NOTHING WORKS! - (Feb/05/2008 )
AAAAAAAARGHHH:(
No one works either.
try to think what could have gone wrong. Was it some thing technical or was the experiment suggested badly. Its probably not your fault.
Have some tea and relax with may be a good book or watch a movie to clear the mind.
take a deep breath!
Print out all your data. Spread it out on a big table and look at it.
Is it technical problems?
Is it a problem with a method?
Is it a problem with the very idea itself.
Anything new in the literature? Anything in the literature that might hint why things aren't working?
Look at all the results, blanks out your mind and try to listern to what they are saying. If something is giving negative results, what does this negative result mean? What area of your work does a negative result say is the wrong tree to bark at. What areas of the park is the wrong place to look at? If you can exclued the wrong areas perhaps you can find the right areas by process of elimination.
Sometimes it is what we think we know that is the problem.
And on the lighter side of things.....
Despair is a common associate of PhD students. But don't give into despair!! Instead let fury consume you! Anger leads to hate. And Hate can move mountains. Also leading to the Dark side... but who is counting. This too answers why there are so many evil scientists.
Incidently we have discovered the secret method of the Sith, 'How to turn a brigh eyed science loving undergrad to an apprentice of the Darkside'. To become a Force weilding Sith Lord, one has to sacrifice ones own soul in a tearing of blood and pain to obtain Grants and Fellowships. To use Force Lighting and other amazing Force abilities one has to obtain several Nature papers, a Royal Society Fellowship and a Nobel prize.
Print out all your data. Spread it out on a big table and look at it.
Is it technical problems?
Is it a problem with a method?
Is it a problem with the very idea itself.
Anything new in the literature? Anything in the literature that might hint why things aren't working?
Look at all the results, blanks out your mind and try to listern to what they are saying. If something is giving negative results, what does this negative result mean? What area of your work does a negative result say is the wrong tree to bark at. What areas of the park is the wrong place to look at? If you can exclued the wrong areas perhaps you can find the right areas by process of elimination.
Sometimes it is what we think we know that is the problem.
And on the lighter side of things.....
Despair is a common associate of PhD students. But don't give into despair!! Instead let fury consume you! Anger leads to hate. And Hate can move mountains. Also leading to the Dark side... but who is counting. This too answers why there are so many evil scientists.
Incidently we have discovered the secret method of the Sith, 'How to turn a brigh eyed science loving undergrad to an apprentice of the Darkside'. To become a Force weilding Sith Lord, one has to sacrifice ones own soul in a tearing of blood and pain to obtain Grants and Fellowships. To use Force Lighting and other amazing Force abilities one has to obtain several Nature papers, a Royal Society Fellowship and a Nobel prize.
Pernesebleu...you just brought me out of the pits of depression!!! I was almost convinced to get into the PhD program myself (and join the arrogant lot 
) Besides, who can resist the Darkside? And oh yeah, to sacrifice one's soul to meet swedish royalty ain't really a bad deal......Smoochie: I agree with the others..you've got to step back and regroup...and it would definitely help if you can get a more senior, more experienced colleague to go over your stuff with you..perhaps there's something that you missed, something else that you can do...sometimes we are so immersed in our own little world that we lose all sense of objectivity and direction...
yours,
casandra
Well Smoochie if you tell us what's the problem maybe somebody have the key to solve your problem.