How to do research

This is going to be an eternally updated post as I write my experiences on doing research, things i should have avoided, things i have learnt on my own and from others, and things I hope to remember as I move on..

1) Never give into inaction: Many a times I complain of stagnation.. an inexplicable lack of ideas, and at these times i doze into a state of inaction. Never ever allow this to happen to you. Inaction breeds inaction. Inaction has an extremely high inertia that getting out of it, is by itself becoming a milestone. After giving it some thought, I find that my inaction is fueled not by a lack of ideas, but by a disinterest to do real work. One can always find justifiable reasons not to work (just as I am writing this blog post when i should be doing real work) but the greatness lies in overcoming this overwhelming feeling. When stuck in such a situation, try to work on easy things for as short a duration as you may think comfortable to begin with. As you start working, you will find that you longer need that break , that you were once in desperate need of. This reminds me of a famous saying "We must be taught not to wait for inspiration to start work. Inspiration seldom generates action. Action always generates inspiration". So we must constantly be involved in action.

2) Be receptive to ideas and criticism: In other words, be in constant touch with your advisor. Never feel scared to talk to them because you haven't done anything productive. Probably, they have a different measure of productivity than what you think they use. In any case, the advisor must have an up to date information about your progress. Also, always meet your advisor with an open mind. Never go in with a hard head, as you may lose valuable suggestions then. Its always better to know if your work is reasonable before hand than wasting a lot of time, to find later that it leads no where. This is where the advisor's comments come in handy.

3) Its better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission: As a student, I think we are more enthusiastic and have a lot more time than our advisors. Make good use of the available time. Experiment with new stuff. Its always better to go to your advisor with some preliminary results than asking him permission for an experiment that you yourself have no idea about the results. Being proactive makes you personally feel good, and portrays a positive image to your advisor, who may now take your work a bit more serious than before.

4) Be happy that you are not walking on unchartered territories: It sometimes feels overwhelming while starting a thesis like project, when you look around and find that most of the ideas you had in mind, have already been beaten to death by others. Do not lose heart. Be happy that there have been many people working in the field since that indicates i) It is a worthwhile field else a vast majority of the people wouldn't have ventured into it in the first place ii) You have a vast amount of literature to build upon. Try to understand others' ideas and compare it with your own or among themselves. Be sure to understand what works when and why. This would be a good start to solidify your thought process.

At the same time never feel scared to venture into unchartered territories. You may become the forefather of a new subarea and many people in the future could potentially benefit from your work.