Learning From Mistakes

Nevermind typos in my final thesis, I made far bigger mistakes throughout my PhD research…

• I spent days trying to solve a typesetting issue, before realising I was making a simple code error.
• I tried for weeks to organise a set of numbers before realising that I was really overcomplicating the situation.
• And I worked for months trying to solve a series of calculations before admitting that the problem was way too complex for my PhD.

In all of these I struggled, I was frustrated and at times I was bitterly disappointed – but I learned.

I learned how to be a better coder. I learned to see problems in new ways. I learned to stop and say no.

Where did you make mistakes during your PhD? What did you learn? And how has that made you a better, more talented researcher?