Study Hacks

A Marathon on a Cruise Ship

My first encounter with graduate student and blogger Chris Guillebeau, was an article he wrote about running a marathon…on a cruise ship. He did this for no real reason; it just seemed interesting at the time. My next encounter was an essay posted on Zen Habits about arriving in a small Macedonian town, at 4 am, with nowhere to stay, and subsequently wandering into a all-night street party.

Then I noticed he has traveled to 83 countries and plans one day to visit all 198. He also maintains an excellent blog, The Art of Nonconformity, and he will be releasing on Tuesday a free PDF manifesto titled The Art of World Domination — something I’m eagerly waiting for.

With all this in mind I knew I had to meet Chris (pictured above, chatting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu). He was nice enough to answer some questions about his life philosophy and what it means to become a nonconformist student.

Can you talk about your experiences in college and then the unconventional path you followed afterwards?

“I started college when I was 16, and finished in about two and a half years. I wasn’t incredibly smart or anything; I just registered for lots of classes at multiple schools and then transferred everything at the end to graduate. I’m not sure I would recommend that method to others, since my focus was definitely on completing my degrees instead of learning, but it worked for me.”

“When I was 20 I went to graduate school and needed a way to make some money. I started selling random stuff on eBay (this was 1999, the early days of online auctions) and ended up building a small wholesale business that later expanded to consulting and design projects. I wish I could tell you it was strategic, but it was initially motivated by a strong desire to avoid working for someone else.”

“By far the most important life change I made was moving to West Africa in 2002 to volunteer as an aid worker. I spent four years working with government leaders and villagers in nine different countries there, and the experience affected me profoundly. I came back to the U.S. in 2006 to return to grad school, but I have spent every break since then traveling to as many places around the world as possible.”

What advice do you have for a college student who is wearied by the “traditional” options before him?

“My advice is pretty simple: you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to. This includes parents, professors, and even peers. If you’re wearied by the system, you have to decide exactly how wearied you are. Most people complain about the traditional paths but don’t bother trying to make their own. If it bothers you enough, you’ll probably find something else sooner or later.”

I’m interested in your notion of how to become “remarkable.” Could you describe your philosophy here?

“It begins with the observation that most people are what I call unremarkably average. It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean they are bad people; it’s just that they do what everyone expects them to and they kind of amble through life. A remarkable person is not innately special– rather, to become remarkable (or noticeable), we really have to find our own way somehow.”

“By the way, I’m not interested in telling people how to live their lives. What I’m interested in is showing that there are alternatives out there and you don’t have to be like everyone else.”

What’s the one misconception, commonly held by college students, that you would most like to dispel?

“I just finished a master’s degree at the University of Washington, and during that time I got the chance to hang out with a lot of other students, both graduate and undergraduates. I would never say this is universal, but I did notice that a number of students tend to think that the school has a responsibility to find them the job of their dreams after graduation. There is inevitably a lot of disappointment when this doesn’t work out, and I think it’s far better to take personal responsibility for your own plans from the beginning.”

What are some specific things a college student could do right now to transform their life from conformist to nonconformist?

“Well, the fact is that most people are conformists, and I don’t necessarily think everyone should change. But for those who want to do something else, I think it starts with clearly understanding what it is you really want and how you can cause that to happen. Then, you have to think as well about how you can help improve the lives of others, because most people are not ultimately satisfied with a life focused only on themselves.”

“Once someone knows what they want and how they can help others, the plan of attack is to start taking it step by step. One thing that helped me in college, both undergrad and the grad program, was always asking the question, “Is there another way to do this?” If your advisor is sending you in a direction you are uncomfortable with, I’d push back a little, or suggest an alternative, or just get a new advisor. There are usually multiple ways of accomplishing any goal, including academic goals, and it has greatly helped me to think a lot about the alternatives instead of just doing things they way everyone else does.”

Interesting Posts from The Art of Non-Conformity

• The decision to be remarkable.
  
• The plan of attack.
• Follow your passion?

A Note from David

I recently received an e-mail that caught my attention. It was from a reader named David, and it outlined a set of unorthodox study habits he had used to tackle his final years of university. One habit, in particular, shone through: he doesn’t take notes.

To quote David:

I changed my attitude on note-taking. Basically, I don’t.

Just to keep things interesting, I should also add that David scored six perfect A’s at the end of the first year of his no note-taking experiment, and, by the way, he also had a kid; three weeks before final exams. So before you complain that you’re short on time just remember this: he has much, much less free time available than you.

Could You Go Note-Free?

In this post, I want to briefly describe David’s note-free studying method. It won’t work, of course, for all class types, and certainly not for all student personality types, but, if something about this decidedly Zen Valedictorian style approach sparks a glimmer in your eye, it’s worth taking out for a test drive.

David’s Note-Free Study Method

We’ll let David explain the system in his own words. I’ll occasionally interject my commentary to keep things appropriately over-intellectualized.

I recorded every lecture and occasionally wrote down a few points if I thought they were important enough. This meant I was paying full attention in class: unconcerned with taking everything down. This is key: I could engage fully, and even if I forgot the details, I absorbed the big picture.

A great insight lurks here. The idea of paying attention fully — complete engagement, no energy expended on typing notes or remembering some point that sounded important — seems novel compared to the standard college classroom experience. But imagine the effectiveness with which you could absorb big ideas if your full attention was harnessed to the cause?

When it came to review, I didn’t have to wade through piles of notes, stripped of their context, and try to make sense of them. I had one sheet for each class, onto which I added a few-lines of abstract for any important texts we used that week: names, dates, and main arguments.

Now comes the cool part…

My technique was to take a quick look at one such sheet, and then listen to the lecture on an mp3 player as I went about my business — walking to work, washing dishes, drying diapers, even, on occasion, in the pub. Much of my studying was spent in the garden or walking by the river — no stress, no effort. But as I listened, it went in. Things the lecturers stressed once or twice began to leap out as important on re-listening.

This is worth reiterating: he studied in the pub! And also in the garden, and while doing chores, and while walking by the river. David has taken our tentative adventure studying concept and pushed it to a new level of comprehensiveness. You simply glance at a one-page summary and then re-experience the lecture, listening carefully. By the time a test arrives: you’re an expert.

Trouble-Shooting the Note-Free Studying Method

Some common objections that we can easily address:

• My class has a lot of material that has to be memorized!
  Separate the memorization from the big-idea ingraining. You can flashcard or focused-cluster the material to memorize and save the listen and think approach for the big idea learning.
• I’ll never remember the important little details if I don’t write them down!
  That was David’s fear too. However, he was surprised by how the combination of listening to the lecture carefully the first time, plus one or two subsequent careful listening — with a few notes jotted down for the main arguments and sources — really stuck the material in his mind. You might want to try adding a quiz-and-recall element to the process. Every 10 minutes or so, stop the recording and try to summarize the main points, out loud, hopefully without startling your pub mates.
• Is this different from stealth studying?
  Yes. It’s similar in spirit, but stealth studying still has you take classical Q/E/C notes. I think of note-free studying as a cool variation of the stealth method — one that goes where I was too afraid to go before.
• This technique will never work for my science/econ/anatomy/math class!
  You’re right. It won’t. Save it for liberal arts classes that center on papers, essay exams, and big, interesting ideas.
• I don’t have time to listen to full lectures more than once!
  Think critically about how much time is taken up by the studying this method replaces. Also remember: David has a baby…

Conclusion

The technique is not for everyone. But it’s cool. And it highlights just how much flexibility you have when you reject standard study conventions and start experimenting for yourself. David’s a great example of the Zen Valedictorian philosophy in action: reject a deferred rewards approach to school; demand a good life now; then squeeze as much as possible out of the time you spend working.

The Book(s) of Daniel

If you don’t know Daniel Pink, you should. His bestselling books, Free Agent Nation (2001) and A Whole New Mind (2005), heralded the arrival of the conceptual age. Dan has also written on issues of business and technology for The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Wired.

His full biography reads like a Zen Valedictorian, post-grad adventure tale. He attends Yale Law School then never practices a day of law, deciding, instead, to bum a ride out to Washington. Soon he’s a vice-presidential speech writer. He leaves that job to write two of the most important business books of the last decade. He then wins a fellowship to move to Japan and study the Manga industry.

Enter Johnny Bunko

Perhaps most exciting for Study Hacks readers, however, is his latest project, the new book: The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need (illustrated by Manga hotshot Rob Ten Pas). In Bunko, which tells the story of a young graduate receiving workplace lessons, Dan lays out six core pieces of advice for making it happen in the real world. As someone who works and writes a lot about these issues, I can say with conviction: this is some of the most dead-on, effective young career advice that I have ever read. (Don’t take my word for it, you can preview the rules here and read the first chapter here.) The Miami Herald, perhaps, puts it best: “[Johnny Bunko] blows away all the rest with its clarity, simplicity, and intelligence.”

As you can imagine, I was quick to get in touch with Dan. I asked him what advice he had for a current college student looking to jumpstart a Pink-esque career after graduation. He was kind enough to respond.

The interview follows…

Your own post-college path seems serendipitous. How did you stumble onto this path. And once on it, how did you keep moving in such an interesting direction?

You’ve got it right. There was a lot of stumbling and serendipity. Since I knew I wasn’t going to practice law, I decided to go into what I then found most interesting: politics. I worked on a number of political campaigns as a policy and communications person — and then, yes, stumbled into speechwriting. What happened is that I wrote a few speeches. They weren’t awful. Then they asked me to write a few more and before I knew it, I was a speechwriter. I got reasonably good at it, did it for awhile, but then got sick of the b.s. of politics. At that point in my life, I was becoming deeply interested in business and technology — so I decided to go out on my own and write about those topics.

All of the books and most of the articles I’ve written since then have really emerged from pursuing the things I was curious about. That’s a key. Curiosity. I tried to follow my curiosity and see where it took me. Also — and this is important — I decided that since so many people could outsmart me, nobody would outwork me. As you know, I’m a big believer that persistence trumps talent.

What’s the biggest myth about the post-graduation search for a job that you would like to dispel?

That you need to have a carefully articulated plan. Too many people make career decisions for instrumental reasons — because they think what they’re doing will lead to something else. Not enough people make decisions for fundamental reasons — because of the value of the activity itself.

The dirty little secret is that instrumental reasons don’t work. It’s way too tumultuous out there. The people who really flourish are those who make decisions for fundamental reasons. They have to live with a certain amount of ambiguity about not knowing what’s going to happen next. But that keeps them alert to unexpected opportunities and the serendipity you talked about earlier.

What lessons would you give to Johnny Bunko’s little brother who is, let’s say, a rising college sophomore?

1. Begin the process of discovering what you love to do and what you’re great at — what, in some sense, you are on this planet to do. You won’t necessarily find the answer in college. But asking that question will put you on a promising trajectory.

2. Pick the professor, not the course. In the hands of a good teacher, every topic can fascinating.

3. If you’re in the arts, take a laboratory science course. If you’re in science, take a studio art course.

4. Exercise. Seriously. Exercise is one of the few things in life that is uniformly, unequivocally good for you.

Thank you so much for your time!

A True Story

I’ve been preaching recently about the importance of simplifying your college life. To help put some faces to the theory, I want to share with you the story of Kristianne (not her real name), an undergraduate at Regis University. Inspired by my recent post on How to Be Happy, Kristianne shared with me her own story of transformation. In this tale, she took a machete to her overcrowded schedule and pruned it down to a few points of meaningful focus. The results have been nothing short of outstanding.

Kristianne details the whole saga in the following interview…

What were you involved with before you simplified your life?

During my freshman year, I tried to join everything (and I mean everything). I was the VP of the Asian-Pacific American Association, staff writer for the student newspaper, in the Honors program, a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-med honor society, giving tours, hosting students for admissions, and, it seemed, constantly volunteering to do all these small things for people.

Ignoring my already frustrated self, I took on even more during my sophomore year. I moved up to associate editor with the paper, gained a leadership position for AED, and became a liturgical minister for masses throughout the week.

What was your life like under this big load of commitments?

I was definitely hard-pressed for time. Add that to my perfectionist mentality for my homework, and — surprise — I was barely getting enough sleep. I often pulled double all-nighters and once, even, a triple all-nighter!

A lot of people didn’t know the frustration I felt trying to keep up. I think trying to keep my unhappiness a secret was perhaps the most tiring of all.

What made you finally reevaluate your lifestyle?

The worst came last semester. I had agreed to be editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, and, for some reason, agreed to become the Intern for Admissions, while still doing everything else.

There were just too many times last semester when my “energy reserve” simply ran out. I soon found myself requesting extra time on even small assignments.

Enough was enough.

Describe the changes you made.

This semester, I definitely took control over my own schedule and lifestyle. I resigned my leadership position for the APAA — too much time required for too little actually being accomplished. I also blocked spots in my schedule (especially at night), during which I refuse to work. That time is for me to sleep, watch T.V., cook…or whatever I want, so long as it’s not school or extra curricular related. For the AED honors society, although I am still a member, I’ve cut back the amount of time I’m obligated to spend. I’m good friends with the president, so I can still keep up to date and help out with activities when I can.

With the Admissions internship, I’ve learned to say: “I have enough for this week, can I get this to you by next week?” I still get things done, but without feeling so overwhelmed.

I still serve as a liturgical minister, but only specifically chosen days where I know I don’t have something big coming up, like a test or paper due.

How did these changes affect your daily life?

All the small changes added up to a lot more free time, and generated confidence-boosting results.

Do you fear cutting back will make you less accomplished?

Not at all. Since cutting back, I’ve received a competitive summer scholarship at Notre Dame. I also got research grants to work with my Organic Chemistry professor, and another scholarship to attend the Democratic National Convention (something that usually costs $10,000, and is also very competitive). And that’s not all, I also got into the Jesuit Honor Society (also extremely competitive, only accepting less than 4% of the top 15% of students).

The big revelation is that now I don’t feel so obliged to fill my resume with mediocre extras. I can finally accept what my teachers were telling me in high school, and my professors have been telling me since freshman year: I am a smart, capable student and shouldn’t worry so much about my abilities.

What activities are you focusing on now that you’ve simplified?

I’m in the honors program, I have an interdisciplinary academic focus, and I now focus seriously on just two extracurricular activities: the paper and the admissions internship. As my recent awards attest, this is more than enough.

In fact, I’ve arranged to drop my internship for next year to take time to spend on my upcoming honors thesis. (Last semester, I would have just added it on and let the stress pile.) I realized that producing a great thesis is more important to me than worrying about an Internship that takes too much time (9 hours a week), and which won’t contribute to my future interests.

Final thoughts?

Taking control of my schedule has been one hell of a confidence booster. It’s not as scary as you think. Try it.

Some Points to Notice

There are few interesting lessons lurking in Kristianne’s tale. First, notice how she suffered from the incredibly common undergraduate apprehension that the way to be successful is to do as much as possible. I see this all the time. Indeed, it is probably the most common cause of problems when I talk with students. Being busy is fine. It’s when you get to that point that you lose control of your schedule that the real stress (and triple all-nighters, and unhappiness) takes over.

Next, notice how after she simplified her schedule she realized that she needed only a small number of core activities to show off her abilities (and earn her a huge number of awards). In Kristianne’s case, here is what makes her impressive:

• Good grades.
• An interesting, interdisciplinary major.
• Her role on the student newspaper.

The other stuff was fluff. Sources of stress that didn’t add much to her life or her story.

Finally, I think the biggest point: Kristianne did not abandon all of the other activities that she was interested in. She did no stop giving masses, or resign her AED membership, or quit the Internship (yet). Instead, she simple transformed them from obligatory to non-obligatory. She renegotiated her involvement such that she could be involved when she had time, and not feel guilty about ignoring them when her schedule gets tight.

This a crucial subtlety to the Radical Simplicity Manifesto. You don’t have to do very little. You just need very little that you have to do. Kristianne demonstrates this beautifully.

Think about her story for a moment. Then ask yourself an important question:

How would your schedule change if you were to tackle a similar program of simplification?

The Fitness Guru Speaks

In January of this year, Adam Gilbert, a recent college graduate, left his high-prestige job at Ernst & Young to start My Body Tutor, a web-based company that has Adam, and his team of trainers, work daily with clients, through e-mail and phone, to help them lose weight and get into exceptional shape. The company has exploded in growth recently on the strength of its results. In addition, Adam recently signed on with Conde Naste to become one of their new fitness columnists.

A couple weeks back I asked you to send me your questions about health and fitness at college. I sent the best to Adam, who was kind of enough to provide us some of his expert wisdom…

I’m often tired in class and have a hard time concentrating while studying. What can I do to maximize my energy in the day? Specific food? Exercise? Powerful, powerful Drugs?

Exercise will make a huge difference. It helps you sleep better at night and feel better during the day. Also, make sure you are eating properly. If you don’t eat properly, it can make you feel tired. It’s very important to eat healthy, balanced meals so that your body gets the nutrition and energy it needs. Are you getting enough sleep? One of the most common reasons for feeling tired is not getting enough sleep.

I’m in a frat, so I drink a fair amount. And that probably won’t change. How do I avoid the dreaded beer gut?

To avoid the dreaded beer gut you simply have to burn as many calories as you consume. If you consume more calories than you burn you will gain weight.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb: If you’re going to drink 2-3 nights per week you want to be exercising at least 2-3 times per week for 30 minutes or more. Ideally, you would push this to 3-4 times per week. Remember: Something is always better than nothing!

Another tip: Do you eat late at night? (Something that seems to go along with drinking.) Don’t! You can easily consume an extra 500-2000 calories by eating those beloved cheese fries, wings and pizza.

Do you have any top-secret, dark magic get ripped fast type of gym tricks that I should know about?

I’ll let you in on a secret.

Do you want to lose 20 pounds fast? The easiest, surest, most effective way I know: saw off your leg!

In all seriousness, you have to make eating healthy and exercising a part of your lifestyle. There is no doubt that you feel better, perform better and live better when you do this. No excuses.