How To Be Effective
February 2012 (Ph.D. student)
Summary
As I approach the end of my Ph.D. career, I’m reflecting on how I was able to get more and better work done than many of my peers without stressing nearly as much. I made it through K-12, college, and a Ph.D. program while losing very little sleep.
Here are some habits that have made me more effective than people who are often smarter than I am. In the long run, good work habits – consistently applied over time – are far more important than so-called “natural intelligence” or “aptitude”.