Comments on: Time management tips

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 14:11:05 +0000

I have a separate, informal, algebra target, which can roughly be stated as “prove something new every week”. I tend to miss this target a lot.

By: Giles

Giles — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:16:52 +0000

500 words sounds ok but how do you count algebra? 500 “words of algebra” is normally enough to prove anything.

By: Nathan McDonald

Nathan McDonald — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 12:28:37 +0000

The productivity-killer is reading stuff that really makes you angry. This is very true. But you should all take a look at The Virtue of Idleness: "It is a sad fact that from early childhood we are tyrannised by the moral myth that it is right, proper and good to leap out of bed the moment we wake in order to set about some useful work as quickly and cheerfully as possible."

By: abb1

abb1 — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 12:21:14 +0000

I took to requesting extra assignments just to keep busy… This is how you get in trouble. You shouldn’t hassle your busy boss and create additional headache for him/her by asking for extra assignments. They’ll hate you for that.

By: barney

barney — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 03:34:13 +0000

The one thing I fear in sending back referee reports for journals too quickly is that it will only encourage the editors to send even more papers to review my way. Still, it is nice to get them out of the way quickly—saves the time needed to excavate the piles of paper (or e-mail messages) that the articles inevitably get buried under. Reviews of grant proposals, of course, get sent back to the beneficent agencies as rapidly as possible.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:50:09 +0000

In my last job, one of the worst I ever had, I had nothing to do for weeks on end so I would read the internets. In my new job I have lots to do, but I still read the internets. The difference is that in the first it was all I had to do, which made it dull and ennervating. Now that it’s recreation the internets are a nice break and a refresher.

By: Al

Al — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:45:50 +0000

Once you’ve done everything that needs to be done – and you’re still required to be sitting at your desk for hours – what do you do then? Do these jobs exist? BTW - this comment is key: “4. Don’t ever comment on blogs.”

By: HP

HP — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:24:45 +0000

Abb1, after consulting for several years, I finally broke down and took a salaried position. At first, I treated it like a consulting job—show up, get the work done, and get out. I took to requesting extra assignments just to keep busy (while colleagues appeared to struggle to keep up). Sometime after my project manager ran out of assignments to give me, I got called on the big boss’s carpet. She asked if I had any issues I wanted to bring up. “Not really,” I answered. “I could use some more work to do.” She said, “Well, I’m concerned that you’re not spending enough hours in office.” Shortly thereafter, I discovered the internets.

By: Shai

Shai — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:35:20 +0000

“Visiting blogs and leaving the occasional comment doesn’t necessarily impact work productivity” my rule is to read them all at once during a well defined break, otherwise I end up suffering from “homework fatigue” every 15 minutes. Quiggin’s writing quota is good, but I think it’s important that it be the first task you do before anything else. Otherwise you’ll end up overestimating your future motivation and/or underestimating the time required to fulfill the quota (which will vary). But it’s tricky when you have to pull together a lot of research, requiring rules about the scope of the writing task and very strict rules to discourage busywork (e.g. photocopying articles, making lists of references, background research that has little utility, etc).

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:23:25 +0000

A friend of mine worked as a computer programmer at AT&T in NJ once, about a dozen years ago, I guess. According to him, it was extremely dehumanizing job: endless rows of cubicles, no human interaction whatsoever. Once a week a secretary would show up in the aisle of his cubicle-block pushing cart with the weekly assignments. That was a thrilling moment – work, meaningful activity! He would open the envelope (his hands shaking) and read: IN THE REPORT XYZ4567 MOVE THE COLUMN “12-month-overdue” 2 CHARACTERS TO THE RIGHT. Wow! Famous XYZ4567 report! For the first few days he wouldn’t even touch the assignment – just knowing that he has work was exciting. Then he would fix the report. That was back in the dark pre-internet ages, kids.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:06:52 +0000

Read Crooked Timber.

By: Juan

Juan — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:04:47 +0000

Structured procrastination is the way to go.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:18:49 +0000

Once you’ve done everything that needs to be done – and you’re still required to be sitting at your desk for hours – what do you do then?

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 12:04:36 +0000

A time-management blog that builds on this idea is called ‘43 Folders’. Its inspiration is a book called “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. You’ll have to sort through the Mac programming threads or you can go to the ‘Life Hacks’ section: http://www.43folders.com/lifehacks/index.html

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:11:07 +0000

4. Don’t ever comment on blogs. Tip #3 actually puts you in good company. I think Thomas Mann wrote at about this pace. On the other hand, it’s a question of finished prose. If your first draft is good enough for publication, you’re in the sweet spot. If you have to rewrite substantially, 500 a day is problematic.