Rootz's Blog

Fellow girls, if you are convinced that boys are better at math than girls, then when the math gets tough (say, around quadratics or graphing functions or figuring out those dang related rates problems), you will think it's tough because you're a girl. On the other hand, if you believe you can be just as good at math as a boy, you will stick with the tough math until you figure it out, just like the boys do. They haven’t been told that math is harder for them than for others, so when it gets tough they just figure it’s because math is a difficult subject——which it is. They don’t automatically switch to thinking that they can’t do this because there’s something with their brains that keeps them from being good at this. It all comes down to a simple belief. Do you believe in yourself of what others think of you? Be careful which belief you choose. It might mean the difference between a successful career that you enjoy and an unfulfilling, boring one.

[ image source ] Abstract is a raw, edgy look into the very soul of design. If you didn’t before, you’ll finally understand what design is, what it means, what all designers have in common and how they are so very different. And, perhaps, how you can be a designer. Because the field of design is way more broad than most people think it is. I’d bet that, no matter who you are, even if you’re in design, you will learn a lot from this series, and not just about design but about productivity, brainstorming and the importance of focus and dedication. Abstract looks at design from a completely new angle, a sort of insider look, but also an underneath and above and every angle in between sort of look. It’s a view that I don’t think has ever been documented before. Each documentary is filmed in such a way as to be unique to the views and practices and art of the specific designer. In Es Devlin’s episode on stage design, the film unfolds like a stage, complete with clips of Dev...

You’re in line at the store. You’re in the car waiting for your date to come out. You’re walking across campus between classes. What do you do in these moments of free time? Free time is check-your-phone time. You open emails, reply to a couple texts, update your apps or scroll through Instagram. That’s great. But here’s what’s not great: Taking up time that is not free time and doing the same thing. I realized something recently. I check Instagram once in the morning, right after I wake up, and once at night, before getting to bed. In some ways, this is how I force myself to get out of bed in the morning and into bed at night, but it’s also a waste of time. Because what happens when I encounter a pice of free time? I check Instagram! Instead of spending a block of ten minutes in the morning on social media, I could spread it out over the little moments of nothingness that pop up during my day. Then I could use the extra ten minutes in the morning for reading or exercising! ...

[This post was inspired by CGP Grey and Myke on Cortex 44 Existential Time Tracking and Thomas Frank’s “How to Wake Up Early and Make it a Habit - College Info Geek” ] There are very few apps that can completely change your life. But Toggl, Momenum, Alarmy and Todoist are four that can. I know because they’ve changed mine. I’ve gone from a person who wanted to be productive to someone who actually is. And I feel productive, which is in some ways more valuable than being productive. Feeling productive gives me confidence and the clearness of mind to be in control of my life. So, here they are, the four apps that can change your life. . . [ image source ] Alarmy (iOS/Android, free and paid versions) - Let’s start with Alarmy because that’s how I start my day. Alarmy is the sort of alarm clock that will make you get out of bed. The way I use it, I have it ask me to take a picture of a preset object to shut it off. This way, I have to get out of bed, and ...

[ image source ] Can I say it was. . . interesting? No, that’s not descriptive or accurate enough in any way. So what was it? Strange, yes. One of those books that should be  tasted, but not devoured . It’s like, as I was reading it, I loved it but not enough to sit for hours and loose myself inside of it. I was always conscious of the time I spent reading it, time that was always worth-it, but, still, time that was palpable. I felt it. I felt it pass me by as I felt it run through the pages of this book. Every now-and-then, I found myself pulled out of the story by the poetry and the random weird truths that popped up. “We [humans] made machines, the way spiders made silk,” is one line that stopped my reading eyes. Another, perhaps my favorite, “Color returned to the world, cone time replaced rod time.” I’d stare for a second, write down the words, contemplate their beauty and then move on. The story felt weirdly choppy near the end, but not so bad that I couldn't finis...

[ image source ] (For some background on this idea and a very interesting listen, check out Brady Haran and CGP Grey’s "Hello Internet" podcast, episode 3 .) The idea is simple: We humans are awful at multitasking. We can only do something effectively and efficiently if we focus on that one thing. The way I’ve come to see my life, at any one time I am putting my focus into one of five different areas of my life. I’ve named these areas interacting, working, learning, expressing and maintaining . Notice how they all end in “ing”. They are about action. They are about the things that fill my life with meaning and fulfillment and health. I believe we each have these areas in our lives, and I think we should all try to understand them better. Here’s how they work: Each of these areas is a “lightbulb”. These lightbulbs are only “on” if we’re putting energy into them. The things we do in each bulb’s specific area is what powers it. Over the course of our lives all th...

I do five things that keep me ahead of my schedule and workload, both in school and at work (but the way I’ve written about them here they mostly apply to school). They keep my head clear and my hands ready to work. They remove anxiety and don’t give me reason to cram for anything. They are why I'm an A-student. And they can be your reasons too. A small warning: All five of these have become habits for me, and that is really important to realize. You have to make them habits for you too, or you will not get the benefit that I have out of them. The idea is to make these such a part of your life that you don't think about them at all. This will give you the head-space to focus on the actual working and studying. 1 - Think and do ahead Basically, I’m always thinking about what I’m going to do next. My to-do list has EVERYTHING on it except "eat breakfast", including floss teeth, submit programing assignment and ask my sister about her learning style. I neve...