John Drake


About John Drake

John Drake is an associate professor at East Carolina University. While pursing his PhD in Management Information Technology and Innovation, John learned the art of high productivity through setting difficult goals to achieve unending success. John is a student of Objectivism, an advocate of Getting Things Done, a parent of three, a husband, a writer, a business owner, a web master, and an all around cool guy. His professional site is at http://professordrake.com

Stackable habits

New Year, New Habits

Much of our life is managed by automation. Not of the computer variety, but of the behavioral variety. Automation of our behavior through habits. We need habits to simplify our life, to take everyday things that we do, and eliminate the cognitive effort it takes to do them.  This frees […]


Mentorship

I’m at an inflection point. I’m now a mid-career academic. I’ve been awarded tenure, finished my textbook, and now must decide what direction to take my career. Several options lie before me. I can focus on my research with an eye on achieving full professor. I can focus writing more […]


Dealing with Overload

Over the past year, I’ve been struggling to keep my head above water. I have over committed – teaching three university classes, finishing my textbook, homeschooling my son, driving my other two kids around, cooking dinner most nights, staying healthy, assistant coaching two robotics team, participating in the search for […]


Self-development

I found this amazing quote from Peter Drucker: “For development is always self-development. Nothing could be more absurd than for the enterprise to assume responsibility for the development of a man.  No business enterprise rests with the individual, his abilities, his efforts. No business enterprise is competent, let alone obligated, […]


The Thinker

When to Rely on Experts

Stephen Hawking is an amazing physicist. His incredible career spans theoretical work in black holes, quantum gravity, and the beginning of the universe. He wrote a popular physics book called A Brief History of Time, which sits on my bookshelf. Today, he currently works as the Director of Research at […]