The following videos outline some general rules of success and how one can ultimately change the world, through focus, dedication and commitment coupled with giving back to the world / community that has contributed along the way.
Arnold Schwarzenegger – In this video he outlines 5 key Rules of Success. A far more detailed and in-depth interview exploring Vision, Goals, Confidence and Time Management may be seen (online)
One of the key elements mentioned in the video above is to have a clear vision, a destination. Perhaps the following video from Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country, 1991 (IMDB) is a good example, as the Enterprise is asked by a Klingon outpost for its Destination – “What is your Destination, Over”. Even with a warp capable Starship like the Enterprise, without a Heading / Destination one will just drift through space without ever getting anywhere. Many star athletes “begin with the end in mind” to quote Stephen R. Covey and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, they visualise and see the ultimate goal the wish to achieve.
As with all journeys one must first have a direction of travel, in the case of Samwise and Frodo departing the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001 (IMDB), their initial destination was the village of Bree. As with all journeys one must set off by putting one foot in front of the other and embrace the adventure that lies ahead.
Admiral William H. McRaven – highlights 10 key life lessons that are very much centered around how one can change the world by adhering to some basic principles. A more detailed account, along with a 20 minute video may be seen (online).
Many of the above Rules & Life Lessons can be readily applied to Academic study. As Schwarzenegger mentions one has to “work your butt off”. Putting in hard work and focus is essential, however perhaps even more importantly is to focus on working hard at doing the right things. The following video below highlights several key things that the top 10% of students do in stark contrast to the other 90%. Two of the key things that make all the difference is to develop a Schedule / Plan and also to put in the work doing Practice Exams / Homework.
An interesting article in which the speaker in the video above contributes, can be found (online) and is aptly named the “Science of Student Success”.
Just turning up to class for example, isn’t going to guarantee success in coursework / exams. One must put in the work. Its just like having a Gym membership, paying the membership fee, and going to the gym for just a few weeks or on the odd occasion will not produce any results. One must put in the work over and over again, moreover it is important to do the right thing, hence how one works out at the gym with the correct form is also crucial. The real key to building muscle mass is not stopping once you have done 10 reps just like everybody else, the real value comes at the very end by putting in that extra couple of reps. This extra bit of effort is what makes all the difference to making the most of the training session. This is something that Schwarzenegger mentions time and time again in many of his interviews.
Perhaps it is apt quote Colonel John Hannibal Smith from the A-Team – “I love it when a plan comes together”. The videos below depicts Hannibal (George Peppard) from both the TV Show and the more recent move (Liam Neeson) saying the well know line.
Commitment is also a key ingredient, as is well voiced by wise Jedi Master Yoda “Try not, Do or Do not, there is no try” – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980 (IMDB). Trying to do something half-heartily will not lead to success, if you are going to do something the commit to it 100%. Another very good example of this is from The Karate Kid, 1984 (IMDB), at the point where Mr. Miyagi ask Daniel if he is ready to begin his Karate training. Daniel responds by saying “Yeah, I guess so”. Mr Miyagi in turn outlines a short story about walking on a road, both the left and right sides are safe, but if one walks in the middle, then sooner or later you will get run over. Again it all comes down to Commitment, either you are going to do something and give it 100% or not.
Perhaps one of the most important thing at University, especially in Computing is to treat it like a Gym. Only by working out and learning to tackle new problems can one problem solving skills improve along with their programming ability.
Any other tips for success?
Do you know of any other good strategies useful on the road toward Academic Success?
Have you seen any interesting videos recently about how to focus, do the right thing and ultimately achieve the best results?
What interesting things have you learned from watching the videos above?
What are the most profound / useful things you can take away and action from the above videos?
The video below is of Lt. General Hal Moore discussing Leadership, recorded at the 2007 American Veterans Conference in Washington D.C. He highlights a number of principles that has guided his life and also guided him on the battlefield.
1 In baseball, three strikes and you’re out. In the game of life three strikes and you are not out, there is always one more thing you can do, to influence any situation in your favour. All you have to do is think, what else can I do, and after that there’s one more thing you can do. The more things you do the more opportunities that open up.
2 On the battlefield always try to be where the action is going on. A battlefield leader has to lead on the battlefield.
3 In any situation you’ve got to think what am I doing that I should not be doing and what am I not doing that I should be doing, to influence the situation in my favour. There’s always one more thing.
4 Trust your instincts. Your instincts are the product of your experience, your reading, your personality. Your instincts are your best resource. Your gut tells you one thing and your heart tells you another. Go with your gut.
5 Life is not a bed of roses. You are going to be hit with adversity, now and again. When hit by adversity, you’ve got to believe that you will prevail in the end.
The trailer below is of the 2002 film We Were Solders depicting the Vietnam War battle of la Drang in 1965. The film stars Mel Gibson as the then Lt Colonel (imdb).
Another interesting example of a speech revolving around life lessons was by Navy Admiral William H. McRaven during the University of Texas 2014 commencement. It can be summed in the following principles below.
1 If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
2 If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.
3 If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
4 If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
5 If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.
6 If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
7 If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.
8 If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
9 If you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
10 If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
Many of these principles can be summed up as “Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up”.
Another key idea discussed is that by changing the lives of just a few people within a few generations this can impact the lives of everybody on the planet.
One can read the entire transcript of the speech (online) at the University of Texas website.
The video below is again of Admiral McRaven highlighting eight key leadership lessons.
1 Know your troops.
2 Communicate constantly.
3 Set the example.
4 Accountability matters.
5 Allow room to maneuver.
6 Own the problems.
7 Learn from failure and move on.
8 Be a servant leader.
Some other blog posts that may be worth reading:
Prof Randy Pausch Time Management & The Last Lecture (online)
Schwarzenegger Interview: Vision, Goals, Confidence and Time Management (online)
Do you know of any other interesting videos / articles discussing interesting life lessons or leadership principles?
It seems that quite a number of Universities start off the academic year by organising a class photo for all the new incoming students. A number of such examples can be seen in the videos below.
As can be seen in the video directly below, such group photographs aren’t just limited to the University arena but also spans across the Universe, in particular with this example of the 10 year anniversary group photo of the Marvel Universe.
Marvel Universe 10 year Class Photo
1. Is this a good method of building a sense of community, pride and belonging right from the very start of the University experience?
2. Do many other Universities create incoming class photos?
3. Is it nice to receive a hardcopy print of the photo, or is it better & more environmentally friendly for it to be available online through the likes of Facebook so participants can be tagged, given we are nearing the end of the second decade of the 21st century?
4. Have you seen any institutions outside of the US taking on this form of welcome activity?
5. Have you seen any other interesting forms of welcome activity that generates a sense of community and excitement?
6. What is the smallest & largest gathering you have seen for a University class group photo, 3000, 5000, more?
7. Are such incoming class photos generally taken at the University level for all incoming students, or have you seen any that are at College/Faculty or School/Department level?
8. What was the most fun / interesting incoming class group photo you’ve seen?
Butler University – Class of 2021
Butler University – Class of 2020
Butler University – Class of 2019
Butler University – Class of 2018
Butler University – Class of 2017
University of Chicago – Class of 2019
University of Chicago – Class of 2018
University of Chicago – Class of 2016
University of Connecticut– Class of 2016
Cornell – Class of 2016
Duke University – Class of 2020
Duke University – Class of 2019
Duke University – Class of 2018
Duke University – Class of 2016 (Over 40 minutes duration)
Duke University – Class of 2013
Emory University – Class of 2021
Emory University – Class of 2016
Emory University – Class of 2014 (First ever class photo)
University of Iowa – Class of 2019
University of Iowa – Class of 2015
University of Massachusetts – Class of 2020
Michigan Technological University – Class of 2013
Michigan Technological University – Class of 2012
University of Minnesota – Class of 2020
MSOE – Class of 2018
University of North Texas – Class of 2019
Northwestern University – Class of 2021
Northwestern University – Class of 2020
Northwestern University – Class of 2018
University of Pennsylvania – Class of 2016
University of Pittsburgh – Class of 2021
University of Pittsburgh – Class of 2020
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) – Class of 2018
During the summer I spent some time at Google London along with around a dozen other academics from half a dozen universities. One thing in particular that caught everybody’s attention was the displays of Post-it Note Pixel Art adorning the interior windows. As you would expect, many of the mosaics were game characters. It seemed like a really good, fun and collaborative way of brightening up the offices spaces and bringing them to life.
It would seem that this use of Post-it note art has spread from Google London’s office to its Dublin Office as can be seen in the time-lapse videos directly below (posted less than two weeks ago – 15/09/2017), whereby Wonder Woman now adorns some of the windows of Google’s Dublin Office.
Some other offices have also made use of Post-it Notes to make the otherwise plain walls sparkle with excitement and colour. The videos below depict the creation of a murial of several characters such as Iron-man, Wonder Woman and Batman requiring a total of 8024 Post-it notes (online). The work of art was of a temporary nature as they were moving to another office within a few months. The manner in which they removed the artwork was quite unique employing a leaf-blower to prise the post-it’s from the walls.
The video below shows yet another office taking a Star Wars theme to the creation of their Post-it Note murials.
It would seem that this imaginative use of Post-it notes commenced with a simple “Hi” being posted on the window of an advertising agency, with another agency right across the street replying to same (around 2 years ago). This quickly escalated into an all out Post-it note battle (online) as can be seen from the news segments and videos below. The hashtags #postitwars and #canalnotes also began to be bounded around on twitter. If you do some further searching around you will find several other examples of Post-its being used for artistic purposes going back several years previous to this post-it war.
Quite a few other videos may also be found online with companies and individuals adorning their windows and walls with post-it notes.
From the time-lapse video below captured in a sports hall it would seem that post-it note art has been taken to a whole different level in terms of sheer scale.
The following website (online) has some useful tips for creation Post-it note art. From suggesting to use 3M Super Sticky Notes, to measuring your wall space and planning out a grid. On another Note – pun intended – you can find out more about the accidental invention of the glue and inception of the post-it back in the late 1970’s (online).
Overall this form of art seems like a really fun and simple way to liven up an office space or blank wall / window. It could be a really fun and collaborative way of turning whitewashed walls of university computer labs into something exciting, immersive and inspirational for instance.
Hackathons are a great way to learn new skills and provides opportunities to work with other students in small groups / teams. Many Hackathons take place around Birmingham with the essence of some of these having been captured in video format. The selection of videos below from past Hackathons should help to give you some idea of what they are like and perhaps help to encourage you to attend such an event in the future if you haven’t been to one before.
Even if you have little to no programming experience you should still go along to a Hackathon. Sometimes you will find participants who have graduated several years before and others who may still be in secondary school depending on the format of the event. Some Hackathons are closed events – focused on a particular University institution, many are more open to all who are interested. Many of the larger more open Hackathons are helped by Major League Hacking (MLH) an organisation that can help you setup and run a Hackathon event.
Bull Hack 2017, Curzon Building
Hack The Midlands 2016, Millennium Point
Local Hack Day Birmingham 2016
Aston Hack 2015
Brum Hack 5.0
BrumHack 4 Final Presentation (2 Hour Video)
BrumHack 2014, Live Demos (~80 Minute Video)
BrumHack 3 (30 Hour Timelapse <5 Minute Video)
Game Jam 2014
Typically Hackathon events take place over a period of 24 Hours, though some can be shorter day long events, or longer 48 Hour events. Often these events have a theme or some suggested areas within which you should try to develop some form of novel / interesting software solution. At the terminus of the coding period, each team will then have the opportunity to give a short presentation / demo of the product. These presentations / demos are often judged by a panel whom award prizes at the end, before the final wrap up. Above all the most important part about a Hackathon is participation, as you never know what potential employers may be in attendance. They also serve as a very useful addition to ones CV and can help to make it stand out.
Fractals appear in many movies / films with their origins dating back to Vol Libre (1980) created by Loren Carpenter is an extremely well know example of early computer animation. It used fractal terrain generation of create a fly-through of a three dimensional landscape. This would in turn lead on to the development of the Genesis Sequence in Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan (1982) (IMDB).
The following video provides a nice bit of background about fractal terrain generation as described by Loren Carpenter himself. In 1978 he came across the book Fractals Form, Chance and Dimensions by Benoit Mandlebrot and having read the entire book twice started use fractal techniques to develop computer generated terrain.
Its interesting to see how Fractal Graphics seem to crop up in film’s from time to time such as the Mandelbrot Fractal paint job of a car featured in a desert scene from Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. This can be clearly scene at time index (07:53) for just a moment, in the following video clip.
Fractal techniques were again used to generate the lava spewing forth and landing upon a platform, on which Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were engaged in a lightsaber battle, located on the volcanic planet Mustafar in Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005) (IMDB).
Another nice example of fractals being mentioned in a film comes from Star Trek First Contact (1996) (IMDB), whereby the Sovereign Class USS Enterprise NCC1701-E is being taken over by the Borg. The Borg are trying to reroute main control to Engineering where they are based. Upon hearing this Captain Picard asks commander Data to “Lockout the main computer”, after some interaction with a console, Data responds by saying that “I have isolated the main computer with a fractal encryption code, it is highly unlikely the Borg will be able to break it”. Hence as you can see even in the 24th century, fractal techniques still prove to be very useful.
The term “Fractal Zoom” is used to describe the opening screen effect of Limitless (2011) (IMDB). The camera carries out a number of moves in the X, Y, Z planes commencing with a downward looking view onto a city street. One can read some further detail about how the effect was achieved (online).
Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) developed a new Fractal Rendering technique for Lucy (2014) (IMDB). An overview of this may be seen (online) with detail of the work being published at SIGGRAPH. The technique was used to render many of the space travel scenes in the film.
Fractal techniques were also used more recently in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (2017) (IMDB). The following articles (online) (online) provides a good deal of detail on the use of fractal techniques, particularly in the creation of Ego’s planet. Such techniques may also be seen in other segments of the film.
Fractals are mentioned in the TV show Numb3rs (IMDB) a number of times, episodes 05×05 “Scan Man” and 04×09 “Graphic” in particular. The transcript of “Scan Man” is available (online) with six instances of the term “fractal” mentioned and “Graphic” (online) with five instances of “fractal”.
Other Computer Generated Imagery Examples
Another good example of computer generated imagery is the Light Cycle battle from Tron (1982) (IMDB).
Tron Legacy (2010) (IMDB) features an updated Light Cycle battle.
From Interstellar Flight, to Oceans Deep and the T1000
Flight of the Navigator (1986) (IMDB) demonstrates the first use of image mapping the surrounding environment on to a surface. In this case it is mapped on to a Trimaxion Drone ship from Phaelon. It also features some nice scenes whereby the Drone ship morphs from “Class 3” mode to “Class 1” – thereby allowing it to efficiently cut through the Earths atmosphere.
Having seen CGI morphing in Flight of the Navigator (1986), The Abyss (1989) (IMDB) added greatly to this, particularly in the form of the “Water Tentacle”, therein leading the way for the creation of Cyberdyne Systems T1000 as featured in Terminator 2 (1991) (IMDB) just two years later, which facilitated not just the CGI based morphing of a character, but also its interaction and morphing with a seemingly solid object.
The initial achievements of morphing the Trimaxion Drone ship of Phaelon in Flight of the Navigator, coupled with advances in fluid dynamics and facial feature formation in The Abyss were instrumental in rendering the mimetic poly-alloy T-1000 (wikipedia) from Terminator 2 on a Silicon Graphics IRIS Indigo workstation (wikipedia).
Wikipedia has a nice list of computer animation in film and television available (online).
Do you know of any other interesting examples of computer graphics / animation featured in films? – please add any other example you know in the comments section.
In a previous post (Online) I highlighted many of the key points from Randy Pausch’s lectures on “Time Management” and “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. The video below is of an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger that is very much focused on achieving ones vision, time management and the ineffable fear that most people have of public speaking. Many of his comments can not only be applied to bodybuilding but to all facets of life. The video was published in March 2015 and at the time of writing had 1.86 million views. The interview is divided into two segments, commencing with a focus on bodybuilding, then around the half way mark moving on towards having a Vision.
00:25:54 Have a Deadline, the day of the competition he had to be in the best shape possible. Should focus on the diet, training and to not slack off. If he lost because he didn’t schedule the training in the proper way, didn’t have the right frame of mind, or didn’t give everything he would be so angry, so he never wanted to be in that situation. It is therefore essential to set a deadline and work towards it (go to).
00:27:29 Have a Specific Plan, if you don’t have a specific plan then you just wonder around. You could have the best ship or plane in the world, but if you haven’t a specific goal of where you want to go and when you want to get there, you will just drift around and never get anywhere. Creating a sense of urgency is therefore very important (go to).
00:28:04 Have a Vision, The most important thing is to have a Vision, have a Goal, because without such one is just drifting around and never end up getting anywhere. People don’t become successful by accident. One has to have a Goal, it can be anything, having a goal motivates. Put pictures of your goal all over your bedroom wall so every day when you go to sleep or wake up one can see the end goal , which acts as a form of motivation. You therefore know exactly what you are after. He looked forward to working-out as every Set and every Rep that he did, because it brought him one step closer to transforming his Vision/Goal into reality. Have a clear Vision /Goal of what you wish to accomplish (go to).
00:33:50 Have a Training Partner, Have somebody to train with, if you are feeling down then it’s the responsibility of the training partner encourage you (go to).
00:35:01 Lack of Confidence, Confidence builds by making small achievements that build on one another. When you have one little Victory it leads to the next, little Victories add up, which ultimately leads to confidence (go to).
00:37:50 Public Speaking, little Victories again help to build confidence. Speaking in public is the biggest fear factor for people than anything else (go to).
00:40:20 Time Management, Everybody has a problem with time. The day has 24 hours, and one can sleep 6 hours, therefore you have 18 hours remaining to do your work, family, hobbies and to do/learn something new. Therefore out of the 24 hours in the day, don’t waste one single hour, it’s too precious. Don’t say that you don’t have the time to do something, you make the time (go to).
To Conclude
These are all very good points, especially if you are working on something like an Honours / MSc or PhD Research Project. Having a mentor / supervisor that will push you is key towards achieving success. Certainly in academia – time in the most precious commodity, therefore one must carve out the time to do what’s important. Setting clear goals / plans / deadlines and building on little victories is one very good way to build confidence and to ultimately see ones vision transform into reality.
Professor Randy Pausch (Oct 1960 – July 2008) of Carnegie Mellon University is well know for delivering some lectures that have been viewed millions of times. The talk titled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” was delivered about a year after he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The recorded lecture hosted on CMU’s YouTube channel as been viewed over 17.5 million times at the time of writing this blog, in addition it can be found on several other locations on the web. Another very interesting talk that everybody should watch on “Time Management” has been viewed almost 2 million times on CMU’s YouTube channel. Both of these lecture are essential viewing for everybody & not just those studying computing.
The reason I decided to write this blog post was that a colleague of mine recently queried me regarding email server settings. This lead to some discussion on the pro/cons of using Outlook vs Thunderbird which lead me into talking about Randy Pausch’s love of the “empty inbox” and his use of prioritized “to-do lists”. During several courses I have taught in the past I got the students to watch these lectures to see what nuggets of gold they could learn regarding their approach to learning and being organised – specifically the lecture on time management. They always came back to say they found the lectures extremely interesting & made them reflect on how they work. So I thought it was now about that I mentioned these lectures in a blog post & thereby having them in one place for ease of reference in the future.
If you haven’t seen these talks before then I strongly suggest you watch both of them & I’m certain you will learn a lot and in so doing should reflect upon how you approach work/study/research & life in general. If you do some searching online then I’m sure you can find out lot’s more about Randy, his teaching, research and the founding of the Alice software project. The following are just a few links you can follow for more info.
Randy Pausch’s Homepage (online)
Randy Pausch on Wikipedia (online)
Randy Pausch – Last Lecture Transcript (online)
Randy Pausch – Time Management Transcript (online)
I have summarized the key points under each video to make that particular topic area readily accessible. Clicking on the “go to” hyperlinks will open up the video in a new tab at the associated time-stamp of the topic. If you have any other tips / useful strategies on effective time management / achieving you’re life goals (childhood dreams) then do leave a comment.
Time Management
00:05:56 Time = Money, how much is you’re time worth, should I just buy software or write it, try thinking of time and money almost as if they are the same thing (go to)
00:07:54 Money not Important, its time – you can never get that back (go to)
00:10:13 The Time Famine, bad time management = stress, need to think long term, life advice happy wonderful life, why do it if its not fun, life is too short, don’t like you’re job then change, the overall goal is fun (go to)
00:12:25 Typical Office Worker Wastes 2 hours per day, desk messy, can’t find things (go to)
00:12:58 Managing your time well makes you successful (go to)
00:13:34 Goals, Priorities and Planning, why am I doing this, what will happen if I don’t do it, best thing in the world – just say no (go to)
00:15:04 Do the right things, rather than doing things right, doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister (go to)
00:15:45 The 80:20 Rule, A small number of things will contribute the most value, e.g. if in sales 80% of revenue will come from 20% of you’re clients (go to)
00:17:01 The Power of Inspiration, if you can dream it you can do it, Disneyland built in 366 days, a lot of hard work in anything you want to accomplish (go to)
00:18:24 Planning is very important, failing to plan is planning to fail (go to)
00:19:04 To Do Lists, break things down into small steps – how to clean a room, can you make the bed, can you tidy the clothes, do a few things then you get it done, do the ugliest thing first (go to)
00:21:01 Most Important Thing, 4 Quadrant To Do List, Important do soon, most important, everybody gets it wrong by going on to what’s not important and not due soon, things that are due soon and not important – just don’t do it – and magically you have time to work on what’s not due soon but important, so it never gets a chance to be due soon – thereby becoming one of those Zen like people who seem to have all the time in the world (go to)
00:23:24 Paperwork, clutter leads to thrashing (just like excessive paging on a HD!), keep you’re desk clear, have just one thing on you’re desk, touch each of paper once, especially email, you’re inbox is not you’re to-do list (go to)
00:24:33 Need to get the Inbox clear, sometimes means just filing things away, and putting something on the to-do list – sorted by importance (go to)
00:25:40 A Good File System is Essential, having a single place when looking for important receipts beats the hell out of running around for hours looking for it (go to)
00:27:11 Randy’s Desk, 3 Screens – screen space (on screen desktop real estate) is critical, compare working on a little tray in an airplane vs at an actual desk, cost of giving everybody 2 or 3 screens is trivial – so why wouldn’t you do it, will increase productivity having a second screen (go to)
00:29:05 Randy’s 3 Screens, left – to-do list (sorted by priority 0 to 9), middle – note the empty inbox – sleep better with an empty inbox, right – calendar – essential you know where you’re supposed to be (go to)
00:30:25 The Desk Itself, the one and only thing that is being worked on, speaker phone – essential (best thing you can buy to counter stress) – having a timer is useful as when you get through having been waiting you can say how long you have been waiting (I presume you’re logging this kind of stuff), hence they feel really guilty (go to)
00:32:15 Telephones, a great time waster, if you stand during phone calls you can be much brisker, start by announcing goals for the call e.g. I have 3 things to discuss, do not put you’re feet up, having something on you’re desk that you want to do next is a great way to get off the phone quickly, chit chat is just a time-waster, to get off the phone quickly – just say I have some students waiting (there must be students waiting somewhere – as a professor) (go to)
00:34:02 Telemarketer, as you are talking just hang up on yourself – who does that!, or perhaps tell them that you would like to sell them something (go to)
00:35:05 Group You’re Phone Calls, do them right before lunch or just before the end of the day – that way they have something else they would rather do than just chit-chat with you, you are not more interesting than lunch (go to)
00:35:25 Have a Hands Free Set, one can exercise (cycle) at the same time as talking!, can fold laundry while on the phone (go to)
00:36:35 What Else is on the Desk, address stamper, tissues – essential as faculty (have the module code written on the box and turn it so they can see that its for the class), thank you cards – pen, ink, paper – really important – a tangible way to say that you appreciate somebody, have them on you desk always (go to)
00:39:30 Paper Recycling Bin, – acts as a trash can one can recover things from, notebook, post-it notes (go to)
00:41:30 Spreader Organization Strategy, everything just one arms radius away, from where one sits, do what works for you (go to)
00:42:05 Office Logistics, make the office comfortable for you – but not for others, have folding chair just in case next to the wall (if a longer detailed discussion is necessary), if somebody want’s to talk then they need to stand – makes for a fast discussion (go to)
00:43:05 Scheduling Yourself, you make time by electing not to do something else, opportunity cost – the bad thing about doing something that isn’t very valuable is that if you spend an hour doing it – that’s an hour you can’t get back (go to)
00:43:37 Learn to Say No, to keep unimportant things from sucking into you’re life, gentle no’s – if nobody else steps forward I will do this for you, or I’ll be you’re fallback but you need to keep searching for somebody else – if they stop looking then they have abused you’re relationship (go to)
00:42:18 Find You’re Creative Time, defend it ruthlessly, spend it alone – at home if necessary, schedule phone calls, meetings, mundane stuff when you’re not at you’re best (go to)
00:45:54 Interruptions, studies show an interruption takes 6-9 minutes + a recovery of 4-5 minutes to get you head back into what you are doing – if doing something like software development you may never get you head back into what you were doing, 5 interruptions – blows a whole hour, must find ways to reduce the frequency and length of interruptions (go to)
00:46:28 Turn Phone Calls into Email, any time a new email makes a “ding” it creates an interruption – turn it off, go to the email when you are ready (go to)
00:47:30 How to cut things Short, if somebody interrupts you and asks if you have a few minutes, tell them that you are in the middle of something right now, could say you only have 5 minutes – puts a clear deadline on the interaction, if somebody doesn’t get it walk to the door of you’re office – complement them, thank them, shake their hand, then if they still don’t leave – then you just keep going out the door (go to)
00:48:45 Have a Wall Clock, right behind any visitors to you’re office (go to)
00:49:00 Time Journals, find out where you’re time is going, monitor yourself in 15 minutes increments for 3 days (go to)
00:50:20 Meeting with Students – What’s you’re time schedule?, gaps between classes – make up a fake class, go to the library & study (go to)
00:51:16 Time Journal Data, what are you doing that doesn’t need to be done, what can you delegate, what can I do more efficiently, how am I wasting other peoples time, you become more efficient at work so you can leave at 17:00 and go home – work life balance (go to)
00:53:16 What’s Important, What’s Not, don’t worry about things that don’t matter (go to)
00:54:04 Effective vs Efficient, best overall outcome (go to)
00:55:55 Procrastination, is the thief of time, doing things at the last minute is really expensive, that’s where stress comes, deadlines really important (make some fake deadlines), sometimes you have to ask – and wonderful things can happen (go to)
00:59:10 Delegation, you can achieve a lot more when you have help, grant authority with responsibility – give the resources, budget and time to get it done, do the dirtiest job yourself, treat you’re people well, people are the greatest resource, treat them with dignity, respect, and the kind of love that they should have from someone who cares about them and their professional development (go to)
01:00:55 If You Want to Get Something Done You Cannot be Vague, give a specific thing, date and time along with a specific penalty or reward if the deadline is or is not met (go to)
01:01:30 Challenge People, delegate until they complain, under delegation is a problem, people want to show they are capable – let them, communication has to be clear, get it in writing, tell them what you want them to do, not how to do it, set objectives not procedures, sometimes their solutions can be mind-blowing – good or bad, tell people the importance of each task (go to)
01:03:37 Sociology, when people do things that you like – praise them and thank them (go to)
01:05:00 Meetings, should never last more than an hour, should be an agenda, if no agenda then don’t attend, write the minutes of the meeting in 1 minute or less – detailing who is responsible for what by when – and email it out to everybody (go to)
01:06:12 Technology, only use technology that’s worth it – that makes you more efficient, (go to)
01:07:25 Video – frustrated office worker destroys computer, only use technology that helps you (go to)
01:08:35 Email, don’t delete – save all of it, save/search, if you want something done send it to somebody who can do it, with a specific date/time/penalty, if you don’t get a response within 48 hrs try try again (go to)
01:10:38 Management from Beneath, write things down, what’s to be done by next meeting, who can help, its not a vacation if you’re reading email (go to)
01:12:56 Most Important Advice, kill you’re television, turn money into time, throw money at the problem – hire somebody else to mow you’re lawn, do whatever it takes to exchange money for time because you just don’t have enough time, eat, sleep and exercise, never break a promise, (go to)
01:14:30 Most Things are Pass/Fail – reason we have the expression – good enough, get feedback loops, ask people in confidence, (go to)
01:15:10 What Can You Do Today, get a PDA, sort tasks by priority, do a time journal/count the number of hours you watch TV in the week, revisit this take in 30 days and ask yourself – what have I changed, time is all we have (go to)
00:40:10 An Unusual Course, brilliant creative students, class pictures, anything that pioneering – you will get arrows in the back, find somebody better than you to hand over to (go to)
00:45:30 The Dream Fulfillment Factory, Entertainment Technology Center, focus on people and learning to work in groups (go to)
We are now into the second week of teaching & one issue I faced was how to do a live demo to a class on how to configure the various settings on a DSLR camera to get some good quality footage. The solution I came up with was to take a live feed from a video camera & pipe it via HDMI cable into the labs projection system. To achieve this I made use of a 2 way HDMI splitter to interface between the output from the camera and the HDMI input to the projection system – as you will see in one of the images below.
Overall it seemed to work out fairly well, with the live feed captured by the Sony NX5E projected across all the screens in the lab for everybody to see. Following on from the demo I got the class to do some filming.
One video created by a pair of students over the weekend recorded at Balgavies Loch, Angus can be seen directly below. The objective had been to capture some nice shots of a forest / nature scene.
Barn Owl The Beauty and Elegance of Nature at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
Way Too Cute and Fluffy for Words at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
A Wonderful Tawny Owl at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
A Lovely Little Screech Owl at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
Hawks and Falcons at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
A Fabulous Owl Close Up at Duthie Park Winter Gardens official opening on the 30th June 2013. Some of those on display include the African Spotted Eagle Owl, European Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk, Gyr Saker Falcon, American Kestrel, Screech Owl and the Barn Owl. All of these owls, hawks and kestrels are looked after by 2 wit 2 woo who run an owl and raptor rescue service based in rural Aberdeenshire.
Move videos like this can be see at the following playlist.
Dr. Daniel C. Doolan News & Photos 