I'm wrapped up in course preparation and am not reading and writing as much as I would like. But it is nice to have the focus of getting this syllabus together before the class actually starts. This leads to today's find from my aggregator. Derek Lowe tells some truth in Think Twice from In the Pipeline.
I recall being impressed at one point in my career by a guy down the hall from me, who was working like a man possessed. Every time I went past his lab, he was in there cranking away, looking like a multi-armed Hindu deity with each hand holding an Erlenmeyer flask. Closer inspection revealed the truth. It turned out that he was working like this because he was doing almost everything in the longest, most wasteful way possible. No wonder it looked so much effort. Cutting your lawn with a bread knife is a lot of work, too, and will fill your day up like nothing you've ever seen.
The whole article talks about the home fix-it principle of "Measure Twice, Cut Once" as applied to just about life in the chemistry lab (and anywhere else): "Think Twice, Act Once." Being busy does not define getting work done. This idea is central to my own connection with personal effectiveness: take the time step back and think about what is important. I feel much more confident making decisions about what to do when I use this approach. It's why I haven't been writing here as much as I prefer.
I also encourage you to read In the Pipeline if you have any interest in chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry. He has a good style and deciphers some of the industry issues sensibly. (Unfortunately, the web feed is only excerpts. One of the reasons I have stayed with NewsGator as my aggregator is that I can use Fetchlinks to get around partial feeds.)