Shiri Noy

Hi Reader, At some point, many of us have created a file called something like: article_final.docx Then: article_final_revised.docx Then perhaps: article_final_revised2.docx And eventually: article_FINALfinal.docx I say this without judgment. I have absolutely done versions of this too. The problem is not that the file names are inelegant. The problem is that after enough revisions, words like “final,” “new,” “latest,” and “updated” stop telling you very much. Which one did I

Hi Reader, I like to-do lists. I use them all the time. They help me get things out of my head, see what I am carrying, and remember the small things that would otherwise disappear. But a running to-do list has a problem: things keep getting added to it. Even when I am making progress, the list may not get much shorter. I cross off three things and add four more. Logistically, that can make it difficult to tell when any particular task is actually going to happen. Psychologic

Hi Reader, One reason research to-do lists become overwhelming is that they flatten very different kinds of work. “Revise article,” “email coauthor,” “download PDFs,” “clean data,” and “figure out argument” can all sit next to one another, even though they require different kinds of attention and effort. Some are straightforward, some should be broken up into smaller tasks. I’ll talk about task units in a future newsletter. For now, let’s talk about prioritizing tasks. I lear

Hi Reader, There is something about September that feels like a new beginning. Gretchen Rubin has called September “the other January”: a point in the year when routines shift, calendars change, and it can feel natural to take stock and start again. For academics, that feeling is especially literal. A new semester or quarter changes the shape of our time. But even if your work does not follow an academic calendar, the beginning of fall can be a useful moment to look at the mo