Virtual checklist

It looks like quite a few people use checklists. There's even one online called Joe's Goals. You can grade yourself based on how many good habits you fulfill and how many bad habits you succumb to.

Rob Gonsalves paintings

I found this link of M.C. Escher-like, surreal paintings via Ramit Sethi's finance blog. The artist is apparently Rob Gonsalves and many of the images in the link are from his two picture books, "Imagine a Day" and "Imagine a Night".

Link of the day: Astronomy Picture of the Day

I've known about the "astronomy picture of the day" site for a while, but today I found out that it has an RSS feed!

It seems like a nice idea, the physics analogy of the "one-word-a-day" method to building vocabulary.

Physicists discuss tablet PCs

Following up on my previous mention of tablet PCs, Dave Bacon and Gordon Watts have posted blog entries describing their experiences with tablet PCs. It sounds like tablet PCs are a very neat tool, but not quite refined enough yet for mainstream use.

Quote of the day: David Milch, creator of Deadwood

The world does not begin or end with the expiration of any living thing. It just becomes an exercise in bitterness or self-congratulation.

- David Milch in response to the near cancellation of Deadwood

Future project: Memory skills

When I have time, I'd like to improve my memory skills, maybe starting with this book by Lorayne and Lucas.

Optimum level of cleanliness

How neat should you keep your desk/home? On one hand, a certain level of cleanliness is required so that you can be organized and find everything. I also feel like if you wake up in a clean bedroom, it sets a good tone for the day. On the other hand, you don't want to be obsessively cleaning all the time because 1) it becomes inefficient after you reach the level of "good enough" and 2) you want to leave things in the such a state that you can rapidly pick up where you left off. It's like a mental bookmark. You leave your book on the page you were reading and the relevant scraps of notes nearby. But you should not leave random piles of paper on your desk that have nothing to do with the project you were last working on. The idea is to always maintain the focus on what you want to do next. This is one of the ideas behind GTD: focus on one task at a time, but keep yourself organized enough that you see the big picture (by filing things properly and doing periodic reviews).

For some additional perspective, you can read Malcolm Gladwell's article "The Social Life of Paper," which I have previously mentioned in this blog.

Share your library online

Now, besides sharing your photos via Flickr and your links via del.icio.us, you can show off your book collection at LibraryThing! For more details, read this Christian Science Monitor article.

Review: Ultimate Gretzky

I really enjoyed watching a DVD documentary on Wayne Gretzky yesterday.

The story of the "Great One" was really inspiring. It really drives home the point that you have to be passionate about what you do to be the best, and also a little selfish, but hopefully not too selfish.

Gretzky is certainly a classy athlete especially for a hockey player.

I also really liked watching the footage of Gretzky playing hockey in front of the TV with his mother as the goal keeper. And apparently, his dad would have him watch TV while following the puck with a pen on paper. His dad said that his goal was to develop Wayne's peripheral vision and that he doesn't believe in talent -- he thinks you can learn these skills.

I like to think of hockey and physics as very much the same thing. They both require competitiveness, persistence, drive, and mental toughness. Just like there is a Wayne Gretzky in hockey, it is possible to be successful in a competitive job without being a jerk. You don't have to become the bigshot scientist who drives his/her grad students to insanity and walks over his/her rivals.

Link of the day: Are you a noisy complainer?

In this article from the Stanford alumni magazine (sent to me by my sister), two Stanford professors discuss how to manage an organization effectively. Check out the two tables at the bottom on the "attitudes and talents of wisdom."