10 Tips on Working Successfully

Since many have been asking me how I do everything so "well", here's a blog post dedicated to it. I don't particularly believe that I do things any better than anyone else or that I'm smarter than anybody else, but work ethics is very important in this. So here goes my list.

1. Understand the Course Material
I cannot stress this point enough. When subsequent material is dependent upon previous material, memorization will get you absolutely nowhere. To do this, I do two things: I (almost) never do homework with friends, and I never go to office hours. I grind through homeworks by myself, developing my own methods of thinking about concepts, in order to develop my own method of understanding. I don't like being forced to think about concepts from someone else's (often incompatible) understanding. I clarify remaining confusing concepts with the professor at the end of class. Even if I do badly on the homework, it's an incentive to revise my understanding for the tests, where grades matter more.

2. Plan ahead
At the beginning of each week (Saturday for me), write down every single assignment that is due that week, so there are no surprises. You'll see bottlenecks earlier, and (hopefully) get work done earlier.

3. Do NOT pull all-nighters
I've only pulled 2 complete all-nighters in my life, and one of them was in high-school. All-nighters are extremely counterproductive to learning and getting work done, because you become extremely tired the next day and can't focus, and it becomes a vicious cycle. With that said, I pull half-all-nighters (till 3ish am) daily to finish my work.

4. Aim for >6 sleep every day
This does not have to be a continuous block of sleep. I usually get 4-5 hours of sleep per night, and I make up the rest with naps during the day. I always nap 1-3 times a day, 1-2 hrs each time. Usually, whenever I feel extremely tired while doing work, I take a nap...because my work effectiveness essentially drops to zero during this time anyways. I never nap less than 30 minutes, and I try not to nap more than 2 hours.

5. Prioritize homework order wisely
On weekends, when I know I'll procrastinate on whatever homework I am doing because I still have 3-4 days before the earliest one is due, I'll deliberately start working on the LAST homework first. I know I'll finish the first homework on the day before it's due regardless of whether I work on it beforehand or not, so by doing the last one first, I actually maximize my productivity during the week when things pop out of nowhere and threaten to overwhelm me.

6. Aim for large productive chunks of time
I isolate myself from all contact every single day for many hours at a time. With my headphones cycling through the youtube playlists I made myself, I shut the world out and focus on my work. Do NOT sit next to someone you know...I did so today and my work productivity was extremely poor. Techno, Radiohead, and Coldplay make great study music. If I have less than 1 hour of time to work continuously on stuff, I don't bother pulling out homework sets or lab reports - the hour is better spent on organizational stuff like emails or organizational duties. To achieve max productivity, you need to get into the "groove".

7. Do work in public spaces
At a public space like the computer labs, I become less inclined to check facebook, watch youtube videos, etc., because I don't really want other people to see my non-productiveness (I tend to get annoyed at non-productive people in computer labs because they take up computer space that more productive people could be using). So I concentrate extremely well in the computer labs...and that's where you'll find me, 4th floor of EH every single night, grinding away. I find this to be extremely powerful when combined with #6.

8. Make yourself comfortable wherever you're working
I take off my shoes, recline my seat as far back as possible, put on my comfy headphones, sip on my iced coffee, and generally retreat into my own cocoon when I work. Find what you need to work efficiently, and make sure it is there. Find a productive place to work, and stick with it.

9. Recognize that academic success (aka. good grades) require a lot of time
There's no secret shortcut to it. I don't think there's a single class that I'm taking which gives homeworks that take me less than 3 hours to finish. I usually camp at the computer lab for at least 6 hours every weeknight, and sometimes the number increases to 9 or 10. Which is why #8 is important.

10. Blow off steam at least once a week
Do something fun. Life will seem more bearable that way. Go party, get wasted, go work out, whatever makes you happy. The only thing I recommend against is computer games...don't do anything game that is related to a computer, because it quickly turns into an obsession (aka. time drain).

Next post: how to live a healthy life. =)

-FCDH

I Hate...

I hate the fact,

that you cracked my shield and saw me vulnerable,

that I dropped my defenses and became complacent,

that I have doubts about myself and my values,

that I know nothing will probably ever happen between us.

that I am forced to rebuild my defenses and self-discipline.

that I don't understand you,

and that I don't understand myself anymore.

But most of all,

I hate the fact that I am losing the battle.

-FCDH

A Glimpse of the Future of US Democracy?

In the US, no matter our political leanings, the major parties have always held that democracy is what keeps the US running as it should. There are always grumblings of "leftist Democratic liberals" and "brainless Republican rednecks", but our democracy seems to have prevailed so far, somehow (though this is also an arguable point). However, as the Republican party continues to shift to the radical right and some Democrats begin to compensate by shifting to the left, can what's left of bipartisanship remain for much longer?

Let's take a look at Thailand, a country in a similar political situation as ours. Two major parties, the People's Power Party and the Democrat Party. A polarized population, between support for PPP in the rural areas and support for DP in the urban areas around Bangkok. A populist leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who made life better for rural populations but was widely believed to have engaged in corruption activities.

First came the riots in 2008 by the People's Alliance for Democracy. The PAD (or the "yellow shirts"), based upon urbanites who were against the PPP and determined to bring it down, occupied Bangkok and shut down the city for an entire month. My dad was there, and he witnessed the whole thing - the city was dysfunctional, services were cut, and nothing was working. Tourism collapsed, tourists were trapped as Bangkok's international airport was occupied, and it was estimated that Thailand lost $4 billion in tourism revenue during the single month. Eventually, the PAD won their victory - the government was dissolved, an election was held, and the PPP lost. Democracy prevailed...or did it?

Enter 2009 protests. Supporters of the PPP, or "Red shirts", congregated in Bangkok from all over the country. Determined to bring down what they perceived as an illegitimate government that was raised from the ashes of a PAD coup d'etat, they again occupied Bangkok. Again, services cut, shops closed, untold dollars of lost revenue from tourism not to mention unmeasurable and perhaps irreversible damage to Thailand's reputation for stability. All oddly familiar to the events from only a year ago. But the biggest question is - where had the principles of democracy gone, and what is this system that had replaced it in Thailand?

Many Americans could look at this and say - "oh, that's the principles of democracy at work. Protests? Yeah, they're sticking it to the man - rights of free speech, blah blah." We associate protests or unrests with something that is inherently wrong with the system. Civil rights protests (desegregation), Tiananmen Square (anti-Communism), Tibet (anti-repression). I could go on, but I probably don't need to.

What happens though, when two democratic political parties have so polarized the political spectrum, that neither one could accept the other? We should take the unrest in Thailand with a grain of salt and an open eye...Tea Partiers, anyone? Death threats to politicians who voted for the health care bill?

The US is in many ways different from Thailand. We are decentralized, so that the blockade of a single city can not bring down our economy. We have better security forces to deal with unrest issues. Our two parties are not yet so polarized as to incite violence in common folk. But we should note the current trends of radicalization of the Republican party, and with it, the Democratic Party. It does not take a huge leap of extrapolation to link our current state to that of Thailand's current state, and it certainly does not take a huge leap to imagine a civil war that could result from the unrest in Thailand.

I hate to use the phrase "for the common good", because it has an extremely Communist implication - but when will American politicians and political parties begin thinking and acting for the common good of the people??

-FCDH

Bombs Away

So I finally dropped the bombshell on my parents and sister on Thursday. The results, surprisingly, were better than I expected - I didn't get disowned from the family, after all.

With that said, my dad's completely in denial. He's so far in denial, that I don't think he'll ever accept it. My mom seems to be in hopeful denial, meaning she might be accepting of it but she still thinks it may work out with a girl. My sister is the most supportive one - she's trying to calm my parents down and prevent any abuse incidents.

That's what I am most afraid of... my dad blaming my mom for "raising me into a gay person", and hitting her. It's one of the reasons I was afraid to tell them, but now that I have I really hope neither of them will do anything rash or stupid.

The night after I told them, JW came over to my apt to pre-game before we went out to the bars. An email came in from my mom and I read it...it was talking about how she stayed strong throughout my life despite all the abuse from my dad, and how she's so sorry that she's failed me in her upraising. I ended up crying on JW's shoulder for a while after that. I couldn't help myself - I felt so bad for my mom. She's gone through so much pain in life on my account, and I've probably failed both my parents as a son, in their eyes. I can't imagine their devastation right now.

I keep replaying the scene in my head. What would have happened had I not told them?

I feel like I deserve to go to hell for this...why is life so complicated?

-FCDH

Time to Come Clean with Parents...

I'm pretty sure I want to come clean with my parents about my sexuality soon. It's been 9 years of lies, and I think it's about time it has to end. I can't continue leading my parents on thinking that I will eventually find a girl and settle down...because I'm almost completely certain that it will not happen.

Before this year, the biggest obstacle that I saw myself facing was that they would cut off my financing for my tuition. However, with all of the scholarships and awards that I've gotten in these two years, my bank account should be able to handle the rest of my semesters here at the university even if they do cut off everything. Now, the only thing holding me back is fear. But I love life too much to be living in fear.

After I tell them that I'm gay, I anticipate one of three immediate things:
1) surprise followed by acceptance
2) surprise followed by disgust
3) surprise followed by denial

I'll tell them in an email...that way they have a chance to calm down before they respond to the message. I realize that there's a chance that this may lead to the severance of my family as it is... but do I really have a choice?

It will eventually need to happen. I'm going to do it sooner rather than later.

No regrets in life. No looking back. No more hiding.

I am the person I am.

-FCDH