When applying for a job, this advice saved me grief:
- 'Oh, login to the webpage early. I had everything ready and then they ask you much more in the form.'
Ryuji Takagi, then a fellow postdoc at NTU and kow professor in Tokyo, told me this when I asked him the catch all question if there is anything else to keep in mind. Turned out the form asked for additional information on impact, prior works, popular summary, summary for experts and what not. Serious writing might be required and not listed in the required documents which would have been a serious issue had I not known ahead that hidden workload is coming up.
- 'If you will invest time into writing the grant, then begin by loging into the ststem.'
Following Ryuji's advice earlier this year I logged in to a grant application Web page 1 week before the deadline. The login system was archaic and while I was working on the draft I had time to troubleshoot and not be daunted by added stress.
- 'Write to the email listed and ask a dummy question'
I realised that when I was troubleshooting the archaic login system, I had a chance to ask other questions. Today I was preparing another application and early on I asked a question without hesitation. A follow up question had an answer thar resolves a constraint and I clarified what is needed for reference letters. This speeds up preparation because I asked 1 month before applying. If anything pops up I can #quickly bounce back even two weeks later with oh one more question thanks - when stressed I will be able to be fast and no need to write context anymore because the contact is established and I know if a reliable response can be expected.