Ahh…lunch is always good. Last time I covered what I do in the morning
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Now let’s see what I do in the afternoon 😀
My afternoon starts with cooking. I used to cook more but now I either eat lightly or some leftover food. This saves me time and enables me to take nap.
I eat usually in front of the computer unless I am eating lunch with someone. This is bad. In fact, there is a famous book about networking called Never Eat Alone. Basically, you should always use your chances to network. But as a PhD student doing lot of research that will be on the to-do list.
I don’t eat a lot at lunch because I become sleepy and that is not good for productivity. After I eat, I walk a bit or do some house choirs so I don’t fall asleep. I then make coffee!! It is so exciting to grind the beans and waiting to inhale the dark research fuel.
I enjoy the coffee by either reading a book or reading things online. This lasts about 10-20 minutes. Ah, my golden time.
After coffee, it is back to work. It is hard to concentrate because you sort of relax after lunch so I usually do some data cleaning or light reading on stuff related to my research.
By now an hour has passed and my brain is ready for round 2. I am not as productive in the morning but I push through. I try to do anything that requires some thinking because at night I know my productivity is quite low. So I work hard for 2-4 hours.
If I am too tired, I take a quick nap. If I am too stressed or can’t concentrate, I go to the gym.
It is my hope that I get at least 80% of all the work done by the end of the afternoon but that rarely happens. Well, it may be bad planning but I think because research always gives you more questions then answers.
For instance, after I run a regression. I have question about other control variables and whether I should divide the sample and see how things go in subsamples. So I go on an interesting research expedition, which usually educates me but does not push the research forward that much. But hey, that is the fun of research. Seeing things that are new and not seen by others.
Also, writing takes way more time than what I think. haha…oh boy.
Most days I get decent amount of work done and I am thankful that God gave me ability to do research. It is stressful but I am thankful for all that He has done for me ^^
In the next post, I will cover early evening because I have four rounds in my day 😀
Pureum's Perspective 