I've finished my laboratory project. Now I just await my grades, which will come out at then end of the month. We're assessed based on a 5000+ word paper, and presentations we make on poster day. While reviewing material for poster day, I digressed and made a list of non-technical things that I realised or learnt while I was in lab.

"You" refers to the scientist.

1) Science is not objective.

2) It's quite easy to fudge results, if you want to. Or at least cheat a bit. (Is there such a thing as cheating only "a bit"?) Thus it is important for scientists to collaborate closely, so that there's a higher chance someone will discover you if you don't do things properly.

3) The only thing stopping you from getting more results is yourself. You could stay in the lab all day, and devise new experiments, and read the literature, and never leave your lab.

4) Sometimes you don't solve the problem, you go around it.

5) You can make many different mistakes even for simple things. The only hope for you is that you don't repeat your mistakes too often.

6) It's easy to get caught up in just doing your experiments and not caring about the big picture view.

7) You must manage your time or you waste much of it. It's up to you to be disciplined.

I think much of this could be transferred to any work context.

It's time for this abandon to make much of You and less of me

- Jimmy Needham, A Breath Or Two