Ramanujan Redux

Like most college students, I struggle with this productivity problem. Who doesn’t? We’ve been programmed since college to study study study away, and everything will be alright. Well, it might be alright, but this system fucking blows. How many people have fun studying? I wouldn’t imagine there are many of you out there.

So I’ll let you into a little system I’ve been using for the past few weeks, on and off. I didn’t commit to it fully until earlier this week, and things have been going much more smoothly. When this practice is more fully developed, I’ll get more in depth to it. (Wrote this in a response to my friend Ryan’s post.)

Reward yourself when you have completed an important task (or worked hard at it for as long as you can, not all tasks can be completed at once), and micro-reward yourself.

Everytime I write a blog post or complete some unspecified task, I reward myself by playing frisbee with my friends, or go to the basketball court and practice layup drills, or starting up that new book I’ve been meaning to read. Then after you’ve exhausted yourself in that, get back to the next task at hand. It’s crazy how your productivity goes up when you feel as if you have something to look forward to.

Separate what you need to do from what you want to do and balance out these activities. It becomes more fun than just identifying task after task. Hell, you can even mix it up and make “Talk to cute girl in my class and ask her to lunch” a need task, and reward yourself afterward whether you succeed or fail at it. Because what do people need more from in life than forging new relationships?

What are your tips for being productive? Comment away!

These questions from the past week are presented from the 4-Hour Work Week. I encourage you to share some of your answers.

Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?”

Right now, my future is in limbo. Grad school is a distinct possibility. But the possibility of taking time off from academia to go into private industry also seems appealing. This is where all the cutting edge research is, this is where the money is. You probably won’t get to teach as much, but the time of the academic has also come and gone. You will have plenty of time in life to get a Ph.D. You don’t get many chances to do anything if you’re stuffing your face head-first in books.

I am already starting to do the opposite of what most people are doing. Instead of finding research positions and internships to bind myself to a system I’m not entirely interested in, I’m floating around, trying to find the right entrepreneurial opportunity for me that will allow me to worry about finances again. This will eventually give me the freedom to figure out what it is I really want out of life without having to worry about things like bills and expenses and loans and what not.

If I continue on this track? Most likely I give up the right to that freedom. I will spend half a decade lurching through grad school and scrambling for some academic position afterward. On the other hand, it gives me another five years to not worry about my position. But ten years from now I’d probably be a teacher somewhere, at some level. Not a lot of money in that type of position, but at least I could support a family on it. Hopefully. I’d be poor, but happy. Maybe.

Wouldn’t go down in the history books though. Kind of an unspectacular way to live, don’t you think?

What about you? Where would you go if you decided to change pace? What would you sacrifice to take that path? Comment away.

More 4-Hour Work Week goodness. We started this Monday–onto the next question!

How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else?

Well, let’s see…
–Studying for the SATs mindlessly for a week or so before every retest. My score goes down or stays at par after two retakes. I hate standardized testing.
–Not practicing my problem solving after moving West, instead working on developing things like how to write a conducive, underwhelming five paragraph essay and becoming a programmer (bizarrely for a math guy like me, I’ve always hated programming). Learning subjects like chemistry and watered down economics bores me to the point of tears. GPA lowers out of indifference. Procrastinate to the point I’m taking networking tests the day of graduation so I don’t flop the class.
–Take the toughest classes the first semester in Berkeley. Proceed to get pounded into the ground when I learn that college is not like high school. Decide that enjoying Berkeley is learning to study it up to get your As.
–Completely ignore social relationships in favor of burying my nose in books second semester. Miss out on half of the college experience in favor of getting mind whipped.
–There was that week and a half pilgrimage over to China I could have taken to see my father with mother and sister in tow, but I decided to do the responsible thing and take summer classes. Not even in Berkeley. In Davis. In 105 degree heat. Proceed to waste ten days away doing almost absolutely nothing except dream of the taste of dim sum. Barely touch the books, although I did get to watch a shitty B-movie in Film Studies. Utter crap.
–Ignore the possibility of spending World Cup summer in Italy with the family to instead learn responsibility and research. Stay in a lab position I loathed in LBL and grade papers for additional money. Grow depressed. Quit job by mid-July after showing up at work only once. Get essentially fired from math reading when I turn in sets of papers two weeks late. (Note: I make up for it this year by taking that trip, but wow, what a waste of a summer).

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s enough self-flagellation. I’m sure you guys have your own experiences to let out.

From Jonathan Leger,
“Physics tells us that everything in the universe takes the path of least resistance. When you drop a ball, it always falls down, because there’s no resistance to it falling down. It doesn’t go up, because that would require it to struggle against gravity.

People are no different. By nature, we are inclined to take the path of least resistance, to do whatever is easiest. It requires effort to get out of our rut and make things happen for ourselves.

But … you can do it if you THINK HIGH, not low. Don’t put yourself down or convince yourself that where you are now is where you’re doomed to be. And don’t let trials or difficulties make you feel inadequate. The best of the best in every endeavor had trouble getting there.”

How do you do your best to think high? Leave your thoughts in the comments.