Comments on: 5 Articles That Will Change The Way You Think About Personal Productivity

By: tabiji

tabiji — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:52:59 +0000

Your blog is much more helpful than Zen Habits.

By: social development

social development — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:49:05 +0000

social development…

I hear ya’…

By: Grad Hacker

Grad Hacker — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:04:05 +0000

Late response, I know, but thanks for the good words. Great list here.

Tassia’s comment:

Love #4, but don’t call anyone on it if you want to be or stay friends.

is one of the key reasons I am forced to remain “mysterious”.

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:35:08 +0000

I totally disagree with #5 - imo, it belongs in #2.

I’m not sure I follow?

I would add one more: structured procrastination.

I hear a lot about structured procrastination. It’s an interesting idea. Definitely worth a spot on the list.

Cal, I’ve always wondered if a medical student could possibly apply any “study hacks” to medical studies. It seems that study hacks could be applied to graduate studies in other fields but medicine seems to be notoriously unreasonable in regards to the volume of work vs the time constraint. What is your opinion on this?

I have some med student readers. I’m not an expert on what makes med school different, having never attended myself, but I sense having a good efficient system to go from lecture notes to structured review — preferably fit into a well-defined autopilot schedule that keeps you constantly looking at a little bit of material — works pretty well.

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:15:58 +0000

@JJ

I believe that these posts might be helpful:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/06/23/monday-master-class-conquer-complicated-material-with-the-mini-textbook-method/

http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/07/03/case-study-why-the-number-of-hours-you-spend-studying-means-nothing/

By: Jose

Jose — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:29:04 +0000

Hey, this is a great list! thanks for the nomination
Here goes another hour or so of mindless reading …

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:28:45 +0000

Cal, I’ve always wondered if a medical student could possibly apply any “study hacks” to medical studies. It seems that study hacks could be applied to graduate studies in other fields but medicine seems to be notoriously unreasonable in regards to the volume of work vs the time constraint. What is your opinion on this?

By: The Commoditization of Wisdom Literature « Zen-House Counsel

The Commoditization of Wisdom Literature « Zen-House Counsel — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:36:32 +0000

[…] nothing new, of course, but today there seems to be a profusion of it. As Cal Newport’s post here reminded me, much of it is about “productivity,” whether the author is David Allen, Tim […]

By: JP Adams

JP Adams — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:08:46 +0000

Thanks for the good summation of unique productivity techniques.

I would add one more: structured procrastination.

http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

Perfected by a Standford Psychology professor, he became well know on campus for playing ping pong with students. “What a set up: play ping pong as a way of not doing more important things, and get a reputation as Mr. Chips.”

By: Tassia

Tassia — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:10:07 +0000

I totally disagree with #5 - imo, it belongs in #2.

I cut Allan some slack because he began by marketing his ideas to businesses (so it’s hardly surprising that businesses use them), plus he’s marketing a process - the amount you put into that process is up to you. (Though I think your student version is much more workable for anyone who isn’t in “the workforce”, student or not.)

Love #4, but don’t call anyone on it if you want to be or stay friends.