Rejection

Last I posted, I was only getting started in my postdoc!  It's been overwhelming.  But 1 year later, and I'm sitting here reflecting on how far I've come.

As academics, we are faced with ridiculous numbers that most people are happy that they don't have to face.  For example: "At ____ academic journal, only about 5% of the papers submitted get published." Or applying for jobs (like what I'm doing now): "At ______ university, we received over 500 applications to fill our ONE Assistant Professor position."  Or when applying for funding (like at the NSF or The Gates Foundation): "Typically, it takes people over 8 failed attempts at writing a grant before they experience success."  If you don't know...writing a grant to get funding is a colossal task!  So when your livelihood depends on publishing ("publish or perish"), and on getting funding, and finding a job is so ridiculously difficult, why do we do what we do???!!!  Perhaps we are gluttons for punishment.

I submitted an article for publication about a year ago.  It was rejected.  I changed it up a little, took some of the suggestions that the reviewers made, and submitted it to another journal.  It was rejected again.  I then reconceptualized the study completely, and asked different questions and even had some colleagues look it over.  It was rejected again.  My coauthor and I are flummoxed.  So we did a radical reconceptualization, added more data, and have submitted it to another journal.  It's in review, but I'm feeling good about it.  I think it's got a really good chance.  Why do I think this after all the rejections?  I don't know.  I just do.  As researchers, we all know the numbers ... we know our chances of success are not favorable (at least for us junior researchers).  But we keep going because we love what we do.  Because the questions that we ask drive us so powerfully forward ... because we are so convinced that what we are researching is so incredibly important ... that we drive forward despite the unfavorable odds.  Back 10 years ago, my late advisor asked me, "Jason, why do you want to pursue a Ph.D.?  You're going to be dirt poor and have a miserable life."  When I told him that I just have to read and know more about this stuff, I got his attention.  And as we talked more, I think it became apparent that I really was out of my mind crazy.  So this is why I do what I do--because I can't imagine doing anything else and loving it so much. 

And you know what's REALLY crazy?  I'm kind of glad that my paper didn't get published those first few times I attempted it!  Why?  Well, because this time around ... it's a REALLY good paper.  To be an academic and to succeed as one, you have to view rejection as positive feedback that makes you better, because that's exactly what it is.