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This is advantageous not only because we make progress on the next papers or books while we are still working on the current one, but also because it allows us to switch to other projects whenever we get stuck or bored.
Estimate realistically the time they would need to finish a paper. 2. Estimate additionally how long they think they would need a. if everything goes as smoothly as possible or b. if everything that could go wrong would go wrong.
The lesson to draw is to be generally sceptical about planning, especially if it is merely focused on the outcome, not on the actual work and the steps required to achieve a goal.
One of the most difficult tasks is to rigorously delete what has no function within an argument – “kill your darlings.”[42]
To put it differently, good intentions don’t last very long, usually.
The trick is not to try to break with old habits and also not to use willpower to force oneself to do something else, but to strategically build up new habits that have a chance to replace the old ones.
As soon as we have developed a new routine, we can do what intuitively feels right, which requires no effort.
First of all, the long-term, cross-topic organization of notes, which is guided only by one’s own understanding and interest, is very much at odds with the modular, compartmentalised and top-down approach in which the curricula of universities and colleges are organised.
It allows the learner to let his or her own thinking become decentralised within a network of other ideas.
Learning, thinking and writing should not be about accumulating knowledge, but about becoming a different person with a different way of thinking. This is done by questioning one’s own thinking routines in the light of new experiences and facts.
If we are just storing information, there would be no need to use a slip-box. To reap its benefits, we need to change our working routines. And the basis for that is a deep understanding on how and why it works and how the different steps and tasks of writing fit together.
