Brendan Baker
Studytime self-nudges
Avoid distractions and stay healthy
It’s crunch time for me and my classmates at SBS. Time to master finance, economics, marketing, strategy, decision science (aka statistics) and financial reporting in a week before exams start to hit one after the other. It makes for days of full, focused study, one after the other.
I know through this that I need to make progress through the material while maintaining my health (a huge thing in Oxford, where people come from around the world to engage in a particularly intense life), and not dropping the most important non-school stuff. I also know that I’m not naturally good at this, without a little help. So I help myself, with compensating nudges. Some examples:
- I’ve created a little colour-coded spreadsheet, so I get the satisfaction of changing tasks to green as they are done (ex: Finance, problem set 1, Marketing practice exam…). This almost makes finishing an accounting problem set fun. Almost.
- I keep healthy food within arm’s reach, so I can reach for the banana chips when hungry, instead of another avocado melt. Same thing with the multivitamins.
- I’ve been rotating through environments. My 600+ year old college library is a good one, with little but dusty books and the sound of oil trickling through the heaters. No internet either. It’s pretty hard to get distracted in there.
- Ive nailed the music soundtrack. Only 9 songs from Bonobo, Phoenix, Cinematic Orchestra and Zero 7. It plays in rotation for hours in the background. I suspect if these songs now came on in the car at home, I’ll start instinctively working through the capital asset pricing model on the window fog. If I’m too tired for this mix, I jack it up with Daft Punk or Alexisonfire. That gets things done. This has now approached Pavlovian response whenever one of the songs comes on.
- In order to keep growing the First Drop community as we move towards launch (one of the few things that can’t wait for exams), I’ve made sure the Facebook Group is number two on my firefox toolbar. Thus I instinctively click it when procrastinating, checking group progress and adding articles, where I once neglected it. By being the second toolbar link, it has become top of mind, where it needs to be.
My friend has gone a step further, locking up his laptop and installing himself on the other side of town. Good stuff.
None of this is new. We all set up little systems to help us subconsciously shift behaviour. What are your tricks?
Dealing with group work
MBA programs are chock full of group work. I suppose this is to simulate the real world. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the number of people that can’t seem to work in a group. Oxford being 95 per cent international, I fittingly have a Ukranian/American, Peruvian and South African in my current group, [...]
MBA programs are chock full of group work. I suppose this is to simulate the real world. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the number of people that can’t seem to work in a group.
Oxford being 95 per cent international, I fittingly have a Ukranian/American, Peruvian and South African in my current group, which stays together over 8 projects and 3 months. Our experience? Peace and relative productivity. For that I am thankful. Very thankful.
Still, it astounds me when I hear about other groups with frequent decompression meetings, or groups where, after one minor assignment, certain members aren’t talking. I can’t say this happened very often to me in the real world, whether Ethiopia, the UK or Canada. Am I simply surrounding myself with good people? I’d like to think so, but maybe I’ve also been lucky.
Our admin suggested a few months ago that we plan to work for some later projects with people we select. I thought, well, it’ll be hard to tell who works well, won’t it?
Apparently not.
And the first wave hits
Oxford is a pleasant place. beautiful buildings, nice weather (at least this year), style with substance. It’s easy to enjoy it. Too much even. Distraction comes easily. These MBAs are interesting people. Forty-eight countries are represented in my class, and about 95 per cent of the class is international. There are few of the jerks [...]
Oxford is a pleasant place. beautiful buildings, nice weather (at least this year), style with substance. It’s easy to enjoy it. Too much even. Distraction comes easily.
These MBAs are interesting people. Forty-eight countries are represented in my class, and about 95 per cent of the class is international. There are few of the jerks (or, let’s say, overly ambitious students) rumoured to inhabit MBA programmes. People are friendly, engaging, cooperative. It’s easy to enjoy it, maybe even too much. You guessed it: more distractions.
Much of the class seemed to be enjoying this shoreline view, the panorama of opportunity and plethora of options. Then the wave of Week 2 caught us in the face with full force (Oxford’s weeks are labelled not by dates but as 1, 2 and so on). All of the sudden everyone was behind. Everyone was scrambling to catch up. Everyone was… not drowning, but at least realizing that this is a course not to be taken lightly, that accelerates rapidly as everyone is still getting their bearings. Support classes and the library filled up. Plans for rowing, debating and networking events were reduced. Priorities were set.
I suspect part of the value of an MBA, especially a one-year version, comes from having to relentlessly focus and prioritise, leaving less important issues behind without a second thought. It’s good training.
Welcome to the world of Harry Potter
Oxford matriculation is an event unlike any other
It has been nearly 18 months since I first decided to head to Oxford to do an MBA. Since then, I’ve graduated from one Harry Potterish institution, and worked hard to get to another for different reasons. I’ve tried to fund it by asking 30,000 people (and eventually given the money to two fantastic nonprofits) and asking the bank (more dependable, but much less fun). I’ve started one organization, and one Ethiopian office for another. I’ve taken tests and prepared applications. Obtained visas and passports, plane tickets and preparation material.
The road to Oxford to undertake this MBA has been a long and eventful one. Finally, yesterday, my arrival was embodied by matriculation, the process of formally joining the university. Starting at our constituent colleges (mine is Oriel), we wound our way through the crowds and narrow streets to the Sheldonian Theatre where, assembled over 270 degrees and two levels and dressed in gowned subfusc, we were greeted by the Vice Chancellor in both Latin and English.
But not before the rambunctious freshers decided to give the wave. I was entertained by the sight of a couple thousand new students throwing their hands up in sequence in this 350 year old theatre, as the attendants looked on disaproovingly. I joined in, of course. After the ceremony, we filed out, down wooden seats and creaking spiral wooden staricases and into the town.
There’s an odd feeling one gets upon leaving the induction ceremony for an 800-year-old institution, dressed in black gown and white bow tie, bathed in the early afternoon sunshine. There’s a small amount of pride, thankfully countered by a humility in the face of its history. There’s satisfaction in having finally made it to Oxford, with the realization of the opportunity that awaits. There’s a slight disbelief with the whole scenario, and gratitude for being able to be here, now, doing an MBA at Oxford.
This will be an interesting year. By all accounts, it will be incredibly intense. As Oxford is, the year will be sometimes surreal, sometimes a haze, sometimes sheltered from the real world, sometimes triumphant, sometimes euphoric. There’s a lot to it: life in an Oxford college, the MBA itself, the new networks, the opportunities bred by the experience. Throughout I’ll try to describe it as well as possible, be enthusiastic when appropriate and critical when necessary. I look forward to sharing it with you.
Heading to Oxford
Hey Everyone, My name’s Brendan, and I’m a recovering engineer… ..eerrr, let’s start that again, shall we? Well my name is Brendan, and I have been an engineer. Studied as an engineer at UBC. Worked as an engineer in Canada. But it wasn’t long before I felt other areas pulling my attention away. I’m also [...]
Hey Everyone,
My name’s Brendan, and I’m a recovering engineer…
..eerrr, let’s start that again, shall we?
Well my name is Brendan, and I have been an engineer. Studied as an engineer at UBC. Worked as an engineer in Canada. But it wasn’t long before I felt other areas pulling my attention away. I’m also a fairly socially-motivated person, and I basically concluded that I could have more impact in business development and entrepreneurialism than while working as an engineer. More chance to build something world-changing. That kind of thing. So I’m heading to Oxford in a few months, to take the MBA, with a focus on social entrepreneurship.
It’s been a long path to get here. Like many 20-somethings I know, I’ve struggled with my career path at times. In my case, it’s been an attempt to reconcile a love of the technical with a desire to tackle tough social challenges. This sometimes translates into a conflict between micro and macro approaches. It has led to a fair amount of work with Engineers Without Borders, both in Africa and Canada (a fantastic organization, and very likely strong at your university), as well as work with other organizations working in the area of appropriate technology. Before starting at Oxford, I’ll finish up with Practica Foundation in Ethiopia, where I’ve been working to set up an office over the past year.
I’m excited about Oxford. It’s been a long time coming. I started thinking about it almost two years ago, while taking courses at Cambridge. I decided that it was the right path, and set about trying to get there. Actually, for an MBA, the tough part is trying to pay for it, especially if your aims are more… say, social than financial. But the more I thought about it, the more I realize that my career goals, to start and grow various socially-minded organizations, would seriously benefit from the skills and credibility of an MBA. So I’m biting the bullet.
Oxford is an odd place, chock full of tradition and Harry Potter-ness. Anyone accepted by the 800+ year old university for study must also be accepted by a college, which forms a social network, support and accommodation. I’ll be joining Oriel College a mid-sized College established in 1324. Yep. 1324. My college is almost five times as old as our country. It’s an odd feeling for a Canadian.
I’ll leave it at that for now, and will check back in in the next few weeks as I get everything prepared to head to Oxford. Feel free to fire me any questions, either here or via my personal blog. I’ll do what I can to answer quickly.
Cheers,
B
- photo courtesy of Monica
