Raphael Kang .com

1. "Work hard" and "I am so busy." are cliche.

Everyone works hard. What does "work hard" mean anyway?

Do we really work hard? How does one decide who works hard or not? Cause pulling an all-nighter can make you feel like you worked hard. Staying at the library everyday the week before your exam can make you feel like you worked hard. How do you measure "working hard?"

These days, it seems cool to be busy and stressed all the time. But are we really that busy?

2. "Work smart, not hard." is also nonsense.

What does that mean? It makes it sound as if people have a "secret formula" of studying that the average or below-average students don't have. I've been in both groups - the above average (3.7+ GPA), and below-average (below 2.5 GPA) and "working smart" had nothing to do with the former.

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Couple days ago, my friend said this to me: "There's no one who's better at setting a goal, planning out what to do, and executing than you."

I dismissed it as nonsense.

But I came home and thought about it. And realized something.

Every time I had done something that I can be proud of, I had done the following.

I identified what I needed to do. I wrote down step by step, what I needed to do to accomplish, and I recorded it and stayed accountable to it.

That is why I have My Goals. More than anything, it's for me. You might ask why I have it on a blog. I don't want to put it on my Desktop cause I might lose the file. Plus, my little brother and my family get to see it.

Will this work for everybody? Not in the exact way I did it.

But say, for example, one needed to study for a mid-term. I'll use my finance mid-term for example.

I would:

1) Review the Notes - 10 hours.
2) Skim book for parts to add to the Notes - 4 hours
3) Do practice problems - 4 hours
4) Do mock mid-term problems - 4 hours

By the time I finish all 4, I more or less feel ready for an exam. If I don't, I'd go back and study some more. And the results have been satisfactory every time I did this.

If I look at anyone that I respect greatly, they always have a "plan" when it comes to studying (though they might exactly call it that.) They have patterns and ways of studying for and doing things that are consistent for each subject category: literature/writing, math/finance, etc.

My point: Planned, measured, and sustained / consistent work pays. Every time.

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Tomorrow: NYC / NYU - Reflections - Part 3