R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness

David Maslach
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Professor David Maslach talks about graduate school, research, science, Innovation, and entrepreneurship. The R3ciprocity project is my way to give back as much as I possibly can. I seek to provide insights and tools to change how we understand science, and make it more democratic.

  1. 5d ago

    The Checklist View of Life

    We are sold a very modern checklist view of life. Get the degree. Get the job. Make good money. Be practical. Go on the trips. Exercise. Meditate. Do all the right things and somehow you are supposed to feel whole. But for some of us, even when we do a lot of that stuff right, there is still a longingness. There is still that quiet feeling that something is mismatched, that you are chronically behind, that there is something more you are supposed to do with your life. That is what made thinking about a doctorate feel so confusing to me. On paper, it looked irrational. More school. More uncertainty. Less money. Less approval. It looked like moving backward when I was supposed to be moving ahead. But the strangest part of adult life is that the checklist life does not fix that deeper ache. I do think some checklist things help. Exercise helps. Family helps. Doing the basics helps. But none of it fully resolves that deeper yearning if you are the kind of person who keeps searching for meaning, depth, truth, and a more genuine impression on the world. You can know not to pay attention to other people and still not fully know how to do it. So if you are in that exact same spot, wondering whether wanting a doctorate after a Master of Business Administration means you are foolish, I would say this. Maybe you are not making the stupidest choice of your life. Maybe you are finally being honest about the life that feels true to you. The hard part is that this feeling never fully goes away. There is no perfect checklist that wins the game. There is only trying to live your life as fully as you can, one day at a time, while remembering that even with the longingness, you may still be doing pretty well. Sometimes that is the real work. Not checking every box, but getting back up and trying again

  2. Sep 29

    The Tyranny of Numbers

    I’ve been thinking about the tyranny of numbers. I know that sounds peculiar. But over the last 200–250 years, we’ve put a number on almost everything. Grades. GPA. Trade deficits. Performance. Even time itself. ⸻ It’s been the job of engineers, accountants, doctors—really all professionalization— to codify the world into numbers. And on one hand… this has been one of the modern miracles. ⸻ We’ve had enormous growth because we can: • calculate • quantify • assign numerical values ⸻ But there’s also a tyranny with it. ⸻ Once you put a number on something… you can’t escape it. ⸻ It brings out aspects of humanness that are not so great. We compare. We compete. We try to get ahead of somebody else. Sometimes at all costs. ⸻ Grades are a perfect example. A simple numerical system. But suddenly: • you are a 4.0 • or you are not And that number becomes something people believe means everything. ⸻ But it’s a made-up system. It doesn’t even make sense outside of a very specific context. ⸻ And yet… people build their identity around it. ⸻ The same thing happens everywhere. Trade surpluses. Performance metrics. Rankings. Numbers that were originally created for one purpose… get used for something completely different. ⸻ To signal status. To compare. To judge. ⸻ I’m an engineer. I understand the beauty of numbers. But I also see how self-reinforcing they become. ⸻ Once they exist… they shape behavior. ⸻ People don’t pursue things for the sake of pursuing them. They pursue the number. ⸻ And if you don’t fit that numerical system… it’s very difficult. ⸻ We start labeling people as: functional dysfunctional Based on systems that are, at their core, constructed. ⸻ And we forget something simple. These systems are very new. ⸻ Clocks. Grades. Standardized measures. These are not ancient truths. They are recent inventions. ⸻ And yet we treat them as if they define reality. ⸻ So I try to pause. And ask: Where does this system work? Where does it break down? Who prospers? Who doesn’t? ⸻ Because for most people… a single number is incredibly motivating. That’s why these systems exist. ⸻ But they are also incredibly limiting. ⸻ And the question I keep coming back to is: Are we understanding people… or just measuring them?

  3. Sep 24

    Why No One Listens… Until You’ve Been Doing It for 10 Years

    What’s funny is… my message hasn’t changed. People just started listening because I got older. I’ve been saying the same thing for over a decade. When I started, no one cared. It was dismissed. Ignored. Called a waste of time. People told me—directly and indirectly— that what I was doing didn’t make sense. And if I’m honest… they were right. At least in the short term. ⸻ Because anything that actually matters… looks like a mistake while you’re doing it. It looks: • inefficient • inappropriate • like you don’t know what you’re doing And people will tell you that. Especially the people closest to you. ⸻ So what happens? Most people quit. They move on. They do something that “makes sense.” And the thing that might have mattered… never gets built. ⸻ I didn’t quit. Not because I was confident. But because I kept repeating. Over and over. For years. ⸻ That’s the part nobody wants to hear. There is no trick. No shortcut. No “one move” that changes everything. ⸻ It’s just: repetition. Getting up. Doing it again. Even when you feel embarrassed. Even when you feel like a failure. Even when nothing is working.

  4. Sep 22

    Why Do I Feel So Stressed Right Now? (It Happens Every Year)

    I’ve been thinking a lot about stress lately, and I don’t think it’s as personal as we make it. I think it comes in cycles. Every year, there are periods where stress ramps up, and it’s not random. It’s tied to how we’ve structured time. Over time, we’ve become more and more synchronized. We used to live with loose time. Clocks were off. Schedules were imperfect. Now everything is precise. Our phones, our computers, our calendars… all synced to the same clock. And because of that, we’re all moving through the same cycles at the same time. Deadlines cluster. Work piles up. Pressure builds. Not just for you. For everyone. And I think that matters more than we realize. Because when stress hits, we interpret it as something personal. We think: • I’m behind • I’m not handling this well • something is wrong with me But often, it’s not just you. It’s the system. It’s the timing. It’s the fact that everyone around you is also under pressure. Which means people are: • less patient • more reactive • not at their best So things feel worse than they actually are. A short email feels harsh. A delay feels intentional. A bad day feels like failure. But it might just be the cycle. So if you’re feeling off right now… Take a pause. Zoom out.

  5. Sep 17

    Why Your PhD Feels So Hard (Even If You’re Smart)

    Most PhD students think success is about intelligence, productivity, or discipline. It’s not. It’s about your relationship with yourself. Three versions of you are always in conflict: • your past self • your present self • your future self And most PhD students lose because they never learn how to manage that. ⸻ Let’s start with your past self. You were trained to believe: • work harder • get the right answer • move fast That worked. Until now. Because a PhD forces you to confront something uncomfortable: You were wrong about how progress actually works. That’s hard to admit. It means letting go of who you thought you were. It means questioning the way you were taught to succeed. Most people don’t do that. ⸻ Now your present self. This is where it gets messy. Because what actually works in a PhD feels… wrong. It feels slow. Repetitive. Uncertain. And it looks strange to everyone around you. You might: • take longer than others • explore ideas that don’t “pay off” yet • invest time in things that don’t show up on your CV People won’t understand it. They may think you’re: • inefficient • distracted • not serious But here’s the truth: Nobody is paying as much attention to you as you think. That weird feeling? That’s not judgment. That’s just you stepping outside the script. ⸻ And then there’s your future self. This is the part most people ignore. Because it requires something uncomfortable: sacrifice without immediate reward. Writing one more paragraph. Reading one more paper. Taking a course just to learn. Not because you have to. Because you choose to. You are investing in someone who does not exist yet. And you have to believe they are worth it. ⸻ This is the real PhD problem. Not intelligence. Not talent. But whether you can: • forgive your past self • tolerate your present self • and invest in your future self All at the same time. ⸻ Here’s what I’ve learned: 1. Be kind to your past self They were doing the best they could with what they knew. 2. Accept that your present self will feel out of place If it feels weird, you’re probably doing it right. 3. Pay your future self every day One small step. Even when it feels pointless. ⸻ Because one day, your future self will look back and say: “Thank God I kept going when it didn’t make sense.” ⸻ If this resonates: What’s one thing you’re doing right now that your future self will thank you for?

  6. Sep 15

    Why Do Professors Feel So Burned Out and Isolated?

    I have felt strangely happy at the end of the day lately. That has not been normal for me. Most days, by the end of work, I feel worn down. Grumpy. Flat. A little miserable. I am a business professor. I spend a lot of time working alone. And that, I think, is the real issue. Not the work itself. The isolation. A lot of academic work is done this way. You disappear into your office. You write alone. You think alone. You struggle alone. Then you briefly reappear in a meeting or an email. And we act like this is normal. Maybe it is normal. But that does not mean it is good. The last few days have felt different for one reason: I have been spending more time with people I truly enjoy. People who are kind. People who are fun. People who feel good to be around. That changed everything. Same job. Same pressures. Same life. Different people. That is what made the difference. I think I have been talking about this for years through the R3ciprocity Project. Not to complain. To name something that many researchers quietly live with: academic work can be deeply lonely. And loneliness changes how the whole day feels. What has surprised me is this: By being open about that loneliness, things started to change. Slowly. Very slowly. But they changed. Wonderful people started to appear around me. Not all at once. Not dramatically. Just one small step at a time. And now I am realizing something I wish I understood earlier: I do not just want interesting work. I want a good working life. For me, that means being around people I care about. People I can laugh with. People who make the process feel human. So here is my message to anyone building a career right now: Do not only ask what work you want to do. Ask: Who do you want to be around while you do it? That question matters more than most people think. A huge part of life is work. So start building the kind of work life you actually want. One tiny step at a time. Be open. Say what is not working. Imagine what better would look like. Then move toward it, even if it takes years. My kids were little when I started trying to do this. Now they are almost grown. That is how long change can take. But small steps count. And sometimes, after enough of them, you get to the end of the day and realize: I have not felt this happy in a very long time.

  7. Sep 10

    If Success Feels Hard and Repetitive… You’re Doing It Right

    Success is almost the opposite of what you think it is. We’ve all been sold the same idea. There’s a shortcut. A trick. A moment where it all clicks. One decision. One breakthrough. One big move. And suddenly… you’ve made it. But that’s not how it works. Not even close. Real success is slow. Painful. And honestly… kind of boring. It looks like this: Doing the same thing again. And again. And again. Breaking things into tiny pieces. Fixing one small mistake at a time. Repeating it thousands of times. There is no magic moment. There is just… repetition. We actually understand this really well. • Specialization • Economies of scale • The learning curve All of them say the same thing: You only get good after doing something an enormous number of times. Not 10 times. Not 100 times. Thousands. Tens of thousands. But here’s the part nobody tells you. When you’re doing it… it doesn’t feel like success. It feels like: • confusion • frustration • monotony You don’t feel special. You don’t feel ahead. You don’t feel like you’re “winning.” You feel stuck. And because of that, most people quit. Not because they lack talent. But because the process does not match the story. We love the idea of success. We hate the process that creates it. And even when you get there… It’s not what you imagined. Talk to anyone who has done something for 20, 30, 40 years. They don’t describe glory. They describe: • repetition • discipline • time And often… they laugh at how naive they were at the start. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Your experience matters more than any shortcut you’ve been sold. Because real ideas do not come from thinking about something once. They come from doing it… over and over again. Even when it’s boring. Even when it’s slow. Even when it feels like nothing is happening. So if you’re in that phase right now… Where it feels repetitive. Unclear. Unrewarding. You’re probably closer than you think. You’re just in the part no one talks about.

  8. Sep 3

    No One Teaches You “Why” to Make a Research Contribution

    I realized something uncomfortable about why I do research. It’s not just curiosity. It’s not just impact. I want people to like me. I want them to see my ideas and think: “That’s interesting. That’s smart.” And in academia, that gets rewarded. Citations. Invitations. Status. But here’s what changed everything for me: Once I admitted this… the whole process got easier. Because now I see the game clearly. Most people will not agree with you. Some will ignore you. Others will tell you your work does not matter. And none of that is surprising anymore. I am not trying to convince everyone. I am not trying to win every argument. I am trying to express what feels important to me. That shift gave me freedom. I can walk away. I can keep going. I can build without needing approval at every step. The desire to be liked is still there. It is very real. But it no longer controls me. And strangely, that is when the work starts to matter more.

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Professor David Maslach talks about graduate school, research, science, Innovation, and entrepreneurship. The R3ciprocity project is my way to give back as much as I possibly can. I seek to provide insights and tools to change how we understand science, and make it more democratic.

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