diff --git a/_posts/2019-01-05-know-thyself.md b/_posts/2019-01-05-know-thyself.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000..07d30ea93d12a --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2019-01-05-know-thyself.md @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Know thyself. The New Year's resolution that underlies all productivity advice +author: Charles Sutton +tags: +- advice +- how to think +- creative productivity +date: 2019-01-05 16:40:00 +--- + +I'm a sucker for New Year's resolutions. +Every year I make up a half dozen resolutions, +usually the same ones each year, and carefully track +my progress for at least two or three months +before I get busy and forget all about them. +And in all seriousness, I'm happy about this, because +sometimes, for maybe one resolution in four, +I'm still able to make a lasting +change in my habits. That's more than enough +to justify the effort, +as long as I take the failures in good humor. + +You don't have to be as silly about resolutions as I am, +or even to have any resolutions at all, but the underlying +principle is important for any creative work. +You could say that it's the underlying principle +behind all of the advice in this blog. + +You need to know yourself, understand the way you think, +adapt the way you work to the way you think, +and always keep looking for ways to work better. + +You will have all kinds of little +preferences about when you are most alert, creative, +and productive. Maybe you like to work in the morning. +Maybe you like to have a bit of background noise, +like in a coffee shop. Maybe you need almost absolute +quiet. Maybe you like to work from home, or maybe +you prefer the structure of having an office, +where your work space is separate from home. +Maybe you like to pace around the office, +talking to yourself and gesticulating wildly. +Or maybe that's just me. Ahem. + +Whatever it is, you need to learn what makes +you think most effectively, and seek out that environment. +No one can do that for you. Your best work space +will be different +for you than it is for me. (And good thing, too, otherwise + all of Google would be people bumping into each other + in the hallways + because they were too busy talking to themselves.) +The only way to know is to experiment and find out what +works for you. + +And it's also vital for us to keep experimenting, +no matter how senior we are in our careers. +One reason is (I think this is from David Allen), +"The better you get, the better you'd *better* get." +As you become more accomplished, you gain a reputation +which means that more demands are placed on you. +Another reason is that no matter how good you are, +you haven't learned all of the tricks. +Your mental rhythms change as you get older, +just as an athlete in his thirties trains differently +than a teenager. Finally, the creative challenges change +as you get later in your career, as you need to learn to +adapt to the way that the field has changed in twenty years. + +What's always appealed to me about the research +career is that you never stop learning. +This is as much true for how you set up +the environment of your work as it is for the +content of your work. diff --git a/_posts/2019-02-02-phd-comics.md b/_posts/2019-02-02-phd-comics.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000..205c3a3ecdc1f --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2019-02-02-phd-comics.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: The three PhD Comic strips that are actually good research advice +author: Charles Sutton +tags: +- advice +- advice in popular culture +- phd comics +date: 2019-02-02 16:40:00 +--- + +If you're reading this blog, then you already know about +[PhD Comics](http://phdcomics.com). If you really haven't +seen them before, click the link and read them now. +They are more insightful and funnier than anything +in this blog. + +It goes without saying, however, that +you should not model your own career +on the characters in the PhD comics strip. +For one thing, they've been in grad school +for more than 20 years. + +Amazingly, though, there are three PhD comic strips, +and probably only three, +that are actually good research advice: + +* [Writing your thesis outline.](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=715) +A thesis is daunting. How do you write an entire +book over five-plus years? Instead, I like to tell my students +to think and plan at the level of individual papers. Basically, +you have three content chapters of your thesis, and +so if you have three strong papers that fit together +thematically, then you set up one paper per each chapter, +and there you are! No sweat. +I call +this the "PhD Comics Guide to Writing Your Thesis." + +* [Amount of time writing one email](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1047). I saw this comic +when I was a junior professor, and +I immediately realized: (a) this is so true, +and (b) I needed to act more like the professor +in the comic strip. This is how I learned +that when you have +many things to decide, you must decide quickly. + +* [The evolution of intellectual freedom](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1436). +Sometimes you have +to take big risks in your work +and follow your own star. Once you learn +the basic technical skills needed for research, it is so easy +to do only incremental work, follow what the cool people are doing, and focus on what's likely +to get you jobs and funding. There are good reasons to do +some of this, but if this is all that you do, +then why are you in research? + + An alternate way to interpret this comic is based on a +comment I heard in a talk from Daniel Marcu. +Even in academia, you always have customers for your research, +just as businesses have customers and artists have +an audience.