All Posts Tagged With: "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?
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.
