The benefits of learning to write a good specific aims page

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,240 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,600 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,640 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is a pleasure to be talking with you today. 14 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:15,320 I am excited to talk to you about why you should take time to learn to write the specific 15 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:19,000 games page, the importance of the specific games page. 16 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,120 I guess that's a little bit of a shorter title. 17 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:22,800 I'm talking about the specific games page. 18 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,240 In case you didn't know, now you know. 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,160 I will tell you that a couple of years ago, I took a course, and the course was not about 20 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:31,560 writing the specific games page. 21 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:38,120 It really was a research proposal development course, but we spent an awful lot of time 22 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:39,520 writing the specific games page. 23 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:45,240 I feel like in a course that maybe lasted about 10 weeks, we probably spent at least 24 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,800 five weeks either talking about the specific games, sharing our specific games with each 25 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,720 other, getting feedback on the specific games. 26 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:57,640 We spent a lot of time writing the specific games page. 27 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:03,400 By the end of the whole course, what I had was a template, and I went back to the template 28 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,840 over and over again to use every time I was going to write a specific games page, I would 29 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,040 just go through the formula every time to create my first draft. 30 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,560 When I started teaching others to write specific games pages, I would still go back to that 31 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:17,560 template. 32 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:24,680 So this is a good time for me to shout out D-Gun and David Allspaw, who are faculty members 33 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,960 who taught that course at my institution. 34 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,440 Thank you all. 35 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:29,880 Your teaching was invaluable. 36 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,120 I'm just saying thank you publicly. 37 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:39,400 But yes, I spent time learning to write a specific games page, and I'm so grateful that 38 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:40,400 I made that investment. 39 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:46,400 I don't remember how much the course was, but it was an absolutely phenomenal investment. 40 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:53,440 And now that having written maybe 100 specific games pages since that course, has it been 41 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:54,440 100? 42 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,560 Wow, it's been at least 70. 43 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:57,560 I don't know. 44 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,200 I've written a lot of specific games pages. 45 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,960 Some have gone somewhere and some have not. 46 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:02,960 I don't know. 47 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,240 It's been a lot, so I shouldn't exaggerate, but I've written a lot. 48 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:11,640 But one of the things since that time where I would look and write and then look at the 49 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:16,120 template and write again, now I can create a specific games page without the template, 50 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:17,120 which is awesome. 51 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,520 But it really took time to get there. 52 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,200 And I remember putting pulling together two specific games pages last week and realizing 53 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:26,680 that, wow, I've come a long way. 54 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:31,280 I can pull together two specific games pages in the course of less than a week. 55 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:32,280 That's pretty awesome. 56 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:33,360 Awesome for me. 57 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,400 You may be able to do more, but awesome for me because I came from a place where I totally 58 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,520 had no idea what to write. 59 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:44,600 And so I now recognize the value of writing a specific games page. 60 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:49,920 And I want to talk to you about seven reasons why you should take time to learn to write 61 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,880 a compelling and clear specific games page. 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:54,880 OK. 63 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:55,880 OK. 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:57,480 I was talking about compelling and clear. 65 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,040 You just need to be able to write it first. 66 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,000 You know, before it becomes compelling and clear, it just needs a draft. 67 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,600 So why should learn to write a great first draft over a specific games page? 68 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:07,600 OK. 69 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:12,480 So the first thing is that I think about the specific games pages that it helps you figure 70 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:13,920 out what you want to do. 71 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:15,160 It really does. 72 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:20,200 You have the idea in your head and it sounds so beautiful or it doesn't sound so beautiful. 73 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:25,640 And the moment you commit it to paper into a one page specific games page, it becomes 74 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,960 clear what you're saying you want to do. 75 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,200 Now it may not be exactly what you set out to say you want to do, but the moment you 76 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,600 put it on paper, then in a sense, it looks back at you and it says, well, is this what 77 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:36,600 you want? 78 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,260 And you have to look back at it and say, I'm not sure that's what I want. 79 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:44,080 And then you can clarify and shape it to be what you want. 80 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,480 Or you look at it and you're like, yes, this is exactly what I want. 81 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,080 And then you have a specific games page that you can shop around. 82 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:57,480 But the very first gift of knowing how to write a specific games page is that it allows 83 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,840 you to just bring this great idea out of your head and put it on the paper or put it on 84 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:08,120 the document on your computer and then look at it and say, is this what you want to do? 85 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,880 And that's so important because the first person that you need to convince about the 86 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:14,680 work you're doing is you. 87 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,280 And if you can't convince yourself that the work you're doing is important, then don't 88 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:19,840 try to convince anybody else. 89 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:22,480 And if you're like, well, it's my mentor's work. 90 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,440 And if they're convinced it's okay for me, it's like, no. 91 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:31,400 The only way you're going to be able to communicate enthusiasm or excitement about your project 92 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,040 is if you care enough about it. 93 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,080 And hoping that somebody else's enthusiasm is going to carry your work is wishful thinking. 94 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:43,120 And so the very first person that you need to convince about the work that you're doing 95 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,040 is you. 96 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:51,600 And writing a specific games page allows you to be very clear about what you want to do. 97 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,000 And it's important that you're able to do that. 98 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,080 Okay. 99 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,080 So it helps you figure out what you want to do. 100 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:07,840 And that is the very first step in moving forward a research project or at least a proposal 101 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,080 for submission. 102 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,520 The second thing it does for you is it allows you now to communicate your idea to others. 103 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:21,560 Now, if you're like me, you love to be able to say what you're going to do, which is great. 104 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,600 But it's never the same as when someone can actually read what you're going to do on paper 105 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,060 or read what you're going to do on a screen. 106 00:06:28,060 --> 00:06:32,600 And so in a sense, what it allows you to do is not only communicate with yourself, it 107 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:34,240 allows you to communicate with others. 108 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,380 It allows you to communicate your ideas in a way that's short, sweet and compelling. 109 00:06:39,380 --> 00:06:43,600 And it allows you to say, well, do you understand what I want to do without me explaining it? 110 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,100 It's easy when you're in the room saying, well, this is what I want to do. 111 00:06:46,100 --> 00:06:47,920 And then I think I want to do this. 112 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,680 And if it's missing from the page, then people just accept what you say. 113 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,400 But if you're not there in the room, can people still clearly understand and articulate what 114 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:57,680 you say you want to do? 115 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,720 And the specific games page allows you to do that. 116 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,000 You can see, can people tell what you're going to do by just reading it, or do you need to 117 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,480 add commentary so that they can understand? 118 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,280 And if you have to add commentary so that they can understand, then you know that you 119 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:16,720 have opportunity to make your specific games page stronger and more compelling. 120 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:23,520 And so not only are you figuring out what to do by committing it to paper or to a document 121 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:30,680 and writing the specific games page, but by committing it to paper, you're able to communicate 122 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:31,680 it to others. 123 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:36,360 And the specific games page is just a really easy way to do that. 124 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:42,260 And until you put it on paper or until you put it in a document, then you're really kind 125 00:07:42,260 --> 00:07:45,920 of just, you haven't committed. 126 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:51,800 You haven't committed, but it allows you to communicate your idea to others. 127 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:56,520 The third thing it does is it gives you a chance to solicit feedback early on in the 128 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:02,240 process before you've made too many commitments, before you've invested too much time and allows 129 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,140 you to solicit feedback. 130 00:08:04,140 --> 00:08:07,440 So you've decided this is what you want to do. 131 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,200 You communicate, you've committed it to paper, and then you shared it with someone else. 132 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,740 And now you have the opportunity to wait for their feedback. 133 00:08:15,740 --> 00:08:17,920 What do they think? 134 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:22,520 And this is a great time at which they can look and say, oh, this sucks. 135 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,160 This idea is awful. 136 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:25,160 Great. 137 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:26,920 And then you can just revise one page. 138 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:31,840 What you don't want is that you've written six pages of your research strategy, or goodness, 139 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,560 12 pages of your research strategy. 140 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:36,440 And then people are looking at it and saying, I'm not really clear what you're trying to 141 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:37,560 do here. 142 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:43,760 What you want is that feedback early on when you can reshape the specific aims page in 143 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,840 a way that allows you not to take too much time investment undoing things that people 144 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,600 didn't really care for. 145 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,560 Writing it in the specific aims page allows you to get feedback. 146 00:08:55,560 --> 00:09:00,440 And then you can make major revisions to the specific aims page and not make major revisions 147 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,720 to like pages and pages of writing. 148 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:09,920 So it is the earliest form of your idea that allows you to get feedback in a way where 149 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,400 you've made the least investment. 150 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:16,920 And when I say the least investment, I don't mean that there's not been an investment, 151 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,360 because to be honest, it takes time to write a good specific aims page. 152 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,880 And okay, so maybe I can do it now in the course of a day, or some people can do it 153 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,520 within a matter of an hour or two. 154 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:27,840 I'm not there yet. 155 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,720 But it takes time to put together a compelling specific aims page. 156 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:36,200 And if somebody trashes your specific aims page and tells you this idea is horrible, 157 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:41,900 yes, it is a significant amount of time that you've invested in it, but much, much, much 158 00:09:41,900 --> 00:09:45,880 less time than if you had written the whole 12 pages of the grant. 159 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,800 And many times I didn't realize that I would just keep going with the grant thinking, okay, 160 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,560 if I get it all out on paper, it'd be awesome. 161 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,400 And in reality, you need the feedback as soon as possible. 162 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:00,840 I would say if you're going to write any component of the grant before you go soliciting feedback, 163 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,440 is really writing the background and significance, right? 164 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,280 What we're calling significance and innovation most of the time, because you want to make 165 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,160 sure that the direction you're going in is actually reflected in your specific aims page. 166 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:16,840 So you want a specific aims page that actually communicates what you're going to do so that 167 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,760 when you get feedback, it's actually good and actionable feedback. 168 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,800 What you don't want is a specific aims page that doesn't even, you know, clearly articulate 169 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,760 your idea and you're getting feedback on something you're not going to do. 170 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:34,400 So it is important to be very clear and write a good and compelling specific aims page, 171 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,680 and hence the need to learn how to do it. 172 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:42,680 And then the moment you're able to commit your ideas strongly to paper or to a document, 173 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:47,320 then you can go get the feedback that helps you just really reshape the whole thing in 174 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:53,560 a way where you know it's going to be most acceptable or most attractive to the reviewers. 175 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:54,560 Okay. 176 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,120 So that's kind of like, you know, making sure that you can get feedback before you put too 177 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,480 much investment into the whole proposal. 178 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:08,120 The next thing, number four, is that once you've gotten the feedback, it's like the 179 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,640 road map to writing the proposal. 180 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:16,280 There's this great general sense of the idea and you're going to turn it into the proposal. 181 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,840 Here's the significant section. 182 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,760 Here's the innovation and here's the approach and this is aim one. 183 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:30,000 The specific aims page really gives you the direction to go. 184 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,800 It tells you, you know, where to take it, where to take your writing next. 185 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:41,120 So it's really nice to have that as a nice framework for putting together the whole proposal. 186 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,040 And it kind of makes it a little bit easier than trying to like put the proposal together 187 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:47,040 from scratch. 188 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,280 And the specific aims page at least gives you kind of like, you know, it gets you over 189 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:56,680 the blank page syndrome where you actually have already something you've written that 190 00:11:56,680 --> 00:11:58,920 you can build into the proposal. 191 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:04,960 So maybe, you know, the first line of your specific aims page is this disease kills people. 192 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:05,960 Great. 193 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,120 You now have the first sentence of your first paragraph. 194 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:14,800 And so it is a nice road map to be able to build the rest of the proposal. 195 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:19,400 The number five is you will likely need to rewrite it a few times. 196 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,400 Yes, you need to learn because you're going to have to do it over and over again. 197 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:29,320 So take the time to really learn how to do it so that when you need to do it as many 198 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:34,720 times as you need to do it, as often as you need to do it, you can do it. 199 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:35,720 And it's helpful. 200 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:41,360 And I don't know your process for writing, but when I write my specific aims page, I 201 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,380 can't spend too, too, too much time on it because as I start to write the actual body 202 00:12:45,380 --> 00:12:49,080 of the proposal, what I can do becomes really clear. 203 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:54,120 You know, the moment you have to go into excruciating detail, or at least relatively excruciating 204 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,280 detail about what you're going to do, what your actual plan is, what your approach is, 205 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:03,020 then you see that some parts of the specific aims page need to change. 206 00:13:03,020 --> 00:13:07,040 And then you can take the proposal that you've written and go back and rework the specific 207 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:08,040 aims page. 208 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:13,920 So, you know, there's a back and forth talk between the specific aims page and your whole 209 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,080 grant proposal that goes back and forth. 210 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:20,560 And so you'll need to revise your specific aims page at least once, probably several 211 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:21,840 times along the way. 212 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,600 And so it's helpful to know how to write it because you're going to need to rewrite it. 213 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:31,160 And so your first specific aims page is not going to be your final specific aims page. 214 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,760 And it's helpful to know how to do it so you're not stuck every time. 215 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,320 So learning how to write the specific aims page is an important investment so that you 216 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,200 can do it again and then do it again and then do it again. 217 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:45,280 Okay. 218 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:49,920 Another reason to write the specific aims page, I think this is number six, is that 219 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:54,680 it is the one page some reviewers will read. 220 00:13:54,680 --> 00:14:01,080 So when I first started to write grants and I had not yet served on any study sections, 221 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:02,560 I remember thinking, that's ridiculous. 222 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:06,480 Someone's going to read only one page of my grant and you think this will be the one page 223 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:07,580 they read? 224 00:14:07,580 --> 00:14:09,000 And now I realize why. 225 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,840 Some people don't even read anything in your grant and they still get to vote. 226 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:14,440 Oh my goodness. 227 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,080 It's kind of a crazy process, but it is what it is. 228 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,360 And until the process is revamped, this is what we have. 229 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:25,800 And so you literally have one or two, maybe three people review your grant in detail so 230 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,840 that the people who've actually read your grant. 231 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,240 And to be honest, it's probably one person who's really read your grant, one and a half 232 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,880 people, because maybe a secondary reviewer has not read your grant to that excruciating 233 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:37,800 level of detail as the first reviewer. 234 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,080 Because the first reviewer is going to need to present your work. 235 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,760 And because they're presenting your work, oh, they read it so that they know what to 236 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:45,760 say. 237 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,360 The second reviewer who kind of has to support the first reviewer, it's like, well, I'm not 238 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,800 the primary, they're primary on other grant proposals. 239 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,480 So they can read your grant and they probably will read it well, but they may not read it 240 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,800 with the same level of detail as reviewer number one, your primary reviewer. 241 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,240 The tertiary reviewer is just giving you a score. 242 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,080 They don't even have to read things and they're excruciating amounts of detail. 243 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,960 And so they may not read things very well. 244 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,480 So anyway, these three people are probably the three people who will have definitely 245 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,120 read through your specific aims page. 246 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,120 Everybody else, they have other grants to review, but they're still going to vote on 247 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:21,320 your project. 248 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,640 And so the only time that they're really looking at your application in detail is right when 249 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:27,480 your application goes up for discussion. 250 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,560 So as the primary reviewer is talking about your project, then they're like, oh, let me 251 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,000 look through and see, oh yeah, okay, I see this. 252 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,340 Or if there's a point of contention and they're weighing in, then they go start reading parts 253 00:15:39,340 --> 00:15:42,000 of your proposal to say, oh yeah, I agree. 254 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,180 I think this will be problematic. 255 00:15:44,180 --> 00:15:46,000 But in general, they're not reading your grant. 256 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:50,200 And so if they're going to read one page, they're going to read the page that summarizes 257 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:51,200 everything. 258 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:56,680 Okay, so now I have that kind of background, or at least I have that experience now as 259 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:02,480 a reviewer, you realize that, wow, it's an important page because some people are not 260 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,260 going to read any other part of your grant where you go and explain everything in beautiful 261 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:08,880 and excruciating and painful detail. 262 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,840 They may just read that one page. 263 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:17,400 And it helps you be very clear about how to communicate your information, the information 264 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,320 that's most critical in that one page. 265 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:25,340 And so it may be the only page a reviewer might read. 266 00:16:25,340 --> 00:16:29,880 So you really want to write it in a way that's compelling so that for the person who only 267 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,960 reads this one page, they can get a good read out of it and really get a good sense of your 268 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:35,280 project from it. 269 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:40,080 So that's reason number six why you should take time to learn to write a specific games 270 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:41,620 page well. 271 00:16:41,620 --> 00:16:45,880 And then number seven is that you get better and faster at creating them. 272 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:50,480 And you're going to need to because if you're someone who leads a research program, then 273 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,720 to some extent, you're always looking for funding for your research program. 274 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,360 You're always looking for funding opportunities. 275 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,560 And for that reason, you're probably going to write a lot of specific games pages. 276 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,640 Now, if you play your cards right, you are doing kind of research in the same general 277 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:09,840 sphere and so you're not necessarily creating something brand new every time. 278 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:16,920 But it is helpful because if you're not submitting overlapping projects, you're going to want 279 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,400 to really have a different specific games page for each project. 280 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,720 And so they may overlap in some ways in terms of the significance doesn't really change, 281 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,440 but your approach is going to change because your aims are going to be different as well. 282 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:34,520 And so you want to learn to write one well because you're always going to be creating 283 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:35,520 them. 284 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:40,520 And the better you understand how to write them, the faster and the better you get at 285 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,800 creating them each time. 286 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:47,680 And so those are seven reasons why you should take time to write to learn to write a specific 287 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,040 games page. 288 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,280 Number one is that it allows you to figure out what you want to do. 289 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:58,480 The accountability of committing your thoughts to the page are it really is helpful to to 290 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,800 help you clarify for yourself what you want to do. 291 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,160 Number two, it allows you to communicate your idea to others. 292 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,280 It's not just floating around in your head a beautiful idea. 293 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,440 It actually is committed to paper and independent of you. 294 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,640 It's going to speak when you're not there. 295 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:18,040 So you can be you can be more clear on how you're communicating. 296 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:24,760 Number three, it gives you a chance to solicit feedback before you've made all these investments. 297 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:29,640 And you are now kind of wedded to the words that you've written on the page. 298 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,400 And so it's the least amount of writing you will do to solicit feedback that allows you 299 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,360 to actually respond to the feedback in a way that's really responsive. 300 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:44,400 Number four, it is your roadmap to writing the proposal because you have this blueprint 301 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,760 and now you can just go through the blueprint and write the proposal. 302 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,680 And number five, you're going to likely need to rewrite it a few times that you want to 303 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,200 know how to do it. 304 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,240 And then it may be the only page a reviewer might read. 305 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:58,240 That's number six. 306 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:03,800 And number seven, the more you do it, the better and faster you get at creating them. 307 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,920 And it's going to be helpful for you to know how to do that critically. 308 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:12,040 All right, those are seven reasons why you should take time to learn to write a specific 309 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:13,520 games page. 310 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:18,160 Now if you have learned something from this episode and you feel like it would be helpful 311 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:25,320 to someone else, say a mentee of yours or a peer mentor or anybody at all in your sphere 312 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,840 who might benefit, I invite you to share this podcast episode with them. 313 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:35,800 And if you have ideas for what our future podcast episodes should look like, I invite 314 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,880 you to leave a voicemail on our podcast website. 315 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,920 That's clinicianresearcherpodcast.com. 316 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,360 Again, clinicianresearcherpodcast.com. 317 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:52,360 Please leave us a voicemail and tell us how we can shape your future episodes. 318 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:57,280 And with your input, we would love to create episodes that resonate with you. 319 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:58,280 Leave us a voicemail. 320 00:19:58,280 --> 00:19:59,920 We will play the voicemail. 321 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:02,440 If you don't want it played, you can say, hey, I'm leaving your voicemail, but don't 322 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:03,440 play this voicemail. 323 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:04,760 I mean, we won't play it. 324 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:08,680 But hopefully you will allow us to share your voice with our audience and then we'll build 325 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,480 an episode out of your voicemail. 326 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,960 All right, I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 327 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:15,960 Thank you for listening. 328 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:45,200 Take care. 329 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,240 Take a minute right now and share it. 330 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:54,720 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 331 00:20:54,720 --> 00:21:16,400 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.