Tag Archive for ‘time management’ at Surviving Harvard

« Older Entries

Tag Archive for 'time management'

Harvard is Great When You’re Not Stressed Out

Published

Luyi

on December 1, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 0 Comments
Tags: commitments, extracurriculars, Harvard, Mind Hack, priorities, stress, time, time management

Coming back from Thanksgiving break can be a bit of a shocker. Turkey break is a wonderful time to chill out, eat food, ignore homework etc. etc., but getting back onto campus can be painful especially if you’re facing a mountain of work.

Somehow, this is one of the few times, I’ve managed to come back from break without actually facing a mountain of midterms / papers / psets / blahblah. I’ve discovered, funny enough, that Harvard is a fantastic place to be when you’re not stressed out.

There are interesting people about, good conversations to be had, fun events to go to, lots of ways to amuse yourself. But when you’re stressed, Harvard just seems like a dreary place.

If Harvard is lame, it’s because you’re making it that way.

Time Debt and Harvard’s Addiction to Over-Commitment

Published

Luyi

on November 6, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 1 Comment
Tags: addiction, advice, classes, commitment, culture, economics, extracurriculars, happiness, Harvard, Mind Hack, negative externalities, over-commitment, success, time, time inconsistency, time management

My Economics professor made an interesting analogy last week, comparing time commitments to “time debt.” Harvard students have a tendency to “promise” time to other parties that will be collected at a future point in time in exchange for things like grades, money, fun, etc.

Unfortunately, we too suffer from time inconsistencies regarding our time use. We commit to too much now, but have to perhaps renege on our promises later. Time inconsistencies are generally used by economists to explain things like addiction to procrastination, but at the core of it all, is a self-control issue. Whereas some people cannot help but to pull out their credit card to buy that new pair of shoes, we cannot help but to say yes to an awesome opportunity that will only maybe just take 2 hours a week.

The funny thing about “time debt” — a promise to pay back time/effort at a future date — is that the interest compounds. Time commitments snow ball, people expect and demand more from you, and soon your 2 hour a week gig ends up 3 or 4 hours a week, during a week, of course, of midterms.

So what is this “time debt,” and why in the world is this a problem of many successful people?

Surviving the Post-Midterm Blues

Published

Luyi

on November 3, 2008

in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack

. 0 Comments
Tags: economics, exam, grades, grading, Harvard, incentives, midterms, Mind Hack, Productivity Hack, professors, studying, testing, TFs, time management

If you’ve just gotten your midterms back, perhaps you’re not too happy with your performance on some of them. Many people at Harvard are in fact disappointed with at least one midterm grade (or two). Sometimes, the midterms just don’t test what you thought you should know. Other times, you just didn’t attend lecture. Then there are those times, when the midterms cause mass damage to an entire class’s morale.

Regardless, it’s useful to sit back, relax and reflect a little, now that the crunch period is over.

Whether you want to pull up your grades or keep them strong, taking a few minutes to figure out what the hell your courses want from you will, maybe, save your arse in the long run.

Surviving Midterms

Published

Luyi

on October 30, 2008

in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack

. 1 Comment
Tags: exams, midterms, Mind Hack, Productivity Hack, sleep, stress, studying, time management

Of particular relevance is how to survive midterms. Those nasty things that generally happen 2-3 times a semester, despite their name-sake. Whether you’ve survived? your first set or are anticipating midterms next week, this post is relevant for you.

Midterms generally count from 20-40% of your grades in whole, and while that is a lot, the bulk of your grades are actually coming in after the “midpoint” of the semester. (Finals and final papers are worth a ton, and you still have all those response papers / psets.)

So, I’ve just survived my hellish batch of 3 midterms in 2 days (why I haven’t posted in a while). This post will touch on the strategies you can use to make your studying more efficient.

(A post on surviving post-midterms will be coming up soon). Read more…

Surviving The Comp

Published

Luyi

on September 4, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 2 Comments
Tags: advice, comping, extracurriculars, Harvard, Mind Hack, priorities, time management, tips

Comping is truly a unique Harvard experience. You take a bunch of smart kids and make them jump through some hoops of various difficulty to even be allowed to privilege of joining a given student organization.

Some comps are formalities, others are grueling. Some will require perhaps an hour out of your time each week, others will demand a certain single minded devotion. Some comps will cut people, maybe half-way through, maybe even at the end of a long and tiring semester. Other comp directors will turn a blind eye if you’re enthusiastic enough.

Here’s the dirty on surviving this uniquely Harvard “comping” process.

How To Choose Your Courses as a Freshman

Published

Luyi

on August 22, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 0 Comments
Tags: advice, classes, freshmen, how to, planning, time management

Freshmen are greeted by a 1000+ page book detailing all the courses they could possibly take (and many that they’ve never heard of) in the fall. Contrast this to even the course selection at the largest and most awesome high schools, and many a freshmen sort of freeze up, freak out at narrowing down what they want to do with their life, major, career and beyond!

While I can’t tell you whether to take that Psych 1 (yes the numbers start low here) class or that freshmen seminar, there are a few basic rules you can follow to make your life easier and narrow down your selection.

Course selection for freshmen should be primarily directed toward concentration exploration and workload/difficulty balance.

Recommendation: Todoist for Your To Do List

Published

Luyi

on August 13, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 2 Comments
Tags: advice, efficiency, gmail, how to, laptop, organization, Productivity Hack, recommendation, time, time management

In a previous post, I examined ways of organizing your busy busy Harvard life. At the time, I didn’t have a good “To Do List” or task management organizer for you.

Now, I am proud to recommend Todoist.com

Todoist is a website that allows you to create To Do Lists (complete with deadlines and project breakdowns) that would make any dork envious.

Hacking the Mental Supply Chain

Published

Luyi

on August 7, 2008

in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack

. 0 Comments
Tags: efficiency, Mind Hack, organization, productivity, Productivity Hack, supply chain, time, time management, tips

The supply chain and distribution network behind a simple product, like a lamp, is ridiculously intricate and complex. Chances are the lamp had to cross the seas, move through customs, hit a warehouse, get distributed via trucks or planes, hit the stores, get deboxed and brought out to the sales floor for a given store. And somewhere along the way, all of this needs to be coordinated.

Think of the sheer number of people involved, the time, the effort. But, somehow, we can keep massive grocery stores perfectly stocked with a few thousands different types of items. So, although the supply chain is exceedingly complex, the network becomes more efficient with increases in scale and follows a few basic principles.

If you consider the end product of thought and action — be it a novel, new business etc. — it too follows a mental supply chain of sorts, going from conception to finalization.

This post examines ways to improve the mental supply chain — decreasing the time/effort between thought and action and increasing efficiency overall.

Just-In-Time Thinking

Published

Luyi

on July 21, 2008

in Mind Hack and Productivity Hack

. 0 Comments
Tags: advice, decision making, efficiency, Mind Hack, Productivity Hack, stress, success, thinking, time, time management

The Japanese perfected just-in-time inventory, with a great many savings and benefits. Right when you need a product, you produce it. No need to worry about the cost of holding that inventory and sitting pretty on potentially 5,000 extra units of stuff that might not sell.

Similarly, while I was stressing out over my class schedule last summer, I realized the sheer pointlessness of brooding over decisions that I can’t possibly make without further, next-to-the-last-minute information. I’m not going to be able to decide between two core classes unless I shop both of them…two or three months down the road. There’s no point in spending hours two or three months ahead of time trying to decide between the two.

Just-In-Time thinking is a way of managing decision-making, so that you think through what you need to think through WHEN you need to think through it.

Maximizing Sleep Harvard-Style

Published

Luyi

on July 9, 2008

in Mind Hack

. 1 Comment
Tags: advice, Mind Hack, sleep, time management, tips, weekend

Chances are, you’re gonna be busy or at least, keeping yourself busy at Harvard. One week you’ll be smooth-sailing, but then you’ll hit a snag, and oh-no! you find yourself pulling two or three all-nighters for your two or three midterms coming up.

Sleep is important (for some people). Because Harvard can get a little crazy at times, there are little tricks here and there that can maximize your sleeping hours.

(Triple apologies for this late entry. Fourth of July plans set me back. Expect an extra post. Point 7 added by John.)

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Nov
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31