One important attribute of the best scholars is that they give advice which speaks to the point of a question, and do not merely repeat platitudes. And yes, I do recognize that there is wisdom in platitudes, and that there are situations in which they do bear repetition. For further discussion of this matter, see my response to Simon in this thread. I will be posting more extensively on this matter in the near future.
I was a little hard on Simon here, and he may not have deserved it. But I tend to err on the side of kindness, and this is sometimes a disservice as well. And the time I have spent in my life listening to men spout platitudes, so as to be nice and get along, and not have them hate me, and therefore be safe at work, would have been better spent on other pursuits. Now I am in the intermediate stage of hitting the platitude-spouters back with my balloon. In the future, as a Bodhisattva, I will merely utter a mysterious parable at them, and train my gaze elsewhere.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
I read your response, but couldn’t make much sense of it. I don’t think pointing out that academia is a social, as well as a self-expressive, activity is problematic.
Perhaps you have trouble motivating your students because you ramble!
Stop being an ass Simon.
Or just watch this video, Simon and everyone, nobody has commented on it yet and it is cool:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2007/01/31/337/.
I asked my undergraduate major who is in time management training about Simon’s original recommendation. He said: it wouldn’t help, everyone knows they need to get things done. He said: it sounds condescending and punitive. He said: Simon is perhaps very methodical, and frustrated that others are not always as methodical as he.
I’d say, perhaps Simon’s original comment could be added to my original list of things to tell dissertators. But I think it is more appropriate as something to tell Ph.D. candidates who claim they are not “research oriented” (yikes) or faculty who are say similar things. These people *do* need to hear that writing papers is part of their jobs.
I, of course, reacted viscerally to Simon for reasons which have been made clear earlier in this blog, but to which I allude as well in this post:
https://profacero.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/on-writing/
So, as I say, I may have come down too hard on Simon, but I do not think his comment showed a very close or thoughtful reading of your previous one, and it was not particularly sensitive to / conscious of the nature of this weblog, either.
On the ‘rambling’ – he’s being silly, CM! I gave a looong explanation of my disagreement – partly because this blog is my thinking spot and it was something I wanted to figure out, and partly in case he was actually interested. I do not mind, since I was interested, but I am increasingly realizing that explaining things to men who want to repeat basic platitudes as original wisdom, is not a good use of time! 😉 My diagnosis: threatened and out of his depth.