3 ms·
Lots of witty quotes in this article, such as: ... the true tests (such as the dissertation requirement) in graduate school are really designed to discover whe
by apo 8y ago
Lots of witty quotes in this article, such as:
... the true tests (such as the dissertation requirement) in graduate school are really designed to discover whether at some point one is willing to just turn the damn thing in.
The willingness to do hard, mundane work may be the most under-rated quality in all of modern life.
I think too little is made of the how the Internet and its various forms of instant entertainment make it all too easy to sidestep the mundane nature of most valuable work. It's worth considering the many long-term consequences.
Speaking of which, it's time to get back to work.
- cbdumas 8y agoI don't think this is underrated at all. Primary and secondary education is largely intended to train people to sit still doing mundane work all day IMO.
- dorchadas 8y agoI think it is, at least nowadays. In my experiences as a teacher, most just aren't doing it anymore. They're not doing anything besides playing on their phones. I'd love to have students who would just do their work. And I think it was true in the past, even before the curse of smartphones. Kids would find other ways to avoid doing their work, and the ones who succeeded were the ones who did it.
- hnuser355 8y agoWhat is quite worrying to me is doing hard, mundane work in an “easy” way (eg my job is subpar and I’m not sure what direction is moving in but I’ll just do what my boss says and work a little extra to make sure it’s really good). And I think that sometimes it’s pretty hard to pick hard work that will align right in the long term. I don’t know.