I hated discipline so I looked for better alternatives.

I have always struggled with procrastination. It’s in my genes. I am always submitting things late, often doing them in the last possible moment. Most of my academic studies are done the day before an exam.

A few months earlier I decided to change that. I decided that I’ll do the right things at the right time. But, I couldn’t. I kept slacking off.

So, I went to the all knowing Google and asked it how I could develop discipline. The answers were plenty. The answers were helpful.

This is one Quora reader had to say: “Discipline is always hard. It’s not going to be easier even after 10 years of practice. So mind will always say no. The trick is to stop listening to the mind. Do what you have to do. Pain of discipline is the price of happiness.”

Isn’t it beautiful?

I got so moved by this message that I sprung into action. For 2 days straight I wasted no time in vain. Until I did. In the 3^rd day, my exams were over and I fell back to my usual, lazy self.

After that, I tried to adopt discipline again in my life, multiple times. But I failed. So I started looking for different ideas that could help me with my procrastination habit.

One lazy evening, I was hanging out at a friend’s dorm room. I picked up a book and started reading it. I got hooked. I kept reading the book for about 2 hours before falling asleep.

When I woke up, I realized I had come across a rare gem. This is the book that I needed. I picked up the book again and started thinking about how I would use this in my real life.

And boy o’ boy was my life changed! This book shook my entire life. I realized I didn’t need discipline. At least not the kind that we are familiar with- where you force yourself to do things.

This book helped me realize how my identity was the fuel for my actions. It taught me how I had to organize my environment to facilitate the things I want to do. It taught me how to get rid of my vices.

The book is Atomic Habits.

(You can read my book review about the book here: Atomic Habits is a must read for everyone)

7 subtle ways Meditation helps Students

There are things that help you directly. Then there are things that spills over positive effects on your life indirectly. Meditation falls in the second category. In this post, I want to explore this phenomenon from a student’s perspective.

Here are 7 subtle ways regular meditation can help us during our student life:

1. Awareness:

Often, we get lost in our feelings and in our thoughts. We go somewhere, but we’re not truly there. We see something, but we miss all the details. We stop listening to all the sounds around us. We filter out how our body is reacting to each event.

When you get out of your head, you come back to the world. For a student, this is extremely valuable. Learning the nuances of a craft, studying books properly and taking nonverbal cues from the professors demand a certain level of awareness.

Meditation, through enough practice, sparks a light of awareness inside you. It teaches you to stop and listen. To truly experience a moment instead of just barely skimming through it.

2. Mindfulness:

We let the chatter in our head go unexamined. This has terrible consequences. This creates a false sense of self in you that has no business inside your head. Its sole purpose is to survive and it will do that at your peril. Thus, students often get involved in activities that we know are bad for us.

When you start being more mindful about your thoughts, you start seeing unhelpful patterns. You start to understand yourself. You learn why you procrastinate and how to beat it. You understand why you like or hate the things you do.

3. Clarity

Most of us waste time doing the trivial. We watch TV, we binge on Netflix and we wage twitter wars. These are counter productive habits that do us way more harm than good.

As discussed in the first two points, meditation increases introspection. Thus, you get to know what is important to you and what is trivial. This knowledge is immensely helpful for young people at the start of their adult lives.

4. Focus

Lack of focus makes you unproductive. For peak productivity a student needs to incorporate intense focus in their studies and personal projects.

When you know what matters to you, you have the freedom to eliminate everything else. You can let go of the things that robs you of your precious time. Meditation aids in that process.

On top of that, meditation helps you to practice detachment. Thus, it becomes easier to let go the things you need to. Therefore, you become laser focused on the things you truly care about.

5. Integrity

When what you think matches what you do, you develop integrity. Without that you can never be truly yourself.

Meditation lets you observe your thoughts and thus facilitates integrity. Therefore, you start to embody what you stand for. You build character. You attract the right people in your life. You get opportunities that wouldn’t have come to you otherwise.

6. Patience

Patience is key for people who want to be a self-made success. Unless you inherited a fortune, your life is going to suck for quite a while. Getting through these times of hardship without quitting is crucial for success.

Sitting down and doing nothing for an extended period can be extremely boring. Yet, that is exactly what we do when we meditate. What better way is there to learn patience!

7. Self- Control

He who can not control his inner demon, is bound to suffer in the long run. Self-control is necessary to keep yourself from unwanted troubles.

The main theme of this whole article has been ‘choice’. Meditation, through building awareness into your internal world, replaces your ego from the driving sit and puts you in charge.

Thus, you develop the art of self-control which is crucial for your success as a student.

Hard work is overrated, do this instead

Extraordinary achievement is less about talent and more about special opportunity – Malcolm Gladwell.

21^st century civilization has stopped believing in the racist notions of ‘Good genes’ and ‘bad genes’. It used to be a very popular belief not so long ago. White people thought they were better than black people, Nazis deemed themselves better than the Jews and India was divided into ‘The Brahmans’ and ‘The Kshatriyas’, ‘The Vaishyas’ and ‘The Shudras’.

Now, when we see someone prosper, we take a different approach to justify it. We tend to assume that, the successful people are more hardworking. We think maybe they have made sacrifices that we failed to make.

This idea is way better than the former racist and culturist notions of ‘purity’. It has given us a solid blueprint of what it takes to be a better individual than the absurd notions of the past.

However, this modern way of thinking omits one of the biggest contributors to success- Luck.

This is Malcolm Gladwell. He has written several best sellers. In 2008, he published a book called Outliers.

(For those of you who don’t know what an outlier is: it’s the values that are very distant from the averages.)

Bill Gates is an outlier, The Beatles were an outlier, Lionel Messi is an outlier.

Outliers tend to outperform the masses by unfathomable margins. We the common people, can only dream about such results.

Malcolm digs deep into the lives of these types of people and finds out an uncomfortable truth. Luck plays an undeniable factor in their success.

Take Bill Gates for example. His school was very expensive and only wealthy parents could afford to get their children there. A mother’s club in the school, which had enormous funding set up a facility for computer programming, in the early 80’s, that most Universities didn’t have. This portal was extremely costly to access. But Gates having a rich mom, had no problem accessing it. When this facility was shut off, gates hung around University of Washington to practice coding as his house was at a walking distant from the U o W.

How many of us can expect to get such a head start? Malcolm’s book, which I urge you to read, is full of examples like this.

So, stop over idolizing the outliers and start looking for opportunities. What matters most in life is being in the right place in the right moment.

You don’t have to wait for luck to bring you the perfect opportunity. Go out there and look for opportunities. There are a lot of them hiding in plain sight.

(For starters, students can try: youthop.com

I’m sure there are many other online and offline resources out there to find you opportunities. Reach out to the local clubs, go to the toastmaster’s meetings, meet the Olympiad committees or just search for opportunities in your field in google. Even Facebook can help you find the right communities.)

( The title is there to catch eyeballs. I don’t mean to say hard work isn’t an essential factor for success. But it’s far from being the only one.)

Should you write a journal daily?

This question is very popular among the self-help types. To journal or not to journal? I say, you should. Every day. And not only that you should journal, but you should prioritize it among all the other self-improvement tools. Let’s discuss why.

Journaling is a form of documentation. It’s the art of documenting your life. If you’re not Casey Neistat, then probably your whole life is not recorded and uploaded to the internet daily. Journaling is then the easiest, hassle free way to record your daily actions and reactions.

Now why should you care about documenting your life? Because, that’s how you build integrity.

Your deepest desires, all the hate and jealousy you possess, every regrettable reaction that you acted out … these need to come to light.

When you write these on a paper, they will stare at you. Everyday. You’ll discover stuff about you that you didn’t know before. Thus, you’ll be presented the opportunity to get better today than you were yesterday.

And when one gloomy evening you are feeling depressed, just look at some of your journals from 6 months ago to see how far you’ve come. These pages will stay with you forever reminding you to be better today than you were yesterday.

 

5 habits that can improve your life

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity – James Clear

Habits have always been one of my fascinations. To understand their usefulness, you  have to know about compounding.

What is compounding? Compounding is the accumulation of outcomes. We compound interests in banks. Warren buffet became a billionaire by compounding his profits in the stock market.

Here’s a quote from the man himself:

You can see how much emphasis Buffet puts on reading, on knowledge and on compounding.

Habits lets you harness the power of compounding. You repeat your habits day after day after day. Thus, the outcomes build on top of one another.

Thus, to build muscle we workout at frequent intervals. You can’t just do extreme workout one day and expect to look like Jason Statham overnight.

That’s why experts forbid us to cram everything the night before an exam. Studying regularly, no matter how little, builds the knowledge into your psyche.

If I was successful in intriguing you about habits, then you may be wondering what some of the best habits are. Well, Everyone is at a unique stage of their life so it’s hard to recommend something that might help everyone. I will still try and find the common grounds. Here are my top 5:

1. Studying Smart

Much of our study time is wasted as we don’t know the proper ways of doing it. To really up your game and retain what you learn, you need to know these two concepts: ‘Spaced repetition’ and ‘Recall’.

It’s been proven by various studies that spaced reputation is the best way to study. It’s a simple concept where you revise your study material at frequent intervals. (If you wish for an app to facilitate this, you can use Anki. It’s available for both android and windows-PC.

the second concept is ‘to recall’. It’s famously known as the ‘Feynman technique’, as the legendary physicist Richard Feynman popularized it. The concept is to stop at frequent intervals while studying, and trying to convey what you just studied in your own words. You can do this by writing, saying it out loud, or through teaching someone else. For more clarification, watch the video here.

2. Blocking all entertainment

If you block your favorite sources of entertainment for a certain period of the day, you will be bored. This boredom can be your weapon.

When you have nothing better to do, you will start to seek action in any format. Soon you’ll start organizing your room, reading a book, or maybe writing down your thoughts.

You may go out and talk to someone, finish the project that you’ve been procrastination on, or start doing mild exercise.

No matter what, your day will be more productive than just scrolling through Facebook or watching random YouTube videos.

I recommend, you block all entertainment, which includes all social media, until evening.

3. Three sacred hours

This is my favorite habit. This is a habit that is apparently very popular among famous writers too.

Jordan Peterson used to isolate himself in a room for 3 hours everyday to write his first book.

Steven Pressfield also employs a similar tactic.

Stephen king once told George RR Martin that he writes 6 pages every day. (I guess in his case it’s 6 sacred pages! 😉)

Neil Gaiman also shares how he isolated himself when he needs to write. I discussed about his technique here.

The idea is simple. Create a list of things you want to get accomplished every day. Maybe you want to practice coding, learn a language, write fiction or read the news. It can be anything as long as it can be done (at least partially) within 25 minutes.

Then keep only 6 of these tasks and remove the others from this list. Every day, at a fixed time, start a pomodoro timer and get all 6 of these done. It will take you only 3 hours and you’ll never miss the things that are most important for your personal/ career growth.

If you think you can’t make 3 hours of space in your schedule, try 2 hours or even just one hour. The important thing here is repetition not quantity.

Also, see if you can make time by eliminating your social media presence.

I elaborate on the 3 sacred hours idea here.

 

4. Working out

We are so used to thinking about exercise as a physical phenomena that we forget its best benefits revolve around the brain. Working out cures depression, makes you more focused and helps you sleep well. Working out has even been linked to better memory. So it definitely should be a habit that you take on early in your life.

 

5. Morning Pages

Julia Cameron popularized this idea in her bestselling book ‘The Artists Way’.

Psychologist Conor Neil, in his TEDx Talk (with over 2million views!) advises journaling to increase intelligence. He is not the only psychologist whom I have heard being an ardent supporter of journaling either. Bill Williams, the famous psychologist turned stock trader is another person who pushes morning pages as a crucial factor for success.

The way I suggest you use morning pages is like this-

Write down the events that happened in the previous day. Record your actions and reactions. Once you do that, you’ll start to develop an idea of what you are doing right and where you have room for improvement.

Hope this helps!

 

My Top 10 Tips for a Productive Day

Here are my top 10 tips for a productive day:

1. Energy:

First and foremost, you need energy. A tired mind/body is not going to have a productive day. Learn to sleep earlier and sleep better. Do a little cardio after you wake up. Drink plenty water throughout the day.

2. Length:

Always use pomodoro. It can be for 25 minutes or 1 hour. But, never longer than that for one session. You should always know exactly when you are going to stop. Keep a stopwatch beside you. Whenever you feel bored or feel like giving up, just look at the stopwatch and tell yourself, “Hey, let’s keep at it for just 15 more minutes.” Your mind will be less likely to rebel against that vs if you didn’t know when you are going to stop.

3. Time:

Not every task is suitable for every waking hour of the day. Learn about chronobiology. Solve math problems in the morning. Do something creative in the afternoon. Alternatively, you may exercise in the afternoon. Take a nap between 1 and 3 pm.

4. Ease:

There’s always a difference between what you should and what you could do. Maybe you want to write a novel, but don’t have the discipline to do so. Well, then write a one-page story first. Make sure you sit down to write for only 25 minutes every day. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll be ready to tackle bigger projects and longer work hours. So, always start easy. Don’t bite more than you can chew.

5. Simplicity:

Tasks in your to-do list must be simple. Don’t complicate them. Don’t plan to write the most amazing thriller where the hero is the villain. Rather, plan to sit down for 25 minutes with pen and paper.

6. Focus:

Focus is a fail-proof trick that forces you to be productive. Have as little things to do in your day as possible. Eliminate/ hide all distractions. You need to prepare for each task like you’d before entering an exam hall. Keep your phone somewhere else and forget everything else you’ll have to do after these 25 minutes.

7. Organize:

What are you going to do first? How many minutes will you take rest? Do you have enough water with you? Is your stopwatch with you? Will you run out of pages to write?

Always take a second to check if everything is in order.

8. Improvise:

Not every problem requires the same solution. Yet, we often get stuck at a particular way of thinking. Let’s say you have too much work to fit your to do list. To make sure you get these extra works done, you must innovate.

Can you tackle some tasks in the car?. Tasks like listening to a podcast, learning a new language, transcribing your blog post etc. can be done on the road.

Could you find someone else to do it?

Could you merge two tasks together? i.e. listening to an audio book while playing games etc.

9. Eliminate:

You can’t get everything done in a single day. You must sacrifice what is of less importance to you. You must sacrifice the trivial for the sake of what’s meaningful to you.

Uninstall social media apps, remove gaming from your schedule, restrict the time you are on YouTube.

10. Environment:

Environment can either distract you or aid you to focus. As we now know,it’s better to keep the marshmallows out of site than to use willpower for avoiding them. Keep your dumbbells where you can see them. Put the book you want to read on the bedside table. Put all the sweet cookies out of sight. Design your environment for success.

 

Bonus Tips (Because Why Not!)

11. Push:

When nothing else works, just take one step. Don’t want to work out? Then do one pushup and one sit-up everyday until you can muster the will to do more. Don’t feel like studying? Read just one paragraph every day.

12. Learn:

There’s a lot to learn about productivity. We don’t come to this world with a manual on how to properly use our body and mind. That’s what Tim Ferris, Barbara Oakley, Jordan B Peterson, Stephen Pressfield and other thinkers/ researchers are for. Learn from them. Always be a student of great minds.

I hope you find these ideas helpful. Best of luck!