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

David Maslach
  • 5.0 (2)
  • 商务
  • 一日一更

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. 2天前

    The Hardest Part Isn’t Building the Thing—It’s Getting People to Believe in It

    I’ve spent the last 10 years building a platform to make research better. To make it less lonely. To make it more joyful. To make rejection less painful. At first, I thought people would jump in. I assumed: “If I build something good—something that helps—people will just show up.” They didn’t. I kept building anyway. And along the way, I learned the hardest part of innovation isn’t the tech. It’s not funding. It’s not even the science. It’s belief. Getting people to believe something new is possible… That’s the game. And most of us are too tired, too overworked, too skeptical, or too burned by the system to believe. So we tell ourselves: • “I don’t have time.” • “I haven’t heard of it.” • “I’m already overwhelmed.” And those are real. I get it. But here’s what I’ve learned: If I want to build something that changes anything at all, it’s my job to figure out how to break through that. Not yours. You don’t need to believe in my platform. But maybe this: If something feels hard to share or grow, it’s not because people are wrong. It’s because people are tired. Burned. Stuck. That’s not an obstacle. That’s the reason to keep building. Because maybe—just maybe—someone else is quietly trying too. And they need to know they’re not alone.

    9 分钟

  2. 3天前

    Why Research Careers Are So Psychologically Difficult

    The research career is hard in a way that’s not often talked about. It’s not just intellectually difficult — it’s personally difficult. It functions a lot like entrepreneurship. You are left entirely to your own demise. You have near-total autonomy, and what that does is amplify whatever your default tendencies are. If you are a high-anxiety person — which describes a large number of successful researchers — you will likely internalize everything. You’ll obsess, push harder, and feel like the world will fall apart if you don’t accomplish something today. That’s often why people succeed. But it also means you can burn yourself out or break down completely. The anxiety becomes the thing that eats you alive. On the flip side, if you are naturally more relaxed or chill, it’s easy to default to avoidance. You just won’t get much done. You tell yourself it’ll be fine — and nothing happens. And nobody is really there to push you, because there’s nobody watching. The whole system reinforces whatever your crutch is. If you’re prone to loneliness, you’ll feel it more. If you’re prone to overwork, you’ll overwork. If you need structure, there isn’t any. And over time, it becomes clear that the hardest part isn’t the research — it’s regulating your own head. Most of the damage comes from being left to your own psychology. And that’s what makes the research profession so much like building a startup. It’s rarely about your ideas. It’s whether you can survive being left to yourself.

    9 分钟

  3. 6天前

    A Researcher’s Doubt: Wrestling with the Strengths and Limits of Peer Review

    I’ve become increasingly skeptical of the peer review system—not because the intention behind it is bad, but because of the complicated world in which it’s embedded. On paper, the process sounds idealistic: submit your research, get anonymous feedback, revise, and resubmit. But in practice, it’s a messy system shaped by invisible games, ambiguous standards, and enormous variability in what counts as “good” science. In this episode, I reflect on what it feels like to send work off into a black box—where editorial decisions are shaped by uncertainty, disagreement, and sometimes just luck. We talk about how reviewers often don’t agree, how “A-level” work depends on who’s judging it, and how real people’s careers and livelihoods are affected by invisible rules no one fully understands. I still believe in the value of careful research. But I also think we need to get honest about the cost—emotional, intellectual, and financial—of playing the current game. And maybe, just maybe, we need to imagine a better system.

    8 分钟

  4. 10月11日

    Why Choose Research? Olav Sorenson on Loving the Climb

    Why do we choose this strange, difficult career of research—and what makes it worth it? David Maslach sits down with Olav Sorenson, Professor of Strategy at UCLA Anderson and one of the most influential voices in organizational theory and entrepreneurship. “We’re professional problem solvers.” In this powerful conversation, Sorenson shares how curiosity—not credentials—built his career. From almost launching a startup to shaping the field of entrepreneurship, he reminds us why the real reward in science is the process, not the prize. We talk about: • Why choosing “weird” ideas matters. • How to build real, lasting relationships. • Why intrinsic motivation is more powerful than prestige. This is a reminder that being a good scientist means staying brave, sometimes irrelevant, and always learning to love the climb.

    59 分钟

  5. 10月8日

    The Only Advantage I Had? I Didn’t Give Up

    Most people give up. They try a few times. It gets hard. It gets quiet. No one notices. So they stop. And that’s why the game is winnable. That’s why you never see professors building open platforms. Why researchers tell you not to start something new. Why smart people will laugh at your idea and say, “That’s not how it’s done.” They’re not wrong. They’re just done. But I’m not. Every day, I show up. Even when no one cares. Even when I feel ridiculous. Even when I want to quit. Because I know the truth: Consistency outlasts brilliance. One more day of effort stacks higher than one perfect performance. And I’ve seen this across research, careers, and life: The people who win aren’t always smarter. They’re the ones who refuse to stop when it stops being fun. They do the boring thing. The scary thing. The invisible thing. Until something cracks. And then people say: “Wow, you’re lucky.” “Must be nice.” But the truth is simple: You didn’t quit. And that’s always been the difference.

    4 分钟

  6. 10月7日

    Retirement Is a Lie: Why We Don’t Have to Fade Away

    I’ve never liked how we talk about retirement. Like life just… ends at 65. You stop being relevant, you stop pushing, and you’re supposed to disappear into golf courses and travel ads. That might have made sense in 1955—when making it to 70 was a miracle. But that’s not our world anymore. Most of us will live far longer than we think, and if you’ve made it this far, chances are you’re healthy, sharp, and still very much alive. This episode is a gut-check: why “retirement” is outdated, why aging is framed all wrong, and why it’s not too late to build, explore, and press against the world. We’ve confused age with irrelevance—and it’s costing us. It’s time to unlearn what we’ve been sold, respect the long arc of curiosity, and show up again—with all our might.

    9 分钟

  7. 10月2日

    The More I Study the World, the Less I Understand It

    As a professor and researcher, you’d think I’d be certain about things by now. But the more I study the world, the more I realize how little we actually know. We act like understanding is easy—as if truth is just waiting to be downloaded. But most knowledge is fragile. Most beliefs are assumptions in disguise. And still, everyone around us—especially in academia—pretends like they know. This creates a strange culture: One where people compete by displaying knowledge, not seeking it. Where learning becomes performance, and doubt is seen as weakness. But here’s the secret: The best minds I know live in the tension between knowing and not knowing. They don’t shout. They ask. They keep peeling things back. Not because they have the answers—but because they’re still curious.

    12 分钟

  8. 10月1日

    PhD Students: The World Won’t Tell You This, But I Will

    You are more capable than you think. Most people won’t tell you that. The world will make you feel small. Rejections pile up. Deadlines feel impossible. And sometimes it feels like quitting is the only way forward. But here’s the truth: if you’ve made it this far, you already have a level of grit, intelligence, and persistence that few people ever reach. You don’t need to “prove” yourself to anyone. You don’t need the world’s permission. You are already one of the most capable people in the room.

    1 分钟
查看全部 1,344 集

预告

评分及评论

5
共 5 分
2 个评分

关于

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.

信息