Whenever I used to sit down in front of the computer to write anything other than an email, I would immediately open Microsoft Word and start clacking away on the keyboard.
Always. Back up. Your data. Simple, yet for various reasons many people simply don’t. Backing up data and documents is critical in the event of random computer (or, more likely, user) failure.
When I started grad school, I had no idea at the time just how much I’d learn doing a PhD. I’m not just talking about the “big picture” stuff: how to do research, design and conduct experiments, analyze data, and synthesize information.