Tools for Well-Being (MAS S64)

  A war has been going on for decades between two passionate classes of humans and an end seems nowhere in sight. Meat lovers and vegetarians have been arguing for years about whose lifestyle is healthier. Recently the meat lovers have gained new ammunition with the high fat low carb trend. Two well-known publications advocating for this new diet trend are the documentary “Fat Head” and the book “Brain Grain”. In the documentary “Fat Head” comedian Tom Naugthon refutes the claims made in the famous “Super Size Me” documentary.  “Brain Grain” is neurologist David Perlmutter book on why carbs, all…

I really love the 4321 method and I’ve started trying. I do feel feel I am not in control of their workday, I feel stuff just “happens” to me, like Marko Ahtisaari described in the first paragraph about 4321. But I find it’s not that simple. First, I might be able to control what I need to do now but I can’t control what come to my mind. I mean, sometimes ideas just come and sometimes not. And this largely affect my working result and my working hours. Sometimes I can be very productive if good idea keeps coming and…

One of the great parts about Marko Ahtisaari’s piece was it’s balance between maximizing general productivity, well-being, and also creativity. Despite popular belief, being in the Architecture school is not dissimilar to being in the departments of Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Business School, Mechanical Engineering, etc. –you have an initial creative idea, maybe 10% of the process, and then there is a large amount of “production” or “technical” work, the other 90% of the process, to make it work and be presentable in a convincing fashion. The main problem with this lopsided format is that the initial creative idea must…

A typical week is packed with meetings, but I’ve been using the Pomodoro technique to break up the day and have a better sense of what I’m going to get done in a day.  The core of Pomodoro is 25 minute chunks of focused work time with a mandatory 5 minute break.  That’s one Pomodoro.  For every 4 Pomodoros, you take a 15 minute break.  What’s nice about it is that I can now predict how many Pomodoros I’ll have in any given day and I also predict how many Pomodoros it’ll take to complete any given task or chunk…

I chose to reflect on my daily energy levels. During my reflection I focused on my fluctuations in energy. Mornings are particularly difficult for me, while evenings usually come with a burst of energy around the time I should be preparing for bed.  Early afternoons seem to best time for me to be full of energy and capable of working on complex problems. While the evenings are energy full for me, it is not the best time for me to tackle hard problems. Toward the late afternoons to early evenings I seem to have another plateau of energy. While I…

When I think about my productivity – and how to make progress on more of the things that I want to do – I tend to focus on time management as the leverage point. I think about how I prioritize the items on my to-do list or how I can schedule my work in the most efficient way possible. So it was really interesting to read Marko’s essay and to try to internalize his view that time management is only one piece of the puzzle for him. We all know that sleep and exercise are important. But, I would argue…