WRITING 165: HOW TO MAKE PROGRESS

——————
Hi, PL,

I hope you are doing well.

For this project, I have invested lots of time, especially for cracking two major challenges.

Since last Dec., I haven’t received anything from you. I wonder if you are still ‘in’ the project.

I understand people may have different priorities under different circumstances. Please let me know your choice. If you are still in, let’s bring it to the end; if you are out, I am also fine.

I just cannot waste more time.

Best,

ACTION415

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Hi ACTION415,

You are perfectly right. Was teaching MBAs for the first time and could hardly find any time.

My students have the exam today, so I am done with my teaching. I have 10 months now completely free for research.

Our project is in my priority list. I want to submit it very soon. I have worked so much on it, believe it or not. Let’s bring it to the end.

Best, PL
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DAY 165, 8PTS, 2.29M

\section{Day 165, 2.29M}
[ROUTINE]
RUN: 2.6MILES, 9MPH, 17MIN;
SWIM: 1KM;
LEARN: 0;

[WORK]
TQ2: READING, PELICAN, 2HRS;
AO: MEETING, LIMIT THE TIME TO 30MIN, NO MORE, 7PM-7:30PM;

[OTHERS]
CHAT WITH B.M., HE WILL WORK ON BAR;
CALL XYZ FOR THE HIRING;
FINISH THE BOOK DEEP WORK, 9/10;

[HAPPY MOMENT]
FIND THE DAILY RHYTHM.

WRITING 164: COMMITMENT, GAMES WE PLAY, 7

Yesterday we got R&R on BAR paper, a good news. But BE is unlikely to work on it. To motivate him,  I must draw the line, committing not to work it. Otherwise, BE will never work on it. Hopefully, the fear of letting me down can motivate him. If not, I will cut BAR as a sunk cost.

Either way,  I won’t waste time on BAR any more.

——————————————

Dear B,

This email is between you and me.

My gut feeling is that we hit the same guy as AE. The reports are written in the same style.

I believe DE liked the idea. Also, he has good impression of us, from our efforts in the last two rounds of the Markov chain paper.  But he cannot go against all the naysayers. So we must do more to prove our worth.

At this point, you and me have two papers at MS; they are promising but time consuming. The choice is clear: if you want it, you must put in effort, do what it takes, and go beyond what’s required.

I have time for only one such commitment. I will focus on the revision of the last paper (Markov chain). I will NOT spend time on this one: I believe in you and PA.

You have my word—I will deliver my revision in two months. And I expect the same commitment from your side.

Best,

ACTION415

DAY 164, 10PTS, 2.28S

\section{Day 164, 2.28S}
[ROUTINE]
RUN: 2.5MILES, 9MPH, 17MIN;
SWIM: 1KM;
LEARN: LUENBERGER, 2HRS;

[WORK]
TQ2: WRITING, PELICAN, 3HRS;

[OTHERS]
PLAY BASKETBALL, 5-6PM, 1HR;
EMAIL BM ABOUT BAR REVISION;

[HAPPY MOMENT]
PERFECT MY ROUTINE; MAKE IT EFFORTLESS.

[SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 07/2009]

WRITING 163: GAMES WE PLAY, 6

You must set the boundary for your life. People are remarkably adaptive. If you don’t plan your life, others will.

Here is an example. I have the TYM project with a senior MG: the only thing he did was checking the grammars. Yet, because I willingly played the role of juniors, the normal game between seminar and junior workers, MG played his part to: they say they have great expectation of you. What they really mean is that  they will do almost nothing but want to slave you.

So I decided to reset the expectation by playing the game a bit differently. Here is the series of email exchanges in the last a few days.

———————————————

Hey, L – just checking in. Paper was to go out in Nov, Dec, Jan… Almost March!

We going to get it under submission?
M.G.

__________________________________

Dear M,

I have several pending revision going on. So I won’t be able to work on it for at least a month.

If you are in the hurry, here is the latest version that you can work on.

Best,

L.

——————————————————

I haven’t heard from him since. Expectation reset?

A side note. In signaling games, actions must be credible in order to signal (often go with costs others are unwilling to bear). The purpose is to change/sharpen the belief of the rival. Maybe this is the underlying logic for my action.

DAY 163, 10PTS, 2.27S

\section{Day 163, 10PTS, 2.27F}
[ROUTINE]
RUN: 2.4MILES, 9MPH, 16MIN;
SWIM: 1KM;
LEARN: LUENBERGER, 90MIN;

[WORK]
TQ2: REVISE SECTIONS 5-7, 3HRS;
BAR: VERDICT, R&R;

[LIFE]
PROTECT AFTERNOON FOR LIFE;
PLAY BASKETBALL, 5-6PM, 1HR;

[HAPPY MOMENT]
A SURPRISING IMPROVEMENT IN BASKETBALL, BECAUSE OF SWIMMING.