For the first time in five years, I have a full-time work schedule. I thought I will trivially be 3-4 times more productive, but it turns out managing time well is so damn challenging. π¬
After watching productivity videos to procrastinate, here are what I found useful. π§΅
*Eat that frog*
If you have to eat a frog, make it the very first task you do in your day. If you have to eat three frogs a day, do not start with the small one.
*Have a plan*
If you have no idea what you will be doing 2:30 PM next Wed, you are doing it wrong. It's okay to be flexible and change the plan, but make sure that you have a plan to start with.
*Do what you are doing*
Be aware of what the task you are doing at the present time. Multitasking is simply an illusion of rapid context switching.
*Treat time as space*
Make EVERYTHING you plan to do as a calendar entry (including planning the calendar) and do it at that time. Check out @deviparikh's excellent blog post.
Group and defer interruptions (e.g., emails, slack messages, twitter feeds) according to their urgency. Allocate a specific time slot in a day to address these interruptions.
*Break your day down into short time chunks*
Get a timer/app, work on your task for 25 mins. Take a 5 min break and repeat. (Pomodoro Technique)
*Learn to say no*
Before accepting any new tasks, ask yourself
β’ Why should I do it?
β’ What happens if I don't do it?
Pro tip: Create a "no" folder to save the things you said no. Celebrate how much time you get back in your life.
*Give up precise task prioritization*
Sometimes you may be spending more time ranking the tasks than actually doing it.
*Touch each email exactly once*
Open an email, skim through it, and make a quick decision (reply/archive/allocate a time slot). Keep your inbox zero.
Any tips/advices on time management are very welcome!
(Procrastinating with this twitter thread...)
β’ β’ β’
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Doing an internship helps
β’ expand your network πΈοΈ,
β’ explore new topics π‘,
β’ learn new research skills π¬, and
β’ earn more money π°!
But how can we find good internship opportunities? π€
A thread πππ
*Find a supportive advisor*
Choose an advisor that encourages/supports/allows students doing summer internships. Some may require you to work on funded projects during the summers or delay graduation should you do internships.
Reach out to prior students and learn more!
*Stay connected*
Many internship opportunities are not broadcasted through public posting, but via emails among faculty members. Stay connected so that you get the best info (e.g., ask your friends/advisor forward relevant posting).
Getting ready to write up your very first research paper? Writing a paper could be daunting, particularly for non-native English speakers. π¬π¬π¬ How can we avoid common mistakes in technical writing?
Check out the thread below! π§΅
*Active voice*
Friends donβt let friends use passive voice!
Using passive voice hides the subject and creates ambiguous, indirect, and wordy sentences. Things don't "get done" by themselves. Take responsibility for what you do and use active voice whenever possible.
*Statements in positive form*
Tell your readers "what is" instead of "what is not".
not honest β‘οΈ dishonest
did not remember β‘οΈ forgot
did not pay any attention to β‘οΈ ignored
did not have much confidence in β‘οΈ distrusted
Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to figure out what the paper is about until page 5. π Show a TEASER figure on the very first page highlighting the inputs/outputs/key findings.
*Figure 2: WHY did you do it?*
Motivate and justify the key insights/ideas of your work. It is often helpful to illustrate this more clearly by 1) SIMPLIFYING with a toy example and 2) CONTEXTUALIZING with prior work.
Getting started with research but overwhelmed by THOUSANDS of papers each year? How could one stay sane keeping track of the literature? π±
Here are some tricks I found useful. π§΅
*Track the people, not the papers*
There are far fewer key people who are driving the field forward than the number of papers. Check out who the authors are when you read papers. Overtime you will recognize the important ones.
*Read papers with good related work*
A good related work section saves you so much time by providing a clear, organized view for prior work.
Side note: Please save others' time by writing a good related work
Do NOT spend too much time maximizing your GPAs (e.g., by taking easy courses) or the Greatly Ridiculous Exam (GRE) scores. Show your potential of doing good research!
Not sure if you love doing research yet? Then why are you applying?