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Ways to manage your time better

nature.com

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Re: Ways to manage your time better

#31

Post by anitil »

crispyambulance wrote: post #8

I'll never forget the time shortly after switching into industry from a purely laboratory workplace, that I had my first encounter with a professional project manager. I got so pissed off that some un-introduced remote person on a conference call was try to tease out what all my "tasks" where, when they would be done and in what order (as well as when everyone else's would be done). Thus began my career-long love/hat…

From my interactions with lab scientists, it seems the best way to get work out of them was to provide money and coffee. They were so self-motivated you practically had to drag them out of the place

Re: Ways to manage your time better

#32

Post by arethuza »

ipnon wrote: post #7
arethuza wrote: post #4

When I worked in academic research one of the biggest wastes of time was that the Professor in charge of the lab never turned up to meetings on time (30 mins late being typical) - which wouldn't have been too bad except he constantly bragged about his time management skills. I eventually realised he meant he never wasted any of his time but happily made 15 of us sit around a meeting room for ages.... Which is fair en…

If you're his subordinates though, wasting all of your time surely ends up costing him more productivity in the end.

Very intelligent people (who this Prof definitely was) can sometimes also be rather stupid at times.

Re: Ways to manage your time better

#33

Post by afarrell »

hartator wrote: post #23
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #5

> Take a long, hard look at your relationship with e-mail and social media. Although they are vital to everyday communication, they can claim much more attention than they deserve. Consider shutting them off completely as you work on a task that requires your full attention. For me this strikes at the heart of a fundamental problem: on one hand we all want to maximize our attention span. On the other hand, the task o…

That’s awesome. Just signed up. Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. Like I keep refreshing my emails for no real reasons. But if I block myself to this feed, I will just switch to another feed. Eg HN or Reddit.

You are right that this doesn't stop you from going on other feeds. If you google for "SelfControl.app", "ColdTurkey", or "Freedom.app", you will find tools which help you block those other feeds. Things like this are a crutch: a tool we use to get around in the world and solve problems despite the fact that our bodies are imperfect.

I have a disability where I find it hard to read text which is far away. Its the sort of thing that could be a real problem in my life. However, I've got a tool I've been using since age 8 to make that much, much easier to deal with. Would it be better if I wasn't dependent on this piece of technology? sure. But I don't live in a perfect world and refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you have a similar condition and find to focus long-distance, I encourage you to use my solution. You can find it by googling "inexpensive eyeglasses".

Re: Ways to manage your time better

#34

Post by afarrell »

hartator wrote: post #28
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! Please keep in touch and let me know what you think. I've found that using Pony is both strangely underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time... would love to hear other people's experiences. > Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. That's exactly why I built Pony: to remove the self control factor. If the whole point of technology is to make us better, th…

That’s a good point. Not sure if I have an answer. The thing is there is a real - small but real - value of checking your emails or refreshing your feeds every 1h. Like if there is some kind of urgency or you’ll be missing out on something important. The added stress is not worth it though and it’s where I join you.

This is what study-strategies youtuber Thomas Frank calls the "any value" mindset and as you point out, it fails to count the opportunity cost which it imposes.

Re: Ways to manage your time better

#35

Post by hartator »

afarrell wrote: post #34
hartator wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a good point. Not sure if I have an answer. The thing is there is a real - small but real - value of checking your emails or refreshing your feeds every 1h. Like if there is some kind of urgency or you’ll be missing out on something important. The added stress is not worth it though and it’s where I join you.

This is what study-strategies youtuber Thomas Frank calls the "any value" mindset and as you point out, it fails to count the opportunity cost which it imposes.

Can you share a link? Can’t find anything on YouTube.

Re: Ways to manage your time better

#36

Post by mnky9800n »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #5

> Take a long, hard look at your relationship with e-mail and social media. Although they are vital to everyday communication, they can claim much more attention than they deserve. Consider shutting them off completely as you work on a task that requires your full attention. For me this strikes at the heart of a fundamental problem: on one hand we all want to maximize our attention span. On the other hand, the task o…

I started only looking at slack after lunch. I get so much done in the morning I actually have time to fuck around on slack.
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