inspiration
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Drive by Daniel Pink
→: Drive by Daniel PinkThe premise of Drive is that “if-then” rewards don’t motivate us, and actually what people need are three things – Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. I.e. you want a higher reason for doing what you’re doing, be working towards mastery in the process, and have as much control as possible about when/where/how you do that. The cover of Drive…
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In Pursuit of Awesome: The Myth of the “Right” Time
→: In Pursuit of Awesome: The Myth of the “Right” TimeI got an amazing response to my In Pursuit of Awesome post, here and on Geek Feminism. It’s inspired me to write a series of posts where I explore some of the tips I wrote about and related topics in more depth. Let me offer you a scenario. You move to a new place and…
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Sharing Lessons From Stories We Can’t Tell
→: Sharing Lessons From Stories We Can’t TellLast week, I wrote that things have been a little bonkers lately. I have not spent seven days straight in Ottawa since the start of August and I’m stressed, discombobulated, and overwhelmed. Normally, I figure things about by writing about them. Lots of work on? How can I be more organized/better at delegating/manage my time most…
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Finding Your Cognitive Surplus in Grad School
→: Finding Your Cognitive Surplus in Grad SchoolImage via Katie Weilbacher It is a truth universally acknowledged that graduate school will take over your life, if you let it. The trick is not to let it, but if that were easy the biggest drug expense for student insurance would not be anti-depressants (I have it on good authority that this is the…
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I am an IBMer
→: I am an IBMerTomorrow is the last day of Extreme Blue. At the US Expo in New York last week, I stood 6ft from Sam Palmisano, and listened to him talk about IBM’s vision for a smarter planet. He spoke about why we need to build a smarter planet and how IBM is trying to engineer this vision.…
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Dating Explained in Terms of Priority Queues
→: Dating Explained in Terms of Priority QueuesFrom The Algorithm Design Manual (Amazon): Many naturally occurring processes are accurately modeled by priority queues. Single people maintain a priority queue of potential dating candidates – mentally if not explicitly. One’s impression on meeting a new person maps directly to an attractiveness or desirability score. Desirability serves as the key field for inserting this…
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Defining Dreams
→: Defining DreamsRandy Pausch’s Last Lecture was, and remains, the most moving video I have found on the internet. It’s about how to achieve your dreams, but more than that – how to live your life. The thing is, I don’t really seem to have the kind of dreams he had. So from time to time I…
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Artisan or Technician?
→: Artisan or Technician?My friend Maggie and I were discussing the way compsci’s approach their career. Those who take the artisan track ask “What inspires me? What do I want to create?”; they evaluate their career in terms of the difference (and things) they make. Those who take the technician track say “I’ve checked these boxes and now…
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Maintaining Optimum Stress Level
→: Maintaining Optimum Stress LevelAt Ignite Waterloo a guy gave a talk about “Why All My Ex-Girlfriends Are Crazy”. Of course, I was dying to know why. The reason? They were women who having achieved at university and then started their career had got to a point in their lives where they no longer had the same level of…