Today I watched Terence Tao's masterclass on mathematics. Honestly, I went into it with a star-struck mentality and didn't really intend to learn anything from this video.
For those of us who do academic research, we come to understand a certain truth as we get older: solving problems is a sprint, doing research is a marathon, and talent is the means of transportation. And Tao is like the Sun Wukong who was born riding on a cloud. The first two sentences in the opening remarks (P12) are enough to make people like us who give up as soon as we see formulas feel ashamed.
But what surprised me is that as a world-renowned problem solver, his academic career is also filled with failures and self-doubt. He also procrastinates and neglects many things that should be done, just like me (P34).
At this point, I feel relieved. If even a brain like his can fail and waste talent like this, then what does it matter that I have been lazy and neglected some work that is almost worthless compared to his?
