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The Rule of Seven


It’s April, which means I follow the Rule of Seven.* The Rule of Seven works like this: I have stacks, literal and figurative, of case analyses to score, draft papers to review and comment on, wiki projects to grade, prospective commencement speeches to read and rank, emails to read and respond to, articles to read, and classes to prepare. Each requires a different combination of left brain/right brain activities and if I stay overlong at any one task my attention wanders and I spin my mental wheels. So I approach the work in each task in groups of seven**. I read seven Internet law case analyses, then I read seven speeches, then I pay seven bills, then I respond to seven emails, then I have seven shots of espresso***, and so on.

It works. Try it.

*or, depending on my attention span, the Rule of Ten or the Rule of Five.
**or five. Or ten.
***or cookies. Or York Peppermint Patties.

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3 Comments

  1. ElizabethHoffberg wrote:

    Has this been scientifically proven, and if not, I suggest you start experimenting. Students are very good subjects for ridiculous experiements, especially when they involve pepermint patties.

    Monday, April 20, 2009 at 2:14 pm | Permalink
  2. yasamin wrote:

    or frozen reeses

    Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 4:33 pm | Permalink
  3. I’m disciplined about all of the candy in my office–except the frozen Reeses. They call to me.

    Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 4:42 pm | Permalink

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