Weekend Links: E-mail Bugs, Slacker Freshmen, and the Mythology Behind Good Will Hunting
Links January 27th. 2008, 7:25pmInteresting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…
Links. Lots of Links. Did I Mention Links?
- Hairy and hairier: Visualizing unresponded email in your mailbox | Academic Productivity
The folks over at Academic Productivity feature an innovative new software solution to taming inbox chaos. It’s a little creepy for my tastes. But it’s nice to see some new ideas for tackling this growing problem. - The Holy Grail: How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
Speaking of e-mail, Tim Ferriss describes his novel solution to reducing his time on e-mail: hiring other people to check it for him. I’m surprised more professors don’t have their grad students doing this for them. On second thought, definitely don’t mention this to my advisor. - Will you earn your Ph. D.? | Getting Things Done in Academia
A nice summary of some new research on predicting a student’s success in a Ph.D. program. Notice how the factors that predict passing quals (which I recently did) are different than the factors that predict finishing the entire program (which I haven’t done, yet). I think the results are probably applicable to any big, self-motivated, non-constrained endeavor. - The connection between a good job and happiness is overrated | Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
An older article, but one of my Penelope favorites. It deflates the trumped up idea among college seniors that they need to leave the “safe path” to find a job they’ll love. Penelope’s take: you’re not going to love your job. Get over it. - Write to Done
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits fame has just started a new blog dedicated to writing. He recently landed a book deal, so I assume a lot of the posts will be born of painful firsthand experience. (Trust me, I’ve been there twice before.) - Keeping To-Learn Lists | Scott Young
Scott offers up a novel, self-improvement flavored twist on the traditional to-do list. - Kick Down a False Sense of Security | The University Blog
An interesting essay by Martin over at the University Blog on why you should be careful about not slacking too much during your first year of university. - The Myth of Prodigy and Why it Matters | APS Observer
Another oldie that’s worth a read. It’s an article from the Association for Psychological Science that covers a fascinating speech by Malcolm Gladwell on our national obsession with the idea of the prodigy. Knocking down the “Good Will Hunting Myth,” as I like to call it, is something I face frequently when working with students in math and science. Good to see some Gladwell firepower behind these ideas.
