How an Engineer Turned Rejection Into Q1 Publications (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Professor David Stuckler here. Welcome back to this week's Fast Track Live. Today's session I'm genuinely excited about because it captures something that I see all the time behind the scenes but rarely gets talked about in a frank, honest way. We've got Feli Zewendry joining us who came to work with us from a very non-traditional path. He's an engineer by training, was busy running a full-time business, not to mention a big family, and was trying to break into publishing. But Feli, like many people, hit wall after wall after wall, even faced rejections, and was trying to do this all with a full-time job in entrepreneurship. And so, like many people, maybe some of you who are watching too, Feli also had some challenges along the way. He leaned very heavily on AI in ways that felt productive, and as we're going to talk about, in some ways were quietly holding him back. But what's remarkable is that Felley, in a short period of time, didn't just improve his academic writing or optimize his workflow, which he also did, but he fundamentally changed how he approached research. And that shift in approach, opened the floodgates for success, led to a string of Q1 publications, almost that hockey stick moment you kind of hear about where things really take off, and got him full scholarships and fundamentally altered his trajectory, and hopefully I'm I'm not going too far. Feli will correct me if I'm wrong. Uh, not just in business, but in life. So today's not just a hype story. It's a real story about struggle, confusion, false starts, recalibration, and what really moves the needle when you're trying to publish seriously. So Feli, uh, thanks so much for joining us. I've, I'm super excited to have you here joining us. I know you're in Indonesia and it's late at night, so you're literally burning some midnight oil to join us. Uh, Um, how are you doing?

[00:01:53] Speaker 2: Good. Good. I mean, thanks for having me. And I'm, I'm so stoked to be invited and, uh, to, to be sharing my story. I get, I think a lot of people can, can get some, some good points from, from this discussion.

[00:02:06] Speaker 1: Yeah. I think a lot of people can relate to, I don't know where you, where you were and, and want to get to where you're at now. So look, let's, uh, cut the fluff, go straight to the beginning. Flashback to before we started working together. Where were you? What were you trying to do? What wasn't working? Yeah. Run us from the beginning.

[00:02:29] Speaker 2: Right. I mean, I always wanted to have a doctorate in my life. I was dreaming for a doctorate since I was doing my master's. I actually got into a PhD program, got offered a PhD program in University of Miami like 20 years ago, but I decided not to take it because of one thing or another, right? And then I got into a professional field in engineering, and then up to this point, before we started working together, I think running an engineering company, having a doctorate or PhD would definitely boost the credibility of the company, right? So at that point, I was just started looking for a DBA program. I'm actually doing a part-time master's program right now as well in management. So I was trying to figure out what kind of a road map that I should take, right? And then your videos came up. I guess our phone really tracking us, right? YouTube just came up, your your videos just came up and then one video that you ended up saying that there's a program your program fast track program that have a guarantee in publication but require us to show up right that really caught my attention and then I just email you I guess I what's up your call your email you from from from straight from that after watching the videos and then and if you remember the first two or three sessions of our discussion or brainstorming session I kept flipping back and forth on themes and I didn't really know I was undecided and then I took a hard left turn and just stick with hard science.

[00:04:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember at the beginning you were thinking about you were torn between going down more management path or sticking to sort of your core engineering work and ultimately we went more towards the engineering path. Right. But, yeah, so when you first started out, and you had this goal for publishing, it really seems to have come from you wanting to boost your business. And I guess, tell me a little bit about at the beginning and where you were, it sounds like you fumbled around for a bit. Was it that you didn't know where to start or what was it?

[00:05:11] Speaker 2: Yeah I guess I mean I love reading the journals right I tried I mean even in doing my business I I basically told my engineers and my team to always go to the journals to look for answers right but I mean telling I keep telling myself, it'll be nice. I mean, we are sitting in basically, I mean, a mountain of data, right? Like these past 10 years, we have a mountain of data and I'm pretty sure these data can be published. 100% can be published because it's, I've never looked at, I mean, we are heavily involved in industrial wastewater and it's just, I mean, it's at the cutting edge of water treatment. And it's not, I mean, there are not many data available around. So that was my, my initial intention, right? Yeah.

[00:06:12] Speaker 1: Yeah. It's interesting you say that because yeah, you came to us with a lot of real world experience, a lot of insights, but it was also figuring out how to connect that to academic research so that we could almost in a way demonstrate the international power of what you were doing in a way that would for your business show that you're right at the front edge, pushing the frontier and doing something innovative and sort of trumpet your success even more. Um, tell me a bit, uh, about, and maybe share with us, what was it like to work together? Did you have any moments when things clicked or an aha moment? Was it with the topic or the methods? Yes.

[00:06:57] Speaker 2: Right. Plenty, plenty, plenty of it, right? So in the beginning, I was just trying to cut corners, right? Because I was so busy, I tried to find a way. I keep telling myself, I'm pretty sure I can cut some corners. I can use AI to speed up the process and see, I mean, try to cheat my way to the publication. And then I remember at one point, you just started to call me out. Feli, are you using, do you have somebody to fight for you? Right, you just started calling me out. And I was like, damn. So it's not that. I mean, it's not this type of process. Now, after that moment, after that session, I kind of stopped and then I told myself, okay, I mean, if I'm about to embark on this journey, might as well do it the right way, right?

[00:07:57] Speaker 1: I remember that conversation. It was a hard conversation. Research has worked for me, say I'm fierce but loving, and that was definitely one of those moments together. Because we almost had to jolt you out of the way you were doing things before. Yes, yes, yes.

[00:08:18] Speaker 2: And I mean, to add to that, Because of, I mean, the point of doing this the right way is just basically not for other people. It's actually improving myself personally in terms of how I gather or basically pick out the right data or pick out the right good data from this noise, right, from this world of noise. I mean, that moment, I mean, doing the program, I kind of found myself, rediscovered myself, and then just, OK, right. And then I kind of transmit that type of idea to my team. So even in the business, in my organization, there's a transformation, a movement of, okay, doing it the right way, right? Not trying to cut corners, right? Because it's empowering to not only the organization, but to ourselves, right? So the multiplying effect is just massive.

[00:09:37] Speaker 1: That's, yeah, that's really fascinating. I mean, we set out to publish some papers and kind of boost your research skills, but you've really highlighted on a couple of things. One, in AI, how you, AI, we're finding with a lot of researchers, removes some early friction, so you can actually get really far down the path, feel good until later on everything starts crumbling. And AI is changing kind of the structures of where errors happen in research. So I'm seeing more and more people end up in a train wreck, except they've gone very far on the train before the wreck happens, and they're going at a higher velocity, Sometimes the crash is harder than what I used to see in working with people, but then also that shift in your thinking. Do you remember that moment? I want to take you back to that moment where you thought, I need to rethink this, or do you remember what was going on there?

[00:10:36] Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I kept telling myself, I mean, I'm already spending the money, right? as well do it the right way, right? I mean, I'm spending the money, I'm spending the time and my goal is to be recognized internationally and boost my business, right? I mean, after that point, after that moment, I kind of stop and then actually by doing it the right way, it's the fastest way, right? Yeah, that's the irony, yeah. Yes, yes, that's the irony. I mean, doing it the right way is actually the fastest way, instead of, I mean, after you've gone down the rabbit hole and then you try to find yourself back to the point one. I mean, you are, I mean, you are so lost. Yeah.

[00:11:30] Speaker 1: I know. I remember the first paper, we started with a systematic review, which is something we often recommend. At the time, did that feel like a detour for you, or did you sense it was starting to do something bigger?

[00:11:47] Speaker 2: I think now, looking back, systematic review, I think, is the, I would say, the gold standard of review. After reading all the reviews, now I've gone through so many reviews, I guess, systematic review is just basically is the most unbiased way of doing review. Because if you look at the narrative review or other types of review, it's it's you have you have bias, right? But by doing systematic review, you you cut down the bias that that for me, I think that that's the the big the big takeaway point of systematic review. Yes. I'm actually doing two more papers, systematic review papers now. I want to come back to this because you hit the hockey spot.

[00:12:40] Speaker 1: And I remember you kept coming back to me like, Hey, bro, I got another paper. I got another paper like, Feli, what? It's amazing. Um, let me ask you the, so think about that review for a second. And you said before you read journals and you always were wanting to be close to evidence as an engineer and entrepreneur, were there skills that forced you to develop maybe mental muscles that you felt like you didn't have before? Did it change how you read and engaged with the evidence and science in your field?

[00:13:13] Speaker 2: Yes, not the mental muscle necessarily, but the skill. I remember the first time we were doing the sessions, Prof. I kept asking you, Prof, how do you do that? How do you pick out the sentences or the keywords so quickly? Now, because of doing the programs, now I'm at the point where I can basically pick out the right information and the skill of honing down for the correct information and picking it and then putting on my paper or or putting on the draft.

[00:13:53] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[00:13:53] Speaker 2: Ah, this is a good one that I can use it for my introduction or my conclusion, right? So it's becoming more natural as time progresses. Yeah, that's huge, that's huge. Yes.

[00:14:07] Speaker 1: Sorry, go ahead, Philly.

[00:14:08] Speaker 2: Yes, and one last thing before we move on, my, actually my speaking skill, if you notice, Prof, the beginning of the session, like since I'm, English is not my first language, right? I'm native Indonesian, so I speak Indonesian. But because of doing the program, I've been living, I mean, I left the States 20 years ago and I've been living in Indonesia. So I kinda, I was losing my English speaking skill, right? But by doing the program and by getting back into writing, I actually improve my communication skill and my presentation skill in English, which is nice. A very extra, it's a very nice point to have.

[00:14:58] Speaker 1: I didn't know that. I didn't know that. That's fascinating, yeah.

[00:15:02] Speaker 2: I kind of noticed that now, like doing this program, wow. I've got a lot of extra points from the program. Got a lot of extra skills.

[00:15:11] Speaker 1: Level up in the skills. Yes. Very cool. No, I didn't think about that, but definitely being the language of business and science communication, having that extra confidence when you present. And I think that's something that research gives you that in your field, you just feel in talking with others that I've read, I mean literally in the systematic review, I've read everything. And that, that confidence, a lot of people tell me is, is really priceless. Um, so let me, I wanted to, I've got a lot of questions for you, Philly. So I kind of want to get to a little bit, where are you now, concretely? So that was the first paper, the systematic review. Where are you now? What's changed? Right.

[00:16:00] Speaker 2: In terms of the papers, the second paper on the Q1 got officially released yesterday, on the 17th. And the third one, I think, I think it's also on a, I mean, it's been accepted for review. It's been, I saw the LZ-500 tracking system. One reviewer has done the review and I'm waiting for the second reviewer to, to finish up. So I'm, I'm, I've submitted the fourth paper two weeks ago and trying to, waiting to hear back from another Q1 journal. I got invited on a Q1 invitation-only journal. And it's a well-known journal to voice my opinion, which is very, very nice. I mean. Very cool.

[00:16:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, just a proverbial fast track. When you start getting a string of papers out and you start getting noticed. And in some cases, even the Q1 journals start coming to you. That's powerful.

[00:17:04] Speaker 2: Right. And then I got accepted, or I got offered a PhD program, a full scholarship PhD program in the top four universities in the world for water resources with a fancy, fancy lab.

[00:17:21] Speaker 1: So everything just got in full circle from Miami before 20 years ago. Right. Wow. I mean, I hope you can see I'm, I'm just so proud of your progress because I know this was actually hard fought along the way. I mean, it might, you know, people might see where you are now and be like, Oh, well, Feli is just a genius. This is amazing. But, um, there was a real struggle. I mean, I remember too, just taking a step back again, the systematic review got rejected the first time. And do you remember what that was like?

[00:17:57] Speaker 2: Very harshly. Remember Prof? It's like basically the reviewer said, this is crap. Well, but I guess the the the spirit of just getting it published, even on a Q3 journal, it's just I mean, that that feeling of of getting past the finish line, really important. Yeah. Huge. Yes.

[00:18:28] Speaker 1: Huge.

[00:18:29] Speaker 2: Yes.

[00:18:29] Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember that you got those first peer reviews and were really gutted by them and we kind of, yes, even at the outset we were kind of calibrating where it could be and I try to help you see what are the trade-offs that where I think realistically this topic can end up. But it's still when you get, if you ever get a rejection, it feels like a knife in the gut. And I remember at one point you wanted to throw in the towel. You're like, oh, yes. I didn't want to do it.

[00:18:55] Speaker 2: I had to have another person loving moment again. Right. that close to, okay, let's not continue on this path. I have something else on my mind. I remember that vividly.

[00:19:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, something got you to push through it and yeah, then it got accepted. And I remember that too. There's a distribution of the draw and reviewers. And I think, well, has that changed how you approach peer review now and that critical feedback is having seen someone says it's crap And then someone else says, this is brilliant.

[00:19:30] Speaker 2: Right, right. Now, I mean, looking back at the, I guess the peer review process is not perfect, but I guess peer review process to me is the best process there is, right? Because you got so many opinions from so many experts. So I guess that process of peer reviewing is for me, it's just validating. If you get past that, it just validates your idea, right? And you get the confident boost that you very much so need.

[00:20:04] Speaker 1: And we come back to confidence again. And I really take away that one of the things we wanna train is research literacy and like you've been able to sift through the noise and find truth. And that's a life skill. You said something before that the thinking here like a researcher actually affected how you run your business. Can you give us a concrete example of this?

[00:20:29] Speaker 2: Yes, so the big thing about this peer-reviewed journal, is the big takeaway point for me is the method section. So you have results and discussion, you have a result section, and you have a method section. So now, in my business, I always make sure that the method section is being written down. Because that is like the, I guess, our Northern Star. You'll get lost. You always go back to the method section. And then you can use that as your reference and go to the results in the description section. So now I really put method section on the pedestal that in my organization.

[00:21:24] Speaker 1: So you're gonna get- You can tell when I think about the inside out writing method for writing a paper, you're actually doing that in the business, wow.

[00:21:33] Speaker 2: Yes, yes. So, I mean, method section for us now in the organization is the way to really filter out the noise. I Guess that that like you said right just start writing down the method section first because you get to I mean It'll it'll basically train you to write You have that flow, right? So you always go back to the method section.

[00:22:03] Speaker 1: So is that like I mean putting up like SOPs for your employees. Yes and got it, got it, got it. Great.

[00:22:12] Speaker 2: So that would be, I mean, there will be a organization wide type of approach. So I'll go and where's your method section? I want to see your method section because from the method section, you can tell the results is correctly produced or not. Right?

[00:22:28] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[00:22:28] Speaker 2: Because you can just.

[00:22:29] Speaker 1: Exactly, the method is just kind of perfectly designed to produce the results you're going to get. It's interesting. Yeah, I mean, we work with a publishing system and that you've been able to lift some system elements and start systematizing some of your operations. Well, I mean, definitely, I think if when we first met and you were looking to publish a paper and trying to cut some corners, even if I said, hey, Feli, in the short time, you're gonna have multiple papers published, full scholarship at a top place, and your whole business is gonna change.

[00:23:04] Speaker 2: I don't think you would have believed me. No, not in a million years. I mean, if you if you find me, if you found me a year ago, I was like, I was so clueless. I was just exploring, OK, how do I boost my credibility in the business world? And I think I need to get a doctorate. And then your systematic review video came up. And then we started working together in a paper that got trashed the first time we submitted and then to now, I mean, it was just not even a year, Prof. It wasn't even a year. I remember we started on March, right? And on March.

[00:23:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Wow. And you've got basically, wow. It's amazing what not even a year can do.

[00:23:59] Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[00:24:00] Speaker 1: I guess I want to ask you. Oh, sorry, Phil, I didn't want to cut you off there. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. I mean, yes, I just want to ask you because I am aware we're approaching the end of the year. And some people are thinking about what they, it's a time to reflect and think about what they might want to do differently in 2026. What would you tell someone who's where you were a year ago?

[00:24:24] Speaker 2: I mean, getting yourself into the mode of publishing, I mean, try to publish in general, it's just basically not only adding to the pool of knowledge, but you're actually, uh, helping yourself, uh, uh, to level up in a massive, massive way, because, uh, in, in publishing and peer review and getting hammered here there, getting rejected, and then getting scrutinized on your work, really, I mean, right? By being humble, you kind of work harder to get yourself, I mean, to work harder, right? So that type of process, I guess, it's really needed, no matter what stage of your career here. You are now. Yeah.

[00:25:21] Speaker 1: Yeah. That commitment to continuously improve, push your limits. Um, but I, I do know that that triggered in some cases in you Feli, as it doesn't many people feelings like, Oh, maybe a self doubt and resistance and can lead to change. And it, that transformation, uh, is not always just a smooth, uh, gentle process, or everybody would be able to come out to the other side with the superpower you have now of publishing. And it sounds like you've got over five papers in the pipeline, it's huge. All right, let me ask you another thing, because you can learn from what works, you can also learn from what doesn't work. So what would you not do again, if you could go back a year ago?

[00:26:11] Speaker 2: Right, so not, I mean, not having AI as my driver, right? driver, right? I mean, so what I was doing at that point, Prof, I was so frustrated on not getting anywhere. So I'll just download the paper and put it on the ChatGPT because you can upload it up to 10 files. And I just basically crank up whatever information that ChatGPT. And once I put all the prompts, and I'll just start to pull out the information. I'm writing this now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. So and it was just oh God and then Hi, and then you call me out and I just kind of okay. Let's relax. That's it and Then let's wait, right?

[00:27:04] Speaker 1: Turned out to be the easier way in the end, but I do remember yes Okay Now we're getting into the weeds a bit but I remember you were stripping out some information for the review that wasn't fully answering your research question and was starting to go kind of off piste off the ski slope a bit. And we kind of brought you back to say, okay, uh, what's the structure. And I can use the did plus found formula to explain the studies to that people. Okay. Yeah. I, I am remembering this. I got to go on the journey with you. I had to learn a lot about MBR treatment systems, differences between municipal and industrial systems. Um, and really what struck me too was just the power of pretreatment, but, um, of industrial waste. And anyway, I digress. Yes, yes, yes. I've learned a lot about the industry, which is a great joy for me. We're going to have people here. Um, I can see in the chat are asking a lot of questions, so I'm just going to throw those questions, some of these up for you. Um, So let me pull the chat onto the stream, Feli. I don't know if it'll show everything. No, it's only going to show, uh, okay. It's only showing some recent comments, but I want to go, let me come back. I want to come to some of these, but I want to come to the, the, so in the first one, we've got somebody from Pakistan joining us, which really international, um, someone is saying, uh, that they used our notes and finished their research on e-health. Very, very cool. Um, I hear that a lot. We we we've got some fantastic YouTube guides on my channel and I tried to give away for free what others would charge you for and we have ananda saying hey ananda motivational and inspiring and Baba tuna saying fellow you're doing it. Well Hibani saying skill is in the skull. I sometimes Sometimes my assistant in the community, Marina, is Greek and we sometimes talk about Plato and for her, knowledge is you've got to come out of the cave to see knowledge. For me, it's been in the skull, you just need to hold the light up to the cave to reveal it. It was in there, you have to unlock it, ongoing philosophical debate, I digress. Here Sonia says, I can't wait for Christmas to be over so I can work on another systematic review on the themes of my thesis. The first one I did was okay, but not publishable. That's an interesting comment, Sonia. I sometimes find that, yeah, the same amount of work, same amount of time, actually even less time if you do it in the right way, and you'll convert that intent into publishable product. Babatunde is saying, big congrats to you, Feli. And Hamza, truly mesmerizing. OK, lots of comments here, guys, today. Kebani recognizes the side effect of being humble, awesome. Abdirani asks, how do you assess the assistance you got and was it worthy of the money you spent? I can't answer that one, obviously.

[00:30:11] Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you it's, well, I mean, I would, for the results that I got, I would have paid more. I would have paid more, I mean, right? I mean, it's just by having the one-on-one, it just really compresses the time that I would have spent otherwise, right? For me, at least in my position, time is money, right? The faster I can get to where I'm at, the more money actually I save, right? So it's just save so much time and effort by having access to you one-on-one, right? That was a big takeaway point, yeah.

[00:30:56] Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing that, Feli. Yeah, there's always a cost to doing something and a cost to not doing something and I find a lot of people, especially researchers, they're smart. I think you too, Feli. I think you would have gotten there in the end. It would have just been a longer, torturous process.

[00:31:15] Speaker 2: Yeah. No. I mean if you didn't show me the way, I wouldn't have done it, to be honest. I mean, if I didn't take your class, take your, your program, I wouldn't have done it because it was just too much work. I'll have to figure it out from, from, from, I don't know. Uh, I, I think I could have spent like five years and get to nowhere because it was so formulaic. It was so formulaic.

[00:31:41] Speaker 1: That's true. Right. That is true. We, we do break the whole process down into kind of baby steps that you can take one paper at a time, baby steps. and we make sure the baby step is right before going on to the next baby step. And, uh, and that was exactly, was that some of those baby steps that we had to inject the fierce, but loving conversations.

[00:32:00] Speaker 2: But, uh, yes, yes, that's true. That's true.

[00:32:02] Speaker 1: I guess you make a point that somebody could get pretty demoralized if they, after spinning their wheels, especially as busy as you are and just start to think, oh, well, this is not for me.

[00:32:11] Speaker 2: Maybe I can't do it. Yeah. I can, I can easily see that. I mean, if I would have done it by myself, like, ah, this is not for me. Definitely not.

[00:32:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, definitely in my own journey along the way, I was fortunate to have a lot of mentors. And again, I think a message here is that having a mentor could be us if we're a good fit, could be somebody else. But you need that, because think about a smart person asks, how can I do this? But the even smarter person asks, who can show me how? And, uh, yeah, that, that resonates with my, my own journey, uh, to where I am today, uh, uh, D Ramon asks another question here. Uh, what was one critical factor that turned around when you joined the program?

[00:33:03] Speaker 2: Well, uh, just, uh, the, uh, I guess the critical factor, they're critical, uh, factors. I wouldn't have boiled down to one, one critical factors, but it's just the formula that Prov presented, and the program that actually, it's just a mini peer review session, right? So the program will basically criticize your ideas, and then will try to nudge you in the right way, and to get a good idea, a publishable idea, a publishable product. So that, for me, was a big help.

[00:33:46] Speaker 1: Right?

[00:33:47] Speaker 2: That's true.

[00:33:48] Speaker 1: Yeah, we did wrestle on the topic because I wanted to make sure you had a publishable topic, but also going in, that you knew how to establish and validate the topic so that now you can do, I mean, doing the systematic review again now, are you following those same steps to establish and validate the topic?

[00:34:02] Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure, 100%.

[00:34:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, do you find that it's making, I often say, after the first paper, the second and third are faster? Did that correlate with your experience?

[00:34:14] Speaker 2: Yes, faster in terms of not only getting the words right, but critically assessing where the gap is, right, in the field, right? So you keep, I remember in your sessions, you kept emphasizing, okay, find a gap by going to the future research, going to the introduction, right? So that type of formulas really, really speed things up.

[00:34:43] Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I definitely could see in the journey, you started to become much more precise on the whole. We've got some people who are very interested in your business. Because we've got some environmental chemists, Feli, some people who like the method section approach to your management. Babatunde says, for someone who wants to be a researcher, I studied environmental chemistry, and I can hear from Feli about the systematic review. idea to give someone like me, who's interested in being a graduate researcher, he also asks for Feli, how can someone get enrolled into his organization? From somebody who's starting his journey as an MSA.

[00:35:22] Speaker 2: Right, find me on my LinkedIn, or you can contact me on my LinkedIn anytime, yes. But I guess going back to the first question, I guess getting into the habit of doing a systematic review because I'm now I'm publishing I would say I'm working on the third systematic review right now because not only it really help you finding the gap in the field but really push you to scan through whatever people are doing that is not working and is working yeah right so I guess again I I keep repeating myself, I guess, systematic review is the gold standard of all review.

[00:36:11] Speaker 1: Yeah, right. Yeah. I mean, we find that it's just a powerful starting point for just taking, it changes the way you synthesize and think about evidence. And in our whole world, everything we do, especially in an AI age, where there's lots of AI slop and noise, we've got an overwhelm of information. The power is being able to sift through that noise and find the gold, like a laser beam and hone in, and systematic reviews help you do that. There's that transformation. You came in, Feli, I think wanting to publish, and I just see you on the other side of it.

[00:36:48] Speaker 2: No, I actually came in, no, I was gonna go for a PhD or doctorate, Prof, I was like, okay, I just wanna get it done and get my PhD so I can start, right? That was just a shallow way, the way I was thinking. It was just, okay, I need to get a doctor in my, in the name, or my name, and then I just can start selling like crazy. But it was so shallow. Now that going after the program, I see the big value. Now I got into a PhD, a real PhD program, right?

[00:37:25] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[00:37:26] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so it's just a life-changing experience for me, at least, right?

[00:37:35] Speaker 1: Feli, look, I just appreciate you sharing just so candidly what your experience was like in the journey and also the struggles you faced along the way. Abdirahman writes, thanks for the candid and honest response. I think what's powerful here isn't just the outcome, but also that process, how you've moved to a place from noise and wanting to cut corners to actually even going faster, having direction and judgment. And for those who are watching here, if this resonates, if you're feeling stuck, if you're over-relying on AI or just unsure why your work isn't landing, you're not alone. Everybody starts from that place of being a beginner. It's a necessary stage in the journey and there is a better way to approach it. If you do want to explore whether working together with us makes sense for you, you'll find a link below. Otherwise just stick around, follow my YouTube channel and we have, we try to distill the best step by step training. Of course, what we can do inside the program, working together in a more intimate way is obviously a lot deeper than what I can provide through videos, but we are committed to trying to create the access that I wish I personally would have had as a grad student and make it universal and worldwide, not just what was passed down in the ivory towers like I got from mentors at Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge. Ravi Kumar asks, and we'll take a couple more questions, Billy, and then we'll wrap up. Ravi Kumar asks, what did you do for good writing?

[00:39:15] Speaker 2: Right, I mean, the program kind of helped me to start with the method section, right? To start writing the method section, once you do the inside out technique that the program introduces, it's just from that point on, it's just smooth sailing for some reason. I don't know why. Because I guess you get the, you hit the easiest part first, right? And then you get your brain warm, like when you're starting a car, right? You get everything, your engine warm, and then you start writing the method section. It's just smooth sailing from that point. And then you go to the result section. And then from that, you go to the discussion section and then introduction, that's it. It's so, now it's so natural, right? It's so natural. I guess it takes practice.

[00:40:08] Speaker 1: Not part of the flow, but I also know, Feli, we pushed you a bit with our writing system too.

[00:40:15] Speaker 2: The peer, yes, the peer, yes, the peer method. So, I mean, once you get the ideas right, the point, and then you do the example, and then you reiterate the point, it's so formulate, I guess, right? It's not like, like you always keep saying, the prop always keep saying that, it's not like we are writing a creative writing process. It's just we are presenting what the result is. It's very linear, right?

[00:40:43] Speaker 1: It's a linear process. That's good. Yeah, definitely. I remember that. I have seen your writing transform on the other side and it sounds like some of that spilled over into your business communication and presentation. Hamza says, speaking from experience, I got to join FTG Community for a week and it helped to end the thesis effectively. Wow, Hamza, that's awesome. I don't know if you were at my workshop here over the weekend, but that's massive fast progress. I've got to hear more about that. But yeah, Veli, again, I think we're getting to a good stopping point. How can people get in touch with you? You said LinkedIn. Are you happy for us to leave your email or what's the best way?

[00:41:37] Speaker 2: You can't, I didn't, I didn't write my last name. So my last name is, uh, Julie Hendry with a Z U L H E N D R I. So it's everybody.

[00:41:49] Speaker 1: So they see that here. If they want to look you up, we've got Philly's will Hendry and, um, excellent. And Philly, uh, again, I just want to thank you for sharing your story and so proud of the next chapter.

[00:42:09] Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I didn't think that it was going to be this crazy fast.

[00:42:17] Speaker 1: I mean, I can't guarantee everybody. I mean, I can guarantee we'll get you to the finish line, but I can't guarantee everybody has a hockey stick moment that you had so quickly in the journey.

[00:42:32] Speaker 2: Well, I guess one thing that I must disclose that one thing that helped me to get to publish fast is because I'm sitting on a mountain of data. So that really helps, right? So that really helps getting your, having your, your, your massive amount of data really, really help.

[00:42:52] Speaker 1: I mean, you even surprised me because we did the systematic review, you got in those habits and then suddenly you had papers coming fast and furious. I mean, I remember we had done some because it's not my core field where we're working a bit on the economic analysis side, the cost effectiveness, but then she's just started blasting these out. And then I saw, I did see you posted about the paper on LinkedIn. Are you finding that scientific credibility? Are you getting any different treatment from people in your field or are they seeing you in a new light, or what's that like in your core field now?

[00:43:34] Speaker 2: Yeah, now people are actually DMing me from not only Indonesia, but now I got invitation from Singapore, Nanyang Polytech, which is a big engineering school in Singapore. So they're inviting me to stop by on the January 9th, January 9th, and I also got an invitation from another university in Australia as well. So now that I'm speaking their language and they see that I'm sitting on a big amount of data, industrial data, now it's becoming very interesting, right? For the academia and the industry, now that I'm speaking the language of the industry and academia, I can marry them together and produce even more powerful solutions for the industry or for the universities as well. Right, so. That's amazing.

[00:44:37] Speaker 1: Yeah. A unique comparative advantage that you have these binoculars, these two lenses you can now. Right, right. Roll through. Right. So. Very cool, Feli.

[00:44:48] Speaker 2: Right, I'm having goosebumps actually.

[00:44:50] Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I'm getting so, I was just about to say I get goosebumps from your story. Because I get, man, I mean, this is part of why I do this. I get so much joy out of this transformation because it's life-altering. I mean, I remember, anyway, but I don't want to digress on my story. This is about you here. Last couple of things, because we keep getting questions, and Ravi Kumar asks, what is your thought process before starting a new research?

[00:45:21] Speaker 2: So I have no thought process. So what I do is, I go to the future direction of all the papers that I read. So that, like, this is what the program is always teaching, right? Go to the paper and then go to the discussion section or the conclusion section, find the gap there. That would just basically pointing you down the right road, right? You don't have to rediscover, you don't have to even do anything else, just follow whatever where the paper is saying, this is what we need. And then you just continue building on that, piggyback on the gap.

[00:45:55] Speaker 1: That's true, that is in our topic accelerator course, is that I do see people come in with a topic that maybe they came up with chat GPT and it's just not connected to where the conversation is in the field. That's a really good, now that is a shortcut, that it's not only a shortcut, it's like the right, it's faster and it's a really good way to go. I thought where you might have gone with this, Feli, is that because you have, you're sitting on this mountain of data that you might think about what you want to show, some of your questions, the things that are in that sweet spot of business and research. Does that, does that go into your thought process at all, Feli, of like what you want? So there's this thought process of optimizing for publication, but then there's also optimizing for you personally and where you want to go.

[00:46:42] Speaker 2: Yes, so now I have the power to publish data that is not too jeopardizing to my business, but it will increase my credibility, right? But now I can pinpoint, okay, I don't share this, right? This is important for the business, but I can add to the community from this data, right? So that type of play is now, this is what I'm doing.

[00:47:15] Speaker 1: Awesome, Feli. Feli, look, I think we're going to wrap up here. I'm just going to echo Babatunde here. Thanks for the insights and sharing your story to inspire upcoming researchers. We'll be back in the new year, well, actually even next week, Friday, same time, same place. If you want, that will be a session. We will be reviewing your submissions, live troubleshooting your research together. And if I see a lot of submissions on the same theme, I'll add a mini training at the beginning. So I always read and reply to every submission. When you send us a video question, follow this QR code here. And Feli, I might tap you into joining us again. This is fun.

[00:47:57] Speaker 2: I'll be happy to do so.

[00:48:01] Speaker 1: So if we get a lot of environmental chemists sending systematic reviews, Feli, we're going to bring you on as a new coach, pretty much, but we'd like to have your thoughts for some of them. And guys, definitely get in touch with Feli, he's one of the genuine, nice guy, great to work with, and I learned a lot from working with you, Feli. I'm excited for your future, and we'll definitely stay in touch.

[00:48:26] Speaker 2: Feli Peixoto Yes, yes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:48:30] Speaker 1: Have a good one. All right. See you soon. Bye-bye. Bye, everyone. Bye for now.