The Art of Impactful Research: Key Elements and Hidden Joys

Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart. — Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

One of the most effective ways to drive progress and innovation is through research. However, not all research is created equal. To truly inspire and bring about change, research must possess several key elements.

Firstly, research must have a clear, compelling, and meaningful purpose. It should be driven by a passion to make a difference in the world and inspire others to take action. By having a clear purpose, research can communicate its value to others and motivate them to create a better future.

Secondly, research must take a unique and innovative approach to a problem or question. It should be willing to think outside the box and take risks to discover something groundbreaking. This type of research can inspire others to think creatively and push the boundaries of what is currently possible.

Thirdly, research must be conducted using rigorous methods that are ethical, transparent, and unbiased. It should use appropriate strategies for the research question, collect high-quality data, and analyze it in a way that is trusted by others. Rigorous research can inform policy and practice and have a lasting impact.

Fourthly, research must focus on making a real-world impact. It should potentially improve people's lives, change policy, or advance scientific understanding. When researchers are motivated by the potential impact of their work, they are more likely to be passionate and driven to make a difference.

Finally, research should be conducted in collaboration with others and engage stakeholders. Collaboration and engagement can help ensure that research is relevant, impactful, and responsive to the community's needs. When researchers involve others in the research process, they are more likely to build relationships and create a sense of shared purpose.

Research, to me, is not just an academic pursuit. It also involves a spiritual and intuitive dimension that helps us connect with the ancestral DNA of past and present thought partners. Unfortunately, this aspect of research is often ignored or considered taboo.

For me, research is a thrilling, intuitive, and obsessive hunt for a new frontier of discovery. I fall deeply in love with theorists and ideas from the past and present, which helps me create something new and borrowed. There's a real love there. It's a beautiful, enlivening experience. One of the peak feelings in my life is having data come in that I know can potentially change someone's world for the better, be it a plant, animal, or human. This is the hidden, often unspoken joy and thrill of research.

It can transform us as researchers into a higher realm of consciousness, illuminating a path and lighting the way for a revolution in our hearts. This heart-centred approach that embraces the art, the science, and the spirit in research can help us tune into new and ancient ways of caring for our relations in the human and more-than-human worlds.

Through research, we get to time travel, discover the mysteries of the universe, and unravel the mysteries of ourselves. How cool is that?! To me, good research is about much more than meets the eye.