Be Less Distracted, Produce Better Work… and a Better You!

 

 

Being organized and using your time wisely is all about staying focussed. What better way is there to stay focussed than to reduce the distractions in your life. This list Becoming Minimalist highlights a number of ways to reduce the distractions in your life. Some of them are really challenging to let go of because they have become so ingrained in the movements of our days. But it requires some deep focus on these ingrained micro habits that will reveal how big an impact they have on our lives.

Think of the examination as a second reading or second viewing of a book or movie in which you uncover just how the story was created and not just felt that it was a great story which you did the first time around. It takes some time and, yeah it will be filled with growing pains, but being able to focus on one project at a time is vital in graduate school. I myself don’t just want to “get through” grad school. I want be able to focus on the project at hand and enjoy the process of examination and creation that the project or reading or writing requires. Therefore, I want to be less distracted. I’m sure you do, too. So, check the list!

 

Should You Sleep More? Yes, You Should Sleep More.

Seeing as how I am up early I might as well get to the tasks for the day, but as this article from the NYT points out I may have gotten up too early, and these tasks I have designated for myself, well they might not be the ones that will actually make me productive.

High Importance, High Urgency Vs. High Importance, Low Urgency

Everything is important, but in Grad school some things definitely seem to be more important. When there are deadlines it’s hard not to feel the pressure to prioritize a task. Yet, the projects or activities that we find important, but don’t have an immediate deadline or earn us a grade in Grad School still need a place in our lives. This article from a professor at the University Washington gives some insight in how to manage tasks of high importance, high urgency vs. tasks os high importance, low urgency.

http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring/memos/time-management.shtml