All life secrets I wish I knew as a freshman
Three years back, I was in a project evaluation room with four of my teammates. It was a small networks project. "Can you even point out to the port number you are using to run this app?" the teaching assistant asked me. Looking at the computer screen, we both knew I don't have a clue of what's going on with this code. Five minutes later, the evaluation was over and I rushed out of the room saving face, not fully understanding what just happened.
After a few weeks rethinking about this day and the shame I brought on to myself, I was wondering what if this is what is actually happening with my entire life without me even knowing? I didn't fully grasp the idea of keeping my life together. I thought everyone else was the same, that nothing in life was ever in order and that days are random. I wasn't sure what do people do to keep their life in order? Was their ever a methodology? Is success really a lucky strike or an end product? And, above all, do the people that have their life together always know what they are doing? Do they have all the clues?
Let me tell you something: It's easy to get lost when you always think wrong of people. Judging by the looks on their faces, a lot of people seem to have an idea about anything and everything. This shouldn't trick your mind into making assumptions about how successful people approach things. One thing I now know for sure is that everyone who has ever done something big is always readjusting and making it up on his own. Now back to the main question: what do people that actually have their life together have in common? The answer is simple: they explore their failed ways more often. They think for themselves and are not concerned about others. They see life through their own unique perspective and they are always in deep search of what they can do to improve. That's it. They just improve.
Later on, I would continue through my third year of Engineering with just getting by and pushing through the semesters with minimal thinking about the future and a lot of thinking about what happened during the past two years. Then another unproductive summer passes by. Nine months later, I would take sometime off during my fourth year. My eighth semester only included one project, so I had the time I needed to just think. I would work on the project two times per week, hit the gym three times per week and the rest of the time I was just thinking, searching, asking and analyzing. This continued for about three months.
One of the toughest questions I was trying to answer was "How to learn?". I will talk about the tech industry in general, but this can be applicable elsewhere. During this time, I figured out getting into tech involves having the actual skills. Not working hard, not having a strong network of connections, not even showing people that you are decent on the personal level. Just having the ability to get things done, as professional and as accurate as possible. That's the priority. No other hacks. And yes, that's applicable for anything tech. We're talking digital marketing, data science, web dev, project management, online advertising, product design, etc.
Before starting, I took some time to program my mind on procedural thinking. This helped me understand that learning, in its essence, is never a one time shot. It's about taking small steps towards mastering a skill, a craft, or a game of any sort. All what you learn today is more likely to help you in your future learning journey than not. Even the most irrelevant topics that you invest time in learning about today will probably be worth it on the long run. Like building bricks, no brick is ever wasted.
During these three months, I met a lot of brilliant people, attended a lot of tech events, talked to a lot of my doctors and teaching assistants outside the scope of work. Normally, I would visit my supervisor's office every Sunday to discuss updates about the project for 15 to 20 minutes then continue to chat for about 40 to 50 minutes in the broad aspects of business, science and technology. He would take me through his past experiences and projects, talk about his mistakes and discuss how things have evolved since the last thirty years. These meetings helped me a lot. The information I gained during this time helped me develop a sense of what generally works and what doesn't.
The Change
By mid June 2018, I handed in the final copy of my Bachelor's thesis. During working on my thesis, I learned a lot about the AI realm: what humans have reached through the past decade, how efforts are currently dedicated and the predicted state of AI during the next few years along with the needed technical skills and buzzwords. After I was done with the project, I felt proud of my tiny contribution and thought of many ways to build on this during the summer. Ten days later, I joined an AI startup in Cairo as an intern. They were working on some cool cutting-edge technology involved with self-driving cars. On my first day there, I felt the joy bump of me getting to work on projects like these. I continued using what I knew and asked when I needed help. I worked on several tasks concerned with data visualization, exploration and wrangling. I learned a lot about Linux during my time there and I would continue using it as my primary OS after then. My friends there were very helpful and the experience was definitely worth it.
Now, a common key player between those who rock during their undergrad years is that they know how to prioritize their learning needs. At the very least, they know what they need and they don't let their uni years slide by. They always try to take advantage of their time for their own self-improvement rather than blindly obey the system. I am not saying everything about the traditional educational system is corrupted, but there will be many times when you need to pass the coursework because you just have to. That's the one simple road for distinction. Rockstars? they know how to make use of everything. They are so smart that they don't serve the system, they just serve their future, or even better: exploit the system for their own good. Unfortunately, I didn't know this earlier.
By the end of the summer, and before the start of my last year of Engineering, I made a big list of all online courses and tutorials that grabbed my interest, sorted them according to relevance, searched for reviews about each one of them on platforms like ClassCentral, talked to many people about their past experiences with them, then saved a checklist in a Google Keep note. I immediately started tweaking my lifestyle to fit online learning into my day-to-day life. Here are some of the tips & tweaks that worked for me:
- Your side learning doesn't have to complement your current studies.
I had this misconception at the beginning but later I would know that it's just a trap. I was confident that the time invested in learning something that complements my undergrad studies is totally worth it, but found out you should just pick what's worth your effort and time as long as it gets you closer to your goal.
- Waking up early ADDS hours to your day.
I struggled with time management since my teen days. A few weeks into trying the sleep-early-wake-up-early lifestyle: it feels like a wormhole. I can now easily get 1.75x out of my day. Midday seems so far and midnight seems even further. You literally squeeze more hours into your day using this simple technique.
- Binge watching your learning content can get you quicker results in shorter amount of time.
I know it sounds strange, but when it comes to acquiring the skills, you just need to know that there's a tool or a certain technology that can do X. You don't have to dig into the details of how X is done. I would find myself going back to this part when I actually need it in real-life projects. This is because, in the first place, binge watching let me know that X is possible as well as the scenarios it can be used in. Think of it as downloading content into your brain.
- Give "Healthy Eating" a shot. Don't let processed or non-nutritious food into your system.
Have you ever known of the famous proverb "A sound mind is in a sound body"? I don't believe in proverbs, but I tried this and it just works. Monitoring your food intake helps you stay sharp, concentrated and energetic. Moreover, science backs this.
- Keep a to-do list for the next week and a journal for the past week.
For me, this can get so cumbersome and I would find myself always procrastinating on writing or keeping notes. Nevertheless, I am convinced these are two of the ways that can boost your productivity. A to-do list on the first day of the week can give you a sense of how every weekday should look like in advance. Also, reflecting on the past week can help monitor your progress and kickstart next week accordingly. How often you should reflect can get subjective. Some people do it every week, some do it every month and some do it on a quarterly basis. I have seen people that do the three of them together and I have tried a lot of these combinations. The best option that worked for me was to reflect every week. Every Sunday, I would write short notes about events that happened within the past week and a quick to-do list for the new week. I find myself reading through my past reflections a lot. Generally, reflection can give you more control over your life, which is one of the key points why you should do it in the first place.
- Keep a log of all the topics you learned about.
Remember when we talked about returning back to online content for details? Keeping a log heavily eases this process. It won't take time and it can even encourage you in the future to extend the list of your online gains.
- Read. Always. Non-stop.
As strange as it sounds, I have gained more valuable knowledge from random online reads than any other way. Random reads include pieces from Medium, newsletters, tech blogs and Facebook groups. I haven't been a bookworm yet, but I am looking forward to being one.
- Changing places, setups and sceneries.
Having a good setup is a step in mentally preparing you for learning mode. Spend the time needed to customize your seating, music and beverage prior to starting a learning session. It can make a huge difference.
- Share your achievements.
Whether you share them with your friends that have the same interests or on social platforms like LinkedIn, sharing achievements and certificates keeps the vibe going. You would feel guilty to stop.
- Be willing to throw some money.
I know the available online free content is infinite and intimidating, but here's a caveat: there would always be premium gem content that would definitely be worth the money. More often than not, the people worth listening to are harder to get a hold of. The internet is vast, so narrowing your search is essential to avoid getting confused. Also, keep in mind that the results you reach through the first few google search pages don't necessarily equate to more value; these results can just happen to be more SEO-ed, thus further investigation is always required before making a decision.
- Don't waste time on repeated content.
When I first learned Python, I was literally going through multiple similar courses thinking I was further strengthening my technical skills. In fact, they all covered the same basic content any introductory course would bring: data types, data structures, accessing files, conditionals, functions, loops, etc. There will always be two very well-reputed resources delivering the same value. You get the idea.
- Don't be shy to ask as many questions as you need.
In April 2018, I was attending a Machine Learning meetup where there was a lot of senior engineers and tech gurus. I was one of the youngest attendees and I asked a LOT of newbie questions. It felt awkward for me but it was one of the most memorable events I have ever attended. Since then, I would pay attention for people that implement this technique in public meetings and further encourage myself to do the same.
- Rather be the dumbest person in the room than the smartest.
It feels good to be appreciated for being smart, yet the way I see best is that you should constantly try to cut the number of scenarios where you are the expert-talker by half.
- Power up your commutes.
Commute time is a wildcard. It can be regarded as a wasted time or as a bonus added time to your day. With services like TED, Spotify Podcasts, Medium Audio Versions, Apple Podcasts, it is easier to listen to stories, blogs, talks and insights that would bring you valuable knowledge while getting by from point A to point B.
- Renew your motivation, I mean, daily.
A friend of mine once told me that motivation is like bathing. It needs renewal. Fueling your motivation is not a difficult task, yet a necessary one.
- Rent some of your social media time for your own good.
Logically speaking, renting some of the time you spend to explore other people's lives to explore your own life can definitely bring no harm, if not eliminate external harm projected onto your conscious through these platforms. It just makes sense and it needs no arguments. Also, I don't believe in time trackers and usage monitors to help me adjust my behavior towards social media. I would instead try to be more mindful while scrolling on my phone. It gets better with time.
- Beware of falling under the improvement local maxima.
Analyzing the procedures to success, many people are satisfied with what they reached thinking they peaked, while they may be missing out on a whole new world of potential. The idea is that the number of creative paths you can take to stand out is limitless. Nat Eliason wrote a brilliant blog post on that matter.
Implementing these techniques can take many months of experimentation. It is based on mere trial and error. What works for you doesn't necessarily work for others and vice versa. I graduated four months ago and my graduation ceremony is in two days. It took me about 18 months to get full control of my life. I am still searching, adjusting and striving to optimize but a baseline formula is a good place to start.