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PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

nextscientist.com

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Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#81

Post by magic_beans »

n1000 wrote: post #16
Void_ wrote: post #10

Just try this for a week... 1. Remove Facebook/Instagram/Twitter from your phone. Using parental controls disable Safari. Remove your email too if you can. 2. Use SelfControl to block these websites for 24 hours at a time. So you only get to check these things once every day. After you've checked it, quickly block again. If 24 is too much, start with 8 or so. But always block again right after checking! SelfControl:…

Just got myself a nice pair of noise-cancelling headphones last week. I had some extremely productive hours like I've hardly known before.

Now that I've been using them for a few years now, I can't focus at work without them.

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#82

Post by beambot »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #27

The 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…

> PhDs taking forever is generally a lack of initial work by the student rather than any external factors.

Not in my experience, especially for pre-tenured professors who are in an existential "publish or perish" scenario that defines their careers. It may sound harsh... but they invest a lot in their early students & lab setup, so their goal is to keep students around, publish as many papers as possible, and win enough grants as possible off their work before letting them graduate. I know plenty of folks who did thesis-level work in their first 2-3 years... but then their advisor made them keep grinding for another 2-3 years before "letting" them submit to committee.

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#83

Post by SubiculumCode »

magic_beans wrote: post #80
a_e_k wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I think the reason it bugs me so much is because my mind views it as a type error: int fewer; float less; is how I tend to remember the distinction. (Fortunately in my family, my wife is the language nerd who first called me on my misuse many years ago. Now I notice it everywhere too. It's weirdly viral.)

Fewer is for things that can be counted in numbers. Less is for non-numbered things. It's so easy that it really disturbs me when people get it wrong. Fewer people. Fewer zoos. Fewer cigarettes. Less hatred. Less abuse. Less misuse of power.

Less person, less zoo, less cigarette, fewer hatreds, fewer abuses, fewer misuses of power.

Flip flopping it around. The last three are now countable. The first three, while maybe verging on nonsensical, are grammatically correct. Less zoo, for example, might be used in the context of closing down part of a zoo. 'I have less cigarette left than Joe', also makes sense, if we are comparing cigarette lengths.

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#84

Post by SubiculumCode »

a_e_k wrote: post #79
throwaway287391 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's quite right. For example, hours can be non-integer-valued (as in "three and a half hours"). The distinction is that "less" is used only for mass nouns (e.g., "less water").

True, but as a heuristic I it is safe to say that if you'd use integer units to represent a quantity then you should use "fewer" rather than "less". That tends to capture the majority of cases for using "fewer". Admittedly, the discrete but non-integer-valued cases are a bit more nuanced. (And yes, I do realize that the actual definition is in terms of mass vs. countable nouns.)

Or is it a difference only of being singular or plural?

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#85

Post by graeham »

bloaf wrote: post #14

It depends on your field. There are some experiments you can't just walk away from, for safety reasons. You can't just "focus" and make your chemical reaction go faster.

Agreed. A large amount of time also goes into things like making figures, which is mostly time-consuming grunt work.

I think the key is differentiating between creative work (which is better to be done deep with fewer hours) and grunt work which is almost purely time. Both are needed for a sucessful PhD - few are good at both and it is hard to switch between the two.

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#86

Post by agumonkey »

xaa wrote: post #54
simonbarker87 wrote: post #27

The 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…

Wow. I just defended a few weeks ago, at 7 years. And honestly, until about year 5, I felt no rush whatsoever to get out. Not that I was derping around -- I finished with 20+ papers -- but I was enjoying it, and I realized that once I was out, two undesirable things would happen: - I would have to start running the grant treadmill (and indeed, I'm just in the middle of finalizing a training grant that has as one of i…

Did you have trouble extending to 7 years ?

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#87

Post by a3_nm »

The problem with saying "less hours" is that the optimal numbers of hours of effort varies a lot depending on your current productivity.

If you can't manage to focus on something despite persistent effort, yes it's much better to stop and have fun instead. It makes no sense to have "long hours" as a goal even if you're not sure of what you are going to try to accomplish during that time.

On the other hand, when you are motivated, or making progress on something, or working towards a deadline, then it may be very productive to keep going for many hours. I don't have statistics, but an important part of my PhD output (both research and writing) was done between 11 PM and 3 AM, on weekends, etc. (By the way, I disagree with the advice of going to the lab early in the morning -- personally I worked better from home late at night. But it depends on how you work and whether you can do the work from home or not.) Importantly, you should be in a flow mode, so actually these hours don't feel "long".

The main productivity lesson I got from my PhD is this: either work productively, or relax wholeheartedly. Aka: "Do, or do not; there is no try." :) It's terrible to try to work on something and not succeed -- it's unproductive, unpleasant, it does not put you in a better mood like real fun does, and it makes you completely disgusted with the task so it will be even harder to work on it next time. You have to learn when to keep on working, and when to stop because you won't be productive working longer. (You get better at this productivity prediction with experience.) And you should be fine with stopping very early, maybe skipping the rest of the day if it turns out you're not in the mood; but you should also be fine with stopping late and working crazy hours when inspiration comes.

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#88

Post by xaa »

agumonkey wrote: post #86
xaa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I just defended a few weeks ago, at 7 years. And honestly, until about year 5, I felt no rush whatsoever to get out. Not that I was derping around -- I finished with 20+ papers -- but I was enjoying it, and I realized that once I was out, two undesirable things would happen: - I would have to start running the grant treadmill (and indeed, I'm just in the middle of finalizing a training grant that has as one of i…

Did you have trouble extending to 7 years ?

Not really. My salary was funded by my PI and he was happy to keep someone at my skill level as long as I wanted (and at a bargain salary to boot).

From my department and committee, I started to feel rumblings around mid-year-6 of the "you should get on with it" lines. But they weren't trying to force me out or anything, it was more like concern.

I was spending (and still do) a much bigger percentage of my time on collaborative work than my peers, and they were concerned I wasn't adequately focused on my own career. But that wasn't the case at all -- I was doing what I thought was in my best interests, especially considering my field (bioinformatics) is inherently highly collaborative compared to the wet-lab stuff going on around me.

However, there were some institution-level reasons I cut it off at 7. After that, the institution's policy is that you have to start re-taking some classes you already took (and passed). It was irritating to always have to go to an irrelevant journal club every week (I was in a department that really had nothing to do with my research). Also, I had some appealing opportunities available if I finished when I did. But in no way was I "forced out".

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#89

Post by treehau5 »

kgwxd wrote: post #78
treehau5 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this were actually a thing, you wouldn't need to capitalize the the G in grammar.

Wouldn't it be if it were the title of a Ph.D. program? I definitely forgot the dots though.

Good question actually, had to look it up.

> Except for languages, such as English, French and Japanese, the names of academic disciplines, majors, minors, programs and courses of study are not proper nouns and should not be capitalized. Example: She majored in integrated supply management and German.

https://wmich.edu/writing/rules/capitalization

Re: PhD Productivity Strategy: Do Deep Work in Less Hours

#90

Post by agumonkey »

xaa wrote: post #88
agumonkey wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have trouble extending to 7 years ?

Not really. My salary was funded by my PI and he was happy to keep someone at my skill level as long as I wanted (and at a bargain salary to boot). From my department and committee, I started to feel rumblings around mid-year-6 of the "you should get on with it" lines. But they weren't trying to force me out or anything, it was more like concern. I was spending (and still do) a much bigger percentage of my time on co…

Interesting, very interesting. Thanks for the reply. Would you like to share a link to your thesis ?
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