflow, but 2 of them stand out:

🔵 Notion - to write and summarize manuscripts, and to manage references.

🔵 InoReader - to automate PubMed. PubMed is working for me! Not the other way around. It searches and delivers everything to my phone.

It’s so fun and easy to use, saving me TONS of time.

Here is how you can do it too:

👉My video guide on how to use Notion in research.

👉My video guide on how to automate PubMed:

🏡 Take home message:

Be open to new technologies and automate your work.

3️⃣ Make it Social

Research can be isolating, but it doesn't have to be.

I’m not referring to having lunch together with your colleagues.

I'm talking about interacting with peers from other disciplines.

Preferably, disciplines very different from yours.

This crossover of knowledge is so valuable. And what seems complex and expensive to you, can be so simple to your peer. And vice versa.

On top of that, seeing how research is perceived in other fields is very refreshing—the complete opposite of boring.

🏡 Take home message:

Connect with others to broaden your perspective and invigorate your research.

New Video

Struggling with writing abstracts?

You're not alone.

My new video breaks down the process into easy-to-follow steps, plus a bonus section on utilizing ChatGPT.

Enjoy!

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

Hope for better times.

Shay