One of the most challenging parts of being an academic is keeping up with all the new literature that comes out. We live in a publish-or-perish world, and that means the most active academics are putting out several new articles per year that we need to at least be aware of. You may know already [...]
Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category
A new (to me) tool for keeping up with the literature
Posted in Academic life, Being a scholar, Dissertation, Organization, Productivity, Technology, Tools on June 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Technology Experiment Updates
Posted in Organization, Productivity, Technology, Tools on June 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Over the time I have been writing here I have talked about a number of different technology experiments regarding making myself more productive. Some have been successful, while others haven’t. Time for an updated on some of what I’ve tried. A voice recorder and Dragon Naturally Speaking for note taking while reading: The experiment: I [...]
Inbox Zero? Not for me….
Posted in GTD specific, Organization, Productivity on June 19, 2009 | Comments Off
Lifehacker had a pointer to an article from New York Times technology guy David Pogue on how he stays organized. He rejects Inbox Zero (the idea of emptying your inbox constantly and using GTD-like decision making to send email to your lists) and, instead, uses his inbox as a to-do list. It was refreshing to [...]
Organization in the face of tragedy
Posted in Organization, Productivity on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off
Productivity and Organization skills are something I work on every day, trying to improve my ability to get the most done in the time allotted and keep my focus on the important things. But sometimes life throws you a curve, and when it does the true test becomes whether those skills completely desert you in [...]
New Semesters, New Deadlines
Posted in Academic life, Education policy, Organization, Productivity, Teaching, Writing on January 19, 2009 | Comments Off
Tomorrow the new semester begins, and I had today off from work so I spent some time thinking about what I needed to do and how I would get it done. Key things about this semester: Working full time at day job, who has laid off half the company in the last 3 months so [...]
The importance of good backups
Posted in Academic life, Productivity, Teaching on January 3, 2009 | Comments Off
You’ll recall that a few days ago I mentioned that I would be teaching Intro Stats again this upcoming semester. Since I taught it before, I wasn’t too worried – I already have a full set of slides, homeworks, etc, right? How hard can it be? The answer is VERY if you can’t find the [...]
Graduate student work day and stress
Posted in Productivity, Stress on January 2, 2009 | Comments Off
You may recall my earlier posts about my graduate student work day, in which I planned out, hour by hour, how I would make everything fit. Unfortunately this was a very hard schedule to keep up at times, and sometimes resulted in more stress when I couldn’t meet the schedule. The schedule isn’t getting any [...]
Planner update: Cool new finds
Posted in GTD specific, Organization, Productivity on December 28, 2008 | Comments Off
So, now that I have recharged my batteries and am feeling ready to deal with life again, that means getting organized. Again. I had let my systems go for a while, and spent some time today looking into new ideas. Here are a few neat ones that I’ve found: Franklin Covey now has a Rollabind [...]
Here’s my new Planner, same as the old Planner
Posted in Academic life, Being a scholar, Organization, Productivity on August 10, 2008 | Comments Off
If you never looked at my concept for a project-oriented planner because it had the words “Graduate Student” in the title, time to look at it. I am very pleased with the way in which my Graduate Student Planner has transitioned to supporting my full-time job. Using Goggle Calendar Sync, I can sync my Goggle [...]
Cleaning as productivity: 6 Steps to clear the deck
Posted in Academic life, Organization, Productivity on August 4, 2008 | Comments Off
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do with your time is to rearrange and clean your office. Mine had become a disaster, with books and stuff EVERYWHERE. Between new books I had bought, articles I had sent to the printer to read later and notes I wanted to keep for later I had every [...]
