Measuring productive output to improve performance
Source: Flickr user Earls37aTowards the end of 2012, I was experimenting with a new productivity technique at the office and I’ve decided that I like it. Acknowledging the human propensity to...
View ArticleThe nightly schedule of knowledge workers and their reasonable alternatives
US Eastern Seaboard at NightWhy knowledge workers tend to work at nightGo out and find yourself a physicist, programmer, mathematician, or other knowledge worker. The following applies to many people...
View ArticleWorking, but in the context of rest
Sisyphys (1548-1549) by Titian, Prado Museum, Madrid.This post is the first in a series on health and energy.On Saturday, six astrophysics PhD students found themselves in a room huddled over books and...
View ArticleThe problem of identifying with your work
Photo by Matt ChanIt’s 4 am and I’m in a place of enormous self-doubt. In less than two weeks I will take my comprehensive exam in physics. I can’t sleep, so I figured I’d get up an write. I am trying...
View ArticleCareer Markets: Playing to Win, Playing to Lose
Photo credit: Sadie HernandezOne of the most interesting things I gleaned recently from reading Cal Newport’s new book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, is that you can understand job markets as existing...
View ArticleTracking progress and learning from top performers
In the summer of 2008 I was working in the basement of the Seeley W. Mudd building where Columbia University’s Plasma Physics Lab is located. Our experiment was contained in a large steel vacuum...
View ArticleThe rituals of geniuses: how creative professionals work and excel
Photo Credit: Dave StokesI’ve been reading much about daily rituals. And it seems that I’m not the only one. Popular blogs like Bakadesuyo and Farnam Street have been discussing it lately (here and...
View ArticleScience metrics, LitRoost, and the networked era
Engraving after ‘Men of Science Living in 1807-8’ by George Zobel and William Walker (1862)Too many PhDs? Or not enough?In the United States, it is estimated that there are approximately 21 million...
View ArticleThe Startup of Your Career: Grad School as Entrepreneurship
There Are No Normal Career PathsThere is no normal career path through graduate school and into the world beyond. Perhaps there used to be. I once attended a department seminar that was supposed to be...
View ArticleHow I dealt with the identity crisis of my twenties
A week ago I celebrated my 28th birthday. In recent years I’ve tended to get a little moody around the time of birthday. A few of my peers get the same way, especially the ones a little closer to 30 in...
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