Habits to Optimize Deep Thinking

When changing jobs and/or careers, the learning curve looks a bit like the titration curve below:

Image Credit: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~chemlab/chem3-5/acid1/full_text/chemistry.html

There’s the initial time spent ramping up. Then, you have enough knowledge to work on what you need to in order to add value, which is the equivalence point. But then you plateau.

I’ve plateaued. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be a better software engineer. There’s still so many things that I could learn. However, it does mean that I’ve reached a point where I can easily get lazy and stop learning because I already have acquired most of the necessary knowledge I need in order to produce the results I need.

In order to combat that, I’ve pivoted and received additional responsibilities. That’s the outside stimulus to facilitate the acquisition of new skills. The internal motivation will still have to come from me because even though there are more things to learn for my job, it is not comprehensive enough to give me a solid base of career capital. Therefore, I am going to take the time and try to learn something 5x a week (One does need breaks. I will adjust this schedule accordingly depending on whether or not I’m staring to feel burned out.), whether it be in the domain of computer science, mathematics/statistics, or finance.

Here are the questions that I should start out every session with:

  1. Purpose: What is the goal of this session? If the overarching goal is large, break it up into smaller goals for the session and focus on that.
  2. Why does it matter? If it doesn’t matter, you know you’re wasting your own time.
  3. What is the challenge? This one is optional. Most likely is mastery of the subject matter at hand. If the topic is larger, this could be a roadmap for the session/problems with retainment.
  4. Create a conductive environment. Figure out how not to get distarcted.
  5. Allocate a block of time. Even you of all people probably will get the most of the mornings before you come to work as you are not distracted by anything else. Ideally, you’d wake up at 6:30 and focus until 9:30 in order to have a solid 3 hours. That may not be feasible under current conditions, so let’s aim for this as the ideal state.

Credit: Cal Newport @ Study Hacks / http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/01/7-rules-for-maximizing-your-creative-output/

There are things that I have to do before I can set up an environment for myself. Therefore, I will take tomorrow to clean everything up in order for the renovators to come through and set up. Also, I will use that time to catch up on any sleep deprivation that is currently occurring.

I will also post every study session with the following questions to orient myself. And then I will summarize what I have learned in each session. Detailed note taking can be done elsewhere, but I need to summarize here in order to organize my thoughts and reflect on how much information has been retained.

I also promise that I will not forego exercise as my energy levels and ability to keep a schedule gets thrown off when that happens. I must exercise at least once within 2 days. Health takes priority.