I didn't ever expect to do an MA with self-help books on the reading list. But Sussex University is good like that. And this MA is a reflection of the slightly out-there thinking that attracted me to Sussex for my BA over ten years ago, and now for an MA in Arts & Cultural Management.

Part of the course involves thinking through the dynamics of being a worker - what kind of worker are you? How do you like to work best? How do you get the best out of those you work with, and yourself, particularly if you're into working creatively, regardless of the work? And group dynamics too: what could be considered effective group dynamics? And ineffective? How to encourage the effective? And so on.

And so to help you think through some of these ideas - or perhaps form your own ideas in response to what's in the book - is the somewhat infamous The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono. I'm a bit nervous about being caught reading these books on the tube. I mean, are they really still relevant? Aren't they just a bit embarassing and read only by American MBA sorts who wear chinos and blue shirts? I guess I don't have to follow the advice...

I am, however, considering actually following the advice in Getting Things Done by David Allen. It's all very sound (make lots of lists, then follow them: fair enough.) Lots of people consider him a "saviour", as Ben Hammersley wrote in the Guardian recently, with "fire in his eyes". The only problem is that you have to clear your inbox before you start. What, your whole inbox? Oh. That daunting task makes me want to give up before I've even started and go back to reading fiction and the Sunday papers...which is where I found this gem, which just about sums it all up really: