Productivity hints, tips, hacks and tricks for graduate students and professors »
A random collection of time-saving tips, targeted at people in academia.
The illustrated guide to a Ph.D. »
Keeping things in perspective.
Effectiveness Is All About Managing Your Time, Energy, and Attention »
I bet you think you’d be able to do a lot more if you had more time. If so, you’re probably wrong. Having more time is only a piece of the puzzle.
It’s not so much just the quantity of time that we should consider, but the quality of time, too.
Your Brain on Computers - Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity »
The quest to understand the impact on the brain of heavy technology use — at a time when such use is exploding — is still in its early stages. To Mr. Strayer, it is no less significant than when scientists investigated the effects of consuming too much meat or alcohol.
How I Ended my 6-Year Relationship with my Blackberry »
While people always cite “emergencies,” more often than not the singular reason that a cell phone exists in their lives is to give them a crutch to prevent them from being alone with themselves, their thoughts, and their fellow human beings. Going to the gym? Call a friend. Running an errand? Send a text. Eating something interesting? Take a picture and show the world on Facebook. We are incapable of living outside the virtual cloud that surrounds us. We can only fully live if we are constantly connected.
Four Burners and Balance: The Follow-Up »
I like this quote from a David Sedaris article. Sort of an adapted ‘carpenter’s triangle’:
“One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.”
The gist is that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.
Like Chris, I don’t particularly aspire to a balanced life in any conventional sense, and think I’m more productive and more fulfilled when I do one thing obsessively, whether that’s my job, side projects, or slacking. Giving myself only one real task at certain times really lets me delve into the nuances and push ahead.
What follows is his collection of the best comments from the ensuing discussion.
The Unconventional Backpacker: Interview with Jodi Ettenberg »
Jodi isn’t a typical backpacker—she was a corporate lawyer, trained in Quebec and working for a big firm in New York. The whole time she was working, she was also saving for a new life.
How long were you planning your escape from your corporate job?
As counterintuitive as it sounds, I was planning my escape well before I even took the job. I had no aching desire to be a lawyer, I was just stubborn as hell and when someone bet me I couldn’t get into law school straight from CEGEP (in Quebec, CEGEP is the equivalent of Grades 12 and 13), I took them up on the challenge. As a Quebec resident, law school tuition was extremely reasonable and when I was accepted, I decided to attend. It seemed like a huge act of hubris to turn the offer down, and as there was nothing else I was more interested in doing (outside my dreams of travel, that is), it was an excellent opportunity to train my brain in a new way of thinking.
Hangover Cures »
I try to keep the paleo/primal/whatever links I rummage through to a minimum, but this is actually a really good read. I’d add b-complex to the list, before going out and before going to bed.
Percolator
Need I say more?
