Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.

I research. It's my responsibility to find the research. It's my responsibility to digest it and do the best that I can with it. Thats why I believe it's very important to take risks. I think that research is very important, but in the end you have to work from your instinct and feeling and take those risks and be fearless.Yet, like most people in life I've had many failures, however, I truly believe that research is about being able to face failure, manage failure and succeed after failing.One of the key strengths is to develop the right attitude. I try to take every challenge and problem as an incredible learning experience.Although it can be quite a daunting process.

What I'm starting to discover is doing a PhD is not so much about the end goal but more about the journey.For example, I am currently working on my Literature Review, somedays I feel I am going in the right direction and on other days I feel like the sea of literature tries to drown me, the more I attempt to stay afloat the more I struggle but just as I am about to go under one last time it somehow seems all to make sense and everything is calm.

In fact, just the other day I somehow ended up reading a paper by Leonard Susskind, one of the world’s greatest theoretical physicists which led me to reading alittle deeper into how he managed to get to the top of his profession and the one quote that for me put into perspective my angst was

"A lot of my research time is spent daydreaming - telling an imaginary admiring audience of laymen how to understand some difficult scientific idea."

So if one of he world's greatest living scientists can adopt this type of attitude then surely there is hope not only for me but any other PhD student who feels the same way.