Few pieces of advice I gave to my brother when he was starting his doctoral studies

1. Sometimes it suffices for a solution to be good enough.

Note: In some cases working for the 'more efficient' solution leads to diminishing returns in terms of effort, time spent, etc.


2. When you have tried solving a problem in all ways you can think of and are tired, take a time out; a break can do wonders.

Anecdote: Couple of years back, I was developing code for the new transport protocol that I had recently designed. Once I got done, I wanted to test if everything was working as designed. In the process of testing, I encountered a nasty bug. I tried everything I could think of in order to resolve the issue but the bug wouldn't go away. I had been writing code all day and got quite tired. Very reluctantly (and against my natural incline), I forced myself to call off the day. I went back home and took good rest (though it was difficult to shift my attention from the problem). The next day, I came to office, and guess what, I solved the problem in 5 minutes. In hindsight, I thought about the possible reasons for this. I found the following: After working for long hours, your mind may get saturated and such a mind does not want to do a lot of things. It is less likely that you try things that require some mental effort, which reduces the chances of finding a solution to your problem.


3. Become self-critical (balanced). If you are not critical, you're likely to make errors and accept things which may not make sense. It you are too critical you may not make progress. Research requires a subtle balance between tolerating ambiguity and making progressk.


4. Prioritize your tasks --> remember Coveys advice "You should leave the urgent to attend to the important".


5. When there are too many things to remember, write them down. Don't burden your memory. Allow your mind to focus on the problem, much like what a processor does :-)


6. Too much multiplexing can be detrimental. Too little time for one problem to be done efficiently. You know the overhead of context switching :-)


7. If you need something (advice, stuff, etc), ask! You will find that at times you simply need to ASK !!


8. An important trait or skill you bring on the table is your ability to think and SYNTHESIZE !! Value and sharpen the saw !


9. Make sure your mind gets enough recreation every day so that when you get to your problem, it is fresh and raring to go.


10. Learn to work despite little distractions. They may be common.


11. Help others as much as you can! Remember you were once an undergrad or a grad who wanted help from seniors and they were helpful
a. They'll remember this for a long time, believe me.


12. Be open. Consider a thought even if you think it doesn't make much sense. It may be case that you are missing a point.


13. It is always good to articulate your thoughts. At times writing things can greatly clarify and help solvie a problem.


14. Build good intuitions, if something looks fishy don't put it under the carpet. You will find that at times seemingly small things can have a tremendous impact !


15. Have a self-belief that you can do good work


16. Educate your mind to focus on ideas of individuals as opposed to who they are.


17. Know that it is utterly important that you are able communicate your results in an effective manner.


18. Family and friends: In the flow things, it is likely that you might not give them enough time. However, time never comes back, so make sure you do justice with it.


19. Patience.... all the way :-)

P.S. And yes, don't forget to read phdcomics :-)

Keeping a healthy heart

[I read in Steven Covey's 7 habits book the following thing (paraphrased)] Heart is a muscle that pumps bloods in our system. The amount of pressure that the heart exerts in doing so is called the blood pressure. If the heart muscle is not strong or if our arteries have fat deposits, the heart has to exert higher pressure to pump blood through our system (resulting in increased "Blood Pressure"). To keep the heart muscle strong and healthy, exercise is very important. With exercise, we strengthen our heart muscle by increasing its beat rate, much like we exercise our other muscles and brain. On average, a person should aim to increase his/her heart rate to about 60% of 220-age for about 30 minutes every day.

I Promise Myself -- by Christina D. Larson

Today and everyday of my eternal life, I promise myself to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make my friends feel that there is something beautiful in each one of them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.

To think only the best and expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forgive and forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, too happy to permit the presence of trouble. And so it is!

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Balancing work, job search, etc

I was recently asked by my brother about my recent experiences with balancing research, job search, etc

Some of the lessons learnt are as follows.

Lesson 1: "Plan, Plan, Plan -- As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail"

Have a plan of what you want to do next, today, this week, in a month, etc. Plans help you focus and structure your goals. They also allow you to gauge if certain tasks are possible.

Lesson 2: "You should leave the urgent to attend to the important"

Often times you'll find yourself in a situation where you won't be able to do all the tasks. If you decide to undertake them all, you won't be able to do them well, especially the ones that matter to you the most. So learn to Prioritize! and do the important things first.

Lesson 3: "Don't forget the power of small steps -- it is these steps that result in longer ones"

Lesson 4: "To Caesar What Is Caesar's To God What Is God's"

Appreciate and acknowledge that not everything is under our control. This will help relieve undue stress and focus your attention on things you can control.

Lesson 5: "Relax, calm down, listen to some good music :-)"

Getting back to the basics

At times we are are soo focussed on the "end" of our endeavors that we forget the importance of the "process", the need to get the fundamentals right, of simultaneously keeping an eye on the big picture of things. We can often ignore the need for hard work, perseverance, and patience in getting there, the need to organize and manage our time well, the need for evaluating ourselves. It is at this time that we must take out some time to think and reinvigorate ourselves. This also reminds me of my cricket playing days. Whenever we wouldn't play well, our coach would tell us to focus on the basics, the little things such as "see if you are keeping your head still", "are you watching the ball carefully", "are you practicing well?", "see if you are balanced when you drive the ball", etc. Nathan Astle, a former cricketer from New Zealand, once told in an interview that when he got out of form, he realized he wasn't watching the bowl. It was surprising to hear that such a basic thing can be ignored by a batsman but it does happen. In a similar manner, we can often forget to eat properly, to exercise often, to keep ourselves organized and disciplined. The key to my mind is to take out some time, preferably daily, to reflect on our lives.

A cordless future for electricity?

A recent article on CNN highlighted that wireless electricity may not be far out in the future. What impact would such a technology have on our lives? Well, it will depend on the power of the technology and its ease of usage. As of now, wireless electricity can either be used over long distances (~1-2 miles) but with very low power (e.g., to light a low power LED bulb) or over short distances (few cms) with high power. Apparently, it has been quite a challenge to come up with wireless electricity over long distances with high power. One question that comes to mind is: How do we ensure safe propagation of high power over the air? If this technology comes to light, how would it change things we do. Well, we would no longer need battery chargers for our cell phones, laptops, PDAs, mp3 players, etc. That would be good :-) How would it impact research on power-saving? That would largely remain unaffected because power would still need to be generated, it is only the transmission that is being changed. It is much like moving from wired network connectivity to a wireless one. Here is a cool video by folks part of the the Intel Seattle's Wireless Energy project. They demo the lighting of a bulb using wireless electricity.