Developing Good Habits in a Post-Pandemic World with an Example
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for kids and families to maintain habits. As a person interested in both Computers and Psychology, this blog will contain a mix of both perspectives on how to develop a good habit. It should be able to answer the what, why, and how questions related to developing habits paired with how I developed a habit to expand my knowledge in Artificial Intelligence.
Let’s define habits. Habits are an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary. The first step to look for a good habit would be listing out everything you are passionate about and choosing one whose result would benefit you mentally and socially. It was Fall 2020 when I started looking for new habits to develop. I listed out everything from AI, AR, VR, MR to Crypto. I ended up starting with AI and working my way through the list.
After you’ve chosen what habit to start with, the next step would be to look for a friend who wants to develop a habit. This will make it easier to stay focused and accountable. Fortunately, I was able to find a friend who wanted to learn about Embedded Processors on an everyday basis.
This third step would be the most important one on this list. Most of the time when developing a new habit, one gets bored of it and gives up. Solution? Following an inspirational leader interested in a field related to the habit you are trying to develop. Often, while I was exploring Artificial Intelligence, things got difficult and I started losing interest. This was when I stumbled upon Pascal Bornet’s LinkedIn Profile. His daily posts about AI products and innovation really kept me interested. Not only did they keep me interested but they also posed as reminders to actually practice my skills daily.
The fourth step is to finalize the plan as it is easier to attain small goals and work the way up to a bigger change. Start with a small course, book, or introductory workshop related to the new habit you’re trying to pick up.
Finally, it is important to balance the inspirational and resourceful content. Also, remember to host workshops or write blogs to pass on your knowledge. Furthermore, it is always rewarding to put the skills learned to good use by working on a project for a social cause. I am still working on gaining enough knowledge in AI and hence haven't reached this step yet.
To conclude, here are the steps summarized:
1. List out things you’re passionate about. 📝
2. Find a buddy (optional) 🐼
3. Look for an inspiring figure and create goals. 💭
4. Build a roadmap using goals highlighted in the previous step. 🗺️
5. Keep track of your progress every month. 🎯
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. And if you don’t have any questions, shoot me a message and we can discuss how AI might/might not take over the world. 😉
About the Author
Harsh Patel is currently a BASc of Computer Engineering student at the University of Waterloo. He has two years of development experience and one year of product management experience in various Financial corporations and Startups.
