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