- #1
jordi
- 197
- 14
I am in my forties, with a child and a firm to run (little to do with physics). I have a degree in physics, and a MSc in high energy physics (QFT, a bit of string theory, etc.). I did not continue with an academic career, though.
Now I feel I want to have, as a goal for the rest of my life, to understand physics "well" (QFT, GR, condensed matter ...).
I want to use a (very) limited amount of time to do that, since my life is "more important" than studying physics. But I want to devote some time (different from zero) to it. In the end, a bit of time here, a bit of time there, it makes a considerable amount of time, if done "long enough". My time budget is say 20, maximum 25, years.
The problem I find is that when I start thinking about physics, my conscience of time goes away. It is difficult for me to say: now I have 30 minutes or an hour. Work hard during this time, and then stop. If I start thinking, it is hard mentally to stop. But I cannot devote so much time to it.
Is there a psychological, practical technique to be able to control the time to such mind-absorbing tasks? In fact, it seems likely professional physicists have the same troubles as me, since I assume they cannot devote all their time to study.
As a background for my ultimate goal, what I would like is to "solve problems", and then write the solutions into latex, with hyperlinks to the theory used to solve that specific problem (and the theory would also be in latex, with their corresponding hyperlinks, down to first order logic and set theory, at least in the mathematical part of the text; physics is much harder to describe in axiomatic form). So, my main goal after 20-25 years would be to create a big pdf about physics, such that I could drill down in hyperlink form up to the very conceptual basics. I am not sure I will have time to complete this project, though.
Now I feel I want to have, as a goal for the rest of my life, to understand physics "well" (QFT, GR, condensed matter ...).
I want to use a (very) limited amount of time to do that, since my life is "more important" than studying physics. But I want to devote some time (different from zero) to it. In the end, a bit of time here, a bit of time there, it makes a considerable amount of time, if done "long enough". My time budget is say 20, maximum 25, years.
The problem I find is that when I start thinking about physics, my conscience of time goes away. It is difficult for me to say: now I have 30 minutes or an hour. Work hard during this time, and then stop. If I start thinking, it is hard mentally to stop. But I cannot devote so much time to it.
Is there a psychological, practical technique to be able to control the time to such mind-absorbing tasks? In fact, it seems likely professional physicists have the same troubles as me, since I assume they cannot devote all their time to study.
As a background for my ultimate goal, what I would like is to "solve problems", and then write the solutions into latex, with hyperlinks to the theory used to solve that specific problem (and the theory would also be in latex, with their corresponding hyperlinks, down to first order logic and set theory, at least in the mathematical part of the text; physics is much harder to describe in axiomatic form). So, my main goal after 20-25 years would be to create a big pdf about physics, such that I could drill down in hyperlink form up to the very conceptual basics. I am not sure I will have time to complete this project, though.