(This article was originally published at Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science, and syndicated at StatsBlogs.)
A student writes in:
Dear Sherri:
I am **, a PhD student in ** in ** University. I am trying to work productively. For example, I tried to use some todo list software, such as, remember the milk and omnifocus, and read related books. But feeling of overwhelming happens every day, and no achievements were received. Could you give me some advice to be effective and productive? How to get work and life balanced?
My name is not actually Sherri, but here are some thoughts, in no particular order:
1. I know what you mean, but there’s something funny about the idea of “work-life balance,” given that work is itself part of life! How can you balance a part with the whole? I’m not just trying to be tricky here, I think there’s a deeper issue which is that it is life that you are trying to balance, and work is part of it.
2. A friend once told me he had success with the trick of having a notebook where he wrote down everything he accomplished. For example, reading an article, munging some data, whatever. Every time he did something, he wrote a couple words to note it. That way, he realized he really was doing a lot, more than he’d realized. I’ve never actually tried this (instead, I do the opposite, preparing long to-do lists that I never complete!), but I have a similar experience recently in one of our Stan meetings, when we went around the room saying what we’d each done last week. I was about to say “nothing” but then I realized I had completed one project, and it was satisfying to remember this.
3. I have no mobile phone and I never check my email before 4. I think this helps keep me sane.
4. As they say in chess, try first figuring out where you want to be, and then figure out how to get there. Is it just the “feeling of being overwhelmed” that bothers you, or are there particular things that you’d like to be doing that you don’t have the time or money or calmness to do? Etc.
5. Set your work goals high. Don’t expect to achieve all your goals, but the worst thing is to set a low goal, achieve it, and then what? There’s no point. A statistician can make a difference in the world. Much depends on being in the right place at the right time, but still. I guess what I should really say here is, set fractal goals, some short-term, some longer-term, some small, some large, etc.
6. Do all your work with integrity. Remember that God is in every leaf of every tree. It’s fine to take shortcuts but then be open about the shortcuts you’re taking.
7. Despite what some psychology researchers say, I don’t recommend blowing your spare cash on bullfights.
The post 7 tips for work-life balance appeared first on Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.
Please comment on the article here: Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
