tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25252274664402536212024-03-12T17:11:04.225-07:00Question Everythingespecially yourselfalbertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-59623750862404981012015-05-11T03:54:00.000-07:002015-05-12T04:05:01.248-07:00Morning routine: small habits, big changes<div class="p1">
<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I enter the clinical years of medical school, <b>time</b> will be limited due to the hectic schedule (up to 80 hours per week), and time will often be <b>out of my control</b>. I expect this to <b>drain my willpower.</b> How do I ensure I continue to take care of <b>my health, relationships, and personal goals</b>?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The solution is to <b>create consistent routines </b>that turn activities like exercise and organization into <b>habits.</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I developed <b>my morning routine</b> over the past 4 months while finishing up my PhD thesis. The routine is intended to <b>build momentum </b>for the day and make me <b>focused and relaxed</b>. It already kept me sane while preparing manuscripts for publication, presenting at national conferences, and writing that 210 page dissertation. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time to share it.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________________________________________________________</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span class="s2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Staples of my morning routine</u></span></b></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These habits survived a dozen rounds of experimentation. They will be the core of my morning routine for a long time.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1) Clean up</b> <b>and de-grog</b>: When I first get out of bed, I'm groggy. I used to dislike cleaning up my home, because it is mindless. It got cluttered quickly. Solution? Clean up when I'm groggy- just one section of the condo. This takes no mental energy, but gets me active and wakes me up. When fully conscious, I look around and get both joy and focus from the uncluttered living space. The small win, so early in the morning, brings easy motivation.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"><i></i></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson: look at problems in your own life, and pick habits that help you solve them.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2) Speech warm-up</b>: I used to stutter and not articulate my words properly. A regular routine of practicing speech (I use <a href="http://bostonartsacademy.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/SPEECH-EXERCISES.doc">alliterative poems</a>) gave me the confidence for the next step: a lot of public speaking. This mostly fixed the problem, but I still do the habit to warm-up for the day, and to remind myself of my continuing goal to become an articulate and clear speaker.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"><i></i></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson: use morning routines to remind yourself of personal goals and warm up for the day.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbQPpLL6HuRmDfVhaRaTQEgDbcDCwOw8sAJjU5-3ilqb1WbbtYhne2sQIh_N41MMV610wMOTFrBXmz3AA2gmLfxHQr-k1JC4EuQfOZDIPcXagbhuOYvpl4tXO2fGF7VhPOER2dVae3TXs/s1600/Fitocracy+and+Workflowy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbQPpLL6HuRmDfVhaRaTQEgDbcDCwOw8sAJjU5-3ilqb1WbbtYhne2sQIh_N41MMV610wMOTFrBXmz3AA2gmLfxHQr-k1JC4EuQfOZDIPcXagbhuOYvpl4tXO2fGF7VhPOER2dVae3TXs/s400/Fitocracy+and+Workflowy.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decide ahead of time exactly what the routine entails</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3) 7 minute bodyweight workout</b>: short, super-intense workouts are highly effective. <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/">NYTimes</a> posted one anyone can do, but I found a far more intense version on <a href="http://ftcy.me/ixL6WP">Fitocracy</a> (BURPEES). Don't be fooled by the short time interval- I'm dying by the end of it. For a challenge, just go faster. By this method, I can truly work out every day, no matter how busy I am.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson: well-designed habits dispel the excuse "I don't have time."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also listen to motivational videos while working out. Serves as a timer, motivates me, and reminds me of principles that help me solve life problems. Here's one of my favorites that teaches the power of habit.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TCOEuE25MU4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="399" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TCOEuE25MU4?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: left; float: left;" width="480"></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________________________________________________________</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span class="s2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>Experimenting</u></span></b></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A morning routine is endlessly adaptable to meet one’s changing life needs, so I continue to experiment with it. </span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"><i></i></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently:</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1) Make my bed. </b>Never did this before, but I easily tacked this on to my established cleanup routine.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson: use habits as triggers for other habits</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2) Write for 30 minutes. </b>Where do you think this article came from? Consistency.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson: morning routines make side projects possible on a busy schedule</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3) Meditate. </b>I’m using meditation to train the ability to re-direct my attention at will. Unproductive rumination about something that makes me angry, sad, etc. severely hampers my effectiveness and happiness. Re-focusing my attention should prove invaluable in any tough situation.<b> </b>I use the <a href="http://headspace.com/">Headspace app</a>.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>How to experiment:</u></span></b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"><a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-art-of-trying-new-things.html">Last time, I wrote about a dangerous trap when trying new things</a>. </span><span class="s2"><b>Don’t</b></span><span class="s1"> simply collect a list of useful-sounding habits and string them together into a morning routine. <b>You must prioritize taking concrete action on them, and see for yourself if they are useful to you.</b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But how you do choose a habit to take action on?</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Method: </u></span></i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pick 2-4 habits. Try them all once, <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-art-of-trying-new-things.html">immediately</a>.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ones you like, commit to them everyday for 7-10 days. <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-art-of-trying-new-things.html">Discard the others</a>.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ones you still like, commit to them everyday for 1 month. Discard the others.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After 25-50 days, it’s a habit (exact time depends on the habit)</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0knNcxZD8nU_MkC3_e_CCL0Z-NuCTDNxIkK40I0PB7P-fZGmaZTguTNgbBcIlaKcO200t6XKI61mvuL8jhdsyxdwFBHlZR7XgO6BXdGJW-8z0W1KYDBICu-Cgpzc86yWLRzRKq12eZRss/s1600/2015-05-11_06_13_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0knNcxZD8nU_MkC3_e_CCL0Z-NuCTDNxIkK40I0PB7P-fZGmaZTguTNgbBcIlaKcO200t6XKI61mvuL8jhdsyxdwFBHlZR7XgO6BXdGJW-8z0W1KYDBICu-Cgpzc86yWLRzRKq12eZRss/s400/2015-05-11_06_13_17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22aGTrD1KPtkzrst8FbLl0euG-ONhDDUpQVzohX8hjAX0uO4N79LJhKJOoALcdZwcJ1vKh7sq51V8M1e5wnEhN3mqZebZacXZ9etHADu97cDHAJ6fHQ046L2cGFVDj33n3PJC2Ui4caBi/s1600/Headspace.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22aGTrD1KPtkzrst8FbLl0euG-ONhDDUpQVzohX8hjAX0uO4N79LJhKJOoALcdZwcJ1vKh7sq51V8M1e5wnEhN3mqZebZacXZ9etHADu97cDHAJ6fHQ046L2cGFVDj33n3PJC2Ui4caBi/s400/Headspace.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Find a way to visualize your progress.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At any point in this process, use your experience (what worked, what didn’t, and why) as feedback to identify other potential habits to try (again, <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-art-of-trying-new-things.html">try them as soon as you find them</a>).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Warning:</b> for the 1-month commitment, note that <b>internal resistance occurs around 7-14 days, making you want to give up</b>. During this period, motivation disappears (motivation is an emotion, and emotions are always temporary), and the habit is not yet ingrained. Your brain will come up with excuses like “I don’t have time” and “maybe what I'm doing doesn't matter.” <b>Don’t give in at this point- otherwise you’ll never deliberately build any habits at all.</b></span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________________________________________________________</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>More than just the habit</u></span></b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bonus!!! Because of my speech warm-up, I find myself subconsciously working on my articulation </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">throughout the day</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. This reminds me to pay more attention to others, and I feel a frequent impulse to smile, make eye contact, and listen to others. My morning workout reminds me to use occasional free time to go cycling or hit the gym. After a small morning clean-up for 4 months, I felt ready for a major overhaul: I gave away 60% of my possessions, and adopted a new organizing strategy that is both easy and beautiful.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>You are what you do frequently. By doing things everyday, you change how you view your own identity. You no longer feel constrained by your current situation, personality, and weaknesses. </b>Thus, the mental benefits far exceed the direct effects of daily action.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In summary, a morning routine allows you to:</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Feel in control of your day</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Target specific problems in your life</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remind yourself of personal goals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Warm up for the day</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">String habits together as progressive triggers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dispel the excuse “I don’t have time.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gain confidence to make bigger changes in your life</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All this, by expending minimal time and willpower. What are you waiting for?</span></span></div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-6026780940426943042015-04-29T08:57:00.000-07:002015-04-30T07:27:18.140-07:00The Art of Trying New Things<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.8pt; margin-top: 0in;">
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">“Someday.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">During
grad school, I fell in love with trying new things. I saw the power: I was a
fat kid who had never run more than 3 miles at a time, and thought “I’m not a
person who works out.” Four months of half-marathon training, and now daily
exercise is integral to my identity. <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-outreach-habit-50-consecutive-days.html">I
used to have social anxiety and now I give seminars on networking.</a> Every
time I deliberately sought out new experiences that seemed impossibly outside
my comfort zone, they completely changed how I think, act, and value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">In
practice, there were sprints and crawls in my self-development during grad
school. Often times, I dreamed of trying new things, but my life pretty much stayed
the same. Goals went nowhere. I got discouraged, and in darker days I blamed my
environment or people around me for holding me back. Any life-changing sprints
would always fade back into a soul-sucking crawl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Clearly,
I was falling into a trap when trying new things. Finally, at the end of my
PhD, I figured it out. When did I sprint and when did I crawl? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">The
determining factor: whether or not I applied the Ultimate Rule.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------</o:p></span></blockquote>
<b style="line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;"><u>The
Ultimate Rule for successfully trying new things:</u></span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">When
you encounter something new you can try, you <u>only</u> have three choices:</span><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">1) Do
it immediately.</span><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">2) Schedule
it for a specific time in the next 1-3 months. If it is not accomplished by that deadline, do Option 3.</span><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b style="line-height: 125%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">3)</span></i></b><i style="line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;"> <b>Discard
it and forget about it.</b></span></i><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.6666660308838px; line-height: 23.3333320617676px;"> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Option
3 is hardest. You may think it’s foolish. You may have trouble letting go of
the dream of trying it. Or you may simply be used to accumulating ideas you
don’t do anything about. All three applied to me.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">But now
I know: </span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">Discarding and forgetting goals is the key to accomplishing
goals</b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">__________________________________________________</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><u><span style="color: black; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The trap</span></span></u></b></h2>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Let’s
consider the basic anatomy of trying new things:</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Step 1:
Discover that this new thing exists</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Step 2:
Decide to act</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Step 3:
Act</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Step 4:
Learn from action</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">It’s
easy to do Step 1 over and over and over again. <u>For some reason, this
step is really addictive. That’s the trap.</u></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">The
world is filled with new things to try. Just look around you, or at the
Internet. Bucket lists. So many books and Internet articles! Juggling! Ukulele!
People skills! Lucid dreaming! Rock climbing! Memory techniques! So many
countries to travel to! Thousands of hobbies! So many skills that will open so
many doors! I put these on a list titled “Someday/Maybe.”</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">A
“someday” list <b>feels </b>like the right thing to do. I thought,
“Gotta dream big, right?” After all, it <b>energizes and motivates me.
Good thing, right?</b></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Wrong.</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"> It’s
a <b>drug</b>. It’s a <b>hit of energy and motivation. </b>It’s <b>getting
a reward without doing anything. </b>Your brain gets addicted to reading
and dreaming about cool things to do, which is fun and easy. Actually trying
new things is scary, and your brain will rationalize putting it off with “I
don’t have time right now” or a similar excuse. After all, you already got your
hit. If “someday” is an option, then “someday” will become the default
choice. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">What’s
worse, you’ve gathered all this information about new things to try. It’s
floating around in your brain, it’s bloating your to-do list, and now you have
half-started hobbies strewn around your home. You constantly see all this
clutter, and every time you see it, you are forced to say, “I’ll do it
someday later.” The “someday” mentality is self-reinforcing, <b>and now you’re
trapped by your habits and your environment.</b></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">__________</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">_________________________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><u><span style="color: black; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Discarding goals is key to accomplishing goals</span></span></u></b></h2>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">So Step
1 is the problem (discovering new things). How do you consistently get to Steps
2 and 3 (deciding to act, and then taking action)? You must make it a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 125%;">habit to implement the Ultimate Rule. Again, you either try the new
thing immediately or schedule it for a specific time. If you fail to do this,
you MUST drop it and forget about it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Get a
clean slate as quickly as possible. You have a lot of goals floating around in
your head, and reminders of goals strewn around your home. These will clutter
your mind. If you have a lot of things on your bucket list built up, delete
them all now. If you have a guitar you haven’t played in years, get rid of it.
If you have 20 unread books on your shelf, donate them now. All at once.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Then,
face reality. “Someday” is a myth.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">You will
never “find time.” You have to <u>make</u> time for personal growth.</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"> If
you want to run a marathon, is it worth clearing space in your schedule to
train? You WILL need to say no to your buddies going to the bar, you WILL need
to sacrifice sleep to get other work done, you WILL need to sacrifice other
hobbies.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Trying
worthwhile new things, by definition, should take you outside your comfort
zone. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">You WILL have to fail many times, because that
is how you learn. If you want to learn a language, <a href="http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2015/04/27/tedx-learn-any-language/">you
WILL need to commit to speaking no English for set periods of time</a>. And you
WILL embarrass yourself stumbling over words. This is emotionally draining, and
you MUST be willing to fail and deal with frustration.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Apply the Ultimate Rule and decide once and for all whether to take
action<b>, </b>by doing something new immediately or scheduling it<b>. What is this really worth to <u>you</u>, and is it worth
re-organizing your life for it?</b></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><b>If the
answer is no, </b>forget it. Discard it. Simply don’t think about it. You don’t
want the thought of “someday” to paralyze you.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 125%;"><b>If the
answer is yes,</b> then this very act of deciding between taking action and discarding has
forced you to <b>clarify the value of the activity.</b> If the answer
is yes, then you will see this new venture through to the end, no matter what.
You will make time and energy for it. Force yourself to act, the only thing
that will ever make a difference. Nothing will stop you from becoming what you
want to become.</span><span style="line-height: 125%;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-85431802243882567832014-12-25T17:41:00.001-08:002014-12-25T17:42:24.927-08:002014: Twelve Habits of Creativity<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:1 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:•;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Previously, I wrote about my
<a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-outreach-habit-50-consecutive-days.html">Outreach Habit</a>, </span>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Arial;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:1 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:•;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-text:"";
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:0in;
text-indent:0in;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style><span style="font-family: Arial;">how I pushed through
difficulty, and how it changed who I am. It<span style="color: #262626;"> garnered
enough interest for a follow-up post. And indeed, this year I created </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #262626;">a spin-off of the Outreach Habit: </span></span>career workshops where grad students and post-docs made concrete
progress on their own careers,
available <a href="http://www.med.umich.edu/cmb/pdf_docs/Ace_Workshop.pdf">here</a> </span><span style="color: #262626;">and described by a participant <a href="https://www.rackham.umich.edu/blog/zero-network-10-minutes">here</a>. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">And the
Outreach Habit was just Phase One.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Creativity
is like any other skill. It can be deliberately practiced and improved. Importantly, one can’t just read about how to be creative and then be creative. People
sometimes want tips and tricks (i.e. shortcuts and magic bullets), but you actually have to
actually implement creative techniques yourself, figure out what works for you, and make it a habit to think
creatively. The only way to build a habit is through concrete action -
doing it everyday.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Creativity
doesn’t “just happen.” It’s not spontaneous (though it can feel like
it in the moment). It’s not waiting around to be inspired. And it's certainly not out of your control (though it is partly out of your conscious control).</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">With this in
mind, I dedicated each month of 2014 to a different <b><u>Habit of Creativity</u>.</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><u style="text-underline: #262626;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Creativity is simply this: Taking
things that already exist and connecting them in new ways.</span></u></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"> This doesn’t just happen by
itself. To do this, five basic ingredients need to be cultivated:</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">1) Raw
material</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">. Obviously,
you can’t connect things you don’t know exist. This is why I did my 52
Books in 52 Weeks challenge in 2013- to maximize exposure to ideas.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">2) Actively
engaging with ideas.</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">
You can’t expect creativity to "just happen.” There are specific ways
to wrestle with ideas.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">3)
Relationships.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <span style="color: #262626;">I personally like to be by myself and think, but
adopting other people’s viewpoints is the fastest way to look at the
same old boring thing in a different light.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">4) A creative
environment.</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"> Daily
routines, schedules, work space, etc all need to be tinkered with. This
will be different for different people, but trial and error is always required.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">5)
Deliberate skill acquisition.</span></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"> Skills create opportunities to access and cultivate the four
ingredients above.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Each Habit of Creativity
is targeted at one of the above ingredients.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">___________________________________________________________</span></div>
<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Monthly Habits of Creativity</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span>
</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Just like
the Outreach Habit, I strived to practice a Habit of Creativity <b>every
single day for 30-50 days,</b> using the <a href="http://tinybuddha.com/blog/simple-mini-habits-can-change-life/">Mini-Habits method</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #262626;">. When I fell off, I got
back on as quickly as I could.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">These
targeted my specific weaknesses. If you want to develop your own Habits of
Creativity, you can try mine out, but don’t adopt them wholesale. Instead,
be creative...</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">I’m not
going to explain these in detail. Instead, I’ve included links to what
inspired the habit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">My 2014 Habits of
Creativity:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">January: <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-outreach-habit-50-consecutive-days.html">Outreach</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">February: <a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/">Read scientific papers daily</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">March: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whole-New-Mind-Right-Brainers-Future/dp/1594481717">Learn to draw</a>... using
Inkscape vector graphics. Required myself to to post one new drawing
everyday on Facebook. Also used this to generate all the figures for my
1-hour presentation on my thesis work.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">April: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whole-New-Mind-Right-Brainers-Future/dp/1594481717">Empathy</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whole-New-Mind-Right-Brainers-Future/dp/1594481717"><span style="color: #0000e9;"></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">May: <a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2014/05/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/">Write down 10 ideas</a> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">June: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0rs9ZENgM">Journal</a> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">July: <a href="http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2011/09/01/learn-faster/">Active recall</a> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">August: <a href="https://www.coursera.org/specialization/jhudatascience/1?utm_medium=courseDescripTop">Learn programming in R</a> (continued until
November) </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">September: <a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/2014/09/13/deep-habits-jumpstart-your-concentration-with-a-depth-ritual/">Deep work rituals</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">October: </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.xmind.net/">Mind mapping</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">November: <a href="http://www.earlytorise.com/your-perfect-day-revealed/">Morning ritual</a> to
promote clarity of thought and stay focused on my most important
work. Includes journaling, exercise, and reading </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">•<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">December: <a href="http://99u.com/book/maximize-your-potential">Evening ritual</a> dedicated
to building relationships </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">__________________________________________________________</span></div>
<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="text-underline: #262626;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Interested or Skeptical?</span></span></span><u style="text-underline: #262626;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></u></b><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"></span>
</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Below are some common
responses I got to my Outreach Habit, likely relevant to rest of my habits.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A common response:
"Wow, that sounds like it took a lot of time. I wish I had that kind of
time."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">“I don’t have time” is
a bullshit excuse. You just need the right plan. The Outreach Habit took 10
minutes per day.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Another common response:
“Wow, you were really motivated to do that. How did you inspire yourself
everyday?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">“I’m not feeling
motivated” is a crutch. You don’t need inspiration to take action. Most
days I did not feel motivated. Action leads to motivation, not
the other way around.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Another common response:
“You’re so extroverted! I wish I could do that” or… “That sounds like faking it
and not being yourself..."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are">“I’m not that type of person” is irrelevant.</a> You can <u style="text-underline: #262626;">become</u>
that type of person. I’m still an introvert, by the way. Being around others is
exhausting. But that doesn’t mean I can’t reach out to others.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-71621577939216268592014-02-21T12:58:00.002-08:002015-06-19T04:04:34.228-07:00The Outreach Habit: 50 consecutive days of doing something I'm bad at<h2>
<u style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Goal</span></u></h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every single day for the first 50 days of 2014, I forced myself to do something outside my comfort zone. And that's how I ended up having drinks with the vice president of a powerful company.</span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgGXIGPzQCrzSL2gxfV8R1GZW39FNyOIXdqtpItybmXuvkb8q4i4qsKSTPuUegUBb26yPr8G4HUSjQRAXiYnVUvwOw9zPx5BixB0D4zBxgX_Y2bZHoRAVBTWrZqSDjEID9z0oVdqg3Zm3/s1600/Networking+as+Introvert.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgGXIGPzQCrzSL2gxfV8R1GZW39FNyOIXdqtpItybmXuvkb8q4i4qsKSTPuUegUBb26yPr8G4HUSjQRAXiYnVUvwOw9zPx5BixB0D4zBxgX_Y2bZHoRAVBTWrZqSDjEID9z0oVdqg3Zm3/s1600/Networking+as+Introvert.png" width="320" /></a><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">~The Outreach Habit:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"> Everyday, I must make contact with one person that I otherwise would not have.~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Completion rate: 100%, tracked on <a href="https://lift.do/%E2%80%8E">Lift.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<b>This usually entailed cold e-mails to people I don’t know.</b> I wrote to the blogger <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/programmer_privilege_as_an_asian_male_computer_science_major_everyone_gave.html">Philip Guo</a> telling him how much <a href="http://www.pgbovine.net/NSF-grant-proposal-first-time.htm">his article on grant writing</a> helped me write my predoctoral fellowship, and he got back to me immediately and posted my message on his blog. I wrote to a graduate school dean proposing a collaboration- we start Monday. I got the new President of the University of Michigan to agree to speak to the MD/PhD program within 24 hours of the announcement of his selection by the Board of Regents. I also contacted dozens of alumni and other professionals to organize a series of career panels.<br />
<br />
The Outreach Habit also included going up to a speaker after a talk. At a conference, this led to an e-mail exchange with a professor comparing data to assess the potential for a collaboration.<br />
<br />
</span>I suppose you could call this the Networking Habit, but <span style="font-family: inherit;">I also want to get better at keeping in touch with old friends. Therefore, I wrote up a New Year's update blurb complete with photos and sent them to my friends. Many reciprocated. On really busy days, sending a quickly-modified blurb to another friend I hadn’t seen in years was a good, easy default.<br />
___________________________________________________________________________<br />
</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><u>Difficult Skills = Worthwhile Skills</u></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why did I choose this habit?<br />
<br />
Answer: because it’s <b>hard. Really hard.</b><br />
<br />
Or at least it's hard for me.<br />
<br />
First, I just spent the last year <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-most-productive-month-ever-some.html">maximizing my personal productivity</a>, <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/06/weekly-report-discomfort-solved.html">cultivating my ability to focus</a>, and cutting out distractions. I wanted to focus on my science and my work. With that mindset, other people are distractions.<br />
<br />
Second, when I started out, <b>I had no idea</b> how to make these meaningful, productive exchanges. The problem was that I was not used to putting myself in others’ shoes. If I was this person, why would I want to engage with this person who just sent me a random e-mail?<br />
<br />
Solution? I <b>tried</b> to make these exchanges meaningful, not worrying about how incompetent I was. Once I made the decision to reach out to a particular person, I forced myself to come up with more and more reasons to make contact. I researched the person online if I didn’t know them. I thought about my own goals and what reasons they would have for wanting to help me out. I thought about each unique person and crafted an equally unique connection. With this information in hand, I could craft a meaningful (yet short) e-mail with a meaningful outcome.<br />
<br />
<b>But I didn’t give up just because I sucked. </b>I wrote e-mails that were terrible and got no reply. I’m pretty sure I offended some people. I made some embarassing mistakes during public speaking events that resulted from this outreach habit. But <b>that is part of the process</b>. I only stuck with it because I knew that failure is actually just feedback to help me improve. This is the <b><a href="http://99u.com/videos/22655/heidi-grant-halvorson-the-incredible-benefits-of-a-get-better-mindset">“get better” mindset</a></b>- all that matters is that I improve. When I hit an obstacle, that’s life asking me, “are you sure you want to change?"</span><br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><u>Habits Change Who You Are</u></span></h2>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A week ago, I wanted to see if I truly made Outreach into a habit. So I ended this habit plan and archived the goal on Lift. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
What happened? I began seeing outreach opportunities everywhere.<br />
<br />
I heard that the vice president of a major company was coming to the university to give a talk on careers, and I immediately pulled up her e-mail address on LinkedIn and sent her a cold e-mail asking to meet for coffee. Within 1 hour of realizing she existed, I was on her schedule. We ended up having drinks for 3 hours and bonded over intellectual discussions and hilarious personal stories.<br />
<br />
I now encounter very little inertia when e-mailing a random big-shot and ask for a coffee meeting. They almost always say yes. I’m meeting with a Principal at Boston Consulting Group this evening- I only e-mailed him yesterday.<br />
<br />
Given that I used to suffer from social anxiety, it’s still a little hard to believe how comfortable I’ve become at making rapid and effective connections with complete strangers. How easy it is reach out to people who I’ve been feuding with or neglecting. And how fun it is. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It also opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. I can only reach a certain level of productivity working alone, no matter how much I improve personal skills like focus and time management. I can’t wait to see what I can make with others, working together.</span>
</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-13384474687040304392013-12-11T08:51:00.001-08:002013-12-11T08:54:04.899-08:00Want more autonomy at work? Here is the first step.<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">More on balancing productivity and relationships! Again, I’m writing a lot of this for myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">This series of blog posts was partially motivated by a reader’s question about defending one’s time while also maintaining relationships. It’s an important question, but there’s an important nuance. Yes, it is critical to defend your time and say “no” to a lot of things- even to your boss. </span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">But make sure you are effectively managing and utilizing what free time you already have before you start asking for more.</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">In fact, utilizing your current free time more effectively is key to obtaining more autonomy later on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>_______________________________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
<a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/11/re-evaluating-how-i-build-relationships.html" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Rule #1</a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> can be summarized as: Schedule dedicated time to invest in your relationships and your ability to build relationships. This solves a lot of conflicts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Rule #2: The First Step: Gain others' trust by proving your value and honesty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u><b>On value</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">There is a fantastic interview in Cal Newport’s book So Good They Can’t Ignore You. It’s worth repeating. After graduating from college, a young woman named Lulu takes her first job. It's a mindless, boring job pushing buttons to test for software bugs, and she doesn’t have much control of what she does and when. She just follows orders from an unending parade of micromanaging bosses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">While defending one’s time and acquiring autonomy is critical for taking control of one’s work life, it would have been a mistake for Lulu to start doing that immediately. Instead, she used what little autonomous time she did have (mostly her free time at home) to <b>build skills above and beyond her job requirements</b>. Instead of watching TV, she spent countless hours learning how to code on her own, and re-write the company's underlying computer system.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Eventually, she figured out how to automate the company's entire bug-testing process, saving it a ton of time and money. No one asked her to do this. Her bosses were impressed, and she was given a major promotion heading up a new software automation division with lots of responsibilities that probably had her working 80 hours per week. At this point, Lulu was really valuable. So she decided to <b>demand a 30-hour per week schedule</b> to reserve enough time to focus on her side projects. They couldn’t say no- they needed her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Therefore, if you feel constantly harassed by external responsibilities, a micromanaging boss, and other demands, don’t just try to fight them or avoid them (or worse, complain). </b><b><u>Increase your value by any means necessary and </u></b><b><i><u>then</u></i></b><b><u> you can negotiate your time commitments on a more equal footing.</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Now, PhD students are given a ton of autonomy and then must learn how to use it effectively. I didn’t need to “earn” it like Lulu did. However, the pattern still holds. Early on in my PhD, my boss would give me a project with specific goals and I’d work on them. If I didn’t fulfill them (which happened a lot early on), it would be a problem. I had other project ideas, but I honestly didn’t know how to execute them, so my boss’ ideas came first.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">I started coming up with solutions that my boss hadn’t considered. I delivered surprise results. I took note of what areas my boss was not focusing on (rigorous statistics, bioinformatics, automating common lab tasks), and dedicated time to learning how to do those things. Today, it’s pretty clear my boss is happy with my progress and fully trusts me to figure things out on my own. His ideas are now (very helpful) suggestions, not requirements. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Every PhD student has the time and autonomy to build skills above and beyond what is immediately required for the project they are given by their boss. If a corporate indentured servant like Lulu can find time for it, so can PhD students.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Book recommendation: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386780617&sr=8-1&keywords=so+good+they+can%27t+ignore+you">Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You</a>. Lots of good stories like Lulu’s. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><u><b>On honesty</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Being trusted is more important than being liked. So don’t be afraid to piss people off. Don’t go around pissing people off on purpose, but if honesty necessitates some uncomfortable words, go ahead. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">If someone else is causing you problems, the solution is simple: talk to them about it. Don’t complain, and certainly don’t write them off as inept or uncaring. If someone else is demanding too much of your time, make sure they trust you and don’t just think you’re lazy for saying “no.” If you prove your honesty first, they will believe you when you say you are too busy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Just like defending your time, don’t go overboard with this immediately. If your boss has some major flaws that are hurting your company, don’t walk into your her office and start criticizing her management style, unless she is already very open to feedback.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Instead, start small. </b>If someone says, “I love New York!” and you really dislike New York, don’t be afraid to say, “Being in New York City makes me want to blow my brains out.” Even if this person greatly outranks you. Most people are secure enough to not take offense at a trivial preference like that. <b>The very fact you are disagreeing with them shows them that you are telling them the truth.</b> Of course, don’t be unnecessarily mean about it, but don’t be afraid to be polarizing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Then, move up. Be open with your criticisms of your organization’s plans. Be open with what you support and don’t support. Even if your boss started off squelching feedback (I hear this is a common issue in the corporate world), but if you’ve built up trust, you can always get to the point of full honesty eventually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>_______________________________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Finally, note that neither of these things, proving value and proving honesty, requires you to get more free time first. You just have to do it. And it will open many doors later on.</span>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-31435447533192696242013-11-05T11:09:00.002-08:002013-11-05T11:42:47.266-08:00Time to re-evaluate how I build relationships and interact with others<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">This has been on my mind the entire month of November. It’s something I've put aside for a while. Therefore, I am talking to myself in this post just as much as I am to my readers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Some context: my previous experiments <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-plan-scheduled-bursts-and.html">developing focus</a> and <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-most-productive-month-ever-some.html">batching potential distractions</a> were meant to increase the time and energy spent on<b> what is important but not necessarily urgent.</b> This includes building skills, exploring ideas through reading and moving my project forward. In other words, striving to produce quality results and increase my ability to produce quality results.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Just one problem, which a few readers noticed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>You have to</b> <b>take control of your schedule</b> to make time for the important<b>. </b>Your schedule cannot be constantly subject to external demands, or else they will fill up all your time and you will have no time to nurture yourself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>To do this, you have to </b><u><b>defend</b></u><b> your own dedicated productivity time.</b> We live in an interdependent world and in most jobs you have to do things for other people. You have meetings you must attend. You must report your progress. Other people will make unreasonable demands of you because they themselves are under pressure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">So if you make yourself unavailable and don't respond to people's requests immediately (something always presented as urgent but is of highly varying importance), that might piss other people off if you don't handle it properly. Rule #2 from my last post may be especially hard for others to understand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">But the issue goes deeper than that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">"Important but not urgent" also includes one more big thing that solves this problem: investing in relationships.</b><br />
________________________________________________________________________________<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;">Apply newfound time and energy to investing in relationships and your ability to build professional and personal relationships</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">It should be no surprise that conflicts occur when people don’t trust each other and don’t know each other well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Rather than waiting for conflicts to occur and then frantically trying to resolve them before they put your relationship at risk, why not try to prevent them from happening at all? If you’re trying to protect your time from other people’s demands, you’ll be on much better footing if there is mutual trust and understanding.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">But it’s not easy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">To state the obvious: <b>Building solid relationships requires you to invest your time getting to know them on a "deeper" level," something which requires dedicated, focused effort. </b>Just as it takes unbroken focus to move your project forward or develop a new skill, it takes undivided attention to cultivate a strong relationship. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">So schedule time for it. And don't be afraid to sacrifice your schedule for a person you care about.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">So… how does one actually go about building solid relationships?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Personally, I find cliches like “be nice” or “be yourself” or “think of others” or "be a good listener" to be extraordinarily <u>unhelpful</u>. </b>They are too general to tell if you are actually making any progress. It’s also easy to be a good person a few times, and then stop thinking of others because you just assume what you do is “good” because you’re a “good person.” It’s called moral licensing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>________________________________________________________________________________<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;">Getting better</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Disclaimer: I've focused on just a few concrete things. Clearly, this is an incredibly complex topic, and there is infinite variation and variables in how relationships are built. There’s a lot more I could do, but I needed to select just a few I could focus on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>High-value activity #1: Listening with the intent of identifying what the other person considers important, especially if you aren’t (yet) interested.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Caring about what they care about immediately builds trust. Not sure if you understand their priorities yet? Say you think this person is emotionally attached to a gardening hobby. The next time you see them, are they genuinely complimented when you ask them about their garden?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">So imagine that person e-mails you, “Could you do X for me?” But you know that this person cares about Y a lot more, and you are in the position to deliver Y more easily than X, you can offer that instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>High-value activity #2: Deliberately practice eye contact and other signs of listening</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">If eye contact is uncomfortable, practice making it comfortable. Another example of listening is never pulling out your phone to check e-mail while chatting with someone. Are you able to comment on what they are talking about that shows you are processing what they say? Even if you don’t care about the topic, you can 1) still practice, so it comes naturally when it matters and 2) build trust with this person.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Feedback mechanism: it’s not a bad idea to carry around a notecard and make a tally mark for every conversation where you make good eye contact. <b>It’s critical to know if you’re actually making progress compared to yesterday.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>High-value activity #3: Re-think how you perceive other people</b>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">If you think someone else is unprofessional, uncaring, unethical, a straight-up asshole, incompetent etc., don't just write them off as such. Certainly don't talk about them behind their back. Complaining just makes you feel helpless. If you think they aren't listening to you or responding to you, try to understand WHY they aren't. Most of the time, you will discover you two simply aren't on the same page. They don't have the same information as you. If you want them to put in the effort to change their behavior, you should at least consider putting in the effort to see their point of view and then make a more effective presentation to them as to how and why they should change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">I have freed up a lot of time and energy through focus and batching. I came pretty close to simply picking up a new project and getting more work done, but I realized there’s something more important to invest in: people. Note that these “high-value activities” require full attention, and are enabled by the time freed up by enhanced productivity. I can’t resist pulling out my phone during a conversation if I’m constantly worrying about my work.</span>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-75102548051493679432013-09-29T14:15:00.002-07:002013-09-29T14:21:47.654-07:00My Most Productive Month Ever: Some Secrets<div style="text-align: left;">
Hi all! Just a quick update. <b>This has been my most productive month yet (in my life), so I'll share my thoughts.</b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Back in June, I wrote a lot about:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">1) working on my most important projects in focused, distraction-free 90-minute intervals</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">***2) batching together less-important tasks so they don't become distractions while I'm trying to get actual work done</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">3) preserving time for daily habits</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Since my last post, I've taken #2 to an extreme, through a process of experimentation. I also have updates on #1 and 3, but I will save that for a future post.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The result can be summarized as three rules:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;"><b>Rule 1: Schedule as many small tasks as possible on "Batch Day"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Batch days </b>are perhaps the most useful innovation in my schedule. I pick the day of the week I have the <b>most</b> meetings/appointments and tell myself, "I don't need to make any progress on my research that day." Instead, I get all of the little things I need to get done out of the way for the week. This includes personal errands: laundry, clearing out my e-mail, shopping, cleaning, organizing, bills, etc. It also includes all the little tasks around lab that I need to do on a regular basis, favors I need to do for other people, and generally any task that takes time and energy but not much thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>Essentially, anything that does not move my project forward gets stuffed into this single day per week. </b> These days end up being PACKED and I have no trouble exhausting myself by the end of the day. I usually don't finish everything, so I end up doing some "batch" tasks towards the end of other days of the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3z6zHKkl9I8Ask1_lm_6fBvKtlOrwBMvIgGgdh8J4IqPvVvbaMx9XpOUFETTHwGMuVbKLyuJrVlM0DGx-kdhgtf-3MPEW8Dg9ZuhxNLuP_OPlfbdUlyuHm4yVSFqxvcJbA6L92Hheknk/s1600/Sept+Time+Tracking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3z6zHKkl9I8Ask1_lm_6fBvKtlOrwBMvIgGgdh8J4IqPvVvbaMx9XpOUFETTHwGMuVbKLyuJrVlM0DGx-kdhgtf-3MPEW8Dg9ZuhxNLuP_OPlfbdUlyuHm4yVSFqxvcJbA6L92Hheknk/s400/Sept+Time+Tracking.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">My time tracking for moving my project forward vs. all other tasks. Note that I only mark down time in which I am <b>fully focused</b> on the task at hand. Just being at work does not count for anything. My philosophy is work harder, not long.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">This is intended to avoid letting these small tasks interfere with my research. They are extremely dangerous because they feel like productivity, so they can easily be used as an excuse to avoid making progress on my projects. Whenever such a task gets presented to me during the week, I put it on the list for my next batch day (which may be up to 6 days later) and go back to work. I only do the task immediately if it takes less than 2 minutes or if it is extremely urgent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Unexpectedly, I'm now far more on top of my responsibilities than I was before. Because one day per week is specifically designated for small tasks, I rarely procrastinate on them. When someone asks me for something, I can tell them I will do it next Wednesday. And it's easy to deliver.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;"><b>Rule 2: Schedule meetings only for the busiest day of the week.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Look at the schedule below. If someone wants to schedule a meeting, I will reply as follows:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><b>"Thursday is best. If that doesn't work, I might be able to do Monday at 11am or 1pm, or Tuesday at 8am."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzsATKyPtbv429X7NmfOBOA0K2O4wdFubfz_FaXoMJISmr3Mjf-neXKWT9cJPVFsygb1oJ3q29V_05PKe2iRFuoP7396ofdqyxVu-S6tEllsAceP9G932hayiwT9O-W7saPAcL78_3Slw/s1600/Potential+Meeting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzsATKyPtbv429X7NmfOBOA0K2O4wdFubfz_FaXoMJISmr3Mjf-neXKWT9cJPVFsygb1oJ3q29V_05PKe2iRFuoP7396ofdqyxVu-S6tEllsAceP9G932hayiwT9O-W7saPAcL78_3Slw/s640/Potential+Meeting.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">To concentrate on my work and do it right, I need long stretches of time to focus. Therefore, Wednesday and Friday in the schedule above must be protected at all costs. Switching between projects or tasks is the best way to lose time in the day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px;"><b>Rule 3: Check priority e-mail once a day after finishing my work, and the rest of my e-mail once a week.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Checking e-mail is the best way to lose focus. Therefore, I designate a specific time in the afternoon AFTER I've finished my most important tasks for the day to check e-mail. Even then, I only look at and respond to things that make it into my priority inbox. Once a week, usually on batch day, I will quickly process my e-mail and reach Inbox-Zero in about 30 minutes (including responses and small to-dos).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">On processing:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">I never leave an e-mail in my inbox after looking at it. I immediately do one or more of the following:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 1) delete it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 2) archive it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 3) add event to my calendar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 4) add task to my to-do list (usually on my batch day list)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 5) write a note to myself and file it properly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> 6) respond as succinctly as possible</span>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-18515509722710558732013-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:002013-06-24T09:01:28.553-07:00June Review: Results and hard work are mutually exclusive<div class="p1">
It's already time to reflect back on the entire month.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I was healthily hypomanic for the first two weeks. My willpower and confidence was through the roof- I felt like I had the discipline to break through any obstacle. And indeed I did. I easily wrote off thoughts of other's expectations (does X person expect Y from me right now?) and was able to focus on what I thought was most important.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I didn't get much stuff done in lab this past week. Most of what I did do failed. I'm OK with that. I was trying to accomplish a lot before next week's International Worm Meeting in LA, but I think ultimately my brain told me I didn't have enough time to do everything I had planned. My brain felt saturated- by everything I wanted to do, AND everything I thought others expected me to do. I took Thursday off to run some errands and read, and that was easily the best decision of the week.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
My time is now constrained- I leave for LA on Wednesday morning, and I still need to make my two posters for the meeting and take care of some obligations. Not to mention do laundry and pack. So I have little doubt that today and tomorrow will be a productivity bonanza.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Then the upcoming Worm Meeting is the perfect chance to incorporate everything I've been working on these past few months- interviewing successful scientists, my first manuscript, practicing eye contact, teaching, literature reading, my current projects, and gathering ideas for the next phase. It has the potential to concretely advance my work in a measurable way. Time to level-up.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Embrace the Cycle</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
<b>There is a clear cycle at work here. When I started this month, I thought I'd be working hard every week and be relentlessly results-focused the entire time. That's what I had developed my <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-plan-scheduled-bursts-and.html">scheduled bursts</a> for. But hard work is NOT the best time to get results.</b></div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1"><b>Phase I: Perspiration</b>. Work intensely to the point of discomfort. Acquire new skills and try new things. <span class="s1"><u>Ignore results.</u></span></li>
<li class="li1"><b>Phase II: Rest</b>. Mental distance. Do something else, and don't worry about your work.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Phase III: Level-up</b>. Concrete progress. <span class="s1"><u>Demand results from yourself.</u></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="p1">
Phase I vs Phase II: Progress takes discomfort and hard work. There's no way around it. But that sort of mental training is impossible to maintain. As biological creatures, we need Phase II- time to rest and let our bodies and thoughts reorganize themselves. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Phase I vs Phase III: <span class="s1"><b>One should NOT be results-oriented during the hard training phase.</b></span> Obsessing over concrete results leads us to take shortcuts and take solace in easy and ultimately unimportant accomplishments, because it is impossible to make meaningful gains on a daily or even weekly basis. Instead of focusing on what you accomplish, focus on how you work. Refine your process and treat it like a craft. Once you have built a solid base, then you can later apply them to getting results.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Phase II vs Phase III: Phase II gives you the time to consolidate your newly acquired capabilities and build up your mental energy for the final push for results. Then, you can tell yourself during Phase III that you WILL do something amazing, and this brings the exhilaration and adrenaline required for a truly meaningful accomplishment.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
The entire perspective of this post was inspired by weightlifting. My weekly workouts cycle between intense training, a light workout, and a PR day. Analogies are awesome.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Just because I promised it</span></h2>
<div>
No schedule for the upcoming week, since it will be inherently dictated by the Worm Meeting schedule.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOnFW-Z8GYW529bivcMXrSNOfaH2OBXrOmqrddrmPEiqPr0wK2Q76ekb6ghhXOqsEZ-VwqCL3C-xyJq3pQtFx2hLt1PKhTWF8r5hLyDaFtyp3Du9A_sNF_f50t6zY9SviETOSfQaP78RQB/s1600/6.17.13+Results+Schedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOnFW-Z8GYW529bivcMXrSNOfaH2OBXrOmqrddrmPEiqPr0wK2Q76ekb6ghhXOqsEZ-VwqCL3C-xyJq3pQtFx2hLt1PKhTWF8r5hLyDaFtyp3Du9A_sNF_f50t6zY9SviETOSfQaP78RQB/s400/6.17.13+Results+Schedule.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green blocks are successful scheduled bursts, red blocks are failed, and blue blocks are prior commitments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2jqa8xRGyswLdZeFyFmZIAtffVFLD2Z5DHLXTGoj0Yt_1kc-XCAH6q8rEODiA1eehBQkVgKGs1kKHue50mzV_XxcWlaMJXv0GX444dml5oJ7i6m-2plWaQ52k_6lGyNaTsUfcrW-Z3WV/s1600/6.24.13+Lift.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2jqa8xRGyswLdZeFyFmZIAtffVFLD2Z5DHLXTGoj0Yt_1kc-XCAH6q8rEODiA1eehBQkVgKGs1kKHue50mzV_XxcWlaMJXv0GX444dml5oJ7i6m-2plWaQ52k_6lGyNaTsUfcrW-Z3WV/s320/6.24.13+Lift.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-48958669515397898512013-06-16T17:40:00.004-07:002013-06-16T17:44:18.819-07:00Weekly Report: Discomfort Solved<div class="p1">
This was a very interesting week to start my experiment, because I bought a condo! That obviously took a lot of time, and I faced some other personal challenges this week as well. But my scheduled bursts still allowed me to get a lot done, and my habits have taken a lot of the stress out of my life.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
If you haven't read up on my new system yet, see <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-plan-scheduled-bursts-and.html">my last blog post</a>.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br />
<b>See after the calendar for the lessons I drew this week.</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Report (see calendar): I met my scheduled bursts (green) on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday without much trouble. However, on Wednesday (yellow) I had an urgent interruption related to the condo, so I simply did my burst later in the day, under non-ideal (i.e. distracted) conditions. On Thursday (red), I was simply exhuasted from the condo closing and decided to take a nap instead. Yes, I would call that poor planning, and in the future I will avoid planning bursts on days surrounding major events.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioix6T4xv_GPMMjDTrGbcpUSXKiK5z1-NvkZUNlax_IrvSOKKb__UwxNvpjxgfTEJgrI0zMW9-PuZp81I9IiyGpBX7s0D5NPfxODVq21KjgqAce-J27iu1QWXYu1k3yCCpxiocj2m2-DRF/s1600/6.10.13+Results+Schedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioix6T4xv_GPMMjDTrGbcpUSXKiK5z1-NvkZUNlax_IrvSOKKb__UwxNvpjxgfTEJgrI0zMW9-PuZp81I9IiyGpBX7s0D5NPfxODVq21KjgqAce-J27iu1QWXYu1k3yCCpxiocj2m2-DRF/s640/6.10.13+Results+Schedule.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green = success. Yellow = urgent interruption. Red = failure. Blue = other commitments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
__________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">My new favorite thing: discomfort</span></h2>
<div class="p1">
But overall, I got a lot done this week. I tackled two big experiments that I had been putting off, partially because of lack of time, and partially because I was a bit fearful and didn't know where to start. <b>However, just 1 hour of focused concentration in each case proved sufficient to break through the barrier. </b>At the beginning, I felt stupid and perhaps a bit guilty. After that very uncomfortable hour, I knew what I needed to do, and I was able to get started on real work. And I managed to get real (and exciting) results for both of them.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
This illustrates what I've known for a while, informed by bloggers like Cal Newport and Scott Young: </div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">~</span></b><u><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>C</i></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>omfort with discomfort</i></span></b></u><b><span style="font-size: large;"> is one of the most important skills a person can develop. </span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">Forcing yourself to persist through discomfort is critical when starting any new project. </span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">Otherwise, it is too tempting to go back to easy work that only makes you <i>feel</i> productive.~</span></b></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Scheduled bursts are a great way to force yourself to embrace discomfort. They are time-limited, so the task no longer seems as daunting and it's easier to get started. The process of systematically eliminating distractions also helps to psychologically prepare you for the discomfort.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
To facilitate getting into "the zone," I have implemented a checklist for when I start these sessions. Checklists are obviously ubiquitous, but I'm using them for two very specific reasons:</div>
<div class="p1">
<b>1) Mental attention: </b>It gives my mind one less thing to keep track of. Making deliberate changes to one's productivity system itself requires mental attention, and checklists lessen that requirement. The checklist makes it easier to fully focus on the task in front of me.</div>
<div class="p1">
<b>2) Ritual: </b>This tells my brain that it's time to enter a state of "deep work."</div>
<div class="p2">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqBGHFIHziKRo5os66MIuLzls2JfOF5akLirQcBuIcAbuLbIglHDjp8aFwfncpjOjplb6q7sH8YIqldSh7gfpEMSvHC60rM7xL4Q7NeAFOpyN2V85yZCrFg55Ygi4UFRDn0YosfT5-ayz/s1600/Deliberate_Practice_Checklist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqBGHFIHziKRo5os66MIuLzls2JfOF5akLirQcBuIcAbuLbIglHDjp8aFwfncpjOjplb6q7sH8YIqldSh7gfpEMSvHC60rM7xL4Q7NeAFOpyN2V85yZCrFg55Ygi4UFRDn0YosfT5-ayz/s400/Deliberate_Practice_Checklist.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My checklist for scheduled bursts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="p2">
__________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p3">
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Habits are investments</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
I won't comment much on these this week. But I've observed two things:</div>
<div class="p1">
1) I've already begun noticing changes in how I perceive events and how I interact with people. In particular, I make much better eye contact and feel much more confident.</div>
<div class="p1">
2) These habits are now always running in the back of mind. Thus, I can automatically activate them when appropriate.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTXnhwEO3fGeBXHT42Kn9kt2nOgTt2fQD1DJMXKU-EDAoV-UJ-hO0L1J1HXCWM5XQ9mdaqvrotSTCzYCHQfn0IaB7CWpfQeWvjT_-py3E6G1oqlQYH3OLUion-hYKuJ1yiKubnzFJbcRk/s1600/6.17.13+Lift.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTXnhwEO3fGeBXHT42Kn9kt2nOgTt2fQD1DJMXKU-EDAoV-UJ-hO0L1J1HXCWM5XQ9mdaqvrotSTCzYCHQfn0IaB7CWpfQeWvjT_-py3E6G1oqlQYH3OLUion-hYKuJ1yiKubnzFJbcRk/s320/6.17.13+Lift.PNG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lift habits.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
__________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p3">
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Next week's schedule</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
I also noticed last week that <b>front-ending</b> my bursts (e.g. scheduling more towards the beginning of the week, and beginning of the day if possible) makes good use of my abundance of early-week energy. It also eliminates feelings of guilt if I have to tend to other things later in the week. This week, I have to front-end my schedule, since I will be away for a wedding Friday-Sunday.</div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIE90ggdvtlCB0SwFQzkXFNePAlxMqDsFE-DpWFrdMi9lNFPDkhcqFiqvYdYqgcjbTPeapYxUM6Nj5jfY2rnEdy3GSAYzV446-smn7igjxpyCLTOUin9LERrNmOkbLAeq0lGT-VVdfNkK/s1600/6.17.13+Schedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnIE90ggdvtlCB0SwFQzkXFNePAlxMqDsFE-DpWFrdMi9lNFPDkhcqFiqvYdYqgcjbTPeapYxUM6Nj5jfY2rnEdy3GSAYzV446-smn7igjxpyCLTOUin9LERrNmOkbLAeq0lGT-VVdfNkK/s400/6.17.13+Schedule.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scheduled bursts are in orange. Other commitments are in blue. Everything else must fit into the white space.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-3514649598783441862013-06-10T07:16:00.002-07:002013-06-10T07:18:14.552-07:00June plan: Scheduled bursts and worthwhile habits<div class="p1">
Last time I described my goal of combining two productivity regimes: drip and burst.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
To recap, the hybrid approach has three levels:</div>
<div class="p1">
1) pre-scheduled bursts of intense, focused and distraction-free work on my most important and difficult projects (regardless of urgency).</div>
<div class="p1">
2) a limited number of high-yield low-cost daily habits performed intentionally and mindfully</div>
<div class="p1">
3) batches (ideally 2+ hours) containing everything else</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_____________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Accountability is critical</i></span></u></h2>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>I promise to my readers, that for the rest of June (and possibly beyond), I will do the following each week:</b></i></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>1) I will post a calendar at the start of the week indicating my scheduled bursts and how I work around them.<br />2) I will post a calendar at the end of the week indicating successes and failures.<br />3) I will post a screenshot of Lift for daily habits that week.</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="p2">
_____________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Eec0698epGI4v2OrKlV-8x-b5iFvWIPvFY5ZMcPEm_ateyoFG-TQkyjEjZVSJHK2F2_jOQlH_sEbudaztpV-21Xz7emff3Tw4RyReIfhWAMBNg12geVxHpjWEumjn1w3qZMa_watLjwS/s1600/Schedule+6.10.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Eec0698epGI4v2OrKlV-8x-b5iFvWIPvFY5ZMcPEm_ateyoFG-TQkyjEjZVSJHK2F2_jOQlH_sEbudaztpV-21Xz7emff3Tw4RyReIfhWAMBNg12geVxHpjWEumjn1w3qZMa_watLjwS/s640/Schedule+6.10.13.jpg" width="600" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange indicates scheduled bursts of work on most important projects. I can work on those projects other times, but not in focused bursts (to avoid exhausting my mental energy). Blue indicates other commitments. Everything else gets crammed into the white spaces.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8JyjyBdNvg5JLWxhRlWS7I2vOsj-w9GVkHPXnhShNBqxo5MZqDpUqAUInyRhBwmrmygp5dgfjCyAJ0PeXk5GXmT2voZzZzANu2VBheOeeswKlGE5qshvKw-O5SCURp1e7nDKpZyRiNPL/s1600/Lift+6.10.13.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8JyjyBdNvg5JLWxhRlWS7I2vOsj-w9GVkHPXnhShNBqxo5MZqDpUqAUInyRhBwmrmygp5dgfjCyAJ0PeXk5GXmT2voZzZzANu2VBheOeeswKlGE5qshvKw-O5SCURp1e7nDKpZyRiNPL/s400/Lift+6.10.13.PNG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lift on iPhone for the past 2 weeks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
_____________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>Tier 1: Scheduled Bursts</u></span></h2>
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li1">Lab (most important project- 2 related experimental protocols I've never done before and will yield the missing data required for submission)</li>
<li class="li1">Literature review: 15 papers read in-depth, 30 skimmed, 100 abstracts. Aiming to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.</li>
</ol>
<div class="p1">
<b>Rules: </b></div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1"><i></i><span class="s2"><i>Scheduling:</i></span><b> </b>Must schedule these in advance at the beginning of the week for at least 3 hours each. I treat these as commitments. These are non-negotiable (overrule other things that come up, like meetings). <b>However, I will not overly fret about making an "ideal" schedule ahead of time. Perfectionism and over-planning are forms of procrastination.</b></li>
<li class="li1"><i></i><span class="s2"><i>Distractions:</i></span><b> </b>I shut off my phone/Internet and isolate myself as best I can. If I give into ANY distraction, I must stop and mark it as a failure, and report it on this blog. If I decide an unexpected interruption is important and urgent enough to stop what I'm doing, it is not a failure, but I make a note of it to see if I can find a way to avoid it in the future.</li>
<li class="li1"><i></i><span class="s2"><i>Focus:</i></span> Use a timer for 60 continuous minutes (optional to do more on given day after a 15 minute break). Increase by 10 minutes after completing 10 successful sessions in a row.</li>
<li class="li1"><i></i><span class="s2"><i>Visible Progress:</i></span><b> </b>Have something to show for each session. This can be in a summary in an idea notebook, an updated master project document, an updated manuscript, talking to my PI, prepping slides for lab meeting, etc</li>
<li class="li1"><i></i><span class="s2"><i>Breaks</i></span>: At least one day a week, I <span class="s2">cannot</span> work on my most important projects</li>
</ul>
<div class="p2">
_____________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p1">
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>Tier 2: Worthwhile Habits</u></span></b></h2>
</div>
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li1">Check e-mail/FB/news/Feedly once a day</li>
<li class="li1">Write 30 minutes per day</li>
<li class="li1">Make good eye contact</li>
<li class="li1">Meditate</li>
<li class="li1">Do something I fear</li>
<li class="li1">Say "no" to one thing</li>
</ol>
<div class="p1">
<b>Rules:</b></div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">Aim to do these everyday. Accomplish as many as possible early in the day</li>
<li class="li1">Checking e-mail a single time is the most important and most difficult. For motivation, as soon as I check a 2nd time, <b>I am barred from recording more habits for the day.</b> At other times, Gmail is blocked from my computer, and Mailbox is put on the last icon screen of my phone. I do check "important" e-mail folder 1 extra time per day. It is also OK to open e-mail to obtain information necessary for a project, but getting distracted by unrelated e-mails constitutes failure</li>
</ul>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-45799737739717259582013-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:002013-06-10T06:59:51.878-07:00Summer plans: Big projects and small habits<div class="p1">
I've tried two alternative paradigms of productivity in the past year. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
First I used the <b>"drip" method</b>, where I try to do a little each day on all of my goals. Most importantly, this helped me build habits. It reduced procrastination because I just told myself I only had to do a little bit. But as I discovered, "drip" creates too much anxiety, and costs mental energy and time for every switch to an unrelated task. Because it takes time to get fully adjusted to a new task, this meant my actual results output was often minimal unless it was a particularly good day.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Therefore, I adopted the <b>"burst" method</b> where I focus exclusively on one project for a half or full day. This is the only way I could've finished multiple major projects with tight deadlines. This change also coincided with getting a decent handle on applying the Pareto Principle, forcing myself to focus on the 20% of work that yields 80% of results. It is worth obsessing and enduring mental pain for that work. Everything else gets done in a rapid-fire batch, but poor quality is perfectly acceptable.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
However, even the Pareto-Driven Burst is flawed. I definitely excelled at my 3 most important projects, and all the small tasks were completed efficiently. But I stopped developing productive habits, because they got mixed in with the small tasks. I started wasting time on the Internet again during my free time. I stopped writing in my journal, meditating, generating ideas, practicing gratitude, and eliminating negative thought patterns. Obviously I stopped writing on my blog. I stopped practicing good eye contact and thinking about how I interact with people. I had no time to examine my habits on a daily basis.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Bursts get results, but they are hard and can easily burn you out. That's where habits come in. They manage stress. Productive habits serve as a solid base from which you can launch your most-important projects. There's no way I could've managed the "burst" period without the thought patterns, personality changes, and habits that I developed during the "drip" period. I would've procrastinated and self-doubted at every turn.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>So, it is time to combine drip and burst.</b> Let's examine how we can add habit formation to my current method.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Burst-only (current method):</b></div>
<div class="p1">
1. Pick a most important project, work on it. Another day I'll work on another project.</div>
<div class="p1">
2. Put everything else in one pile. Once the pile is large enough, spend a half day doing it and get it out of the way.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz12ktOv32rZjIrrWeZ-g_Xjo6fkNqf8M6BoPGSlALynT6uNYjYGB43uD-t0JFfzAYS7uyLMrUpEvADLJu7usWG_GuWX_WnVApVg2stiVgJ_WHP9n8bexJW-iQUydsD0q0wUD92Srwz_n/s1600/Burst+method.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz12ktOv32rZjIrrWeZ-g_Xjo6fkNqf8M6BoPGSlALynT6uNYjYGB43uD-t0JFfzAYS7uyLMrUpEvADLJu7usWG_GuWX_WnVApVg2stiVgJ_WHP9n8bexJW-iQUydsD0q0wUD92Srwz_n/s400/Burst+method.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2">
I had a pretty full schedule before. But if I can isolate most-important projects and batched tasks to particular time slots, I will have more time. This will be accomplished by <b>scheduling. </b>This should be made easier this summer since I have fewer batched tasks like meetings and required seminars.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Burst/drip combo (new method):</b></div>
<div class="p1">
1. Each week, schedule continuous lengthy work sessions on most important projects, >3x per week. Once scheduled, no last-minute interruptions will be allowed.</div>
<div class="p1">
2. Assign time each day for habits (early morning, usually). Accomplish as many as possible, then be sure to do the rest later in the day.</div>
<div class="p1">
3. Fit everything else into batches of 30+ minutes. This includes e-mail.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbAHtdwA7BCgZIKiFBPShq9LV_TDHBHEiJv9muQyX7OzoKkrxgek2Vyp1Yzb-i4ZYz-gPoIRdyBp_u1otYi0ivgz28ed8sd1hjho-mEKyrp80JYymOmps09ZTeqCqJ3GJgcFok_1PL_hVZ/s1600/Burst+drip+combo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbAHtdwA7BCgZIKiFBPShq9LV_TDHBHEiJv9muQyX7OzoKkrxgek2Vyp1Yzb-i4ZYz-gPoIRdyBp_u1otYi0ivgz28ed8sd1hjho-mEKyrp80JYymOmps09ZTeqCqJ3GJgcFok_1PL_hVZ/s400/Burst+drip+combo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
There's nothing glamorous about habits. They don't advance your career. But they are reliable and will get you ready for the big time.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
Next time I'll lay out my exact plans and accountability scheme to test-drive this method.</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-44545824970029600742013-06-01T15:17:00.000-07:002013-06-01T15:24:31.940-07:00Iguazu Falls: Simple vacations are better<div class="p1">
26 hours and 5 airports later, I peered out into the subtropical rain forest. It was dark already. A van picked us up, and we bolted down long windy roads through the jungle. Finally, a building appears as we enter town. But we veer right off onto a completely unlighted dirt road which the van can barely fit through. We brake every 20 feet to carefully dodge a tree. 15 minutes later, a 5-star hotel rises out of nowhere.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
We are there for my dad's conference. There are some hiking paths nearby, but absolutely nothing else except solid rainforest for miles. Since it was hard to get out, and my dad was occupied, my mother and I spent most of our time in the hotel. I ended up reading 3 books and leaving the hotel only once to go see Iguazu Falls. Speaking of which…</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/96B9djYcHYM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Exploring Iguazu Falls (2 min)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzbElgtoDReWxL8FmGaDAx1BgmUDqY4H2GTjPKWvyfPb2fL98BXlCne85972xYmCscf2n-R_qyEIpTTGWgiUT6EuQzjImd9zECAhWcpO7aGjzEgIecR6ArpKE5Jqyy-Db45AuvuTUiTuB/s1600/IMG_5714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzbElgtoDReWxL8FmGaDAx1BgmUDqY4H2GTjPKWvyfPb2fL98BXlCne85972xYmCscf2n-R_qyEIpTTGWgiUT6EuQzjImd9zECAhWcpO7aGjzEgIecR6ArpKE5Jqyy-Db45AuvuTUiTuB/s400/IMG_5714.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Argentine side of Iguazu Falls</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG3crjvKoMOhURn-YZOEf7UzhsXh0E7QOV_r4-ZnAbNrTy8Nyszo7taUBpDBtBOrQD8_gnSDBAw0whhsnEqHmNMJUn2MjV6CHtuyg3EPwXDLcr9aSOfCkd0hWAtvl6tgeD8xy6co5wzJK/s1600/IMG_5728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG3crjvKoMOhURn-YZOEf7UzhsXh0E7QOV_r4-ZnAbNrTy8Nyszo7taUBpDBtBOrQD8_gnSDBAw0whhsnEqHmNMJUn2MjV6CHtuyg3EPwXDLcr9aSOfCkd0hWAtvl6tgeD8xy6co5wzJK/s400/IMG_5728.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up close</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnylxVxO1g5QxU7dbkyuHTO3qoaBaT2PSyfgbXtN1nWDuMvbnKV1kdIBwDSSax2d6Ku2sOvOg7xHonDW1Uo91nuYl-ms0qQ3uxi9YdCaxtiXfp6clmW2sXrI-p3mHLXEvm8fcJ35GKEKvo/s1600/IMG_5615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnylxVxO1g5QxU7dbkyuHTO3qoaBaT2PSyfgbXtN1nWDuMvbnKV1kdIBwDSSax2d6Ku2sOvOg7xHonDW1Uo91nuYl-ms0qQ3uxi9YdCaxtiXfp6clmW2sXrI-p3mHLXEvm8fcJ35GKEKvo/s400/IMG_5615.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Devil's Throat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
More pictures at the bottom.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
At first, I felt a little lame. Aren't vacations supposed to be full of seeing and doing? I imagined answering the question, "why fly 10,000 miles just to sit in a hotel and read books that you could read anywhere?" I had frequent urges to organize a group to get a taxi and go exploring, but honestly I just wanted to sit back and think. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Every morning, I wrote for 30 minutes, meditated, explored various thoughts and ideas in a handwritten Moleskine journal. I also tried to check e-mail/Facebook/news together one single time each day- a practice I intend to continue. I didn't need to network, but I attended events primarily to accomplish one thing: practice good eye contact. Interpersonal skills tend to suffer when you're lost in your own thoughts while working in lab for extended durations.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm4OwO68OqNHl6L8OSbga14_PQQOGqfr_LfgM0RzHJmh7IVr_Bd9iuw6lhjsI7jeA4HxgFUVyzYy6VOymKFejAooBBVVo62uflXo_veB5EfdxOBOlUB-tCoJgD-4HM9hqBb7Y_qXOJbHx/s1600/IMG_5535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm4OwO68OqNHl6L8OSbga14_PQQOGqfr_LfgM0RzHJmh7IVr_Bd9iuw6lhjsI7jeA4HxgFUVyzYy6VOymKFejAooBBVVo62uflXo_veB5EfdxOBOlUB-tCoJgD-4HM9hqBb7Y_qXOJbHx/s320/IMG_5535.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relaxing by the pool</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I reflected back on some of my previous vacations- taking whirlwind tours around various cities, staying in a different place every night, frantically trying to catch a ferry or train or bus, always on the move, always trying to plan the next destination, meal, or shower. Honestly, I don't remember very much about them, other than a few key moments.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I see no reason to trade a busy worklife (which I always need to simplify further) for a busy vacation. Relaxing, clearing my thoughts, attaining some distance, and then dispassionately examining my own life. That's what I needed, and that's what I did.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="p1">
And suddenly, I started making progress on everything I had been stuck on.<br />
<br />
<br />
_____________________________________________________________________________<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">
More photos</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh46JVw9kFp8buLBlx2NjK1Y_0K3fTjeZTHq9jwF8RziY-cq8YW3CS8ZesO0Bwqtis1MNKObrD5kev2nM16hmZ46lzAxMRFhXty-pR6awHVQvQgZHkZQTJE9sWPsUwyZaLnbJ6pG0z9zxXp/s1600/IMG_5561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh46JVw9kFp8buLBlx2NjK1Y_0K3fTjeZTHq9jwF8RziY-cq8YW3CS8ZesO0Bwqtis1MNKObrD5kev2nM16hmZ46lzAxMRFhXty-pR6awHVQvQgZHkZQTJE9sWPsUwyZaLnbJ6pG0z9zxXp/s400/IMG_5561.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DLROzy9ebmmXBFivEPAaqv92kVDQ-frFE8s8KVtoHqMMnkkMxhrtdkYAwulpePkaLmd45qcLkqPnzyzfAKeo2DGewM2v3GZwmBMQZMXDFUAM1oAoB9ObsplXSe5sy7JnFE3YAUAkJOWX/s1600/IMG_5620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DLROzy9ebmmXBFivEPAaqv92kVDQ-frFE8s8KVtoHqMMnkkMxhrtdkYAwulpePkaLmd45qcLkqPnzyzfAKeo2DGewM2v3GZwmBMQZMXDFUAM1oAoB9ObsplXSe5sy7JnFE3YAUAkJOWX/s400/IMG_5620.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOHza-_aHNSxa1PsQKO4L-MPUvhzkQ61xjSBLmDkNWG0Gj4KkXZ8O0zzfRR-K-66IjF7vnqJ9DarxyI84DCVov4qLytTrNN5MeZ4nvtFVqmvFwmF9bjZ592L-i4tAkkojBI2g6X3Naw5p/s1600/IMG_5686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOHza-_aHNSxa1PsQKO4L-MPUvhzkQ61xjSBLmDkNWG0Gj4KkXZ8O0zzfRR-K-66IjF7vnqJ9DarxyI84DCVov4qLytTrNN5MeZ4nvtFVqmvFwmF9bjZ592L-i4tAkkojBI2g6X3Naw5p/s400/IMG_5686.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGIvWApDhYO_tWQiAqsPDqMLD5tSEQxvia1rH70FLD9GkvRsjDVI41qYXTPrieXFBwmXM1675llhwUDtc0Q1ONGmmaZnUVxTLL1sHjSRCALD_fGVwmPc8c2KQDhp5iZ3Ex7lIlqlSaZfA/s1600/IMG_5720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGIvWApDhYO_tWQiAqsPDqMLD5tSEQxvia1rH70FLD9GkvRsjDVI41qYXTPrieXFBwmXM1675llhwUDtc0Q1ONGmmaZnUVxTLL1sHjSRCALD_fGVwmPc8c2KQDhp5iZ3Ex7lIlqlSaZfA/s400/IMG_5720.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsg1FMHpILHeS6Mqf30Eo9L8T1uskzGH8K-i03P9VZvaytUrT1EzLgbho_3SV_AF0Qglyv7bqvoQDr7__uCiAKto2RqUQ6esY1fdWNaaYF-gteX8RANi8jnkb5ETRO0iuZWCPejTEgpZk/s1600/IMG_5705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsg1FMHpILHeS6Mqf30Eo9L8T1uskzGH8K-i03P9VZvaytUrT1EzLgbho_3SV_AF0Qglyv7bqvoQDr7__uCiAKto2RqUQ6esY1fdWNaaYF-gteX8RANi8jnkb5ETRO0iuZWCPejTEgpZk/s400/IMG_5705.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcvtv_ISGrTSzvB3hK-kZ32R86WvOmDdcpRBhlg5jsHJF42O5S-PldDrqPbclyK2t6IHiyN0ynoI1WgN7qNMo6jzFSjKVqR56XvkI3YLBeJRWxfCqNjf9iub8FbWcXfttPo5YrbAjsBhH/s1600/IMG_5639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcvtv_ISGrTSzvB3hK-kZ32R86WvOmDdcpRBhlg5jsHJF42O5S-PldDrqPbclyK2t6IHiyN0ynoI1WgN7qNMo6jzFSjKVqR56XvkI3YLBeJRWxfCqNjf9iub8FbWcXfttPo5YrbAjsBhH/s400/IMG_5639.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sU9ecuYvkIBwfWlNQ7XSNSSc6EWl2vVwxR4_ecv1RxejMSbAbywtooZWzZ07wZJiTFYxmyrgPUc97fcT3PDerAGu2uDK1U5ro2q4TFOr2yvXGXOQrREYcuxlKpbNr_LcnqeEknm6J4Sz/s1600/IMG_5613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sU9ecuYvkIBwfWlNQ7XSNSSc6EWl2vVwxR4_ecv1RxejMSbAbywtooZWzZ07wZJiTFYxmyrgPUc97fcT3PDerAGu2uDK1U5ro2q4TFOr2yvXGXOQrREYcuxlKpbNr_LcnqeEknm6J4Sz/s400/IMG_5613.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjs72y1ld-ej23BB-oAACsQdphhHlBPhBREKb4_l_nT00CW9x69Mqhm5W7lAVuZjYDgiVvnfZR40sSCPvIpHRx_p6lGftnTON3vCb62Xo_R0Pmen9vqc6pPLIW2-Jyd9VHfhoyezcWvN-i/s1600/IMG_5710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjs72y1ld-ej23BB-oAACsQdphhHlBPhBREKb4_l_nT00CW9x69Mqhm5W7lAVuZjYDgiVvnfZR40sSCPvIpHRx_p6lGftnTON3vCb62Xo_R0Pmen9vqc6pPLIW2-Jyd9VHfhoyezcWvN-i/s400/IMG_5710.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QOCjkHkRPopokN2JdWf9tD6nlou5CATh34xtNOmzgAek8vZs3rQXu3g1XqBAPFEtjEcFSwOQtu3MJIP-a-rSBBLGWAhWmkllvvFLIlp0Jz3FA47_MVWIJvYhBpsDM02OAGSD824JUTwJ/s1600/IMG_5716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QOCjkHkRPopokN2JdWf9tD6nlou5CATh34xtNOmzgAek8vZs3rQXu3g1XqBAPFEtjEcFSwOQtu3MJIP-a-rSBBLGWAhWmkllvvFLIlp0Jz3FA47_MVWIJvYhBpsDM02OAGSD824JUTwJ/s400/IMG_5716.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZP1tA1M2w3NHSQyGDcetAt0q4sv6RwX7eiAvoMM94UYu_uX5daVJX5L-_fNx1U4jm68GZ0J_224O3RtAddAxLe9SJ70t3qQVaQBgw4joVIBlq6UJdiB5tZXLtSPI7F6b9KFlbPFCSg76/s1600/IMG_5729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZP1tA1M2w3NHSQyGDcetAt0q4sv6RwX7eiAvoMM94UYu_uX5daVJX5L-_fNx1U4jm68GZ0J_224O3RtAddAxLe9SJ70t3qQVaQBgw4joVIBlq6UJdiB5tZXLtSPI7F6b9KFlbPFCSg76/s400/IMG_5729.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrj2ar5gi8uRq_CiI1V0TgnrV3xTi_1YYVqPZbAWJGu-6-69R2M_bTztTKBXl1uVXkPa0R98zw6-t9aEARH5g6yay9jkCeKaFkmofzITWOvmCRwDetMMErGAd_bu4L2tnB2evUvWNQ_gnz/s1600/IMG_5751.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrj2ar5gi8uRq_CiI1V0TgnrV3xTi_1YYVqPZbAWJGu-6-69R2M_bTztTKBXl1uVXkPa0R98zw6-t9aEARH5g6yay9jkCeKaFkmofzITWOvmCRwDetMMErGAd_bu4L2tnB2evUvWNQ_gnz/s400/IMG_5751.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZFMb4fSX_Dnc5VJWRlzllItS8iSAhqCkCZMt8jzyqQVsXeERYzDXHY7gxXG7GemiUfVrVfStsZiQY7PgMvs2qkGQMerVBwU5zzBMmajUzblxwI_B8lyMsN3PF7ds2Glu9x68YdWBV1Bi/s1600/IMG_5724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZFMb4fSX_Dnc5VJWRlzllItS8iSAhqCkCZMt8jzyqQVsXeERYzDXHY7gxXG7GemiUfVrVfStsZiQY7PgMvs2qkGQMerVBwU5zzBMmajUzblxwI_B8lyMsN3PF7ds2Glu9x68YdWBV1Bi/s400/IMG_5724.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcR-sGH0-B3RD70MvepgMdBpwgijq3EW90UdetDLzm8kcJZHNQH4FhcnxfZIulVUJPna7FtrA191ppgnHsS1XT3AKoNoFf2-lF1PjwxPTvBHSmte4SxyRwTlo19z9uOzSZPWlUIjNyzk9/s1600/IMG_5721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcR-sGH0-B3RD70MvepgMdBpwgijq3EW90UdetDLzm8kcJZHNQH4FhcnxfZIulVUJPna7FtrA191ppgnHsS1XT3AKoNoFf2-lF1PjwxPTvBHSmte4SxyRwTlo19z9uOzSZPWlUIjNyzk9/s400/IMG_5721.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-19541754760532045642013-05-26T17:50:00.000-07:002013-05-26T17:50:17.393-07:00Mulling a true return to blogging<b style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I started this blog around this time last year, so perhaps this is the right season for a little writing and self-expression. You probably assumed that I've been too busy to blog, and that's essentially true. This semester I barely had time for my reading project- I'm now 5 books behind and I made a pledge I wouldn’t be taking on more unless I could fulfill this goal. Of course, those of you who have followed my blog in the past know that <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/obstacles-to-starting-blog-dont.html">not having time is a false excuse. </a></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what have I been up to?</span></b></div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, I'm sitting in my hotel in the middle of the jungle in... Argentina! I'm with my </span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">parents at one of my dad's conferences at Iguazu Falls. Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly remarked "poor Niagara!" upon seeing Iguazu. I'll try to post some pictures when I get back. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="goog_839018913"></span><span id="goog_839018914"></span>For now, here's one ripped from the web:</span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cEtH51ZY_wE2vtU98z5R_tuyoGexqrfqF39Gp_CrkXNrmWTsNAhSNpwDvVqf8DCu4kLTOXjpRxAkpXXTP6kt2Ityyd5EJhjz797bIylMg9BG1SEKKsGVtV2n4Pw7Nio4r6Hj1foxf5Z1/s640/blogger-image--1381775238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cEtH51ZY_wE2vtU98z5R_tuyoGexqrfqF39Gp_CrkXNrmWTsNAhSNpwDvVqf8DCu4kLTOXjpRxAkpXXTP6kt2Ityyd5EJhjz797bIylMg9BG1SEKKsGVtV2n4Pw7Nio4r6Hj1foxf5Z1/s640/blogger-image--1381775238.jpg" /></a></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I intend to focus on catching up on books for <span style="font-family: inherit;">the first few days. The idea is to create some mental distance, and not think about my past semester or future plans at all. </span></span></b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125); font-family: inherit;">To create true peace of mind, I'm going to write it all down, publish this blog entry, and be done with it.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the perfect time for a break. It's the start of summer. I just finished one of my projects, and now I'm gearing up for a final push on a second. And so after I've completed my trip, it's high time to carefully re-examine my goals, work habits, and life pursuits. Blogging will probably be essential.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">My craziest semester ever</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A quick update on what I've been up to, plus some thoughts:</span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125); font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manuscript</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">: I wrote my first</span> first-author paper ever, and the revision was submitted yesterday! I mastered techniques an adapted my work habits to dramatically increase the number of experiments I could perform in parallel. My procrastination levels were by far the lowest in my entire life. However, I quickly became aware of my next challenge: I was too busy churning out data, and had not nearly enough time for high-level thinking. In other words, "needs to read more." Time to stretch my abilities, acquire new skills, and experience some discomfort. The goal is to come up with a big idea that I can call uniquely mine.</span></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125); font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Presentations</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: my lack of time for high-level thinking became obvious once I had to prepare my first hour-long presentations on my own research. I struggled to meet this challenge. My earlier presentations were much shorter, and only involved generalities. Even for those, I had to space out my revisions over the course of a month or more. Now I had one week. Of course, feelings of self-doubt arose. Do I truly belong in a PhD program? But I fought through it, and my time invested last year in cultivating productive thought patterns paid off. I took brutally honest feedback to heart. And therefore both presentations ended up as resounding successes.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125); font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teaching</span><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: I love teaching. I refuse to blow off teaching as a distraction from my oh-so-important research. So I deliberately approached the department where TA's have the heaviest teaching responsibilities. Yes, there is a hardass professor and a few whiny pre-meds. But most teaching headaches can be addressed by breaking away from institutionalized teaching methods. If one dares to do things unconventionally, one can have the best teaching experience ever. I came up with fun silly metaphors for abstract concepts without any idea of how students would receive them. They were making their own metaphors by semester's end. </span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the professor deliberately made the first exam incredibly difficult to force students to work hard for the rest of the semester (the average was a D and the class is not on a curve) I told my students a personal story of failure and the lessons I learned. By teaching them methods to </span></b><b style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">study more effectively, I convinced them that they need not feel guilty about not being smart enough or not working hard enough, because those were not the core of the problem. They only needed to learn how to learn more effectively, and with that message they became more motivated than ever. No eye-rolls. The result? For final grades, 12 out of 16 A’s and A+’s were in my section. They even made me a card, and I honestly cried when I read it.</span></b></div>
<div>
</div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125);"><b>The most useful tactic for tackling multiple big projects</b></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From reading above, you might imagine I was hectically moving from one task to the next. After all, student emails arrive at random times, multiple overlapping experiments are going at once, and I have random meetings and seminars at all times of day.</span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But probably the best advice I got was from Cal Newport, who advises doing everything in series, not in parallel. No rapid switching between teaching and research tasks. One day is entirely devoted to research. One half-day devoted entirely to teaching and answering student e-mails, or one half-day devoted entirely to meetings and small tasks. Labwork needs to be done everyday, so I can't devote a full day to other things, but I try to reach the ideal as much as possible. </span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If anything, this greatly decreased my stress levels. Every activity comes with its own anxiety traps, and trying to juggle them all at once </span></b><b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">causes those anxieties to compound, so its impossible to focus on one thing and do a good job. Better to tackle one mine at a time in a</span></b><b style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">n obstacle course than to navigate a whole minefield.</span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0078125); font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>A return to blogging?</b></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With me adding more plans on top of what was a very busy schedule, you might think returning to blogging is ridiculous. But as I recently read, blog material is a natural byproduct of what you do during a PhD, and it takes minimal time to transform it into blog format. In fact, it may even speed up your work, since communication and teaching rapidly clarifies your thinking. As I taught my students, explaining things to others is the best way to make something stick.</span></b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0Loi Suites Iguazu Selva Iryapú, Puerto Iguazú-25.596719 -54.545679tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-45711651653848235102013-02-23T14:23:00.001-08:002013-02-23T15:10:43.622-08:00A Story Not About Passion<br />
Left for dead on the day she was born because she was a girl, Fawzia Koofi is now the deputy speaker of the house in Afghanistan and running for president in a society where many still do not believe that women should even be educated. She has perservered despite being on the run for much of her life, first from the mujahideen, who killed her father, and then the Taliban, who took away her freedoms and killed her husband and many other family members. Her soul fell as she watched all the progress towards modernization and women's rights crumble under civil war and Taliban rule. She has faced death many times throughout her life, and she still withstands regular assassination attempts.<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Clearly, Fawzia Koofi is a remarkable person. But millions of Afghans have gone through virtually identical experiences. How did she become remarkable?</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxIBJ8H3BwnJFbq-pDejxnOMVNVwyYLm3QCaKpR9yZDp9jNAVqUllBG36heQXQygWfjv23H1u73yhbYMONYIlyKTE2d7-fVq-ZSiqng2R05fXUrfLsWmod7OoHC7fM1q0ST4Hls8lzaLZ/s1600/fawzia+koofi.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxIBJ8H3BwnJFbq-pDejxnOMVNVwyYLm3QCaKpR9yZDp9jNAVqUllBG36heQXQygWfjv23H1u73yhbYMONYIlyKTE2d7-fVq-ZSiqng2R05fXUrfLsWmod7OoHC7fM1q0ST4Hls8lzaLZ/s320/fawzia+koofi.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
When you listen to Fawzia Koofi now, like during her <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-13-2013/exclusive---fawzia-koofi-extended-interview-pt--1">appearance on the Daily Show</a>, you might think that what makes her remarkable is her mission. The significance of her mission is obvious: poverty, women's rights, political reform, ensure her duaghters do not suffer as she did.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Technically, it is true that Fawzia's mission makes her remarkable. Unfortunately, it would be all too easy to take the <b>wrong lesson</b> from her, just as many people took the <b>wrong lesson from Steve Job's Stanford speech.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Too many people, including me, thought that the lesson is "Find your passion."</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b><u>"Find your passion" is a terrible, terrible advice.</u></b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Or rather, it is highly misleading. Fawzia Koofi and Steve Jobs did not START by finding a compelling mission or purpose. Fawzia started by insisting that she receive an education, even while on the run, and much to the resistance of her family members. She had no time to think of a mission- she was only a child when she had to start fleeing from death on a regular basis. <b>And it was this education that made her unique. At a time when it was nearly impossible for a woman to get an education, she got one. In other words, she had </b><span class="s2"><b>rare and valuable skills.</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Notably, <b>she did not originally intend to go into politics. </b>The idea developed relatively late in life. <b>But her skills got her noticed, </b>and she was given the opportunity to run for Parliament<b>, </b>mostly made possible by <span class="s2"><b>chance events</b></span><b>. </b>Her mission only started developing in earnest <b>many years after she began developing her skills. </b>Even when she was well on her way to fame, she said she felt "mentally lost" and "purposeless."</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
During this time, she still had to <b>build her skills constantly</b>, in particular in giving speeches. This ability is what ultimately gave her the power to start building women's education centers in conservative villages, to start standing up vocally for women's rights, to get on the international stage. <b>Only now does her mission seem clear. </b>Her passion was a side effect of getting really good at what she does.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>In summary:</b></div>
<div class="p1">
Wrong: Look inward and decide passion => go follow the passion</div>
<div class="p1">
Right: look outward and see what skills might allow you to offer value to others => develop skills => explore many missions while developing more skills => find passion. Or rather let passion find you.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<h3>
<u style="font-size: xx-large;">I Know My Passion... Not</u></h3>
<div class="p1">
I'm 7 books into my effort to read <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-only-goal-for-2013.html">52 books in 52 weeks</a>. This blog entry was my attempt to explain Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You using the example of another book, Fawzia Koofi's Favored Daughter. He uses many case examples to rigorously debunk "Follow your passion."</div>
<div class="p2">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZpEeIMtMGjDOrbzoRb59qyrOx4jLCFe-Jupm8kf-t7kuPf5OCqnUxHG4NrFjV_hJbJZO3HA_qeOvKY0RyU7gWZiORLod0xpUvBUjrUs7tt5CIjNe9cODsmbb7tqR0K1cn9ZIZd2bPQbC/s1600/so+good+they+can't+ignore+you.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZpEeIMtMGjDOrbzoRb59qyrOx4jLCFe-Jupm8kf-t7kuPf5OCqnUxHG4NrFjV_hJbJZO3HA_qeOvKY0RyU7gWZiORLod0xpUvBUjrUs7tt5CIjNe9cODsmbb7tqR0K1cn9ZIZd2bPQbC/s200/so+good+they+can't+ignore+you.jpg" width="131" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltzON5GnVdLh6KQ3_9xGOQxjmjDj77Qr7uQPwxTeE2ubFcU5mKqz4wyh4CNd534i9HOloYcbKlC4tdTZBQqFCjfO25cmr8rFZG3RBbnWjmKzOus5qRTioFXc7UyoDv3Uhbbto-1YowHnV/s1600/favored+daughter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltzON5GnVdLh6KQ3_9xGOQxjmjDj77Qr7uQPwxTeE2ubFcU5mKqz4wyh4CNd534i9HOloYcbKlC4tdTZBQqFCjfO25cmr8rFZG3RBbnWjmKzOus5qRTioFXc7UyoDv3Uhbbto-1YowHnV/s200/favored+daughter.JPG" width="131" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
You may remember my blog entry "<a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2012/08/im-lost-whats-my-purpose-in-life.html">I'm lost. What's my purpose in life?</a>" Cal Newport's book pretty much solves everything. I don't need to feel bad that I haven't found a purpose, because a purpose is only possible after I've spent decades developing valuable skills. My most meaningful career accomplishment will likely be something I never imagined.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I also noted that Cal Newport, being an academic, provided really really good advice for graduate students (and in general, anyone who is trying to create knowledge). I've already begun implementing his paradigm into my work (see below).</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Below, I've copied my notes on Cal Newport's book. But seriously, go buy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361657434&sr=8-2&keywords=so+good+they+can%27t+ignore+you">So Good They Can't Ignore You</a> right now.</div>
<div class="p1">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<h3>
<u style="font-size: xx-large;">So Good They Can't Ignore You</u></h3>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Popular paradigm: look inward and decide your "passion," develop the courage to leave your job and go follow your passion. Then develop passion-oriented skills and do what you love.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
New paradigm: Pre-existing passions don't exist. Even if they did, you would first need rare and valuable skills to back them up, called <b>career capital</b>, or you will fail<b>.</b> To find a compelling mission for your life, you need those skills first so you can explore many possible missions. You can develop career capital in nearly any job, because you can usually apply skills to other fields. Start NOW, in your current job. Careful: the more skill you acquire, the more others will try to convince you to help them or follow a traditional path, but stay focused on what you believe will make the most impact. Use your value to demand more autonomy and surround yourself with people you like and work well with. Then, use your autonomous time to develop your own missions. These are <b>tentative missions</b> - a<i>nything</i> that seems interesting and important at the time. Your mission will constantly change, so be comfortable with it. Some missions will reveal themselves serendipitously- if you have the skills then you can take advantage of opportunities. Others will be brought to you because of your skills- people want to work with you. Learn as much as you can, brainstorm ideas, and put them into action in small projects. This will allow you to continuously expand, refine, or replace your missions until you believe that you are both working right and doing the right work.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Important: these are not a series of steps. They define a <i>lifestyle.</i> Different aspects are more important to focus on a different times. Career capital is most important for a 20-something, for example.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<u>What Can You Actually Do Right Now?</u></h3>
<div class="p1">
<b>Bold: Goals</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>Italics: specific activities that bring you closer to the goals. Do these on a regular basis.</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b><u>General principles</u></b></div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Develop career capital</b> - rare and valuable skills that make you so good/interesting that others cannot ignore you</li>
<li><b>Explore possible life/work missions </b>- these will allow you to constantly refine your skill set, explore opportunities and develop a mission</li>
<li><b>Time tracking - </b>track time spent towards high-yield activities, i.e. those that develop career capital and explore possible missions. These include deliberate practice and feedback, background research, little bets, serious study of others and others' work</li>
<li><b>Autonomy</b> - YOU must make time for high-yield activities</li>
<ul>
<li>Prioritize these over simple productivity</li>
<li>Turn down prestigious positions that saddle you with responsibilities</li>
<li>Surround yourself with likeable and talented people who respect your autonomy</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<b><u>Career capital</u></b></div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Identify rare and valuable skills </b>that make the most difference in your current field or are generally applicable to any field</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Study people who have rare and valuable skills</i></li>
</ul>
<li><b>Develop rare and valuable skills:</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Deliberate practice - </i>strain yourself and embrace discomfort and ambiguity</li>
<li><i>Seek immediate, clear feedback, </i>esp from mentor/coach</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<b><u>Mission and impact</u></b></div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Mission</b>: Determine a tentative mission</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Study people who have compelling missions and interesting careers</i></li>
</ul>
<li><b>Cutting Edge</b>: Do research and constantly scan for your field's next big idea - the "adjacent possible"</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Background research: Learn new ideas in your field through reading, meetings, talks</i></li>
<li><i>Research Bible: Summarize idea-of-the-week in your own words</i></li>
<li><i>Idea notebook: brainstorm own ideas</i></li>
<li><i>Daily walk: free-form brainstorm related to the tentative mission</i></li>
</ul>
<li><b>Little bets</b>: small exploratory projects (<1 month) to test your ideas</li>
<ul>
<li>criteria: must do at least one of the following:</li>
<ul>
<li>force yourself to master a new skill</li>
<li>produce novel results</li>
<li>grasp the attention of others (i.e. be remarkable)</li>
</ul>
<li><i>Seek concrete feedback, especially from others</i></li>
<li><i>obsess over self-imposed deadlines</i></li>
<li><i>publicize your little bets in a setting where word can quickly spread if the idea is good enough</i></li>
</ul>
<li><b>Reflection</b>: Evaluate concrete feedback from little bet, alter or replace tentative mission, guide further research, plan next little bet</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Take 1 full day off per month for reflection</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<br />albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-26362213229611182782013-01-31T06:55:00.001-08:002013-01-31T12:57:26.864-08:00The best way to start the dayToday is a ridiculously busy day. I still need to prepare my lesson for teaching at 1pm, and today is one of the few days this week that harbors a continuous block of time to get lab work done. And I want to read some papers and get some planning done. And all this needs to be done before I pick up the guest I'm hosting for PhD recruitment weekend. Since I need to take him around campus tomorrow to all his interviews and events, I won't be able to do much tomorrow other than grade papers and maybe read my 5th book. Anxiety is rising.<br />
<br />
But I'm taking a little time to slow down and gather my thoughts for this morning on this blog. I went down to the cafe, selected their newest roast, and sat down in the comfortably spacious common area. I suppose I could've looked out at the heavy snow and temperature drop from 50 to 20 degrees as a frustration and a blockade to productivity. But I'd rather gaze out of the big bright windows, see the beauty from my warm chair, and purposefully enjoy my coffee. I let my mind settle on comfort and charm of Ann Arbor and the feeling of being at home. Simultaneously, I wonder about everything else out there on this planet and all the experiences awaiting me in life.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQ6jsTyOe29oGu4CVfVoxXkV5UI6AM2jB3rSg3LrrauPwqdreFfoD6EBFWZwqPEsoZN84zbCh5DTnI52-4nMLwSelxrIG_nWroXik-vZ_uvEc3u5h6y_hqse15HAW6pfsutVRYbCT3y27/s1600/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQ6jsTyOe29oGu4CVfVoxXkV5UI6AM2jB3rSg3LrrauPwqdreFfoD6EBFWZwqPEsoZN84zbCh5DTnI52-4nMLwSelxrIG_nWroXik-vZ_uvEc3u5h6y_hqse15HAW6pfsutVRYbCT3y27/s400/photo+(1).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I like slowing down at the beginning of the day. It is all too easy to see one's massive to-do list and rush straight into work. But paradoxically, this leads to less work getting done. It's hard to focus on one's work if you just think "I <i>have</i> to do this today," rather than "I <i>want </i>to do this today." It's hard to be creative unless your mind wanders a little and brings new resources to bear on the problems you're solving. And without taking some time to think, it's easy to fall into the trap of doing urgent stuff, rather than important stuff. And <i>that</i> is a form of procrastination far worse than delaying your work for 30 minutes.<br />
<br />
Since sitting down, I've determined the #1 thing I need to do this morning is perform a literature search and determine the list of gene expression assays I want to design. Then, the #2 thing I need to do is plan my teaching. Also, I need to go to the gym since I won't be able to go later. Exercise is not something I'm willing to compromise on, no matter how I busy I am. That's it for this morning until my discussion section. Nothing else will enter my mind.<br />
<br />
Taking some time to prepare the mind will cause one's most important priorities to float to the top, where they are ripe for picking.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">High-Yield Practices to Prepare Your Mind</span><br />
Sometimes one can get up without direction for 30 minutes and stumble upon an idea or practice that changes one's life. Not likely, however. Some default choices for what to do to gather one's thoughts for the rest of the day:<br />
<br />
<b>Create. </b><br />
<br />
I created this blog entry this morning. Write, build, draw, create a connection with another human being.<br />
<br />
<b>Focus on a simple joy. </b><br />
<br />
Just for a few minutes, nothing else in the world can get between you, your cup of coffee, and your thoughts.<br />
<br />
<b>Exercise</b>.<br />
<br />
Work hard enough to feel discomfort. Embrace the discomfort- that attitude makes you feel ready to tackle challenges for the rest of the day. Eat some protein afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b>Make something sparkly clean.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
But don't rush it. Consider your environment's effect on your mind.<br />
<br />
<b>Read something unrelated to your work.</b><br />
<br />
Try to learn a new idea. Or engage yourself in a new story. Important: Don't read the news.<br />
<br />
<b>Generate ideas</b>.<br />
<br />
Doesn't matter how stupid they sound. Write them down. Create. If nothing comes to you, read something first and really consider it. Anyone can become creative if they practice being creative.<br />
<br />
<b>Finally, </b>after you're all done, either plan the rest of your day, or go straight into your #1 most important and most difficult task of the day. Look at it as an opportunity.<br />
<br />
<br />albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-17535990554007059712013-01-10T13:45:00.000-08:002013-02-23T15:12:18.230-08:00Update: 2013 Reading GoalIt is now January 10. I am 10 days into <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-only-goal-for-2013.html">my goal of reading 52 books in 2013</a>. Last night I finished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Guide-Developing-Important-ebook/dp/B000SEUSXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357852981&sr=8-1&keywords=happiness+skill">Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill</a>, which was decent. I already agreed with the author that happiness is a skill (see <a href="http://albertchen42.blogspot.com/2013/01/lets-try-experiment.html">prior blog post</a>), and many of the chapters seemed redundant. If you're looking for a better and more succinct version, read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-ebook/dp/B000WJVK26/ref=tmm_kin_title_0">7 Habits of Highly Effective People</a>. I did however enjoy the science chapter where they use fMRI and EEG to understand the physical basis of happiness. The author is a scientist-turned-monk, after all. Before that I finished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Chef-Learning-Anything/dp/0547884591">The 4-Hour Chef</a>, which gave me a lot of ideas on how to learn to read more effectively (it's a book about learning, not cooking <i>per se</i>). I have lots of ideas for holding myself accountable, making the project interesting, and deliberately improving my reading skills.<br />
<br />
For the rest of the month, I intend to read two of the following:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Machine-Commonsense-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/0743276647">The Emotion Machine</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/End-All-Wars-Rebellion-1914-1918/dp/0547750315">To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Catching-Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/1594135851">Catching Fire</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Universe-Within-Discovering-History/dp/0307378438">The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1455509124">So Good They Can't Ignore You</a>. I hear this one is a good read if you're trying to "Find your passion" and are getting nowhere.<br />
<br />
If I find a book is very long, I may give myself two weeks to read it. And then I will make that up by reading 2 short books in 1 week.<br />
<br />
I've been pretty busy between research and teaching, so I haven't been able to write up a post on the specifics of my goal plan. But it'll come. I promise!albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-34412072383380487462013-01-04T19:52:00.002-08:002013-01-04T19:58:46.470-08:00Let's try an experiment<br />
<div class="p1">
Let's do an experiment. If no one responds, I'm happy. If a hundred people respond, I'm happy. I've never asked for a specific response to a blog post before, so simply asking is a victory.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Today, I will share the ideas that influenced me in 2012- the ones that I considered, tried, and <span class="s1">kept</span>. The Internet is a deluge of information, and I've encountered a lot of BS in process. Right now the best way for an average Internet user to promote another person's idea is to like it or share it (or maybe collaborate with them). So share it I will.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I'd like you to pick one of the 5 links I've listed below, read the article or watch the video, and post your response as a comment (or you can e-mail me at albertchen42@gmail.com). You can simply write a one-sentence summary if you want. Or, what do you think of the idea? Enlightening? Unrealistic? Naive? What's your favorite?</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The List:</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/">Altucher Confidential</a> </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/mit-challenge/">Scott H Young</a></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html">TED talks (Amy Cuddy) </a></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s2"><a href="http://zenhabits.net/journey/">Zen Habits </a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0743269519/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z">7 Habits of Highly Effective People </a>(this is a book, so extra credit if you do this one! Assuming you haven't read it)</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I'd also recommend exploring the other articles/videos on these sites.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGkuTIrR-SP-r74rTnr9sN_i208K-7y3dlNrwzshfi2hDQ-7Uf3bdXKghysmbsp2MwK7-olX-hKmZHDMLD83_rmYCvP7_IMDKejTZwkIJsyh3tfdy8jEBKGnrjKb1BEFqUMXQ2SqAF-eZ/s1600/Slide1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGkuTIrR-SP-r74rTnr9sN_i208K-7y3dlNrwzshfi2hDQ-7Uf3bdXKghysmbsp2MwK7-olX-hKmZHDMLD83_rmYCvP7_IMDKejTZwkIJsyh3tfdy8jEBKGnrjKb1BEFqUMXQ2SqAF-eZ/s400/Slide1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top: James Altucher, Scott H Young, Leo Babauta. <br />
Bottom: Amy Cuddy, Stephen Covey<br />
Oh yeah, and there's Usain Bolt.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
_________________________________________________________________________________<br />
<b><a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/">Altucher Confidential</a> </b></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
I don't agree with some of Altucher's specific ideas, but I support anyone willing to publicly challenge conventional wisdom. James Altucher's method is the best way to get unstuck. When I have momentum in my work and in life, I have no problem. But eventually I get in a rut and do almost nothing for a week. This is usually because I burn out in one or more ways: physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually (in the loosest sense of the term). With a mindset resembling the Daily Practice, I tell myself I just have to do one thing to take care of each of these dimensions. Very little demand, since I'm burned out. But then I rebuild the momentum and it gets easier and easier to do more and more.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/mit-challenge/"><b>Scott H Young</b></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
There are advanced techniques out there for learning. Watching video lectures, reviewing notes, and rewriting notes are some of the least effective methods, yet they seem to be staples among students. Scott H Young is dedicated to educating people on how to learn far more effectively so they can recall the information years later. He also rejects that an official diploma is the right fit for anyone trying to learn a major new skill or field. It's nice, but not necessary. That a diploma takes too long and too much money to obtain shouldn't be an excuse not to just learn the material yourself. Scott and his MIT challenge was one of the main inspirations that reignited my love for self-learning this year.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html"><b>TED talks (Amy Cuddy)</b></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
One of the most touching talks I've seen all year. The practical, scientific information in this talk will instantaneously improve one's body language and help one deliberately engage others in any situation (one of the most important skills in life that I unfortunately neglected all my life). I do this whenever I'm feeling down and I need a quick boost in a social situation. But this talk has an even better inspirational message on becoming the person you want to be.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://zenhabits.net/journey/"><b>Zen Habits</b></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
The best ideas are the ones you initially resist. When I read this post I almost unsubscribed. Live a life without goals? Then how can you ever get what you want? How can you ever move forward? But I was wrong. I initially thought No Goals = Sitting on My Butt- because that's where I was coming from. When I encountered Zen Habits, I was in the process of getting off my butt. If you're going to follow a "No Goals" philosophy, you need to already be off your butt.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0743269519/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z"><b>7 Habits of Highly Effective People</b></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
Obviously, a longer read, but a good one to start off 2013 with if you've never heard of it. This book revealed to me that most if not all of the misery that people experience come from themselves, or more specifically their own reactions and perceptions to what happens to them. It is all too easy to brood over both real and perceived insults from other people, to spend time wondering why other people can be so irrational or horrible, to devote more energy to wishing that life was different than energy actually living life. Usually this persistent mood does far more damage to your mental well-being than anything the world can throw at you. Think about it this way: if someone tries to hurt you physically or emotionally, they are really trying to hack into your sadness system and cause it to fire incessantly. Don't let them do that. Just because someone who you depend on is being a jerk to you and completely violates your trust, doesn't mean you need to be sad. It might be really really difficult to not be sad (especially in cases of clinical depression) but it's doable. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty good life, but I know that I blow some small things way out of proportion. The only way to fix that is to deliberately change my own perceptions. This is a truly freeing idea: that you control your own happiness.</div>
<div class="p2">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p1">
There are some more ideas from other sources that I'm still pondering. They may be the subject of future posts.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I'll end with an observation. If you explore more of these authors' articles, you'll start realizing that they often touch on each other's themes but in differnet ways. Could it be that I liked one of them and started seeking out similar ideas, or they all inspired each other? Or my brain is fusing very different ideas into one big picture, so that it just seems like they're saying the same thing? Or is there something more fundamental going on...</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-26116757448848609452012-12-24T16:29:00.002-08:002013-02-23T15:14:29.726-08:00My only goal for 2013<br />
<div class="p1">
It was pretty easy to write this blog entry. Essentially, I just consulted my <a href="http://www.workflowy.com/">Workflowy</a> goal list that I've been accumulating. I organize my life around Workflowy, using it as my to-do list, idea capture tool, journal, shopping list, and bucket list of things to do. Everything (thousands of items) goes in one simple and elegant document, but it's super easy to find exactly the information I'm looking for at any given time. Much better than a GoogleDoc. Check it out if you're looking for a productivity tool for the new year.</div>
<div class="p2">
_______________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p2">
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Why only one goal?</u></b></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
One mistake I made last year was focusing on too many goals at once. I gathered a massive bucket list, pared it down to 3-5 goals per month, and it was still too much. I wanted variety so that I would develop multiple skills and ways of thinking that could synergize, as well as discover new things I was passionate about. <b>That logic still holds- and I still intend on trying a variety of things.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Other than my research, this year I will only focus on one goal, my Major Goal for 2013</b>. Reasons:</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>1) Spend less time planning, more time doing</b>. Last year I found myself worrying about planning when and for how long I would work on each goal, so I spent more time optimizing my schedule than actually accomplishing anything.</div>
<div class="p1">
<b>2) Focus</b> <b>and deliberate practice.</b> If something is really worthwhile, then it's worth pushing my limits on it, challenging myself, and taking the time to carefully analyze and optimize every aspect. Rather than just haphazardly grinding through the task so that I can run to my next goal, I will sit and force myself to THINK. What are the essential elements of this goal and which will yield the greatest benefits? How can I continually improve? How can I apply these skills to other activities in an unconventional manner? What mistakes do I make and how do I fix them?</div>
<div class="p1">
<b>3) Prioritization. </b>Taking the time to identify what is really useful or important will allow me to put less stuff on my to-do list but still get more stuff done. <u>A long, unprioritized to-do list is the best friend of procrastination.</u></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>4) Habit for life. </b>Some skills are so invaluable that they ought to be life habits. Yet we often don't do them because we don't prioritize them.</div>
<div class="p2">
_______________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>The Goal</u></b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>So I can TRY many things at once, but I will only be focusing on ONE GOAL.</b></span> This one fought off quite a few other contenders from my list.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">~</span><u style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">Goal: Read one book per week</u><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">~</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="p1">
That's it. Looks simple on the surface. Check back later for a detailed blog post on my Major Goal for 2013. I'm not going to be reading casually- I will actively improve my actual skill of reading (speed, comprehension, control, deep thinking, etc). One book a week is pretty ambitious for me, so I will adjust as necessary.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_______________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>What else might I want to accomplish?</u></b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I love variety, so I'm going to try a bunch of other things. But these won't be "goals" where I need accountability, tracking, and analysis. They fall into two categories:</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>1) Habits I definitely want to continue</b>. No need to focus on them, as the habit has already been more or less established.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Fitness</div>
<div class="p1">
Journaling</div>
<div class="p1">
Blogging</div>
<div class="p1">
Reading scientific papers daily</div>
<div class="p1">
Generating ideas daily</div>
<div class="p1">
Introducing myself to random people in cafes</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>2) Things I may experiment with this year.</b> I may elevate one of these to a Major Goal for 1-5 months (meaning I focus on it, not just try it), but only if I'm comfortably completing one book per week. Again, truly focusing on a goal is an energy- and time-intensive endeavor, involving a lot of research, experimentation, reflection, and analysis.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Lucid dreaming</div>
<div class="p1">
Learning Spanish</div>
<div class="p1">
Writing letters or e-mails to scientists that I find unique and intriguing</div>
<div class="p1">
Thoroughly organize my lab notes at a set time every day</div>
<div class="p1">
Carry around a pocket notebook so I can capture all my thoughts and observations</div>
<div class="p1">
Travel to multiple countries (Asia and South America especially)</div>
<div class="p1">
Learn 20 tunes on a new instrument</div>
<div class="p1">
Try snowboarding, rock climbing, and/or parkour</div>
<div class="p1">
Take a couple of online courses</div>
<div class="p1">
Develop out-of-the-box teaching methods and make them freely available</div>
<div class="p1">
Write a program to analyze something in lab or get something done faster</div>
<div class="p1">
Leadership skills</div>
<div class="p1">
Conference crashing (completely unrelated to my professional/private interests)</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
_______________________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Long-term goals:</u></span></b></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Finally, it's a good idea to reflect on what sort of life I want in the future, although my plan is certainly a work-in-progress. Of course, it would be a terrible mistake to fret about whether or not what I'm doing right now will translate towards my vision of my future. <b>This year I learned that "Following your passion" is terrible advice.</b> Instead, I should utilize my current environment to develop long-term skills that can be applied to anything I decide to pursue later.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b><u>What I want:</u></b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b></b>Every single year, I should do at least one big thing where I can say, "Wow, last year I never imagined I would be doing what I am doing right now." Diversity of experiences, both in professional and private life, is most important to me. Career-wise, that means pursuing many different career options, but only one at a time. For example, one decade as a practicing neurologist, one decade focused on basic research, one decade working on startups, one decade part of a large company. At some point, I'd like to be a contestant on Jeopardy!, teach an online course, start my own business, give a TED-esque talk, make a bunch of DIY projects, and go into space. Yes, I'm totally serious about that last one.</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-16875924364880698122012-12-17T11:54:00.001-08:002012-12-17T13:56:05.585-08:00A Unified Theory of Albert's 2012It's been a while since I've blogged. I can feel a little anxiety, a little tightness in my chest, likely representing some silly fears: "How do I choose which blog concept to start off with? What if it takes a really long time to get back into the blogging mentality? What if it's obvious that I'm out of practice? What if…" Actually I found myself struggling to explain the anxiety while writing that, so I'm not so anxious anymore. I let it go.<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
It often feels like the same problems plague us year after year. Everyone has bad habits they'd rather eliminate (wasting time on the Internet, poor eating, unnecessary arguing with loved ones, anxiety in X or Y situation, etc). A big one: procrastination. I was going to write this blog entry on Friday but I put it off just to watch Netflix. I did procrastinate- just not nearly as long as I used to, and I didn't beat myself up over it. Same goes for everything else nowadays.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So how did I actually write this blog entry? <b>I just started.</b> I told myself, "Let's just see where this goes. Quality doesn't matter. Two paragraphs, go." Now I'm on my third.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Now, "Just start" probably sounds like really trivial advice. I probably heard this "Just start" advice years ago, and it never helped me stop procrastinating for all these years. So why do I claim that this one little trivial statement is now making a marked difference in my life and my work?</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Because in 2012, I <b>deliberately and consciously focused </b>on this little piece of advice. It's one thing to be aware of an idea. It's quite another to focus on an idea long enough to realize when it's applicable and then to execute it. I wake myself up frequently from my daily routine and remind myself that I need to "just start." If I can say I accomplished anything this year, it's that I have trained myself to pay attention to what I'm doing, and more importantly, what I'm thinking at any given time. This is way easier said than done. <b>It took a year of recognizing this was the underlying problem and several months of serious work. </b></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Actual Grand Unified Theory</span></div>
<div class="p1">
So what unifies all my pursuits in 2012 is my awareness of what I'm doing. For the rest of the blog entry, I'd like to break this up into three synergistic ideas and then offer some lessons that go along with each one. It's not particularly organized or detailed, but many received deeper treatment in past posts, and many will in the future.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<u><b>1. Think about thoughts</b>. </u>You can call it "Mindfulness" if you want, but this essentially allows me to be my own psychologist. This allows me to figure out which thoughts are getting in my way, and which ones will help me achieve my goals.</div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1"><b>Stop repeatedly thinking about things. </b>Pointless. Replaying bad memories, regrets, future fantasies, upcoming deadlines, someone who was inexplicably mean, something wrong in my life. The solution was simple: think about what I can do about the situation today. If I can do something, do it. If not, think about something else.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Stop stressing</b>. I used to think stress was a necessary evil that helps get stuff done. But stress is only correlative. Thinking objectively about the problem and executing a solution is what actually gets stuff done. Stress hormones only cloud the mind: they're evolved for fight-or-flight. To get stuff done without stress, I re-frame situations to motivate myself positively: treat the task as an opportunity, not an obligation</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Stop judging other people</b>. It's easy to do this subconsciously. These judgments will never make a single difference in the real world. It's a waste of brain power.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Instead, pay attention to the present.</b> This makes it easier to appreciate what I have, and it prevents me from engaging in the useless thought processes listed above.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Keep a journal</b> of my thoughts, ideas, important events. I now write down 1 to 5 things a day about my thoughts and daily situations, plus specific things I could have done to handle them better. Then I do them next time.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p1">
<b><u>2. Deliberate Practice.</u> </b>Thinking about thinking allows me remind myself frequently to implement behavioral changes, so I can break old habits and develop new skills. Deliberately expose self to small challenges and then take on progressively more difficult challenges. Treating things as practice frees me to experiment, so I am more likely to make progress.</div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1"><b>Think about thoughts</b>. What, again? Well, the issue is that it's difficult. Or more precisely, it's hard to remember to think about thoughts, and some thoughts are so powerful and ingrained that they take persistence to eliminate.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Social anxiety</b>. Everyone experiences social anxiety in at least one situation. It can be eliminated through practice. Identify the situation that makes you anxious (eg public speaking). Deliberately put yourself in that situation (offer to give a toast at a party) rather than waiting for some obligation to force you into it (eg best man toast). Observe your anxieties. Acknowledge them. Explain to yourself why they are irrational (they usually are). Think of something specific you can do at the moment (e.g. poke fun at yourself and get the audience laughing). From that point forward, <span class="s1">you already win</span>, because you already made progress. Everything else is just fun, and if you embarass yourself, who cares?</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Honesty.</b> I don't just mean not telling lies. I mean revealing things to other people that may bring judgment. I've discovered that when I reveal risky things to people, they will trust me more, not less. No one believes that anyone else is perfect, so revealing a secret won't hurt. This is really difficult, especially society says such things are stigmatized (this is a self-fulfilling prophecy, unfortunately). Difficulty can be overcome with practice.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Generating ideas and being creative</b>. You can train yourself to be creative. You can train yourself to not accept things the way they are and to constantly ask "what if?" Just practice writing down ideas.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Take deliberate breaks.</b> If I keep working until I'm exhausted, I'll involuntarily take a much longer break and actually get less done. I also stop thinking about thinking, so I fall back on old bad habits (eg wasting time on the Internet). Instead, I now take frequent, short breaks. It's hard to remember to do this, so I practice it.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p1">
<u><b>3. Life is an experiment</b>.</u> There are no stakes, only opportunities. My brain pays attention at a much deeper level while experiencing or doing something new.</div>
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1"><b>Try new things, all the time.</b> This felt like the longest year of my life- in a good way, because I deliberately tried lots of new things. Also, trying new things has made discover that I can do things that I always told myself that I couldn't do. I never thought I'd ever be able to walk up to a random cute girl in a cafe and take her out on an instant date. I never thought I would ever train for a triathlon. I never thought I'd actually have a blog, even though I wanted one.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Meeting a new person and don't know what to say?</b> Conversation turning boring? Try saying something provocative and risky, something that you personally find entertaining or funny. Play with the other person's reactions. If they are turned off by it, who cares? It's not a person you'd get along with anyways, if they don't share your sense of humor. And if they do find it hilarious, you've just found yourself a friend.</li>
<li class="li1"><b>Make your own way</b>. Don't be afraid to stick out, no matter how uncomfortable it is to have others judging you. Don't get stuck in the mindset "College => job => stable career => significant other => marriage => house in the suburbs." Society tells you that this is what you're supposed to do. You might be 100% happy doing this, but you should do it because of reasons that you have established for yourself, not because society tells you to. If you're doing it for your own reasons, you will get more out of it. And this might not be what you want to do, and you should not let friends or family pressure you into following a set path. </li>
<li class="li1"><b>Never be afraid of failure.</b> I realized that I was dramatically overestimating the consequences of my choices. Once I started taking risks, I started seeing that small, fun risks are everywhere.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p1">
<br />
Finally, laugh at yourself. I'm laughing at this blog entry right now.</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-82511469698884112312012-10-21T12:14:00.003-07:002013-02-23T15:15:07.350-08:00On break from bloggingSo I figured I'd leave a quick note up here disclosing that I probably won't be blogging at all in the next month (not that the two past months have been particularly prolific). I'm working pretty much non-stop to rush a publication for submission. Work, eat/sleep/exercise, hang out with the girlfriend, repeat all over.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Two things keep me going:</div>
<div>
1. It's fun, not work.</div>
<div>
2. I need to focus and think constantly about this project. No distractions. However, stress and worrying are utterly useless and I will have none of that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
See you all in December!</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-68159711731662650042012-09-26T11:28:00.001-07:002012-09-26T11:36:18.101-07:00My Gamified Life: Fitocracy<br />
<div class="p1">
I mentioned in a previous post that I've made it a habit to exercise, and so I don't have to expend any mental energy to get myself there (I have plenty of other things on my mind). But I think the best way to keep a habit is to <b>make it FUN, each and every day.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Gamification</b>: It takes tremendous self-discipline to motivate oneself today based on some imagined/abstract healthy future. Instead, the best way is to INCENTIVIZE yourself on a day-to-day basis to exercise. Now, having society pay people to exercise would be impractical. <b>But remember: a huge number of people play Farmville and World of Warcraft for days non-stop just to win </b><span class="s1"><b>virtual points</b></span><b>. The incentive is further reinforced long-term by mechanisms such as leveling up, completing quests, reaching achievements, and receiving virtual tokens of support from friends. </b>Incentives can be entirely virtual and cost nothing. Microsoft got its employees to volunteer their time to find bugs in Windows 7 by giving them virtual points People did a mind-numbing task (finding software bugs) over and over and over without pay, just because it was fun to get virtual points and compete against other employees.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Guess what? There IS a website that gives you points for working out, gives you fitness quests RPG-style, and lets you socialize all at the same time. I've been using Fitocracy since November 2011, and I think it's crazy everyone isn't using it.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The beauty of Fitocracy is the combination of two features:</div>
<div class="p1">
<b>1) Incentive system that lets you track your progress</b>. This is simply fun. During my workout, I use the iPhone app to easily enter in my exercises as I'm doing them. At the end of the workout, it rewards points based on the type of workout, the # of reps, and the # of sets (generally, points are compound lifts > isolated lifts > cardio). I automatically get a good sense of how much I accomplished, and I feel like I've earned something. I don't think twice about working out. After you accumulate a certain number of points, you level up. People give each other "Props" just like Facebook's "Likes." There are also quests and achievements. As further encouragement, <b>it automatically graphs your progress on each exercise for you.</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>2) Social network</b>. Fitocracy boasts about 230,000 users, and many of them are fitness enthusiasts and personal trainers (and a disproportionate number of cardiologists and orthopedic surgeons). And yes, lots of nerds too. You can easily find people who match your fitness interests. Many of them post pictures of themselves (i.e. before and after transformation) so you can see what kinds of results they're getting. You can see EXACTLY what exercises they do down to the last detail. Got a question for one of them? Need advice? Just ask.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDwb1ByuEB0IwO4epqsSlvkZuUAN6mQhjBRcw7fVm9mKeJjvUJmymxgBMu6OOlO8nxGX_MSmCc1mfZl0BD4vJ9hB3jw0yzzpfbdDZiJmx2Thcx55Tw3_m2NXP4M5OCtqYNWvVp-bvIgyK/s1600/fitocracy1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDwb1ByuEB0IwO4epqsSlvkZuUAN6mQhjBRcw7fVm9mKeJjvUJmymxgBMu6OOlO8nxGX_MSmCc1mfZl0BD4vJ9hB3jw0yzzpfbdDZiJmx2Thcx55Tw3_m2NXP4M5OCtqYNWvVp-bvIgyK/s640/fitocracy1" width="526" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical workout entry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
These two features synergize. For example, Fitocracy has a universal set of "Achievements" that anyone can obtain. These are things like "Bench press your body weight" or "Deadlift 2X your body weight" or "Run 200 miles total." For the longest time, I was in awe of other people with the 15-pullups achievement- I started out just struggling to get the 5-pullups achievement. In the back of my mind I thought "well I'm not THAT intense- and probably won't ever get there." But then I read one profile and figured out how quickly that person went from 3 to 15 pullups… and it was less than a year. And what kind of motivation do you think I got when I achieved it last month? The habit is self-perpetuating and only gets stronger over time.</div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Myths</b>: Just talking to more experienced people on Fitocracy is a great way to re-educate yourself. There's a lot of fitness controversies out here, but here are some myths that are pretty much completely debunked:</div>
<div class="p1">
1) "<b>I don't want to weightlift because I don't want to get bulky- I just want to get toned"</b>. OK it takes many years for a guy to bulk up lifting weights every day (unless they take steroids- not recommended). How long do you think it takes for a woman who has >10X lower testosterone? Women will slim down with weightlifting because muscle takes up a lot less space than fat. If you take 10 minutes to look around Fitocracy, you'll rapidly find dozens of counter-examples to the bulky myth (like <a href="http://blog.fitocracy.com/post/28837494645/fitocracy-member-spotlight-super-luminal">this</a> and <a href="http://blog.fitocracy.com/post/25366002857/fitocracy-member-spotlight-meeks?utm_source=Fitocracy+Users&utm_campaign=65baf1d62a-meeks_Spotlight&utm_medium=email">this</a>). The bulky women you see in magazines are either on steroids or are in the <5% of women who have naturally high testosterone.</div>
<div class="p1">
2) "<b>Deadlifts are bad for your back, and squats are bad for your knees</b>." I used to get back pain and it's completely stopped since I started doing deadlifts. I used to get knee pain if I ran too much and now it's never a problem. You can only injure yourself if you have bad form, and Fitocracy lets you talk directly to other people (like personal trainers) about your form. Some people even post videos of themselves so others can critique them.</div>
<div class="p1">
3) "<b>Everyone needs cardio</b>." Only necessary if you have a family history of heart disease or if you're training for a sport that involves a lot of cardio. Weightlifting is enough.</div>
<div class="p1">
4) "<b>Situps reduce belly fat." </b>Actually, probably the best way to reduce belly fat (or any type of fat, because spot reduction is impossible) is squats because maintenance of the big muscles will divert energy from your fat reserves.</div>
<div class="p1">
5) <b>"High-protein diets kill your kidneys."</b> It increases your kidney blood flow, working it harder, but that doesn't mean it's damaging your kidneys. Think of it as exercising your kidneys. Sure, people with kidney failure will worsen it if they eat more protein, but that's no different than trying to lift heavy boxes immediately after breaking your leg.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I think we're entering an age where traditional sources of information like fitness magazines and celebrity workouts have pretty much lost their value compared to just talking to other regular people like you and me<b> who have made real progress</b>. If you look in magazines, everyone is airbrushed and all the men are on steroids, and they don't do anything but work out. You have no way to verify the information they give you. On Fitocracy, you can see literally thousands of actual success stories from people who are just as busy as you. Along those lines, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness">Reddit Fitness FAQ</a> is also an excellent source of information.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Here's my shameless <a href="http://ftcy.me/ixL6WP">invite link</a>.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2SEhTpgNXQ173zdYNl6LoWHQrTVFSQrnXjFCCiVBHzaLP7lqz6xcKBvcmCdGc2xY0frg7duqhgRQsjpr1cu1LyMFNiDcGwzDbRb2Y7yMXvbCBw5KRFB1tVgiv3lNs4ODVByAHdKqMUZU/s1600/fitocracy2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2SEhTpgNXQ173zdYNl6LoWHQrTVFSQrnXjFCCiVBHzaLP7lqz6xcKBvcmCdGc2xY0frg7duqhgRQsjpr1cu1LyMFNiDcGwzDbRb2Y7yMXvbCBw5KRFB1tVgiv3lNs4ODVByAHdKqMUZU/s400/fitocracy2" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Track your performance over time.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HVYCe2tttuh31KZ12soGxvwvynaVjEjF2pZkcJH6RjKodwt2E2igx_lOKv7_9Ox6ZHj4Yyb9uDpiirgS9KynPs3QqI7LTGw5NiSfMtW7GqQwhPHDKm8WgA8SsgGohcYkMAsuXBQPeGmE/s1600/fitocracy3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HVYCe2tttuh31KZ12soGxvwvynaVjEjF2pZkcJH6RjKodwt2E2igx_lOKv7_9Ox6ZHj4Yyb9uDpiirgS9KynPs3QqI7LTGw5NiSfMtW7GqQwhPHDKm8WgA8SsgGohcYkMAsuXBQPeGmE/s400/fitocracy3.PNG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">iPhone app</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-63277013350951733102012-09-20T12:34:00.004-07:002012-09-21T07:40:55.921-07:00Work is Play: Stop focusing on your job's relevanceRecently, I've been reading the autobiography of Richard Feynman, the Nobel prize winning physicist. He reveals that after working at Los Alamos developing the atomic bomb, he fell into depression and a creative rut. One day he decided he was going to stop focusing on solving problems for societal benefit, significance, or any other purpose. He would simply play with science. He would work on the quirkiest problems, without any regard as to their relevance. One day he saw a colleague throw a dinner plate into the air and noticed that the ratio of the wobble to the spinning appeared to be 2:1. So he spent a huge chunk of his time trying to work out equations for it. Guess what? It got him out of his rut- he stopped caring that others might be judging him for spending his tenured faculty time on silly things. He could just dive in and think about the physics. And the equations he worked out happened to describe an analogous phenomenon in quantum mechanics, forming the basis for his Nobel Prize.<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I entered my PhD fascinated by the basic biology behind aging and its implications for society. I preferred thinking about science in the abstract rather than the labwork which I saw as hard work, a necessary evil. A lot of protocols are mindless because they are so well established- you just have to do them as manual labor. Early on I made a lot of mistakes in lab. It was very slow and I found myself procrastinating on my project, even ignoring reading papers because it would just stress me out by reminding me of labwork. Feedback loop initiated: I felt overwhelmed by how much stuff I needed to do, and I felt bad that I seemed so behind, especially compared to other people. Whenever I did make progress, the solution was so simple that I found myself regretting and blaming myself for not doing it earlier. So I started procrastinating even more.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
But certain forms of procrastination are ultimately beneficial.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
One purpose of this blog is to carefully consider and publicize my efforts to make deliberate changes in my life: One common question I get is, "how do you have time for blogging? Or any of this??" You could also ask how I have the mental energy for any of this.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Yes, that is the PhD. I get to choose how I spend all of my own time. Some scientists think as a PhD student you should be focused so much on your scientific work that you don't have time for anything else. I disagree. I think you should be dedicating all of your time to training yourself to be the most effective intellectual possible. You have to figure out for yourself how to do that- there are many avenues that don't involve working. </div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b>Stopping myself from wasting time on the Internet?</b> A no-brainer.</li>
<li><b>Managing negative thoughts?</b> Your self-talk can be a massive hindrance to your productivity. </li>
<li><b>Fitness?</b> Exercise grows new neurons in your hippocampus, prevents depression, and improves cognitive function. </li>
<li><b>Learning other subjects?</b> I solved a major problem in lab by analogy after reading the blog of someone describing an entirely different problem. </li>
<li><b>Practice writing?</b> Last year I was really really slow at writing analysis papers for classes. When it comes to publishing, I can't let being out of practice get in my way.</li>
<li><b>Trying new things?</b> If you can get yourself in the habit of jumping into things you know nothing about, you will have no problem getting started on that new method which will yield the best data.</li>
<li><b>Idea generation?</b> Good ideas in science are a needle in a haystack. But if you don't have a haystack in the first place, you won't find the needle.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="p1">
Hence, everything I am doing outside of lab IS contributing to my PhD work, by investing in <b>my most precious resource: myself</b>. Doing these things takes time and focus. By focusing on side projects OUTSIDE of work, I was able to get started without any of the negative feelings about my work. <b>Like Feynman, I stopped caring about what I was "supposed" to do- and that enabled me to </b><span class="s1"><b><u>just get started</u></b></span><b>.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Changing myself has changed the way I look at my work. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Sure, I still don't gain any enjoyment from the physical act of conducting wetlab experiments. But one habit I've formed is to ask myself: What do I actually enjoy? What could I actually enjoy about my work?</div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<ul>
<li> Figuring stuff out</li>
<li> Talking to others and coming to a revelation together</li>
<li> Control over my own time</li>
<li> Trying new things</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="p1">
By mentally focusing on these things in lab, I enjoy my work way more even if there are aspects that I'm still impatient with. Nowadays, I tend to push the mindless protocols to the end of the day and just listen to the Daily Show or podcasts in the background. I'm relaxed. No longer are they a problem.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I really started only addressing this in earnest this month. When I started focusing all my efforts into lab and nothing else, I almost gave up. Negative thoughts returned, I felt overwhelmed and regretful that I "wasted" time on all these side projects. But my focus kept up and survived, because I had trained my own brain this past summer on those very side projects. </div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Now I'm working way more hours in lab than ever before and every moment of it makes me happier- all because I changed the way I look at my work.</b> When I need a break, I take a break. But I've discovered it's possible to make working extremely long hours sustainable- but it requires effort to <span class="s1">restructure your mind</span> so that it is sustainable.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
When Richard Feynman was a child, he spent most of his time playing with science, building quirky ideas in his makeshift lab. While studying college physics, he conducted elaborate experiments on ant behavior, even though they had no relevance to physics. But by making work into play, his crazy-busy career became sustainable for him. It reminded me of one comment on my 1st grade report card: "He loves playing with math. He loves playing with science." 1st grade me was pretty wise- I have much to learn from him.</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-15704606921916012702012-08-26T07:30:00.002-07:002012-08-26T07:30:41.630-07:00I'm lost. What's my purpose in life?
<br />
<div class="p1">
I have a personal mission statement and constitution. I try to review it at least once a week to revise it and reflect on how well I've lived it the last week, and to plan on how I'll better live it. In my constitution I have principles and values written out, such as "I will have fun at failing," and "I will not judge other people." Sometimes I succeed, sometimes it's like I've forgotten this list exists. What is perhaps more important than the constitution is the mission statement. I have not been very happy with the life purpose I've defined for myself. It's vague but it's the best one I've come up with. The only thing I'm really happy with is that I deliberately chose a purpose that I thought most other people <i>wouldn't</i> understand on any level (I'm weird- I embrace it). I'm told that reflecting on my life purpose should bring me to tears. That you can find your life purpose by sitting down and writing hundreds of "life purpose" statements until you find the one that makes you cry. I've tried that, but nothing gives me that emotional "umph." And I've been worried that I can't find it.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Sometimes I think, hey I just need to focus. #1 Work on finding a proper life goal everyday. #2 Have some flexible plan for advancing that life goal each and every day. #3 Make sure by the end of each day I've met some milestone and feel like I've made progress. Then things will work out.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Not only is this focus hard, I'm also not sure it's the best plan anymore. I've been worried that I don't have a satisfying life purpose, but I think now that the <i>worrying</i> is the real problem. It's occupying me with trying to find some "ideal" life path and so I feel like I don't have enough time to experiment with new things. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Society teaches us to focus on the career progression (in science it's undergrad => grad student => post-doc => junior faculty => tenure), or the life progression significant other => married => family => house in suburbs. If you don't make progress, others are trained to ask you why you haven't. Some people are happy with it, but a lot of people aren't. Some people think it's necessary, and they don't want to wander off it because it's risky. But you know what? I think a lot of it has to do with life/career progressions being pre-defined for you. If you find your own reason to get married and buy a house that you won't pay off for 10 years, a reason that is made for you and only you, you'll be a lot happier with it.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
This pre-defined path through life can sometimes feel like a prison. So we rebel against it, and we often go overboard and rebel in unhealthy ways. People party a lot, do drugs, cheat on their significant others, quit their jobs without a plan. Most of the time people do this to a lesser extreme, where we might simply lose focus on our work and do our own thing for a while. We might grow in new ways, but then reality sets in and your boss yells at you and you realize your peers have published 3 papers while you have nothing to show. So you freak out and go back to the pre-defined path. You feel bad. Nothing you feel bad about can ever be maintained (omg I HAVE to do this or else my career tanks). So it starts to fail. You work long hours but your work doesn't go anywhere, and it's <i>because</i> you feel bad about it. It's a hell-on-earth prison. So you rebel against it, and it starts all over again.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
These are meanderings. We have to deal with societal expectations, but we also have to find our own way. Finding a correct balance- no, the correct MIX of the two is critical. And what's the best way to address something that is critical? Find a way to make it fun. Then you'll do it each and every day, and you won't worry about it.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I recently served on a panel to discuss graduate and medical school with a group of high schoolers applying to college. Every other question was along the lines of "What should I be doing right now to make sure I get into medical school?" It didn't bother me so much that they already "knew" what they wanted to do right out of high school- sure, it's naive, but I have confidence that they'll properly re-evaluate once they are exposed to more life choices during college. What <i>did</i> bother me was that they thought they would be <span class="s1">trapped</span> in whatever career path they chose, so they were scared to death that if they didn't optimize everything in their education that they would be stuck in some unhappy mediocre position. That they had to choose their career path NOW so that they could do everything right in the pre-defined life progression. Society is pushing students to imagine some ideal path through life, and if you just follow that you'll be all set for life. I was sucked into this for way too long, until I really started to reflect on what I wanted to get out of life.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Over the past year, I've been focusing on internalizing the mantra "Don't think life is good vs. life is bad. Think about what you can do right now to make it better, regardless of whether it's subjectively good or bad." It's self-managing your own thoughts. But I've really only been applying it to the "what" and the "how" of life. Not the "why" quite yet, and I realized this month that this has been a constant source of distress that I haven't been able to really address until recently.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
My goal now is to be lost. And I'm going to have a ton of fun doing it.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Last-minute edit: Yesterday I found a life purpose statement that brings me to tears. But that just moves the bar up, and I bet tomorrow I will subjectively feel just as lost. Finally, this post was motivated by the first question in this <a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/08/ask-james-how-to-get-over-heartache-the-5pm-diet-what-should-you-do-in-life-and-more/">Q&A by James Altucher</a>. I have found his blog to one of the most thought-provoking ones out there, even if I don't agree with him. And his honesty is an inspiration to anyone who feels like they have hide their failures to prevent society from judging them- which is everyone.</div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-44626585900032257642012-08-24T07:15:00.001-07:002012-09-26T11:48:07.134-07:00Friday Links: eat your egg yolks, avoid antimicrobial soapMost of this post will be about egg yolks, but I'll start with the following PSA: if a soap is labeled "antimicrobial," don't use it. Just don't use it.<br />
<div class="p1">
<br />
<span class="s1"><a href="http://cebulka26.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/triclosan-its-in-everything-but-is-it-warranted/">http://cebulka26.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/triclosan-its-in-everything-but-is-it-warranted/</a></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
If I see antimicrobial soap at a restaurant, I don't use it. I just wash with hot water. This concise and informative blog post from Ania (fellow MD/PhD) reminded me of why I do this. The active ingredient is triclosan, but I doubt it's very active anymore because it's in a bazillion products. Many of the microbes that we would theoretically want to kill are probably already immune to it. Continued use will just give microbes more and more chances to evolve resistance to not just it but also all related antibiotics, resulting in antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could kill a lot of people. The Black Death wasn't much fun, so I hear.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The fact is, there's currently zero evidence that antimicrobial soap helps prevent infection compared to regular soap. And given the potential health risks that Ania outlines (triclosan could affect your hormones, muscles, cancer…), why the hell would you use it? You're better off not using soap at all.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>Egg yolks OMG!!</u></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2188265/Eating-egg-yolks-bad-smoking-speeding-coronary-artery-disease.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2188265/Eating-egg-yolks-bad-smoking-speeding-coronary-artery-disease.html?ito=feeds-newsxml</a></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
For some reason, the least-significant studies seem to get the most publicity, and the media likes to create outrageous headlines like "eating eggs yolks as bad as smoking." Incredibly misleading and not at all implied by the paper- <b>especially when you consider that the audience is the public-at-large</b>. For some people cutting back on egg yolks is prudent (but not at all proven to be beneficial), but should average 25 year olds avoid egg yolks as they should avoid smoking? Absolutely not, and the lack of context in this article is irresponsible.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
First, some conceptual background: when you drink a lot of water, do you get water intoxication? No, you pee it out. Guess what? You excrete cholesterol through your liver into your digestive tract, and you can simply make less cholesterol. Your body reacts to greater cholesterol intake by decreasing cholesterol synthesis, and you end up with the same amount in your blood. The cholesterol that your body makes on a daily basis is significantly greater (about 3-5 fold) than what is recommended in your diet. Thus, your body can easily handle twice as much cholesterol consumption as normal, and eating more cholesterol <i>per se</i> does not increase your blood cholesterol. Your body needs cholesterol, and it will handle it as needed.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWKywd9tYK-mO3u2vVyz9SzXPE4bz__jbw4qwCYoT-RaGnEQADPqoikVNK4MtooX2KcPocyVDuolgS2M3kvo9UHYh-ohi2pFpfNzpT9inTbF3R_RJRjRQjEbxxDtCVXQj0F-gaUwhL5jB-/s1600/Egg+yolks.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWKywd9tYK-mO3u2vVyz9SzXPE4bz__jbw4qwCYoT-RaGnEQADPqoikVNK4MtooX2KcPocyVDuolgS2M3kvo9UHYh-ohi2pFpfNzpT9inTbF3R_RJRjRQjEbxxDtCVXQj0F-gaUwhL5jB-/s320/Egg+yolks.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you don't eat this, your body will probably make it instead and you'll end up with the same blood cholesterol either way. OK, maybe not for this many egg yolks, but you get the idea.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p3">
Of course, if you drink TONS of water (>12L), you can get water intoxication (this happens to ill-informed marathon runners). So there's a point at which cholesterol intake will start adversely affecting your blood cholesterol, and yes high blood cholesterol is a huge risk factor for heart disease. Furthermore, individuals with kidney disease will not be able to deal with water overload. Similarly, if you already have cholesterol imbalances (due to genetics, age, obesity, microbiome perturbation, whatever) then you should start watching your cholesterol intake, because the mechanisms to keep your blood cholesterol in check have already been overwhelmed.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Getting to the study, I have many objections:</div>
<div class="p3">
<ol>
<li><b><u>Glaring source of recall bias.</u></b> Egg yolk intake is <b>self-reported</b> in a questionnaire. But how many people actually keep track of their egg yolks? I'm guessing extremely few- and any variable that people do not consciously track is subject to huge memory bias. Furthermore, egg yolk intake is really hard to estimate, because eggs are used in all sorts of foods (bakery items, etc). I certainly would not trust my own estimation. <b>And there is a huge source of memory bias in this study: people with the worst heart disease (regardless of the cause) are far more likely to "remember" that they ate a lot of egg yolks. </b>We know that people's memories are heavily biased by their situation, and there is a pre-conceived notion out there that egg yolks are "supposed" to clog your arteries. People naturally look for an explanation for their disease, and if they find an easy explanation (eg egg yolks),<b> then they will sub-consciously alter their memories to believe that they ate more egg-yolks. The memory effect should get stronger with greater severity of disease, and so all of the results of this paper could be explained by recall bias. </b>Furthermore, the study itself can influence people's memories. You're going around a clinic full of worried people asking them how many eggs they eat. At least subconsciously, people are going to start blaming eggs for their health, even if they ate the same # of eggs as the next person.</li>
<li><u><b>The study population is heavily biased. </b></u>The patients are already attending a vascular clinic! As I mentioned, there are likely sub-populations for whom cholesterol intake will increase their blood cholesterol (morbidly obese individuals, patients with familial hypercholesterolemia who are genetically unable to regulate their own cholesterol, etc). Those are the sub-populations whose cholesterol homeostasis mechanisms are already out of whack, and they are the ones most likely to be attending the clinic.</li>
<li><b><u>The data is nothing but correlative</u></b>. Eating egg yolks (self-reported, again) is shown to be correlated with artery blockage. Sure, they use some statistical analysis to show that the effect is still present after you adjust for "coronary risk factors" but many risk factors are still unknown (yay science!), so you can't adjust for everything. The problem is that there are thousands of variables out there, and they are all correlated with each other to different degrees. People who live in a certain part of the country might eat foods rich in cholesterol, but guess what- that might also be the most polluted part of the country. Or there is a virus circulating in warm climates that increases your risk. Or people in that part of the country might be older, etc. If you look at 1000 variables, eventually you'll find one that fits simply by chance.</li>
<li><u><b>Simplistic clinical endpoint</b>.</u> Small point, but they just looked at neck artery blockage. Artery blockage, even if systemic, does not translate to disease. It's a risk factor like any other, and like all risk factors it doesn't affect all individuals in the same way.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>Plant Zen</u></span></div>
</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.disneyresearch.com/research/projects/hci_botanicus_drp.htm">http://www.disneyresearch.com/research/projects/hci_botanicus_drp.htm</a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.benchfly.com/blog/forget-wireless-keyboards-and-touch-your-plant-instead/">http://www.benchfly.com/blog/forget-wireless-keyboards-and-touch-your-plant-instead/</a></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Finally, I have no idea what to make of this. You can hook up a plant (any plant, like a potted plant) to your computer, and somehow an electrode in the soil can tell what part of the plant you're holding. So you can control your computer by touching a plant. Is this a hoax?</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
I predict that eventually we'll be able to hook up anything to computers. But I think it will take a little more than just sticking an electrode into the soil.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdh9uvPf9Lm8lOmiRiIZZychzNLRC6ELWGFwPA-FS37MiqmeXQk84tRCyUk4P5ewxu8CPgt-yq8JRygsaDQyINXngR5v2y96RcxADZR6ZO-kWS9eHkC2j9WMnADU2aT2bf5IXeEeIqp3N3/s1600/disney+plant.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdh9uvPf9Lm8lOmiRiIZZychzNLRC6ELWGFwPA-FS37MiqmeXQk84tRCyUk4P5ewxu8CPgt-yq8JRygsaDQyINXngR5v2y96RcxADZR6ZO-kWS9eHkC2j9WMnADU2aT2bf5IXeEeIqp3N3/s320/disney+plant.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wtf?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2525227466440253621.post-63080982735708190372012-08-10T09:52:00.000-07:002012-08-10T16:52:08.035-07:00Alzheimer's: commentary on treatment strategies<br />
<div class="p1">
My goal is that any reader can take something away from this Alzheimer's post, regardless of their experience in medicine or science. It's Friday Links-driven, but with far more of my own commentary/explanation than normal.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
First up: an article about a clinical trial for Alzheimer's treatment that appears to have failed. While I don't research Alzheimer's, I'm going to argue in this blog post that 1) single "magic bullet" treatments are unlikely to ever work for a chronic complex disease that develops over many decades like Alzheimer's (once the disease has actually manifested symptomatically), but 2) single "magic bullet" prevention methods might work for specific patient sub-populations. In this case, different prevention methods would work for different sub-populations. Meanwhile 3) Broad, non-specific treatments that target multiple biological processes are better for stabilizing Alzheimer's after it's been diagnosed (discussed in the second link). Note that this is NOT the same as combination therapy.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428592/pfizer-disappointed-with-first-results-for/?ref=rss">http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428592/pfizer-disappointed-with-first-results-for/?ref=rss</a></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Bapineuzamab is an antibody that recognizes and binds to beta-amyloid, one of the molecules involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's (note that I don't say it's the cause or even a significant cause). For my non-biomedical readers, this is a common treatment strategy nowadays. Say protein X causing disease Y is floating around in the space between cells in your body. Specific antibodies can be made to bind specifically to protein X which physically blocks protein X from damaging other things ("neutralization"). Furthermore immune cells are then able to recognize the antibody bound to protein X, and clear protein X from the body. This strategy is used in treatment of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lymphoma, and it works wonders.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
But Bapineuzamab failed to have any effect on Alzheimer's progression in this Pfizer trial. Why? I'm going to use my extraordinary powers of hindsight (dig deep- you probably have this ability too!) and say that it probably has far more to do with the fact that beta-amyloid is just a tiny piece of the puzzle for Alzheimer's than any problem with the drug. Bapineuzamab probably recognizes beta-amyloid just fine, and it might even clear beta-amyloid from the body. But I doubt that clearance of beta-amyloid would have any effect on Alzheimer's. Why? <b>Because it's too late.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The trial looked at treatment of early-to-moderate Alzheimer's, but Alzheimer's develops over decades. For a while, it's just Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but lots of people get MCI and never progress to Alzheimer's. So figuring out a way to predict Alzheimer's progression through things like blood tests and brain imaging is all the rage now (see third link). And that's why the trial focused on Alzheimer's rather than pre-Alzheimer's. But in the patients that do progress, what's going on?</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>The length of time that it takes for Alzheimer's to develop means that, even if beta-amyloid were to be the ultimate cause, then beta-amyloid can trigger numerous other biological processes that are themselves damaging to the brain.</b> By the time someone has Alzheimer's symptoms, these "secondary processes" are already robust so more damage is occurring independent of beta-amyloid, and a lot of neurons are already malfunctioning or dead. This fundamentally alters the biology of the brain so that treatments are unlikely to reverse anything, and multiple causes of degeneration make it unlikely that single treatment would slow the progression of the disease. I won't review the ginormous body of literature implicating all sorts of things in Alzheimer's pathogenesis, but I'll take a couple as an example.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
One way to abstract Alzheimer's (see picture below) is that <b>everything causes everything else</b>. It's a complicated feedback loop (or feedback web) where a bunch of biological processes all cause and worsen each other over a period of many years. For example (highlighting a tiny portion of the feedback web), extracellular amyloid or intracellular tau (hallmarks of <b>protein misfolding</b>) acting on one subset of neurons might interfere with normal breakdown of <b>neurotransmitters</b>, as well as directly causing neurons to <b>fire inappropriately</b>. Too much excitation of nearby neurons results in <b>excitotoxicity</b> (killing those cells) or in inappropriate activation. The<b> brain might remodel</b> in reaction, forming new synapses that result in electrical feedback loops that reinforce each other. The resultant clinical and subclinical <b>seizures</b> might interfere with brain function long after the damage is done. As neurotransmitters start to diffuse inappropriately due to <b>synaptic dysfunction</b>, they start affecting other cells indiscriminately, and damage may occur to brain's extensive blood system. This allows in <b>immune cells</b> that further alter the blood vessels to essentially break down the <b>blood-brain barrier. </b> This lets in various molecules that again might cause excitotoxicity or protein misfolding, and maybe it even lets in bacteria. <b>So damage leads to biological response that causes more damage, leading to further responses etc.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVp21Y9jWLDGTYbgOrw30mn708NpQ_3ufWnkekB-K9mrZJw2SmSeCH5el7TiYCPpoJ-GpE2ggWATFUIMsLQm6EfHwvWY5aa6mNZhu9vahI3xivNeEAthyphenhyphenguQj5n4e0E3KVM2KGuR9pw-_i/s1600/screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVp21Y9jWLDGTYbgOrw30mn708NpQ_3ufWnkekB-K9mrZJw2SmSeCH5el7TiYCPpoJ-GpE2ggWATFUIMsLQm6EfHwvWY5aa6mNZhu9vahI3xivNeEAthyphenhyphenguQj5n4e0E3KVM2KGuR9pw-_i/s400/screenshot.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
All of these processes cause each other, and all of them cause disease. Targeting a single initiating factor (which varies from patient to patient) might work for prevention, but not for treatment.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="p1">
Importantly, many of the damaging processes are variations of normal brain biology. For example, microglia (kind of like the brain's immune system) see damaged neurons and eat them up. If you remove the source of damage, it is perfectly possible they continue eating up neurons instead of letting the neurons recover after the damage. There are medical examples where a disease has manifested for so long that cells that normally act to ameliorate a disease are "locked in" to their action even when it's no longer necessary, and they end up causing damage themselves (for example tertiary hyperparathyroidism). I think of this as part of the more general inflammatory response that occurs whenever there is damage- all sorts of immune cells react to initial damage and can end up causing more damage than the original insult (if you think that makes no evolutionary sense, it actually does. I might expand on that in a future post).</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>What about prevention</b>? Note that things like excitotoxicity, brain remodeling, and breakdown of the blood-brain barrier can in turn cause beta-amyloid buildup. So there's no reason why beta-amyloid had to be the initial insult- in many (most?) patients beta-amyloid is probably secondary to another biological process. In these cases, drugs targeting beta-amyloid production and degradation probably would not have any preventative effect, because beta-amyloid was not the initial cause. However, there are subsets of patients where beta-amyloid is implicated as a major genetic cause (mutations that affect beta-amyloid production like in Down's syndrome, ApoE4, and presenilin). Prevention using Bapineuzamab is conceivable in those patients, as it would stop the secondary processes from occurring in the first place. However, if we found in another sub-population that inappropriate inflammation due to immune system malfunction (kind of like an autoimmune disease), then prevention would involve anti-inflammatory drugs (Aspirin? IVIg? Prednisone?). <b>Thus, preventative measures for Alzheimer's would be specific to the patient's initial cause(s) of degeneration, which can vary widely depending on the patient.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428546/study-suggests-alzheimers-disease-can-be/?ref=rss">http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428546/study-suggests-alzheimers-disease-can-be/?ref=rss</a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
On the bright side, a very small trial showed stabilization of Alzheimer's with treatment with IVIg (intravenous immunoglobulin). IVIg is simply the mix of the collection of antibodies isolated from multiple human volunteers. There are antibodies against everything- bacteria, toxins, some human proteins, etc. The authors here speculate that there is an antibody targeting amyloid-beta, tau, or some other molecule. While this might be part of the picture, I worry that researchers might go after specific antibodies (which is just like the above Bapineuzamab trial). <b>I challenge the notion that IVIg's broad and non-specific effects are a disadvantage.</b> While one might think it's not 'optimized' for Alzheimer's treatment, <b>the very fact that Alzheimer's involve a complicated web of numerous biological processes means that we need to target them all at the same time. Thus, a non-specific treatment with numerous antibodies doing many different things might in fact be the key to IVIg's efficacy.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
For example, IVIg is used in the treatment of autoimmune disease, dampening down immune responses. How it accomplishes that is unclear (and is a bit counter-intuitivee since antibodies MEDIATE the immune response), but it is believed that it both interferes with the specific endogenous antibody that causes disease, as well as flooding the system with so many antibodies that it diverts the immune system from inflammation. Perhaps IVIg is dealing with the inflammatory component of Alzheimer's? Perhaps it interferes with the endogenous cells/antibodies that are damaging the brain? Thus, trying to narrow down the treatment to a single antibody or a few antibodies would eliminate some of the broad effects of IVIg that would be critical for influencing the numerous biological processes. <b>This is different from combination therapy because we're looking for one or two treatments to influence many things (100+) things at once, rather than multiple (3-5) treatments for multiple (3-5) things.</b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Also note that IVIg only stabilized the disease, it didn't reverse anything. That's because the damage is done- the neurons are dead and the brain has remodeled itself. At this point, Alzheimer's could only be reversed by making new neurons by stem cell therapy. Because many of those dead neuronal circuits likely encoded specific memories and personality traits, we would need to find a way to program those back into the new neurons. Those would be Sci-Fi technologies that haven't even been imagined yet.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428480/an-alzheimers-warning-25-years-before-symptoms/?ref=rss">http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428480/an-alzheimers-warning-25-years-before-symptoms/?ref=rss</a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
More on prevention: you need to be able to predict who is going to get the disease in order for a prevention to fulfill a cost-benefit analysis (since preventative treatments might have their own side effects, and you don't want to expose people who will never get the disease to unnecessary risk). This brain imaging study suggests that this is possible, at least in one inherited subtype of the disease.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22128-alzheimers-villain-cures-multiple-sclerosis-in-mice.html">http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22128-alzheimers-villain-cures-multiple-sclerosis-in-mice.html</a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
I'll just leave with you an interesting tidbit- they used beta-amyloid injected into the body cavity of mice to reverse multiple sclerosis (MS). What? Isn't beta-amyloid bad? But this sort of goes with my idea that injecting IVIg "distracts" the immune system from attacking brain cells, just like beta-amyloid might "distract" the immune system from attacking myelin sheaths in MS. I think the lesson here is: <b>We need to think outside of the box and consider counter-intuitive treatments to deal with these complex diseases.</b></div>albertchen42http://www.blogger.com/profile/02486068297383823619noreply@blogger.com0