###Background I’m 25 years old and have recently started the second year in my PhD. I’m from Brazil, where most people start their PhDs at 24 and finish them at 28, so I’d say I’m following the classical schedule quite closely. I’ve graduated in physics and did my masters in a field of mathematical physics called quantum chaos. I’m currently working in the same field. I had my first article almost ready from my masters, but then found out another guy had already published something very similar.

###When I identified the Problem

Background

I’m 25 years old and have recently started the second year in my PhD. I’m from Brazil, where most people start their PhDs at 24 and finish them at 28, so I’d say I’m following the classical schedule quite closely. I’ve graduated in physics and did my masters in a field of mathematical physics called quantum chaos. I’m currently working in the same field. I had my first article almost ready from my masters, but then found out another guy had already published something very similar.

When I identified the Problem

I then resumed my usual undergrad behavior: I quit going to classes, studied the subject on my on and only met the class to deliver exercise lists. While most student’s lists had x pages, mine had 3 x: I needed to prove everything I was doing made sense, and this consumed a lot of time and effort, and was – probably – ignored by the teacher and useless to everyone but me. I then talked to some teachers and they said that studying the maths behind physics was very useful, but that I shouldn’t spend too much time on it, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do research. In their words:

I then resumed my usual undergrad behavior: I quit going to classes, studied the subject on my own and only met the class to deliver exercise lists. While most student’s lists had x pages, mine had 3 x: I needed to prove everything I was doing made sense, and this consumed a lot of time and effort, and was – probably – ignored by the teacher and useless to everyone but me. I then talked to some teachers and they said that studying the maths behind physics was very useful, but that I shouldn’t spend too much time on it, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do research. In their words: