Reflections

  • Role Models

    Several months ago, I met someone who had been reading my blog. We had a chat, but from some things that she said I got the impression that my blog made me seem a bit too much like super-woman. I’m not, as you may have noticed, because since then I’ve tried to temper my writing…

    : Role Models
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    Can You Flow Your Way to Great?

    If you know me at all (or have just been reading my blog for a while) you’ll know I’m really interested in how to be more productive, more effective, and generally achieving more. And of course I read Zen Habits and all these other blogs that talk about flow. Flow is about being completely absorbed…

    : Can You Flow Your Way to Great?
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    Not a Scientist, Nor an Engineer

    When I was doing my undergrad, I knew a lot of geography students. One of them told me that geographers spent a lot of time debating what geography was. I found this completely ridiculous, of course, imagining the only thing to be more pointless than studying geography was angsting about nature of geography. (Of course,…

    : Not a Scientist, Nor an Engineer
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    It’s Not a Competition

    I read lately that “busy is the new fine“, I bet you’ve seen it too – you ask someone how they are and they say “I’m busy”, or “keeping busy”. I do it too. I hate it, but it takes a long time to change your reaction. I’m trying. However more than this, and worse,…

    : It’s Not a Competition
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    Down Time

    I think how you choose to spend your free time says a lot about you. Some people train for a triathlon, some people play video games, some people watch excessive amounts of TV. I knew a guy who seemed to think he could live life vicariously through the characters of TV shows. That made me…

    : Down Time
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    Saying No

    I’m terrible at this. It’s my biggest weakness, but also – the source of so many experiences and opportunities. So I can’t embrace saying no fully for fear of missing out. But certain things lately have made me think that I need to say no more. Like, crossing campus on a hectic day when I…

    : Saying No
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    The Roles We Play

    There’s an exercise in 7 Habits where you have to list your different “roles” and  things you need to do for each of them. Here are mine (in no particular order): Grad student Teaching Assistant Ski instructor President of WISE Job seeker Girlfriend Daughter Friend Skier Kickboxer Workshop creator Programmer Nice (i.e. helping other people)…

    : The Roles We Play
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    3 Books That Changed My Perspective

    I recently finished reading What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 (Amazon) by Tina Seelig. It’s a wonderful and inspiring book, and I’m going to write a little about how it inspired me, but I also want to touch on two other books that changed the way I look at things. The God…

    : 3 Books That Changed My Perspective
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    Would You Give Up Your Blog?

    I have this fear: when I graduate I will have nothing to blog about. But reading about Forrester’s move lately has left me pondering a different question – what if taking a great job, meant ending my blog. I don’t think I would – would you? Forrester is (slightly) different because it’s to do with…

    : Would You Give Up Your Blog?