Tag: ideas

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To-Do Lists: Pseudo-Scheduling

In yesterday’s post I introduced a few little experiments that I had tried as a means to hack the to do list: putting tasks on separate pieces of paper, using dice as a means to prioritise and also using a nail stuck to my desk with blu-tack! These have all worked well for me at different times, I use them in rotation; some weeks I have a gut feeling that dice will be more helpful than the spike – I guess I like variety in my task organising.

Another piece of the puzzle

All of these things help me with the day-to-day, but it can be a bit of a chore to sit down every day and write anew my to do list scraps. And while it helps me organise on a particular day, it can also still mean that I reach the end of the week and find that not everything I wanted to achieve has even been considered. This thought helped me to start looking ahead – not in the long term, but on a weekly basis.

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To Do Lists: First Experiments With Scrap Paper

Yesterday I talked about how I started using to do lists during my PhD; I mentioned how they didn’t work that well for me and why. When I started working for myself I fell back on to old habits, but earlier this year I decided to do things a bit different. I had an instinct that to do lists were helpful for my work preferences…I just needed to make them work for me.

First Things First

The most useful thing that I realised – I think it was after leafing through Getting Things Done again – was that I was way too optimistic about the scope of work that I could get done. In particular, I was often too focussed on the outcome to the detriment of seeing all of the steps in a project. My to do list would have “Book 2” written on it to get me tuned in to the big outcome, when what was much more helpful was to be specific about what I needed to accomplish that day.

Obvious in hindsight, right? By being really clear about the tasks that you want to do, you’re more likely to be able to engage with them. If you put the headline down, which has fifty-seven steps to get to it, you’re unlikely to tick it off that day.

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The To Do List

Last month I wrote a few posts about time, the PhD and habits; while my own habits now are aimed at me being productive in my current work, I can’t help but think back to my PhD – and I wonder if some of the little experiments that I’ve done in the last few months might be of interest to postgrads? Over the next few days I guess we’ll find out!

Making a List…

During most of my PhD I was a to do list devotee. I had one every day. I would load up a sheet of paper at the start of each week with the things that I wanted to do, and each day would choose – like choosing from an a la carte menu. I would write down the people who I needed to correspond with, the outcomes I was aiming for, make a note of specific appointments that I had on each day. It was great to feel so busy, I was doing lots of work.

Except I wasn’t very productive.

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review

Nathan Reads: The Path Of A Doer

I was first introduced to “The Path Of A Doer” (David Hieatt with illustrations by Andy Smith) by Paul Spencer (who blogs fairly often over at The Digital Doctorate); Paul was directing a local GRADschool, and used this book in his introductions to emphasise some great attitudes and behaviours for participants. It was inspiring stuff, and so afterwards I tracked it down.

Here’s my review:

It’s brilliant. Only 68 pages long, direct and to the point. Every page has a neat illustration of the point being made. Every page takes you a step further along the path of being a Doer. The book has the subtitle “A simple tale on how to get things done.” It is simple, but powerful. No fluff, no fat – follow the steps and you’ll see results. It doesn’t share a complex system, or answer every question – but it will make a difference.

I don’t think I need to say more: if you want some inspiration, or you want a great little gift for a friend (Christmas is coming!) then pick this up.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

PS – please take a look at my Patreon campaign for the Viva Survivors Podcast!

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creative thinking

Creative Thinking Tuesday, 11th November 2014

Got a problem, situation or challenge that you need ideas for? Here’s a simple process for getting 20+ ideas that requires nothing more than two sheets of A4 paper (you can choose for yourself whether they’re lined or not).

Step 1

If you don’t already have a question for your situation, write down on one of the sheets a clear question about what you need ideas for. Read it aloud to make sure you’re happy with it. Put this to one side.

Step 2

Find the nearest book. Open it to a random page and point to a word on the left hand page. So long as this word is a verb, noun or adjective write it down on your second sheet of paper. (flip to a different page if you land on “the” “a” “her” or any other kind of preposition). Underline this word.

Step 3

Consider this randomly selected word and list beneath it as many associations as you can to this word. Take at least three minutes. If you start to slow down keep going. Push yourself!

Step 4

Bring back your first sheet with your question on. Use your list of associations, one-by-one, as inspiration for answers – ideas – to that question. As with Step 3, push yourself if you need to: thoughts may come quite quickly for some words and not for others. Your mind is a pattern-making system, and will try to fill in gaps. Don’t dismiss any idea.

From start to finish, this might take up to twenty minutes, and a reasonable expectation is to have twenty or more ideas by that point. Then the hard part begins: reviewing and selecting ideas that you want to take forwards!

Want to see an example?

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news

Catch Up, 10th November 2014

Is it time for another catch up post? What happened to the last two weeks? Oh that’s right! I was out of the house delivering several workshops and facilitating one of Liverpool’s First Year Development Workshops – busy times! Fun times though. I’ve got a couple of other little projects that I’ve been pushing forward – I had cause to tweet the following a few days ago:

Watch this space I guess!

On This Blog

Around a fortnight back I was mulling over my creative playlist, before I introduced the Patreon campaign for the Viva Survivors Podcast. Regular readers will know that I’m really passionate about helping PhD candidates prepare for the viva, and the podcast is just one of the things that I do to support that goal. I’m looking to increase what I do with that resource, and through Patreon I hope to do more. Will you become a Patron to the Podcast?

After the Patreon post, I posted a total of six posts in my “Common Qs About The Viva” series, and there are more on this blog as well – and more to come! Do you have a question about the PhD viva? Let me know and maybe it will be the subject of a post in the future.

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creative thinking

Creative Thinking Tuesday, 28th October 2014

In the last creative thinking post I was thinking about inspiration. I was writing about this in terms of things which either act as raw materials for novel ideas or things which support a creative environment. For the latter there was something which I clearly overlooked – obviously in hindsight – and that’s music. What’s your soundtrack for doing creative thinking or creative work?

Selections from the Ryder Playlist

I have a playlist to try to jumpstart my brain when I get to the office. Top of that is a piece from the 28 Days Later soundtrack called “In The House – In A Heartbeat” by John Murphy. I like how it starts quite slow and builds. It helps me, I think, to raise my thinking speed. By having the same piece when I start the day I also think it helps to focus me a bit (I recently read that people who have routine for the start of the days are productive? I wish I could remember where I read that). Maybe there is an element of personal belief in thinking that this works?

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news

Catch Up, 27th October 2014

What have you been up to lately? I’ve been in Sheffield delivering some workshops, and I’ve been preparing for a few more in the North West and Wales. I’ve also been recording more episodes of the Viva Survivors Podcast after a call for interviewees was answered by lots of people all at once – a good problem to have! I’ve also been writing for the coming weeks, as I’ll be away a little and didn’t want to break the chain of publication that I’ve been forging.

On This Blog

Almost two weeks ago I shared a post about inspiration, which was followed the next day by my first book review (a monthly feature of this blog from now on). I rounded that week out by answering a common question about the viva: is there a dress code? Last week was a bit reflective around here, and I shared a total of four posts loosely themed around “Time and the PhD“. These were some ideas that I’ve been chewing over for a while now, and they’re starting to poke out from among my brain cells and make themselves known more and more. I’m sure that it’s a topic I’ll be returning to in the future, as I try to draw thoughts together.

Anyway: let’s take a look at what else I’ve seen that’s piqued my curiosity!

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series

A Balancing Act

On Monday I shared my estimation of how much time I spent on my PhD; this got me thinking about three different topics. On Tuesday I thought about the distinction between shallow and deep work, which I think have some bearing on time and the PhD. Yesterday I mused on how habits are important to productivity; I’m still turning this over and have a feeling that habits are key to supporting both shallow and deep work, though the latter requires a great degree of focus too.

Today’s post is a little different from the previous two, but I think there are common threads running through them all.

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series

Focus and Habits

I started this little series by estimating how much time I spent working on my PhD; after admitting that this was probably not the most valuable estimation, in yesterday’s post I mused on a couple of concepts that I’ve encountered recently. I think these have some bearing on time and the PhD. This was the first of three topics; in today’s post I want to think about how shallow and deep work might have some bearing on productivity for PhDs.

Second Topic: Productivity = Focus + Habits

There are systems like Getting Things Done, and ideas like the Pomodoro technique for making progress – in fact if simply Google around you will find thousands of links and tips, ideas and promises that “X will work for YOU!” But when it all comes down to it, I think the non-revolutionary idea of productivity is that it boils down to focus and habits.

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