Study Hacks

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

Links That Win More Than Barack Obama

• Todoist with a Notecard for a Day | Grad Hacker
  Over at Grad Hacker we get a twist on student time management that makes the Hipster PDA seem like Microsoft Project. (How’s that for overly-complicated, insider productivity-themed analogies?) Carry one single index card in your pocket. That’s it.
• A Simple Guide to Being Present for the Overworked and Overwhelmed | Zen Habits
  Leo offers some insightful advice for finding what’s important in the middle of chaos. I’m increasingly convinced of the importance of psychology in the college experience. And Leo’s a pop psych master. So check it out…
• The Happiness Project | Alex Shalman
  More from the “find your bliss” wing of the Study Hacks party: Blogger Alex Shalman is asking well-known productivity bloggers to weigh in on the topic of happiness.
• Where to Find a Librarian 24/7 | Student Hacks
  Back to the hard stuff. Over at Student Hacks we get a list of online librarian resources you can access any time from any where.
• Cognitive doping for intellectually demanding tasks: worth it? | Academic Productivity
  Speaking of hard stuff, over at Academic Productivity we get an interesting article on mind doping in academia.
• 5 Creativity Tips from Steve Martin | Getting Thing Done in Academia
  Great minds think a like. The gang over at GTDA was also enthralled by Steve Martin’s new memoir. Their post extracts some tips for his rich experience for inducing more creativity. A good compliment to our earlier discussion of the Steve Martin Method.
• 6 Lessons for Making a Smooth Transition in Life | Life Hack
  Have a big change coming up? A summer internship? Moving into the working world? Life Hack has your back. Some solid tips for managing the transition smoothly.
• 10 Tips for Being Productive While Being Scheduled to Death | Scott Young
  Do you wonder how some students manage to fit in so much into their day while you feel overwhelmed just trying to keep up with your basic coursework? Scott’s article provides some insight into the type of project hacks that get the big things done.

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Collection of Links Stronger than Tom Brady’s Ankle

• Living Consciously: 10 Things I Have Learned About Myself | I Will Change Your Life
  Peter over at the I Will Change Your Life blog shares some interesting reflections on how his life operates. A useful exercise for all of us.
• Helping Students Find Their Way | Ben Casnocha
  Our friend Ben asks whether college students need help finding their way after graduation. Follow the comments thread for bonus insight from Ben’s freakishly insightful readers.
• 5 Transformative E-mail Tips | Getting Things Done in Academia
  I’m particularly entranced by the idea of subject line protocols. I knew a professor who tried this for a while. It didn’t stick. But I always thought it cool…
• Dealing with Information Overload | Life Hack
  Monkia over at Life Hack provides some direction for clearing out the information clutter in your life.
• Sprinting Theory: How to Have Self-Discipline on Steroids | Scott Young
  If you can tear your eyes away from the photo of myself at the top of the post, you’ll encounter more of Scott’s famed ability to deconstruct why we get things done, and, more importantly, why we don’t.

Interesting 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.

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Backlog of Burnished Bits of Advice Bombs

• How to Complete your PhD (or any large project): Hard and Soft Deadlines, the Martini Method | Academic Productivity
  Shane over at Academic Productivity describes the system he used to finish his PhD. If it worked for his dissertation, imagine what it would do for your next term paper?
• What’s Stopping You From Getting Started (and What to Do About It) | LifeHack
  This article over at LifeHack is surprisingly perceptive. Dustin really gets to the core of what stops many of us from getting started on projects we know would be important. Most insightful: (1) lack of confidence in plan; and (2) too much on your plate. Good guide to help you diagnosis your own stasis.
• GTD and Inbox Zero | ProtoScholar
  Speaking of perceptive, Rebecca over at ProtoScholar provides some honest (and hauntingly familiar) reasons why achieving an empty inbox is so difficult. Fascinating stuff for all you reformed productivity junkies out there…
• What Do You Want To Do With Your Life? | Scott Young
  A thought-provoking article from the Scott Young’s archives. He attempts to deconstruct the idea of passion, and, in doing so, provides some nice insight into what we value.
• The 12 Days of Hack College Christmas | Hack College
  The crew over at Hack College spent their Christmas vacation putting together a 12-part series on useful techno tips and tricks for students.
• Improve Your Productivity in One Step — Go Offline | The Student Help Forum
  A simply observation, but one that should be hammered into student’s heads again and again. Don’t go online while trying to work! Here, Saad Padela makes a good pitch for the idea.
• Me, Me, Me: Find Your Voice and Make it Shout | Mindul Ink
  Martin, our friend from the University Blog, has a good guest post on Mindful Ink about looking to yourself to figure out the best way to run your life.
• Helicopter Parents Need to Fly Away | The University Blog
  A post about the (purported) problem of helicopter parents in academia and beyond. Bonus content: note the back and forth discussion between Martin and me in the comments section.

The Return of Gideon

Earlier in the fall, we were saddened to see one of our favorite student productivity blogs, Scholasticius, go silent due to a dispute over the name. I’m pleased to announce that the blog’s patron, Gideon, has returned under the new and improved name of Mindful Ink, and has already started posting up a storm. Welcome back Gideon!

To all my new readers, I highly recommend checking it out.

Best Blog Awards

I was flattered to learn that Study Hacks was recently nominated for Best Education Blog in Performancing’s annual Reader’s Choice Best Blog Awards.

If you enjoy this blog, please consider taking a few seconds to vote for Study Hacks. All you have to do is click on this link, select “Study Hacks,” and then click “vote.” (No registration required.)

If you don’t like me, but do like Hack College, Gearfire, or That College Kid, then go vote for them. As they’re also nominated, and are also excellent, and above all, it would be great to see a student productivity blog win the award!

As always: Thank you for your support.

Interesting links from around the web to help you through your weekend Study Hacks withdrawal…

A Stocking Full of Holiday Productivity

• Bad career advice: Do what you love | Brazen Careerist
  Penelope slams a cherished piece of career advice. And I couldn’t agree more. Worried about post-graduation? Read this…
• When Are You Happiest? | Scott Young
  Scott Young asks his readers to report when they feel most happy. The answers might surprise you…
• How I Gained 5 50lbs in One Week | I Will Teach You To Be Rich
  Ramit ruminates on his recent efforts to gain weight. In doing so, he derives some powerful insights on how to actually achieve goals (hint: don’t sweat the small stuff).
• GTD Mastery 100: Step 5 | GearFire
  Chris over at GearFire explains his souped up Gmail configuration which he uses to run his GTD universe. As a strong believer in the “GTD in e-mail” school of productivity thought, I’m dutifully impressed.
• Learn to Recognize When Multitasking Goes Too Far | Employee Evolution
  Ryan Paugh provides a good, link-rich summary of everything we now know to be bad about multitasking.
• Academic Writer’s Block | Ask MetaFilter
  The hivemind over at MetaFilter has been tackling the challenge of overcoming writers block when working on a paper. Though the thread was motivated by someone sweating their dissertation, the advice is applicable to any student facing a blank screen.

A Humble Holiday Suggestion

Do you know a student who could benefit from a study skills makeover? Consider buying him or her a copy of How to Become a Straight-A Student for the new semester. This book, published by Random House earlier this year, details the study system that motivates all of the advice you find here on Study Hacks. Its chapters cover everything from time management, to note-taking, to paper writing — all based on my extensive interviews with over 50 straight-A students from a variety of majors and colleges.

To find out more, check out the 16 18 five-star reviews on Amazon or read this excerpt.

Still not convinced?

Here’s what reviewers at student newspapers across the country had to say about the book:

• “This book was surprisingly realistic and easy to read. I read the entire thing within a few hours — I couldn’t help myself…Lately, my homework is getting done faster, my reading quicker, and my comprehension clearer. I haven’t had a headache yet, and I’ve been able to get at least six to eight hours of sleep a night.” (full review…)
  – Regis University Highlander

• “The student-friendly mind-set is what sets this academic success manual apart from the countless others…The defining characteristic of this book is it does not ignore the fact that college students have an overwhelming tendency to procrastinate, sleep and have a good time, often putting grades at the bottom of the totem pole…How to Become a Straight-A Student equips the college student with an attainable, hands-on guidebook to do well in all classes, without becoming a caffeine-addicted recluse.” (full review…)
  – The Daily Texan, student paper of the Univeristy of Texas

• “Newport’s words are a must-have for students…The book targets students’ weak spots and shows them how to improve. In fact, it’s already helped this reader.” (full review…)
  – The Battalion, student paper of Texas A&M

• “Every college student should read How to Become a Straight-A Student.” (full review…)
  – The Central Connecticut State Recorder

How to Purchase

Click here to buy the book from Amazon. While there, check out my first book, How to Win at College, a newly-minted college advice classic, now in its 7th printing!