Time Management
by JS
When I checked my email this morning, I found that someone had sent me a problem. I began working on it for about half an hour before I realized that I hadn’t even gotten my coffee yet. Then I realized the time management potential of leaving myself a problem every evening to solve or think about the next morning. I have this kind of weirdly obsessive personality that, once I get into a problem, I have no trouble working hard for long stretches.
Jump starting my day is difficult though. I often only think about the unpleasant (read: administrative) items on my to-do list, not the captivating problems that are the reason I do what I do. As a result I end up procrastinating for hours in the morning. Leaving myself an interesting question or problem to think about is precisely what I need to do to jump start myself the next morning.
I’m planning leaving these problems in my Twitter stream – that should keep them short and force me to frame intriguing questions as opposed to long and rambling ones (which is a useful skill to practice as well). I must warn you that these problems will probably be quite cryptic – referring possibly to some particular programming issue I’m trying to hammer out, a wayward equation I’m trying to understand, or even an obscure point of philosophy.
