Posts by Natalie Houston
June 27, 2012, 08:00 AM ET
Do You Have a Bedtime?
Are you getting enough sleep?
If you're like most people, the answer is probably no. Some
researchers have suggested that sleep
debt is so widespread many of us don't even recognize that
we're chronically under-rested. Work schedules, extended commute
times, technological distractions, childcare, eldercare, stress,
and health issues are just a few of the many factors that can
contribute to not getting enough sleep. There are lots of lifestyle
changes and technological tools that can help improve the quantity
and quality of your sleep, and I'll be writing about several of
them over the coming months. But today, I just want to focus on the
simple idea of setting yourself a bedtime. In her book
The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin identified getting more
sleep as one of the cornerstones of her approach to living a
happier life. In a
blog post earlier this year, Rubin offers a very simple...
Read More
May 24, 2012, 08:00 AM ET
Why 15 Minutes?
Hands down, my
favorite productivity tool is a simple digital timer. I've
written before at ProfHacker about some of the ways I use it
for writing, for exercising, and for household chores. (If you
don't have a physical timer handy, you can use one of these
online versions, or download one for your phone.) One of the
questions I frequently get asked is: how long should my
timed interval be? The answer depends on what you're doing
and how you want the timer to help you. For instance, a quick
five-minute
clean up can be a great way to tackle a messy desk. When
I'm engaged in serious writing, I'll often set my timer for 40
minutes for concentrated effort. But many tasks fall somewhere in
between. My go-to midway timer setting is fifteen minutes. Here's
why:
- 15 minutes is familiar: you already have a good internal sense of what a quarter hour means since it's an interval we use a lot...
April 10, 2012, 08:00 AM ET
What Do You Wear to Do Your Best Thinking?
A recent
article in the Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology by
Hajo Adam and Adam
Galinsky suggests that items of clothing can have an impact on
the wearer's cognitive performance. (See
summary.) They offer the term "enclothed cognition" to describe
the effects, which in their study seem to result from a combination
of the symbolic associations with particular clothing and the
actual wearing of the item. Study participants were asked to
perform a Stroop test, which
measures the reaction time to tasks requiring attention
(identifying colors where the display color doesn't match the word
-- for example, the word "green" displayed in blue). Students who
took the test while wearing a white coat lab coat performed
significantly better than those not wearing the coats. Participants
who took the test while wearing the same coat, but who were told it
was a painter's coat did not show the ...
Read More
February 6, 2012, 03:00 PM ET
From the Archives: in Sickness and in Health
The beginning of the winter
term, or spring semester, or whatever your current chronological
unit is called on your campus, is always kind of exciting and kind
of hectic, like the beginning of any academic season. But if your
campus is anything like mine, in addition to thousands of students,
you have several colds and viruses arriving on campus during those
first few weeks, which can make life difficult for students and
faculty alike. Here are some tips from the ProfHacker archives on
things you can do to enhance your physical well-being and to help
get through it if you do get sick. Staying
Healthy
- Erin offers tips on how to fit exercise into your busy semester in The Rule of 200: Fitness Edition
- Kathleen discusses Prioritizing Exercise by putting it first and making it social.
- I wrote about some analog and digital ways to keep track of your water intake if you'd like to make...
August 2, 2011, 08:00 AM ET
Benjamin Franklin's Habit Tracker
Chapter 8 of Benjamin Franklin's
Autobiography
recounts how his desire for self-improvement wasn't in itself
enough to beat the force of habit:
As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.He realizes that "mere speculative conviction" about what would be the right thing to do isn't enough, and that "the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established" in order to live his ideal life. So Franklin developed a method that continues to be adopted and adapted by many people today, including Gretchen Rubin, whose Happiness Project ... Read More
April 4, 2011, 03:00 PM ET
The Eyes Have It
How do your
eyes feel right now? How long have you been sitting at the
computer? Chances are pretty good that if you're an academic, you
spend a significant number of hours each day reading from printed
material and from the computer screen. Dry, itchy, or irritated
eyes can be caused by a number of factors, including fatigue,
allergies, medication, and aging. However, there are some simple
self-care strategies you can use throughout your day to improve the
comfort and health of your eyes. (Please note that these general
recommendations should not replace medical care. If you have a
medical condition or experience pain or other serious symptoms,
consult your health care practitioner.) Change Your
Focusing Distance Spending too much time at the same focus
distance is one of the primary causes of eye fatigue, particularly
when you're focusing at fairly close range. Every 40 minutes or...
Read More
March 28, 2011, 11:00 AM ET
Have You Ordered Textbooks Yet?
If you will be
teaching in Summer or Fall terms, chances are good that the
deadline for placing your textbook order is coming up pretty soon.
Perhaps it's already passed. But if you're like many faculty, you
haven't yet placed your textbook order. Soon you'll get a reminder
email. And another one. Maybe a phone call. Maybe the threat of
some kind of consequence if you don't meet the next deadline. And
so on. I've even heard stories of faculty who haven't ordered
textbooks mere weeks or days before the term starts. Why? Based on
my own experience and that of colleagues and friends I've spoken
with, there are three main reasons why we tend to put off this
task. We don't have enough information.
- If you haven't decided which books you want to use, then you don't have enough information. If you haven't decided what sub-topics you're going to focus on in your course, then you don't have...
March 7, 2011, 03:00 PM ET
The 80-20 Principle
If you read books, blogs, or other
materials devoted to productivity, time management, or goal
setting, sooner or later you will encounter the 80-20 rule, also
commonly called Pareto's
Principle. It derives from the work of Vilfredo Pareto, an
Italian economist who showed that 80 percent of that country's
wealth was controlled by 20 percent of its population. This
formulation of the relationship between causes and effects was
adapted by other social scientists and later applied to a variety
of other contexts, often with the tag phrases "the trivial many"
and "the vital few." Proponents of this principle use it to analyze
where the best results come from and where one's focus and energy
should be applied. In business contexts, it's frequently used to
suggest that 80 percent of your profit will come from 20 percent of
your clients. In academic terms, you could use this rule to
consider...
Read More
October 4, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
From the Archives: Be Prepared
Although some of the ProfHacker team would
probably do better than others in handling a bear attack or the
zombie apocalypse, in general I think it's fair to say that part of
the ProfHacker mindset includes the old maxim "Be Prepared." A
little action now can save you a lot of time and frustration should
something unexpected occur.
Prepare for the Weather
As we head into fall, it's worth revisiting George's Anticipate the Commute (and the comments by other PHers), which recommends updating your regular auto maintenance tasks and switching out the summertime items in your trunk for rain, mud, and snow gear as appropriate for your region.
At a more pedestrian level, how many umbrellas do you have? Do you have them where and when you need one? Pick up a couple cheap ones to keep in your office or in your car for those mornings when you forget to check the forecast.
Back Up Your Digital...
Read MoreSeptember 28, 2010, 11:00 AM ET
The Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps
Stever
Robbins, aka the Get-It-Done Guy, is
the creator of a series of popular productivity podcasts, the host
of productive "action days" for his online community, and now the
author of a new book
Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More.
One of Robbins's distinctive qualities as a productivity expert is his engaging sense of humor and straightforward approach to solving problems. Rather than fill his pages with lengthy theories or case studies about why we procrastinate or fail to set clear goals, Robbins assumes that as human beings we are all prone to make similar kinds of mistakes, and quickly moves on to offering solutions.
His book is, as you would expect from the title, organized into 9 chapters:
- Live on Purpose
- Stop Procrastinating
- Conquer Technology
- Beat Distractions to Cultivate Focus
- Stay Organized
- Stop Wasting Time
- Optimize
- Build Stronger...
