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Personal Development for Smart People
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Do It Now
When going to college many years ago, I decided to challenge myself by setting a goal to see if Icould graduate in only three semesters, taking the same classes that people would normally take overa four-year period. This article explains in detail all the time management techniques I used tosuccessfully pull this off.In order to accomplish this goal, I determined I'd have to take 30-40 units per semester, when theaverage student took 12-15 units. It became immediately obvious that I'd have to manage my timeextremely well if I wanted to pull this off. I began reading everything I could find on time managementand putting what I learned into practice. I accomplished my goal by graduating with two Bachelor of Science degrees (computer science and mathematics) in just three semesters without attendingsummer school. I slept seven to eight hours a night, took care of my routine chores (shopping,cooking, etc), had a social life, and exercised for 30 minutes every morning. In my final semester, Ieven held a full time job (40 hours a week) as a game programmer and served as the Vice Chair of thelocal Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter while taking 37 units of mostlysenior-level computer science and math courses. My classmates would add up all the hours theyexpected each task to take and concluded that my weeks must have consisted of about 250 hours. Igraduated with a 3.9 GPA and also received a special award given to the top computer science studenteach year. One of my professors later told me that they had an easy time selecting the award recipientonce it became clear to them what I was doing.I wasn't considered a gifted child, and this was the first time I had ever done anything like this. I didn'thave any personal mentors helping me, I didn't know of anyone who'd done anything like this before,and I can't recall a single person encouraging me to do it. In fact, most people were highlydiscouraging of the idea when I told them about it. This was simply something I decided to do formyself. If you want a better understanding of where I was at this time in my life and why I decided toattempt such a crazy thing, you might enjoy readingThe Meaning of Life: Intro, which includes thefull background story and more details about my motivation for doing this.It took a lot of convincing to get the computer science department chair to approve my extra unitsevery semester, and my classmates often assumed I was either cheating or that I had a twin or that Iwas just mentally unstable (I get accused of that last one pretty much every week, so maybe there'ssome truth to it). Most of the time I kept quiet about what I was doing, but if someone asked me howmany units I was taking, I didn't deny it. I was perhaps the only student at the university with atwo-page class schedule, so it was easy to prove I was telling the truth if anyone pressed me, butrarely did I ever do so.I didn't tell you this story to impress you but rather to make you curious as to how I did it. I pulled thisoff by applying time management concepts that most people simply didn't know but that were readily
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available in books and audio programs at the time (1992-93). The time management habits I learned incollege have served me very well in building my business, so I want to share them with you in thehopes that you'll find them equally valuable. They allowed me to shave years off my schooling whilealso giving me about $30,000 to start my business (all earned in my final semester as a gameprogrammer, mostly from royalties). Without further ado, here's the best of what I've learned aboutmastering time management:
Clarity is key.
The first step is to know exactly what you want. In a Tae Kwon Do studio where I used to train,there's a huge sign on the wall that says, "Your goal is to become a black belt." This helps remindeach student why s/he is going through such difficult training. When you work for yourself, it's easy tospend a whole day at your desk and accomplish nothing of value. This almost always happens whenyou aren't really clear about what it is you're trying to do. In the moments when you regain yourawareness, ask yourself, "What exactly is it that I'm trying to accomplish here?" You must know yourdestination with as much clarity as possible. Make your goals specific, and put them in writing. Yourgoals must be so clear that it would be possible for a stranger to look at your situation objectively andgive you an absolute "yes" or "no" response as to whether you've accomplished each goal or not. If you cannot define your destination precisely, how will you know when you've arrived?The key period I've found useful for defining and working on specific goals is ninety days, or thelength of one season. In that period of time, you can make dramatic and measurable changes if you setcrystal clear goals. Take a moment to stop and write down a snapshot description of how you wantyour life to be ninety days from now. What will your monthly income be? How much will you weigh?Who will your friends be? Where will you be in your career? What will your relationship be like?What will your web site look like? Be specific. Absolute clarity will give you the edge that will keepyou on course.Just as an airplane on autopilot must make constant corrections to stay on course, you mustperiodically retarget your goals. Reconnect with your clear, written goals by re-reading them everymorning. Post them on your walls, especially your financial goals. Years ago (during the mid-90s), Iwent around my apartment putting up signs in every room that said "$5,000 / month." That was mymonthly business income goal at the time. Because I knew exactly what I wanted, I achieved that goalwithin a few weeks. I continued setting specific income goals, even amidst occasional setbacks, and Ifound this process very effective. It wasn't just that it helped me focus on what I wanted -- perhapseven more important is that it made it easy for me to disregard those things that weren't on the path tomy goal. For example, if you set a goal to earn $10,000/month, this can help you stop doing thosethings that will only earn you $5000/month.If you aren't yet at the point of clarity, then make that your first goal. It's a big waste of time to gothrough life being unclear about what you want. Most people wallow way too long in the state of "Idon't know what to do." They wait for some external force to provide them with clarity, neverrealizing that clarity is self-created. The universe is waiting on you, not the other way around, and it'sgoing to keep waiting until you finally make up your mind. Waiting for clarity is like being a sculptorstaring at a piece of marble, waiting for the statue within to cast off the unneeded pieces. Do not waitfor clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!
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Be flexible.
There's a key difference between knowing your destination and knowing the path you will take to getthere. A typical commercial airplane is off course 90% of the time, yet it almost always arrives at itsdestination because it knows exactly where it's going and makes constant corrections along the way.You cannot know the exact path to your goal in advance. I believe that the real purpose of planning issimply so that you remain convinced that a possible path exists. We've all heard the statistic that 80%of new businesses fail in their first five years, but a far more interesting statistic is that nearly all of thebusinesses that succeeded did not do so in the original way they had intended. If you look atsuccessful businesses that started with business plans, you will commonly find that their original plansfailed miserably and that they only succeeded by trying something else. It is said that no business plansurvives contact with the marketplace. I like to generalize this to say that no plan survives contactwith the real world.Renowned author and business consultantStephen Coveyoften uses the expression, "integrity in themoment of choice." What that means is that you should not follow your plans blindly withoutconscious awareness of your goals. For instance, let's say you're following your plans nicely -- so farso good -- and then an unforeseen opportunity arises. Do you stick to your original plan, therebymissing the opportunity, or do you stop and go after the opportunity, thereby throwing yourself off schedule? This is where you have to stop and reconnect with your goals to decide which is the bettercourse. No plan should be followed blindly. As soon as you gain new knowledge that could invalidatethe plan, you must exercise integrity in the moment of choice. Sometimes you can reach your goalsfaster by taking advantage of shortcuts that arise unexpectedly. Other times you should stick to youroriginal plans and avoid minor distractions that would take you further from your goals. Be tight onyour goals but flexible on your plans.I believe that having a clear goal is far more important than having a clear plan. In school I was veryclear about my end goal -- graduate college in only three semesters -- but my plans were in a constantstate of flux. Every day I would be informed of new assignments, projects, or tests, and I had to adaptto this ever-changing sea of activity. If I tried to make a long-term plan for each semester, it wouldhave been rendered useless within 24 hours.
Use single handling.
Instead of using some elaborate organizing system, I stuck with a very basic pen and paper to-do list.My only organizing tool was a notepad where I wrote down all my assignments and their deadlines. Ididn't worry about doing any advance scheduling or prioritizing. I would simply scan the list to selectthe most pressing item which fit the time I had available. Then I'd complete it, and cross it off the list.If I had a 10-hour term paper to write, I would do the whole thing at once instead of breaking it intosmaller tasks. I'd usually do large projects on weekends. I'd go to the library in the morning, do thenecessary research, and then go back to my dorm room and continue working until the final text wasrolling off my printer. If I needed to take a break, I would take a break. It didn't matter how big theproject was supposed to be or how many weeks the professor allowed for it. Once I began anassignment, I would stay with it until it was 100% complete and ready to be turned in.
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