hm, time to eliminate the hacker news bookmark...
I came back to HN (does it fall under #3 or #5?) just to remark something along these lines ...
PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
41–50 of 117 posts
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#42I'm a little confused, has this person contributed to science in any significant way ? If not why should we listen to this person and ignore scientists who have actually achieved success in their field ?
>I'm a little confused, has this person contributed to science in any significant way ? If not why should we listen to this person and ignore scientists who have actually achieved success in their field ? It's a fair question. But be warned: You're not going to get a much less diverse set of answers from them, though. I would suggest also listening to scientists who established themselves 30+ years ago. You'll likely…
I largely agree with this, but in some fields I also think it is an over supply of PhD problem as well.
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#43As a current PhD student in a highly competitive program, I wish I could say this is reasonable advice, but it's wishful thinking in the hyper-competitive environment at top tier universities (where the goal of a PhD student would be to graduate as faculty material). There is just no way around grinding out the experiments. You literally have to will something to work in multi-month long pushes where you iterate agai…
>You literally have to will something to work in multi-month long pushes where you iterate again and again until you figure it out.
Or instead of iterating 5 times, you take your time and do it right on the 2nd attempt, figuring it out in 1/3 of the time. Hurrying only leads to mistakes. It makes no more sense than attempting to continue working when you really need to go to the bathroom. You are are a human being and have biological limitations. Ignoring them is of no benefit and usually significant detriment.
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#44The biggest thing I noticed when starting my PhD was all the first and second years derping around not doing much, all the third years panicking and "just getting going" and all the 4th and 5th years really grinding. So, I inverted that and worked my ass off like I was still an undergrad in the first 18 months, toned it down for the next year and submitted my thesis at 2 years 10 months (the earliest my university wo…
>Doing a PhD in the UK helps, in and out before the funding dries up in 3-4 years is expected along with no class requirements and no masters needed (can go in straight from Bachelors) I think this is the key sentence for a US perspective. 2 years of course work + 3 years of research for 5 years total is common in STEM fields.
Yeah, unless you are at Cambridge or Oxford, getting a PhD in Europe about equates to a masters in the US.
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#45I have tried most productivity hacks. In the end what worked best is the Pomodoro 25/5.
How has it worked for you I am interested. It has worked for me too, and I too have tried a lot of things. The reason it has worked for me is because I set the bar very low. Like one pomodoro on a specific task and then I usually end up spending more time...
I believe it helps because it
a) Is simple
b) Works for any tasks.
c) Allows for short burst of activity during which it is easy to refrain from reading random stuff, mails, or explore tangential ideas. Easy because you know you will have 5 minutes to check it out if necessary after your burst.
d) Helps for moving around, go fill a glass of water, look at your surroundings etc.
e) Probably correlates well with average human attention span
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#46As a current PhD student in a highly competitive program, I wish I could say this is reasonable advice, but it's wishful thinking in the hyper-competitive environment at top tier universities (where the goal of a PhD student would be to graduate as faculty material). There is just no way around grinding out the experiments. You literally have to will something to work in multi-month long pushes where you iterate agai…
>You literally have to will something to work in multi-month long pushes where you iterate again and again until you figure it out. Or instead of iterating 5 times, you take your time and do it right on the 2nd attempt, figuring it out in 1/3 of the time. Hurrying only leads to mistakes. It makes no more sense than attempting to continue working when you really need to go to the bathroom. You are are a human being an…
You can say that but sometimes there is just no way to get it right without trying stuff that doesn't work, improving on that, and throwing the old stuff away. You can't plan ahead and take your time to do things the right way because you don't know what the right way is. Iterating quickly is a way to work through those approaches quickly, and throwing away bad approaches is better than refining the wrong one.
John Carmack:
Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Doing a PhD in the UK helps, in and out before the funding dries up in 3-4 years is expected along with no class requirements and no masters needed (can go in straight from Bachelors) I think this is the key sentence for a US perspective. 2 years of course work + 3 years of research for 5 years total is common in STEM fields.
Yeah, unless you are at Cambridge or Oxford, getting a PhD in Europe about equates to a masters in the US.
Could you explain what you mean?
In terms of time spent? Level of knowledge in the subject area?
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#48The biggest thing I noticed when starting my PhD was all the first and second years derping around not doing much, all the third years panicking and "just getting going" and all the 4th and 5th years really grinding. So, I inverted that and worked my ass off like I was still an undergrad in the first 18 months, toned it down for the next year and submitted my thesis at 2 years 10 months (the earliest my university wo…
I don't want to generalize to others, because a PhD can be a really painful experience, but you got me spot on. I wasn't willing to iterate and try enough paths forward until one stuck. I'm still not sure why that was, because it seems obvious now and I saw others doing it right, but there was a lot of wasted time.
Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#49I do walking for 30 minutes at the middle of the day while thinking about the task or problem that I'm facing during that time. It just always amaze me that good ideas pop up in my mind when I walk. For those who are stressed and overwhelmed, I would advise to take a walk. And also for those who want to be creative, take a walk. It's a productivity hack.
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Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I'm a little confused, has this person contributed to science in any significant way ? If not why should we listen to this person and ignore scientists who have actually achieved success in their field ? It's a fair question. But be warned: You're not going to get a much less diverse set of answers from them, though. I would suggest also listening to scientists who established themselves 30+ years ago. You'll likely…
I largely agree with this, but in some fields I also think it is an over supply of PhD problem as well.
The oversupply problem is one that doesn't seem to be going away ay time soon, especially in the pure sciences. From my anecdotal evidence, it seems to be harder and harder to get into academia or cross into industry each year. I have multiple bio and chemistry PhD friends who have been either stuck in limbo at a postdoc position or who have left the field in frustration. I wonder if it will correct over time, or if the glut or PhD's will continue to grow.