When you build a product, sooner or later, you will have to put it in front of people. Some will like it, some won’t. That’s expected and normal. The same happens with text. You write a book, a paper, or a thesis for several weeks, maybe years, and then you have to show your work. Most people think this is the end, but here I am writing this post for my future self to remember that it’s just the beginning (super cliche, but true).
The kind of feedback we receive about our work can have a significant impact on our self-perception. If someone says good things about your work, you may convince yourself that you are smart, a hard worker, and that’s why you deserve to have people give you compliments about what you have built. On the other hand, if your work is criticized, you panic. You feel crushed, a fraud, and start to question yourself in every way possible.
I started doing computer science research a few years ago during my master’s degree, and I’m still getting used to the way rejection comes in academia. Getting a paper rejected for the first time feels heartbreaking. Having a thesis full of red marks from an advisor’s feedback feels really bad, but hey: red ink means progress. It seems counterintuitive, but rejection is not destruction; it’s direction. The worst version of criticism is a vague, meaningless “meh, it’s not quite there yet”. Take the win if the feedback you get is precise and well-detailed, it will help you during the next step of reconstruction.
Figure 1. My paper after a review R.I.P.
It’s normal to feel bad when facing rejection, and if you have ever felt that way in such occasions, it just means you care about what you are doing. The feedback about your work is not a reflection of your worth or intelligence. Take the day, be pissed, complain, go take a walk, whatever helps to settle the emotional stress. Then start fresh tomorrow.
Make a to-do list, and organize all tasks you have to work on. It’s important to have a sense of how much effort it will take to make your work go from the current stage to the next level. Categorize the tasks into topics. If it’s a paper, use categories like writing, figures, and experiments, and create a schedule. Address the easy things first if you need stamina.
So next time you face rejection, you should cheer that you are making progress. Most people just don’t do anything at all. Facing rejection and improving from it takes courage, competence, and a bit of persistence. Play the long run, and remember to enjoy the journey!