3 ms·

>As a graduate student, I didn’t need better lists of next actions. I needed instead to be training my ability to focus hard on meaningful things for long perio

by jere 14y ago

>As a graduate student, I didn’t need better lists of next actions. I needed instead to be training my ability to focus hard on meaningful things for long periods of time — even after it becomes uncomfortable. This is the part I'd like to figure out how to do.

neltnerb 14y ago
Well, I'm one of the fortunate few who managed to escape from graduate school (Masters and PhD) in 4.5 years in an engineering field. I am the first to admit that I am very, very, very lucky in a variety of ways that made this possible. But one of them is as follows. I similarly have a hard time focusing for long periods of time. Like many people, while I'm not manic-depressive, I have manic-depressive tendencies. For a week or two I feel depressed and don't want to do anything. Then for a week or two I'm really excited about research and get a ton done. Then back to depressed. It's just the way I am, and my situation doesn't seem very unique from talking to many of my friends. Sometimes research is inspiring, sometimes it's frustrating and tedious. I think much of that is perception, and that really all that's changing is a fundamental chemical shift in your moods. In any case, what I realized back in undergrad is that when I'm in a depressed mood, I don't work. At least, not on creative, difficult, interesting stuff. It's just impossible, intimidating, frustrating, and a waste of my time. All it does it work to prolong my depression. Instead, I focus on what I call cultivating boredom. I do things like read hacker news until I've read all the articles. Or god forbid read slashdot. Or NPR. Or meditate. Or much better; practice karate, go for a walk, take mind altering substances (you know, like nicotine), hang out with friends, cook, that sort of stuff. Sure, I still take care of the little logistical things that need doing, but I don't try to do creative work when I'm in this mood. It's counterproductive. Instead, I basically use up all my avenues of distraction, and eventually doing that creative, hard, difficult, complicated work becomes attractive again in comparison with sitting at my computer reading facebook. This process takes about 3-4 days. Then, I suddenly just... flip. And then I'm manic again, and I'm roaring through piles of highly creative work that is of incredibly good quality. So instead of wearing myself out doing superficial tasks, I try to actually let myself rest and most importantly, become bored so that my mind can recover. This is the only way I have found to work productively as a graduate student. It's only anecdotal, of course, but I probably worked an average of 25 hours a week. I'd spend two weeks straight working 9-10 hour days and then coming home and writing grants and papers and thesis. Then I'd burn myself out and do literally nothing worth even remembering for two weeks. And after two weeks of that I'd be bored and really excited about working a ridiculous amount again. And in this way, I managed to graduate in 4.5 years, in a lab where the median graduate student was in their 5th year, and many were in their 7th year. It's quality of work, not quantity of work, nor time spent in lab that lets you graduate. Anyway, worked for me. Might not work for you. Try at your own risk. But I've never found another way to work that makes me happy, lets me get through my depressive periods in a reasonable period of time, and which produces high quality creative work products.

by jere 14y ago

neltnerb 14y ago

Well, I'm one of the fortunate few who managed to escape from graduate school (Masters and PhD) in 4.5 years in an engineering field. I am the first to admit that I am very, very, very lucky in a variety of ways that made this possible. But one of them is as follows. I similarly have a hard time focusing for long periods of time. Like many people, while I'm not manic-depressive, I have manic-depressive tendencies. For a week or two I feel depressed and don't want to do anything. Then for a week or two I'm really excited about research and get a ton done. Then back to depressed. It's just the way I am, and my situation doesn't seem very unique from talking to many of my friends. Sometimes research is inspiring, sometimes it's frustrating and tedious. I think much of that is perception, and that really all that's changing is a fundamental chemical shift in your moods. In any case, what I realized back in undergrad is that when I'm in a depressed mood, I don't work. At least, not on creative, difficult, interesting stuff. It's just impossible, intimidating, frustrating, and a waste of my time. All it does it work to prolong my depression. Instead, I focus on what I call cultivating boredom. I do things like read hacker news until I've read all the articles. Or god forbid read slashdot. Or NPR. Or meditate. Or much better; practice karate, go for a walk, take mind altering substances (you know, like nicotine), hang out with friends, cook, that sort of stuff. Sure, I still take care of the little logistical things that need doing, but I don't try to do creative work when I'm in this mood. It's counterproductive. Instead, I basically use up all my avenues of distraction, and eventually doing that creative, hard, difficult, complicated work becomes attractive again in comparison with sitting at my computer reading facebook. This process takes about 3-4 days. Then, I suddenly just... flip. And then I'm manic again, and I'm roaring through piles of highly creative work that is of incredibly good quality. So instead of wearing myself out doing superficial tasks, I try to actually let myself rest and most importantly, become bored so that my mind can recover. This is the only way I have found to work productively as a graduate student. It's only anecdotal, of course, but I probably worked an average of 25 hours a week. I'd spend two weeks straight working 9-10 hour days and then coming home and writing grants and papers and thesis. Then I'd burn myself out and do literally nothing worth even remembering for two weeks. And after two weeks of that I'd be bored and really excited about working a ridiculous amount again. And in this way, I managed to graduate in 4.5 years, in a lab where the median graduate student was in their 5th year, and many were in their 7th year. It's quality of work, not quantity of work, nor time spent in lab that lets you graduate. Anyway, worked for me. Might not work for you. Try at your own risk. But I've never found another way to work that makes me happy, lets me get through my depressive periods in a reasonable period of time, and which produces high quality creative work products.