EPT
On March 01 2012 01:56 osoup wrote:
Can you explain your socratic dialogue activity?
Can you explain your socratic dialogue activity?
discussion/debate about perspectives/opinions/experiences/beliefs about various subjects in our everyday lives.
On March 01 2012 01:58 Soleron wrote:
Why does what you do have to be productive?
Why does what you do have to be productive?
Oh trust me, I have plenty of unproductive regular activities. But given a finite amount of time during which I can be productive (whether it be due to my focus, or because I just don't have enough time), there may be a time when you decide to make a choice between one way to ration that time and another way of doing so.
On March 01 2012 02:05 Osmoses wrote:
I know this feel, I've pretty much stopped all my other hobbies just so I can focus on physical fitness. But even before that I was having trouble fitting all my interests into a day. I want to read more, I want to play the guitar, I want to program games on the iphone... So much want, so little time.
I hope you'll be able to pick those other areas up again at some point in the future. But it sems to me the older you get the busier you get.
I know this feel, I've pretty much stopped all my other hobbies just so I can focus on physical fitness. But even before that I was having trouble fitting all my interests into a day. I want to read more, I want to play the guitar, I want to program games on the iphone... So much want, so little time.
I hope you'll be able to pick those other areas up again at some point in the future. But it sems to me the older you get the busier you get.
I think it's not just "having more time", but having your priorities change. Right now, this subset that I chose fits in with my immediate needs and desires. 5 years from now, I expect it to be somewhat different, even if I have even less time.
On March 01 2012 02:06 JFKWT wrote:
I'm worrying about this problem right now, and have deduced that MMORPG-ing has to go.
School + Music kinda takes up the bulk of my life, add Weightlifting and Writing to the mix and that's about as much as time can allow =(
I'm worrying about this problem right now, and have deduced that MMORPG-ing has to go.
School + Music kinda takes up the bulk of my life, add Weightlifting and Writing to the mix and that's about as much as time can allow =(
Yea music would definitely be a large time sink. On March 01 2012 02:44 Melchior wrote:
I thought it was the modern addition of "master of none" that turned "jack of all trades" into a negative label.
In any case, I don't understand why people see "jack of all trades" as a bad thing. Certainly, it is tempting to say that with knowledge advancing so quickly in every field, it's hard to stay competitive without specializing exclusively in one area. However, I think the more important point to take away is that you want to have a unique combination of skills. That may mean being the engineer that can actually understand user needs, or the manager that actually knows how to code, or the center that can actually shoot free throws. Sure, the specialist has his place, but you need the jack of all trades too if you want to avoid a siloed organization.
That being said, I think trimming down on pursuits is totally fine as well. My traditional approach has been to try as many things as possible and then let the less important ones naturally drop out, but recently I've been trying a more additive approach: grad school + internship, piano/composition, and slowly adding dance/exercise/learning Chinese/etc. back in as I improve my time management.
I thought it was the modern addition of "master of none" that turned "jack of all trades" into a negative label.
In any case, I don't understand why people see "jack of all trades" as a bad thing. Certainly, it is tempting to say that with knowledge advancing so quickly in every field, it's hard to stay competitive without specializing exclusively in one area. However, I think the more important point to take away is that you want to have a unique combination of skills. That may mean being the engineer that can actually understand user needs, or the manager that actually knows how to code, or the center that can actually shoot free throws. Sure, the specialist has his place, but you need the jack of all trades too if you want to avoid a siloed organization.
That being said, I think trimming down on pursuits is totally fine as well. My traditional approach has been to try as many things as possible and then let the less important ones naturally drop out, but recently I've been trying a more additive approach: grad school + internship, piano/composition, and slowly adding dance/exercise/learning Chinese/etc. back in as I improve my time management.
It's mainly a choice, and there's no real right answer here. Given the choice of career & personal interests I have (and the type of person I am), I've made a decision that it would be better for me, at this moment, to pare down my pursuits so that I can achieve some sort of competency in this subset of areas.
On March 01 2012 03:54 Melchior wrote:
I understand, but going under the assumption that he does want to advance in all of the listed items, I'm not convinced that focusing on one to the exclusion of others will result in faster overall mastery, since there are often diminishing returns to effort. Of course, that's not exactly what he's doing, but I think that's why I responded the way I did -- contrary to what his blog title would suggest, his approach seems like a hybrid approach between specialization and generalization, which is probably the most sensible way to do it.
I understand, but going under the assumption that he does want to advance in all of the listed items, I'm not convinced that focusing on one to the exclusion of others will result in faster overall mastery, since there are often diminishing returns to effort. Of course, that's not exactly what he's doing, but I think that's why I responded the way I did -- contrary to what his blog title would suggest, his approach seems like a hybrid approach between specialization and generalization, which is probably the most sensible way to do it.
If I chose, say, only Chinese, then this would probably be true. But I've chosen four main areas, so I doubt I'll reach the point of significantly diminishing returns. Good point though
