On the reg

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Inger and Jason catch up to get their nerd on HARD in this episode - you have been warned. After the usual catch up - with only a little bit of old person health problems - Inger reads out some nice feedback (17:50). People loved our last episode on 'Building a second brain for writing' where we talked about Tiago Forte's book. Because of this conversation, Jason had an epiphany and started using Obsidian - a database program which Inger describes as 'your own personal Wikipedia'.Because Jason had such a conversion moment about Obsidian, Inger had to hear all about it. Basically Inger's career success is built on copying everything Jason does so she needs him to talk her through it. Which he does. For over an hour.  Two things for listeners to note about this conversation:1) It's nerdy. Like, really, really nerdy. Not only about Obsidian, but about TEQSA and accrediting universities and stuff like that. We don't blame you if it's too much. We'll be back to a more audience friendly format next time.2) It is not necessarily good pod fodder because it relies a bit on seeing what Jason is doing when he talks. So Inger has made a quick, edited video of what Jason is showing her. We highly recommend having a look at this  video before, or while, you are listening.We are so exhausted by this conversation, but all we can talk about in the rest of the episode is shopping and watching TV.Things we mentioned:Obsidian - download it here.The video that Inger made of what Jason was showing herKarst desk plannerGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!There's a lot of sweary words in this one, headphones in!Inger brought a sword to work and Jason is back on the mats at Brazillian Ju Jitsu (BJJ) so it's business as usual at On The Reg. Big shout out to Jason's wife Cath, who has nearly finished her course, which somehow leads to a long discussion of Jason's first experience of removing unwanted body hair. In other words, the usual catch up, but if you want to skip it, go straight to 24:32, where Siobhan calls in on Speakpipe to ask Inger if she's read 'How to take smart notes' by Sonke Ahrens. Siobhan's call is a great segue into Inger and Jason's discussion, starting at 28:58, about 'Building a Second Brain: a proven method to organise your digital life and unlock your creative potential' by Tiago Forte of Forte Labs. Inger LOVED this book and spends an hour telling Jason all about it, which caused Jason to spend yet more money on books and software. There's a lot of talk about the relative merits of (and how to integrate) Pocket, Evernote, Obsidian, Roam Research, Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Inger and Jason have been busy, you know - the usual. Inger has been deep in three minute thesis land (ie: the annual ANU 'high school musical') and Jason paid $250 to learn he doesn't have to have surgery (yay!).There's only a little bit of 'old people complaining about their health' in the first bit before they listen to a speak pipe from Tseen Khoo (17:14). Tseen has finally read and reviewed the Navy SEALs romance that Inger sent her, and points out the trope that  ruins the book for Inger, forever (and how well the hero fills out his Dress Whites). Tseen's expert review forces Jason to finally Share His Feelings about 'Ordinary Everyday Jones', the Navy SEALs romance Inger sent him at the same time. Needless to say, He has Notes and finds the book terribly confusing... but does actually admit it was a fun read.  Look, this whole bit goes on much longer than expected, but hopefully it's the review that Inger's friend Nick Hill has been waiting for!The duo move on to their work problems segment (35:48) where they do a Bristol Stool chart analysis of 'The 80/20 principle: how to work less and achieve more' by Richard Koch. Inger prepared an On The Reg discussion guide, complete with the Bristol Stool chart so the pair could do an accurate bullshit rating. Inger reckons that Richard needs to knock off the single malt whiskey a bit, while Jason talks her into seeing the valuable bits amongst all that rampant capitalism.Finally the pair get to two minute tips (1:26:17). Jason talks about bomb disposal and reports back on the timers he bought the other week. Inger talks about how a colleague nearly killed her laptop by knocking over a bottle of water and takes the opportunity to wax lyrical about backup plans.Things we mentioned:Get Lucky by Suzanne BrockmannEveryday Average Jones - Suzanne Brockmann (on GoodReads)The 80/20 principle by Richard Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Inger and Jason are both complaining about their health again. Jason has 'mild degeneration' of his shoulder joint and Inger has 'mild degeneration' of her eye lens. The duo agree that it means they are falling apart, but as Jason says ' slowly'. After the whinging about health, and a few things about the Jeep/Tesla/Tinny there 's a bit about academic administration before a Speakpipe from Dasha from Finland (27:10) and another email from Heather Brown and finally, the point of the podcast: our work problems segment (34:49).This week we're talking about Making work Visible: exposing time theft to optimise work and flow by Dominica DeGrandis. This is an amazingly useful book and to help convince you, Inger produced a reading guide, which you can access on Google Slides as you listen. During the discussion, Inger shares the PERT formula, which is below:Most Likely Estimate (Tm)Optimistic Estimate (To)Pessimistic Estimate (Tp)PERT Estimate = (To + 4Tm + Tp) / 6Standard Deviation = (Tp – To) / 6Give it a try - Inger and Jason both think it's amazing. Since the team are on the clock with Jason going off to a Jeep show, they zoom through the reading segment (1:36:56), but promise to come back to talk in more detail about Navy SEAL romance novels next time (much to Jason's disgust). There's only time for a quick discussion of slime robots at 1:38:31. Two minute tips (1:42:40) are strangely in synch this time, and there's merch you can buy! Link to said merch and all the things we mentioned in the show should be in the links, below:Stuff we mentioned: Making work Visible: exposing time theft to optimise work and flow by Dominica DeGrandis.+ reading guide to the book, which you can access on Google SlidesOmni show episode with usOmni show ep with Kaitlin Salke about automating time calculationsInger's neglected project: The Whisper CollectiveMagnetic slime robotsGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Inger and Jason catch up on Inger's 24th wedding anniversary (with Mr Thesis Whisperer's permission!). Inger went to Newcastle in the Tesla and had fun doing a workshop in a bathroom. It's been a weird couple of weeks: she also encountered giant animatronic wombats on the lawns of parliament house while taking part in an NTEU event. Jason's had Covid in the house (9:47), but avoided getting it, despite using his Aunt's method of taking temperature of kids via hugging. He's finally going back to just two jobs (thank goodness) and trying to work out how to not overwhelm the big boss when she gets back.Jason and Inger talk about how they were interview by Andrew for The Omni Show (18:48) and are just a little bit excited that they got retweeted by Ken Case (squee!). At 24:46 there's some talk about Navy SEALS and our #deathcagematchreadathon with @tseenster on Twitter. Inger's been reading 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willing and Leif Babin while Jason has been reading a romance called 'Everyday, Average Jones' by Susan Brockmann. They also made @tseenster read one, but she hasn't left a speak pipe review yet (no pressure Tseen!).Then they both unpack the lessons from 'Extreme Ownership: how US Navy SEALs lead and win' (40:38) Using a slide deck to guide the conversation. Inger applies three of the lessons (extreme ownership, Believe and Plan) to the problems of academic life, specifically designing a career for yourself (1:01:58). The pair discuss her theory there are two types of academic 'elbow patch' (who spend their careers in deep study becoming The Expert) and Entrepreneur (the ones who are agile to survive). They debate the pros and cons of both career choices and then how to fit into the broader mission of a university (1:13:39) and then go on to drop the knowledge about how to use the university strategic planning process to basically Get What You Need (1:22:48).They close out with talk about necrotic robots (yes, reanimating dead spiders - shudder) and the terrifying footage of a robot dog with a crazy accurate machine gun strapped to its back (1:42:59). The two minute tips are there, but trust us when we say that you will STILL be thinking about killer robots by the end of this episode - hasta la vista! Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Stuff we mentioned:Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Jason has Novid now, but he dragged himself to the mic. Inger’s been sick again and, honestly - the first 20 minutes or so of this podcast is just ‘old people complaining about their health’ (but we know some of you really like that stuff, so we left it in). Katherine Firth rings in (18m:17s) to give Jason another romance novel recommendation for the upcoming On the Reg competitive reading cage death match.In our work problems segment (25m:43s) the team leverage the advice offered by James Clear in his book ‘Atomic habits’ and apply it to helping you write more productively. They are using a teaching slide deck which Inger made, so if you want to read along with the segment you can access the slide deck here. Jason has been reading up for a forthcoming episode on stakeholder engagement (1h:22m). Meanwhile, despite being sick Inger has been reading ALL the books, but really quickly: just so she can add them to the bibliography in her book. Finally, in two minute tips (1hr:32m) Jason suggests a new app which Inger thinks sounds very handy. Inger’s tip involves compares skim reading to smoking Weed... Not that the team have ever done that. Ever. Finally, the sound on this one is GREAT - Inger finally implemented all the tips suggested by Martin Emo last time and is amazed by what a towel on a desk can do! Thanks Martin! Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Links to stuff we mentioned in the PodBooks we discussed in our work segment:Atomic Habits: the easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones by James ClearLink to the slide deck that we used to structure this discussion, where Inger has notes on how to apply the lessons in Atomic habits to your writing.Writing without teachers Peter ElbowGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Jason and Inger are behind on their podcasting schedule because Inger had Not-Covid/ Not-flu and too sick to record last Sunday. Meanwhile Jason has injured himself at Brazilian Ju Jitsu - again. Jason texts a picture of his inner thigh to Inger, live on air, to show her the damage. She is shocked (not at the body part itself, because she lives with a pair of 50 year old male inner thighs) because she didn't know bruises could actually be that big. In our listener feedback section, Martin Emo speak pipe's in some Good Advice on making our sound better. Inger tried to action with a 'there I fixed it' style home brew 'confuse and diffuse' set up .... with egg cartons, and a towel.  Further work needs to be done, but she's quite happy with how it turned out. Matthew sent us in a good #bujo numbering system by email, so the pair are really benefitting from all the free consulting offered by their audience!In our work problems segment, we give Chapter three of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People the full 'is this book bullshit?' treatment. As usual, Inger is exasperated with Covey and suggests the book should come with a content warning 'essence of patriarchy', but Jason does a good job of convincing her that a certain amount of preachy-ness is part of the self help genre. Both agree that they could have less Mormonism but that Chapter three is full of excellent productivity tips.In our reading section Inger drops the knowledge on a couple of books for distressed thesis writers and finally tells Jason what romance novels she is reading. Inger argues they are 'the instruction manual for women' and Jason reluctantly agrees to try reading one. Jason has been reading about academic integrity, which is a good thing because Inger just wants to benefit from this knowledge and not have to actually do this kind of reading herself. Inger has a two minute tip - and it's quite a good one. Jason has been doing 50+ hour work weeks, so he gets a pass this time!Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Links to things mentioned in the showSeven habits of highly effective people by Stephen CoveyStory machine - An AI writing generatorCanada’s Worst Drivers on YoutubeRomance novels by Kylie Scott (Inger recommendsGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Inger and Jason are back to their usual format now the election is done. This is the first weekend in 18 months that Inger doesn't have any political activism planned for the weekend - and she is happy about the election result because a well hung parliament is a good parliament in her book (totally worth a 6 vodka hang over). Meanwhile, Jason has been super busy with being #bigboss but he does have an awesome executive assistant who is now in charge of his diary (which is weird, but in a good way). In the work problems segment, the duo revisit their bullet journal practice, 18 months in, to see what's changed. (If you don't use a bullet journal or #bujo, it's a good idea to watch this  4 minute video before you listen otherwise the whole segment probably won't make sense. )Will Inger give up Omni? What actual page number is Jason up to now? What happens when you lose your #bujo on the train and a kindly soul returns it to you? (Well, this last one won't happen to Jason because he's sorted that out with an RFID card). You'll have to listen to the episode to find out! (Or skip if if it seems like incomprehensible gibberish, we honestly don't mind). Jason's commute and Brazilian Ju Jitsu practice has made it difficult to read, while Inger has been reading, but a  LOT of trash. She does share an article on the seven varieties of stupidity by Ian Leslie, which the duo agree explains a lot of their life inside universities.Finally, in the two minute tip section, Jason is experimenting with 'Hook', a new kind of linking software on the map and Inger is using travel time to put more buffers in her day. In other words, a pretty typical episode of On The Reg, but a long one because, well - it's been awhile and we've missed our nerd chats. Queue up a long drive, some gardening, housework or be like Siobhan and get out the knitting :-)Links4 minute video about how to do a #bujoseven varieties of stupidityIf you're interested in the timing app, you can find out more here.If you're interested in Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!Warning - there's a LOT of swearing in this one, so if there are sensitive little ears present, maybe save it till later...We recorded this on the 10th of April as Scott Morrison called the election. It's another short one as Inger was already deep in campaigning for the Greens, We did manage to cover a lot of ground though (actually, it's not that short because we can't shut up once we get going). Jason is still enjoying #newjob where he is temporarily #bigboss. He's thinking about how to keep his people safe by planning a fire drill... which gives Inger the chance to tell him about the time she ignored the fire alarms because a teacher told her too and had to be evacuated from an RMIT building by hunky fire fighters. Jason then shares the existential crisis he had at breakfast time from reading Oliver Burkemans '4000 weeks' but the good news is he has worked out why he keeps losing the damn book around the house. Inger has a big old rant about the stupid new rule the Australian government has brought in about international students and look - she swears. Like a lot. You can read the article she wrote later that afternoon 'is this now the federal government's most bone headed idea ever'. Inger did find some research to share about podcast listeners though, which shows you are very agreeable types, so hopefully you'll forgive the swearing...Finally, Jason has a new Chipolo 'spot card' for tracking his bullet journal in case he loses it and Inger shares her new found love for MicroSoft Teams. Yes. Really.It was fun! Stay tuned for an 'unplugged' episode which will drop in a week or so. This campaign campaign is so hectic we don't even have time to write show notes right now, but regular programming will return soon we promise xxMentioned: Oliver Burkemans '4000 weeks'Podcast listeners likely to be more agreeable and less neuroticChipolo spot cardGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!We've been busy, but you know - in a good way. Inger and Jason are both exhausterated - both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Sort of like how you feel after a good workout.Jason has started his new job at Latrobe, where he has an office above the pub and #awesometeam. Meanwhile Inger has a huge face to face teaching thing after 2 years of teaching via a screen, and is swinging into full election campaign mode with the Greens. While election campaign season is on, we are making some short episodes of On The Reg, squeezing recording in between Inger's weekend door knocking schedule. Will Scott Morrison just call the election already?? Maybe by the time you listened to this one, we will know what day our democracy sausages will be on the BBQ!It's a short one,  for us, but we still had time to talk about some books and stuff, so enjoy.Stuff we mentioned:Laziness does not exist by Devon Price4000 weeks by Oliver BurkemanFind out how to Volunteer for the Greens! Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on <pod@ontheregteam.com> - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site