Hey friends,
What a week!
I was in Morocco these past few days, visiting several major universities across the country, in Settat, Beni Mellal, Marrakech and Agadir. Very rich discussions
More than 600 participants
Other institutions will follow in February and April 2026
There is something I keep noticing through the conversations I have or the emails I receive
We’re obsessed with maximizing everything in science.
Maximum output
Maximum publications
Finding the best journal
Maximum citations
Maximum productivity.
We optimize our experiments, our workflows, our paper writing, our reference managers,
But there’s a big problem with living in this “optimization culture”
Good things usually take time
It’s tempting to optimize every part of research and writing process.
The risk is that you get tired, quickly
Because you may always face frustration that you didn’t do enough
And social media doesn’t help. You will see colleagues who seem to be publishing in top-tier journals without a single effort
What’s more important is to enjoy what you do, enjoy the process
Keep things simple
Sometimes the best ideas come up when you don’t expect them
while walking or doing something completely unrelated to science, or stuff that you didn’t plan
It’s good to plan but it’s equally important to give some space to think
To let your ideas breathe
Well, that’s all for this week
As usual, let me know if you have any question or comment. I read all of them and respond as soon as I can
See you next Sunday,
Jamal