Tools for being an academic / corporate weapon.
All the tactical stuff that's less about self care and more about ๐ฅ the grind ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ
Tools for Lifeโข๏ธ dropped yesterday, and about 5 hours later I realized I had way more to say. I started writing a massive revision, but realized most of these tips are less about channeling sensitivity and more about just getting stuff done. ๐ฏ
So that is this. Welcome to your weapon era. Letโs dive in!
1. Calendar = Source of Truth
Ok so this one isn't revolutionary but I genuinely do not understand people who don't use calendars?? how do u keep it all in your head ?!
Block in when youโll wake up, eat, and go to bed. You might not follow this schedule exactly, but the reminders ensure that even if you say โ10 more minutesโ for 2.5 hours, eating and sleeping are still top of mind.
For appointments, tests, or things you absolutely cannot be late for, schedule them 30 minutes earlier than they actually are. And make them bright red. ๐จ๐ฏ
When you make plans with someone, have them send you a calendar invite immediately or put it in your calendar yourself, right then and there.
Sign up for Superpowered โ it gives you little reminders on your laptop of how your time blocks are going / what the rest of your day looks like. This has been a lifesaver for me.
2. TO-DO Lists โ Time Blocks
Visualize your time before executing. Make the plan & then do the plan.
Every term, spend a few hours blocking out the next 4 months. Time moves really quickly if you donโt pay attention โ refer back to this to stay conscious of time passing.
Every Sunday night, spend 1 hour blocking out the upcoming week. This should include high-level things (commitments, deadlines, travel, intramurals / working out, study blocks, grocery shopping, etc.).
Spend 5 minutes writing a โplan for tomorrowโ before bed.
If you forget to do it before bed, do it before you get started. This is more than a list of things to do, but a way for you to mentally walk through what youโll be doing and when. Put โtaking a breakโ and โtransit timeโ in the plan, and make the plan ambitious so that you stay hustling (e.g. overestimate how many problem sets youโll get through), but expect to not get through it all. Once youโve made the plan, execute.Use Pomodoro timers to execute! 50 minutes on, 10 minutes off, with a sheet of paper for all the random thoughts that come up while working. You can chat about them with a friend during your break. I recommend Cuckoo. This coworking website also seems cool.
3. STUDYING: Consolidate Information
To speedrun massive amounts of learning in very short periods of time ๐
Compile everything you need to learn into one location before you start actually trying to learn it. To download massive amounts of information into my brain (without getting distracted), this is my most effective process:
(not a real step, but this happens often so Iโve started using it as a tool).
Look at the practice questions, try to do them. You will not succeed. This will cause you to panic, which will motivate you to actually start studying. On to step 1!
Download all lectures / practice questions / whatever is most useful โ sometimes textbooks have a โChapter Summaryโ section that is super helpful.
Combine them into one massive PDF
โPrintโ this PDF as a smaller PDF with 16 Pages per Sheet. Now that the content only spans a few pages, it will seem manageable.
Send this PDF to an iPad / other tablet (a lifesaver if you struggle to get organized / lose stuff a lot / are studying several topics often )
Highlight as many words as you need to remain โan activeโ reader. Sometimes this is literally every word for me โ anything to keep my brain from scanning the pages but not actually absorbing anything. Colour code by information hierarchy / topic or whatever makes sense โ this is SUCH a powerful tool. Put huge stars around stuff you think is important.
Make a summary sheet using your annotations / notes.
NOW do practice questions. Refer to your study sheet, and donโt bother looking at anything else. You will not be able to do every practice question (I donโt think Iโve gotten more than 20% through a problem set in my entire academic career), so focus on the stuff that is both a) most likely to show up on an assessment and b) somewhere youโre lacking confidence / knowledge1.
Remember that the goal is to pass. If you will simply never understand a concept and youโre crunched for time, stop being stubborn and move on. Itโs better to be SOLID on 70% of the content than questionably prepared for 100%.
4. TESTS: Play the game
You're marked on what you show, not what you know. Maximize your points per minute and make the most out of the hours you spent studying!
Leading up to the test: ๐ ๐
Make a list of every โtypeโ of question you predict will be on the test. Make sure you have a framework for how to handle those questions & their variations, and prioritize those types of practice questions.
If you have access to past exams, time yourself while you take them. Use this to understand how quickly you need to move through questions.
Even if your professor lets you bring a study sheet into the test, that doesnโt mean youโll have time to learn while youโre writing. The act of making the sheet is what puts content into your brain, so donโt just use someone elseโs.
Visualize the test before you start. ๐ โฐ
Have an idea of โhow many points per minuteโ you need to allocate to each question (e.g. if you have a 60 mark test and 60 minutes to complete it, you should spend 8 minutes on an 8 mark question).
Have an idea of which types of questions are โeasy winsโ โ aka you are confident that you can solve it / get a reasonable amount of points.
This might be a sports thing, but I like to play a hype-up song to have a โpaceโ going in my head before I walk into the exam room. This song is my go-to.
Find where the clock is, and visualize what it will look like a) when youโre halfway through and b) when you have 10 minutes left. Pace yourself to have emptied everything you know onto the paper by the time the clock reaches the โ10 minutes leftโ position.
The test begins! Take 5 minutes to take it all in. ๐จ ๐ฅ
Skim every question from front to back, highlighting all the important details of each question so that they stand out. This includes numbers, keywords, words like โnotโ, isnโtโ and โexcept forโ, and anything else that might be missed later.
Write down the number of marks and your time allocation for each question.
Number the questions (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5) in the order youโll address them.
Count โup from 0โ, not โdown from 100โ. ๐ข ๐
Start with the โeasy winsโ. Confidence and momentum are huge for test-taking. Solve a question, gain 10 points. Multiple choice is done, 20 points. Keep your pace up, time will go quickly. If you get stuck, move on after ~1 min.
Attempting all questions > Finishing half of them
University is a game of part marks :โ). Especially in physics courses, you can get near passing by writing down all the given information, drawing a diagram, writing some equations, and then taking some educated guesses.
If you have an entire test of questions you have no idea how to do, set up all of the questions and get those marks before you get into solving them.
If you know an answer is wrong (e.g. your carโs velocity is -5000595 m/s) but donโt have time to find your mistake, write โthis is wrongโ to show you have critical thinking skills ๐. I have gotten marks for this before :)
Check your work really quickly. If youโre like me, you will rarely have time for this.
Move on to the hard stuff (aka do your best & forget the rest). ๐
Once you pass the โIโm pretty sure Iโve passedโ bar, you will be less stressed attempting the more challenging questions and might have a burst of creative genius with the pressure removed. Or not. Sometimes questions are straight-up unsolvable (e.g. the professor made a typo and didnโt proofread), so donโt let this slow your momentum or make you sad. You will learn to laugh about it :)
Move on! Donโt worry about how the test went until you get your marks returned.
It is out of your control now. Go for a run, get some food, or take a nap. You did it.After the test: Getting your marks back ๐ค ๐ญ ๐
You might be pleasantly surprised! See, you had nothing to worry about. ๐ Youโll find that the relief of getting a 60 on a test you thought you failed surpasses the joy of getting 100% on a test you know you aced โ you passed.
If you are unpleasantly surprised, review where you went wrong, talk to the prof, and revise your studying / test-taking strategy. Profs want to know that you care and are often really kind and helpful if you reach out. Ask kids in your class what strategies theyโre using, and learn with/from them. :)
5. Independence != Intelligence
Learning everything "on your own" is not a badge of honour. If your pride is getting in the way of your learning, you are wasting your time.
There is an awful โlone geniusโ myth in everything math / science / coding related.
We like to imagine that โsmart peopleโ are magically learning how to code in complete isolation, conducting solo experiments in dramatically-lit basement laboratories, and plucking ideas from the stew of genius thatโs been swirling in their brains since birth.
In reality, someone taught them how to do stuff and they asked a lot of questions. Learning doesnโt happen alone, so prioritize finding the people youโre going to learn from and ask them questions / talk things through until you actually know whatโs going on.
At School:
Prioritize making friends over learning content (to a point). School is hard enough, donโt make it harder by trying to do it alone. Set a culture of giving and receiving help between classmates and everyone will be a lot more successful.
At Work:
In your first meeting with your manager, figure out what โSuccessโ looks like
โI really want to do a great job in this role. In your eyes, what does an โOutstandingโ work term look like for a co-op student?โ is the golden conversation an upper-year friend taught me to initiate.
Have your manager write down their goals for how you will learn and contribute over the course of the term. Collaborate on this list so that your expectations are aligned and neither of you are disappointed later in the term. Once you know โthe barโ, you know what to aspire to and what โgoing above and beyondโ might look like.
In your first week, set up 20-minute โget to know each otherโ calls with every member of your immediate team. Ask them to โtell you their life storyโ if you donโt know how to break the ice (be prepared to share yours too ๐) and then ask them how the work they do fits into the bigger picture. This will make it 10x easier for you to feel comfortable asking people for help as you start actually doing work.
Ask your manager for a dedicated mentor/buddy to answer questions for you in your first month. This might be your manager, but ideally, itโs a junior employee who just learned the ropes and will be able to anticipate your questions (and make time to answer them in detail). Ask for a โhigh-level overviewโ of the team and explanations of the work youโll be doing. 1 hour of their time will save weeks of yours.
Ask GOOD questions.
โWhat should I do today?โ โ โI noticed that ______ could use improvement. I was thinking of using today to try to solve this problem, but please let me know if there is something higher priority that youโd like me to work on!โ
โHow does this work?โ โ โIโm trying to accomplish ___. I have already tried _____ and _____. Do you have time to help me get unblocked?โ
โญ๏ธ๐ฅ๐จ Donโt aspire to be โindependentโ. ๐จ๐ฅโญ๏ธ
Once I got decent at coding, I decided โI donโt need help! I can do it all by myself!โMy manager had to give me a talking-to. Software development is highly collaborative, and getting shared context from your teammates / collaborating on implementation does not make you worse at your job, it makes you better.
Remember that you are here to learn. Know what your goals are, and be active in making sure you get the opportunities that will help you reach them! Donโt be afraid to set up chats with people on other teams to learn about the work they do (ask your manager if this is alright before you do this), and if you have free time, take the initiative to find work that is useful to the company and would help you learn & grow.
And donโt say โlol, thatโs everythingโ. Thatโs something I would do.
Lots of good information!