July 26, 2010
Successfully doing creative science is hard. The further along you get in a research career the more things are competing for your time and energy and the more distracted you are from your primary goals. This distraction becomes increasingly problematic when it distracts your subconscious as well as your conscious mind. A short post by Paul Graham does an excellent job of describing why this is the case and how you can manage access to that creative part of your brain. In particular he recommends minimizing the amount of time spent chasing money and being involved in disputes. These are both things that we end up doing a lot of in academia and in my experience Graham is right about their ability to consume the productive thought processes we rely on. I also love this quote from Newton:
I see I have made myself a slave to Philosophy, but if I get free of Mr Linus’s business I will resolutely bid adew to it eternally, excepting what I do for my private satisfaction or leave to come out after me. For I see a man must either resolve to put out nothing new or become a slave to defend it.
Go check out the full post.
(via James Horey)
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creativity, productivity, science, things you should read | 
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Posted by Ethan
May 27, 2010
I think we make things that we like and that we think our friends would like, and we cross our fingers and hope that enough other people like it that we can earn a living. Rather than trying to guess, ‘What is it that the American public wants right now and let’s see if we can give it to them.’
Aaron Sorkin
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Posted by Ethan
May 18, 2010
If we embrace the fact that no one can or should ever care about the health of our passions as much as we do, the practical decisions that help ensure Our Good Thing stays alive can become as “simple” as a handful of proven patterns—work hard, stay awake, fail well, hang with smart people, shed bullshit, say “maybe,” focus on action, and always always commit yourself to a bracing daily mixture of all the courage, honesty, and information you need to do something awesome—discover whatever it’ll take to keep your nose on the side of the ocean where the fresh air lives. This is huge.
- Merlin Mann
A great quote from an interesting article about Future-Proofing Your Passion that includes lots of great advice for young and old scientists alike.
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Posted by Ethan
March 7, 2010
Transient Theorist is planning on doing something with his Spring Break that most of us don’t do often enough – take a week to think. In the rush to do all of the things that have to be done, we often lose track of doing the things that are really important to our core mission – advancing scientific knowledge as quickly as possible. A large part of accomplishing this mission is taking the time to think, explore ideas, consider the broader contexts in which one’s interests lie and develop linkages beyond the narrow confines of one’s discipline. It also includes taking the time to develop new skills, be they in the lab or on the computer. These activities rarely have short-term benefits and they practically never have meaningful deadlines. As such, it is easy for them to be sacrificed for things that need to be done now. So, I’d suggest that you go read Theo’s post for inspiration (and check out some of the posts in the Study Hacks Primer), start saying no so that you have a chance to assign time to bigger things, and try to find at least a few days over this Spring Break to really think about where your science is going over the next year.
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Posted by Ethan
Ethan
Morgan
Morgan & Ethan