What matters? (from Nan's blog)
Got the post below from Nan's blog at http://sunnansunny.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!AC3B92D470C58072!931.entry
I find it very insightful and fully agree with what his advisor said. And I think it takes time and effort to reach that kind of level.
What matters?
今 晚和老板聊天，开始是讨论我的一些想法的可行性，后来是关于博士论文题目，他对学术界的点评，包括教授、杂志，再后来老板开始谈他的人生经历，告诉我对于 确定博士论文题目不用着急，即使花上一年的时候找题目，也完全不是问题。好的开始是成功的一半。我摘录一部分写在下面。
My advisor:
"Some of my friends had to stay for one more year in order to go to college, but it turned out that it did not really matter."
"When I was force to join the Korean army, I thought it was really waste of time. I can read more books during that time, but it turned out that it did not really matter."
"When I was in Caltech, I met so many problems about finding the proper advisor and Ph.D. topic. I wasted two years and almost decided to quit. I even started to think about being a lawyer. But it turned out that it did not really matter."
"You really don't need to worry about your Ph.D. topic..."
Me:
"So what really matters?"
My advisor:
"Actually, what really matter is enjoying the moment."
"You know, Being No.1 will only make you happy for a day, after it, you won't feel happy. If I become tenured professor today, I will definitely be happy maybe for a week, but after that, I won't feel happy. Life continues going on. What makes you constantly happy is enjoying the moment, working hard and making contributions to the society..."
My advisor:
"Some of my friends had to stay for one more year in order to go to college, but it turned out that it did not really matter."
"When I was force to join the Korean army, I thought it was really waste of time. I can read more books during that time, but it turned out that it did not really matter."
"When I was in Caltech, I met so many problems about finding the proper advisor and Ph.D. topic. I wasted two years and almost decided to quit. I even started to think about being a lawyer. But it turned out that it did not really matter."
"You really don't need to worry about your Ph.D. topic..."
Me:
"So what really matters?"
My advisor:
"Actually, what really matter is enjoying the moment."
"You know, Being No.1 will only make you happy for a day, after it, you won't feel happy. If I become tenured professor today, I will definitely be happy maybe for a week, but after that, I won't feel happy. Life continues going on. What makes you constantly happy is enjoying the moment, working hard and making contributions to the society..."
---
Life is an opportunity to do something.
Labels: academic
2 Comments:
very true, too many things don't matter at all at the end.. but the moment is precious..
Enjoying is indeed what life is all about, which, however, does not indicate many things do not matter. Wasting time to join the army is tragic; spending two years on looking for a thesis topic is pathetic.... We are all, in a sense, pursuing personal pleasure, be we doing noble things or mean ones. To me, doing things like wasting time will not make me enjoy the moment.
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