Research is stressing me out

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Doe22

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2018
Messages
68
Reaction score
33
I have just started working in a lab. On the first day, I got assigned a project by my PI. It's been two weeks and I have screwed up many things and just discovered that I have forgotten a plate in the incubator for over a week now. I'm so scared of mentioning this to him tomorrow. I'm learning a lot already and having so much fun in the lab. However, these mistakes are causing me a great deal of stress. Any advice or similar stories?
 
Nobody is born knowing lab procedures. Try not to make the same mistake twice (though you inevitably will on occasion) and own up to them when you do. It helps me to have a routine (e.g., before exiting the lab, I check on X, Y and Z). Most PIs and post docs will cut you some slack in your early days. Keep your chin up, have a good attitude, and you will be an old hand in no time.
 
I have just started working in a lab. On the first day, I got assigned a project by my PI. It's been two weeks and I have screwed up many things and just discovered that I have forgotten a plate in the incubator for over a week now. I'm so scared of mentioning this to him tomorrow. I'm learning a lot already and having so much fun in the lab. However, these mistakes are causing me a great deal of stress. Any advice or similar stories?

I supervise a lab of undergraduates where stuff like this happens all the time. Recently one of our new researchers accidentally combined a bunch of her nearly-finished samples and had to start over from scratch, and she nearly started crying. It took her two weeks to redo her experiment. I had a lot of empathy for her because once upon a time, I was the most junior member of said lab and made (what felt like) constant mistakes.

I was discussing my early lab experiences with my PI a few weeks ago, and I asked him why he was so patient with me in my early days. He told me he never gives a task to an undergraduate researcher that he's not OK with being totally screwed up. In his words: "The procedure or experiment can always be restarted. It's just time. Your time, not mine."

Be upfront and professional with your PI. Apologize once, but then move on. It's not the end of the world. You always feel bad when you make a mistake, but it's how you learn. You'll get better.
 
I have just started working in a lab. On the first day, I got assigned a project by my PI. It's been two weeks and I have screwed up many things and just discovered that I have forgotten a plate in the incubator for over a week now. I'm so scared of mentioning this to him tomorrow. I'm learning a lot already and having so much fun in the lab. However, these mistakes are causing me a great deal of stress. Any advice or similar stories?
That pales in comparison to breaking a brand new centrifuge.
 
That pales in comparison to breaking a brand new centrifuge.

My PI has a piece of equipment that costs $70K. When he was training me up on it, I asked him how he's going to react when I inevitably break it.

He told me that insurance would cover it and not to worry as long as I'm not being stupid or reckless. He might be an especially chill PI, though.
 
I supervise a lab of undergraduates where stuff like this happens all the time. Recently one of our new researchers accidentally combined a bunch of her nearly-finished samples and had to start over from scratch, and she nearly started crying. It took her two weeks to redo her experiment. I had a lot of empathy for her because once upon a time, I was the most junior member of said lab and made (what felt like) constant mistakes.

I was discussing my early lab experiences with my PI a few weeks ago, and I asked him why he was so patient with me in my early days. He told me he never gives a task to an undergraduate researcher that he's not OK with being totally screwed up. In his words: "The procedure or experiment can always be restarted. It's just time. Your time, not mine."

Be upfront and professional with your PI. Apologize once, but then move on. It's not the end of the world. You always feel bad when you make a mistake, but it's how you learn. You'll get better.
That's exactly what I thought. He would never let an undergrad on their second week do something very important with the potential of them screwing it up without even knowing!
 
A paper I submitted got accepted conditionally w/revisions. When it came time to submit revisions, I submitted the correct sheet listing all the revisions made but the wrong final paper with none of the revisions in it. Got an email saying it was accepted a month later. It wasn't until months later when they sent me the final copy to look over for grammatical errors before they published that I was like oh s***! this is the wrong paper. I told my PI (super chill btw) and he called the journal yelling at them for not checking before it got to that point. We sent in the right copy and it was all fine in the end. S*** happens dont stress!
 
My PI has a piece of equipment that costs $70K. When he was training me up on it, I asked him how he's going to react when I inevitably break it.

He told me that insurance would cover it and not to worry as long as I'm not being stupid or reckless. He might be an especially chill PI, though.
I think if I broke a $70k piece of equipment in my lab, my exsanguinated corpse would float up somewhere within the week. 😳
 
I have just started working in a lab. On the first day, I got assigned a project by my PI. It's been two weeks and I have screwed up many things and just discovered that I have forgotten a plate in the incubator for over a week now. I'm so scared of mentioning this to him tomorrow. I'm learning a lot already and having so much fun in the lab. However, these mistakes are causing me a great deal of stress. Any advice or similar stories?
If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.

Go tell the PI about the plate. You're an adult now.

Make a checklist of your protocols and check them off each step of the way.

Do NOT rely on memory, until you are fully competent at tasks.
 
That pales in comparison to breaking a brand new centrifuge.
Not research related, but everyone loves a good broken centrifuge story.

When I worked in a blood bank, we had just gotten a new centrifuge designed to spin like 16 units at a time to separate packed RBC's from Plasma and immuno products. Within the first week of operation, one of the students (teaching hospital) loaded it unbalanced and didn't stick around to catch it early. What happened not 30 seconds later? *WWRRRRR CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK BAAAAAANG* 8 liters of blood sprayed across the room in all directions at high velocity and there was a new $40,000 hole in the taxpayer's wallet.

Thankfully no one was in the vicinity (hurt or contaminated) and the whole thing was cleaned in 5 hours....but still....Good times. Good times....
 
If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.

Go tell the PI about the plate. You're an adult now.

Make a checklist of your protocols and check them off each step of the way.

Do NOT rely on memory, until you are fully competent at tasks.
I'm going to have to that tomorrow and hope he won't think that I'm an idiot.
 
Have you tried getting one of those small magnetic whiteboards, sticking it to the back of your desk, and putting your task list on it?
We all had white boards attached to the side of our desks in the I lab I worked in during undergrad and they really, really helped.
.....but..... make sure the cleaning people don't get too aggressive and erase everything.....
 
Last edited:
I once mentored a PhD student who, after five minutes of watching me set-up an experiment on their first day in the lab, told me it was "mind numbing" and left. You are doing much better than that person.
 
I'll chime in as a current research technician/research assistant. When I started my job, I had no sense of what mistake was big enough to get me fired. I fretted over everything, drove myself crazy second guessing everything, made tons of dumb mistakes, and was stressed the way you sound stressed. My advice: your mindset should be "what can I learn at work today?" I find it neuroprotective to focus on learning rather than being perfect. That way, even if the only thing you learn on a given day is that you'll never again do what you just did, then you're still coming out ahead.

Other miscellaneous advice:

Others are right: do NOT rely on memorization. Check protocols, walk through protocols before doing the real thing, make to do lists, etc.

Know what your research is about, where it came from, why it's important, and why it's done how it's done. As I was advised on SDN, read the grant proposals. You may not be able to do every procedure perfectly, but you CAN take the initiative to be well-versed in the subject you're researching.

In my lab, we stress that it is ALWAYS better to ask a dumb question for the tenth time than try to do something you're unsure about. Ask people to watch you do something. Take notes watching someone doing something. Ask someone to look at your protocol before you start. And keep your lab notebook up to date.

Be a good employee. Show up on time. Be nice to your coworkers. Be mature. Make it obvious that you want to learn, and try your best. My PI might not find out about or care about every time I make a dumb mistake (assuming I fix it), but she definitely notices that I am good employee who is engaged in the lab's work. Then I get the benefit of the doubt when I do mess up.

Good luck! I have found research to be valuable and rewarding.
 
Have you tried getting one of those small magnetic whiteboards, sticking it to the back of your desk, and putting your task list on it?
We all had white boards attached to the side of our desks in the I lab I worked in during undergrad and they really, really helped.
.....but..... make sure the cleaning people don't get too aggressive and erase everything.....
No one in my lab uses these. This sounds like a good idea though...
 
I'll chime in as a current research technician/research assistant. When I started my job, I had no sense of what mistake was big enough to get me fired. I fretted over everything, drove myself crazy second guessing everything, made tons of dumb mistakes, and was stressed the way you sound stressed. My advice: your mindset should be "what can I learn at work today?" I find it neuroprotective to focus on learning rather than being perfect. That way, even if the only thing you learn on a given day is that you'll never again do what you just did, then you're still coming out ahead.

Other miscellaneous advice:

Others are right: do NOT rely on memorization. Check protocols, walk through protocols before doing the real thing, make to do lists, etc.

Know what your research is about, where it came from, why it's important, and why it's done how it's done. As I was advised on SDN, read the grant proposals. You may not be able to do every procedure perfectly, but you CAN take the initiative to be well-versed in the subject you're researching.

In my lab, we stress that it is ALWAYS better to ask a dumb question for the tenth time than try to do something you're unsure about. Ask people to watch you do something. Take notes watching someone doing something. Ask someone to look at your protocol before you start. And keep your lab notebook up to date.

Be a good employee. Show up on time. Be nice to your coworkers. Be mature. Make it obvious that you want to learn, and try your best. My PI might not find out about or care about every time I make a dumb mistake (assuming I fix it), but she definitely notices that I am good employee who is engaged in the lab's work. Then I get the benefit of the doubt when I do mess up.

Good luck! I have found research to be valuable and rewarding.
This makes me feel so much better. I think I have the courage now to talk to my PI about what I did and accept whatever the outcome will be.
 
So, I told my PI about my deed and turned out that we didn't even need that plate. It was just an ''extra" replicate plate 🙄 all the worrying was for nothing
You should make whatever is growing on it fight for domination of the plate.
 
I think if I broke a $70k piece of equipment in my lab, my exsanguinated corpse would float up somewhere within the week. 😳

Your PI likes the taste of blood from epileptic rats?? To each his/her own, I guess ...
 
Top