This post is inspired by this, stating:
Recently on Twitter, PhD2Published posed the question “What is your academic discipline and what are your top 5 recommended high impact journals?”
For my PhD research, I've mostly been reading papers from these five journals (in no particular order), and their impact factor:
- ACI Structural Journal (0.782 in 2010)
- Journal of Structural Engineering / ASCE (0.834 in 2010)
- Journal of Bridge Engineering / ASCE (1.009 in 2010)
- Beton- und Stahlbetonbau (0.265 in 2010)
- Magazine of Concrete Research (0.52 in 2010)
Three of these journals are American, one is German and one is British. Even though I can barely put a sentence together in German, I don't have much trouble reading technical German. Initially I had to read German papers with a dictionary right next to me, but by now I know most of the technical vocabulary. And it's been extremely useful for my research.
Simplify
on Thursday, January 19, 2012
For 2012, I only have one resolution: to simplify, wherever and whatever I can. After the years, I've accumulated tons of random stuff, memories, habits and processes, digital data and they've resulted in a certain set of constraints (or boundary conditions if you prefer that term) that have been determining me. 2012 will be an important year (I'm getting married!) and this occasion allows me to reflect and try to determine what can be simplified. In the end, life is -absurdly- light and this lightness can be emphasized by removing clutter and constraints.
Here is a limited list of ways to simplify:
1. Know your priorities - and let go of all else
I'm making this rule my anthem for 2012. It applies to all situations and fields: in work, in how I spend my time, in my creative evening time, in my sports schedule and even in my thoughts.
As I'm planning to gather my information and, when I'll finally be done in the lab, start writing up my thesis, it will become important to focus and narrow down. With all the experiments I did, there will still be loose ends and questions unanswered, but my aim is to distill it down to the essential and use that information for my thesis.
Last year, I gave more importance to making time for creativity - but I ended up filling my evenings with too many activities and too little time to really enjoy the creating. This year, I'm going for less.
2. Do less - but more intensely
I'm going for less, but higher quality. For my research, doing less is very closely related to knowing my priorities - and stopping to spend time working on side projects which are going towards a dead end. It also means trying to spend less hours in my office, but making these hours more productive. I've started using Leechblock for the entire day - no more little slacking-off breaks in between. If I need a break, I'll take a real coffee-break or do something that truly gives me new shot of energy - not just some random surfing around.
Doing less also means keeping some open space in the evenings, allowing enough time to enjoy my creative time, and some genuine downtime for reading or meditating.
3. Reevaluate your information stream
This method for simplifying the digital clutter is the first action I took this year. You can read all about it here.
4. Leave space and time
To enjoy the lightness of being, and a clear mind, I'm leaving more space and time - both physically as well as mentally. For this way of simplifying, I'm fully inspired by Zen Habits, which was long ago one of the first blogs I subscribed to, and I still enjoy reading the posts there very much.
5. Keep an open and clear mind
Again, this is related to all previous points. To simplify, and be ready to enjoy the moment with my full attention, I need a clear, awake and open mind. Worries and tasks to be done are only allowed a small portion of my energy and attention - the rest is being reserved for the action I'm in at that specific moment.
Here is a limited list of ways to simplify:
1. Know your priorities - and let go of all else
I'm making this rule my anthem for 2012. It applies to all situations and fields: in work, in how I spend my time, in my creative evening time, in my sports schedule and even in my thoughts.
As I'm planning to gather my information and, when I'll finally be done in the lab, start writing up my thesis, it will become important to focus and narrow down. With all the experiments I did, there will still be loose ends and questions unanswered, but my aim is to distill it down to the essential and use that information for my thesis.
Last year, I gave more importance to making time for creativity - but I ended up filling my evenings with too many activities and too little time to really enjoy the creating. This year, I'm going for less.
2. Do less - but more intensely
I'm going for less, but higher quality. For my research, doing less is very closely related to knowing my priorities - and stopping to spend time working on side projects which are going towards a dead end. It also means trying to spend less hours in my office, but making these hours more productive. I've started using Leechblock for the entire day - no more little slacking-off breaks in between. If I need a break, I'll take a real coffee-break or do something that truly gives me new shot of energy - not just some random surfing around.
Doing less also means keeping some open space in the evenings, allowing enough time to enjoy my creative time, and some genuine downtime for reading or meditating.
3. Reevaluate your information stream
This method for simplifying the digital clutter is the first action I took this year. You can read all about it here.
4. Leave space and time
To enjoy the lightness of being, and a clear mind, I'm leaving more space and time - both physically as well as mentally. For this way of simplifying, I'm fully inspired by Zen Habits, which was long ago one of the first blogs I subscribed to, and I still enjoy reading the posts there very much.
5. Keep an open and clear mind
Again, this is related to all previous points. To simplify, and be ready to enjoy the moment with my full attention, I need a clear, awake and open mind. Worries and tasks to be done are only allowed a small portion of my energy and attention - the rest is being reserved for the action I'm in at that specific moment.
Cleaning out the information stream
on Sunday, January 8, 2012
During my recent holidays, I realized that I am not absorbing much of all the information that the internet constantly pours over me. Usually, I have several tabs open (mailboxes, news, social media sites, blogs,..) which continuously pour out information - and usually I can only scroll through and try to catch a few grains here and there. Still, it started taking me too much time, so I decided to do some major cleaning to start the year fresh.
Here's a few information channels that got clogged up with random noise:
1. Newsletters
I seem to have a constant stream of newsletters flowing into my mailbox, from every possible store I've ever visited and every company I've ever used a service from. Usually, I just delete these message without even opening them - but it still generates a lot of mail. And it still triggers me to check my mailbox (too) often to see if there's a new shiny thing in there. I now am opening every unwanted mail, and unsubscribing or marking these messages as spam (if it's not possible to unsubscribe).
2. Blog subscriptions
After not reading my Google Reader for a week, I had almost 300 posts to weed through. I realized that some (even most) subscriptions did not match my current interest anymore. For a while, I followed a lot of fashion blogs, learning how to put together a nice outfit from cheap stores and thrift stores. I also followed frugality blogs for a while, to get my personal finance together. Then, I also followed exercise and nutrition blogs. For all of these, I reevaluated the situation. I now only kept the subscription to blogs of which I still enjoy reading almost every single post, and I am very thankful for everything I learned through blogs or categories of blogs which I am not actively following anymore.
3. Facebook
With over 800 likes and over 500 friends, my facebook had turned into a museum of myself - and not a platform for interaction. I've significantly reduced the number of friends to people I genuinely interact with, and I'm working on reducing the number of likes. Hopefully, in a few months I'll have a newsfeed without much noise in it again.
4. Twitter
Likewise, my Twitter account was turning into an archive of past interests and memories. I've made some space in my following list, so I can focus again on the information I'm really after, and make some space for new ideas.
Here's a few information channels that got clogged up with random noise:
1. Newsletters
I seem to have a constant stream of newsletters flowing into my mailbox, from every possible store I've ever visited and every company I've ever used a service from. Usually, I just delete these message without even opening them - but it still generates a lot of mail. And it still triggers me to check my mailbox (too) often to see if there's a new shiny thing in there. I now am opening every unwanted mail, and unsubscribing or marking these messages as spam (if it's not possible to unsubscribe).
2. Blog subscriptions
After not reading my Google Reader for a week, I had almost 300 posts to weed through. I realized that some (even most) subscriptions did not match my current interest anymore. For a while, I followed a lot of fashion blogs, learning how to put together a nice outfit from cheap stores and thrift stores. I also followed frugality blogs for a while, to get my personal finance together. Then, I also followed exercise and nutrition blogs. For all of these, I reevaluated the situation. I now only kept the subscription to blogs of which I still enjoy reading almost every single post, and I am very thankful for everything I learned through blogs or categories of blogs which I am not actively following anymore.
3. Facebook
With over 800 likes and over 500 friends, my facebook had turned into a museum of myself - and not a platform for interaction. I've significantly reduced the number of friends to people I genuinely interact with, and I'm working on reducing the number of likes. Hopefully, in a few months I'll have a newsfeed without much noise in it again.
4. Twitter
Likewise, my Twitter account was turning into an archive of past interests and memories. I've made some space in my following list, so I can focus again on the information I'm really after, and make some space for new ideas.
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