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I have just been offered a job as a laboratory assistant in a professors research lab at my university. The position was advertised in my lecture, I applied, and got an interview. I will be on the bottom rung of the ladder, completing dull tasks none of the actual researchers want to do, basically. But I'll have a labcoat.
I've posted my progress on SAS on a long term challenge before, and really liked it. So I'm going to try it for this as well.
Elise's Goal: Keep this job all summer. Do not let job-related anxiety stop me from showing up, completing a task, talking to a coworker, or cause me stress when I am outside the lab.
Some of the hurdles I need to overcome to reach my goal:
1. I'm a newbie: I'm awful at being a newbie at anything. The first time I do anything, I suck. I'm terrified of looking like an idiot and being yelled at so soon. I ask eight thousand questions on the same topic so I'm 100% sure I'm not doing the wrong thing. This generally makes the people around me want to kill me. The massive anxiety I have about that first week on the job where you are totally clueless has stopped me from working for two years.
2. It's a lab: I have a taken chem lab classes before, and have hated them. The working out in the open, the chance of looking stupid in front of everyone, and the chance that one mistake can ruin hours of work really really bothers me.
3. I know no one: Not a soul in the lab, and they are all fancy grad students and I am but a lowly undergraduate inhaling too much of their air.
4. I have to poke needles and scalpels in frogs: And that's just gross.
I start as soon as possible. I'm nervous as hell, but I'm really going to try to focus on keeping my anxiety under control this summer so I can do this. Keeping my worries from invading other aspects of my life will be tough, as I worry about 1 hour of work for the 20 hours around it and burn myself out. I've never held down a paying job before. I think just managing to finish this, just showing up and hopefully not burning down the lab, would give me a big boost of confidence. I think.
I've posted my progress on SAS on a long term challenge before, and really liked it. So I'm going to try it for this as well.
Elise's Goal: Keep this job all summer. Do not let job-related anxiety stop me from showing up, completing a task, talking to a coworker, or cause me stress when I am outside the lab.
Some of the hurdles I need to overcome to reach my goal:
1. I'm a newbie: I'm awful at being a newbie at anything. The first time I do anything, I suck. I'm terrified of looking like an idiot and being yelled at so soon. I ask eight thousand questions on the same topic so I'm 100% sure I'm not doing the wrong thing. This generally makes the people around me want to kill me. The massive anxiety I have about that first week on the job where you are totally clueless has stopped me from working for two years.
2. It's a lab: I have a taken chem lab classes before, and have hated them. The working out in the open, the chance of looking stupid in front of everyone, and the chance that one mistake can ruin hours of work really really bothers me.
3. I know no one: Not a soul in the lab, and they are all fancy grad students and I am but a lowly undergraduate inhaling too much of their air.
4. I have to poke needles and scalpels in frogs: And that's just gross.
I start as soon as possible. I'm nervous as hell, but I'm really going to try to focus on keeping my anxiety under control this summer so I can do this. Keeping my worries from invading other aspects of my life will be tough, as I worry about 1 hour of work for the 20 hours around it and burn myself out. I've never held down a paying job before. I think just managing to finish this, just showing up and hopefully not burning down the lab, would give me a big boost of confidence. I think.