Today, after much preparation, we submitted a proposal to a foundation. It may or may not be funded, but I think it’s a really good proposal.
Long ago, when I was first starting out in Academia, my mentor Jack Schwartz (now sadly deceased) helped me to write one of my very first proposals to submit to the National Science Foundation. I told him I was worried that it might not get funded.
His reply was very profound. “It doesn’t matter whether this gets funded. The important thing is that it is well written.
“If it’s a good proposal,” he explained, “Somebody will eventually fund it. A good proposal is money in the bank.”
Wise words to give to an early career academic!