Unlearning Bad Habits from Academia

Four mental models to prepare you for industry

When I made the transition from a postdoc to scientist at a biotech startup, I quickly realized that my work habits and even ideologies were not well suited for being productive in a company. In academia, PhD students operate under conditions of indefinite timelines, low resources, high pressure, and a focus on perfectionism. This is compounded by the fact that rewards are frequently all-or-nothing — a publication is either accepted or rejected, with little in between.

By contrast, companies prioritize speed over creating something perfect and this is especially important for startups. Most successful biotech products were built over many iterations and after consistent testing in the market. In an environment such as this, slow and perfectionist is not beneficial for individual contributors or for companies that employ them. I had to actively unlearn my academia copes and these principles helped:

1. Yerkes-Dodson Law

The Yerkes Dodson Law describes how there is an optimal level of stress for peak performance. With performance improving as stress increases up to a point, beyond which further stress lowers performance. In order to stay ahead, most high performers have to say no to certain asks to modulate their stress levels. Often graduate students entering the workforce don’t realize that they do have the power to decline certain tasks at work.

TLDR: Strategically say no to some tasks to modulate your stress

Source: Are You Too Stressed to Be Productive? Or Not Stressed Enough?

2. Parkinson’s Law

Parkinson's law describes a common phenomena where work expands to fill the time available for its completion, often leading to inefficiency and the perception of increased complexity.

TLDR: Keep it simple and set hard deadlines for yourself

Source: The law that explains why you can't get anything done

3. Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, also called the 80/20 rule is a well known one. Roughly 80% of results or effects come from 20% of causes or inputs, highlighting the unequal distribution of impact in life and business. This can show up in many ways, for example 2 or 3 of your coworkers will have the most positive impacts on your career compared to the many others. The same applies for projects you are assigned to, 1 or 2 of them will be the most beneficial for the company.

TLDR: Prioritize your highest effort for a few meaningful projects and/or people

Source: Understanding the Pareto principle (The 80/20 rule)

4. Feynman Technique and Rubberducking

The Feynman technique that allows you to learn *anything*. Pick a concept and teach it back to someone (or even an inanimate object like a rubber duck). Review and refine after teaching it. This works for problem solving and coding as well and I have talked about it a few times on Twitter.

Source: Rubberducking

I hope these strategies help unblock you at work. If you have other good ones please leave a comment below. And I highly recommend buying a rubber ducky for your desk!