Hey everyone, happy Monday～ This week's journal is a bit late because I spent the weekend enjoying a feast at my relatives' house😛.
This time, I will share one insight from life and one from work.
1 Start a New Day with a Little Sweat#
The best state for drinking is a slight buzz, and the best state for morning exercise should be a little sweat～
Starting this week, I have adjusted my morning and evening biological clock 30 minutes earlier. After getting up in the morning, I follow a certain exercise app Kxxp to work out for 20-30 minutes (I bought a membership that provides a weekly plan, spending money for peace of mind), and after sweating, I take a shower.
Thus, I officially start a new day.
This "little sweat startup mode" instantly dispels the morning grumpiness and awakens the body that is still in "sleep mode."
Actually, I usually go to the gym to work out, so why did I suddenly want to add morning exercise?
- One reason is that I happened to see a video where many big names run or work out in the morning (like Cook, Wang Shi, Fan Deng, Luo Zhenyu, etc.), saying that it can lead to a state of flow, and when they stop, their work state will be better.
I was curious about the feeling of this state, so I decided to take action.
- The second reason is that I saw a sentence in the article "Avoid Dual-Line Operations When Making Career Choices" that further strengthened my determination:
“Health is 1, and the remaining wealth, reputation, status, etc., are all 0s that come after it.”
The author suggests that when making most choices, we should not sacrifice health (like for a high salary), and investing in health will never be a loss.
I completely agree because I have indeed benefited a lot from this fitness habit, such as having more energy and better sleep quality.
Although I haven't found the feeling of flow yet, after implementing it this week, I believe the benefits of the "little sweat startup mode" are:
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Enjoying the feeling of relaxation after a little sweat, making me more focused at work.
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Encouraging myself to develop the habit of going to bed early. Reducing ineffective time before sleep (like watching random stuff), otherwise, the morning exercise plan might be ruined. Even if I still procrastinate for various reasons, I still go to bed earlier than before.
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Improving cardiovascular fitness. Most of my workouts at the gym are anaerobic, so adding some aerobic exercise in the morning can fill the gap in cardiovascular training.
2 Two Tips to Share#
Last week, I completed a sharing session within my team. Although I prepared for this sharing more than half a month in advance, I was still making the initial version of the PPT just one hour before the sharing, so I still had significant issues with time allocation for this preparation🤔.
What caused my procrastination?
For me, the procrastination was actually due to my lack of mastery over the technology I was about to share, making it hard to pinpoint the entry point for the sharing. Thus, I kept inputting knowledge but delayed outputting it onto the PPT.
However, I eventually completed the PPT in a short time. Besides having an outline to guide me (preparing an outline in advance, goal-oriented🎯) and the MVP mindset (Minimum Viable Product, minimizing unimportant content👀, because completing is better than perfect), what other techniques did I use?
Here are two tips for you to reference:
1) Use images as clues. Search for relevant knowledge points in the image section of Google search engine. While browsing quickly, you can identify their commonalities, which often represent the core content of that knowledge point.
This is similar to looking at the table of contents of a knowledge book first; generally, it's not advisable to get bogged down in details right away.
Good books usually have a clear and logically connected table of contents; the same goes for good articles. If you find excellent flowcharts or structure diagrams, you are likely to have found a good article (usually clicking on the searched images will redirect you to the image source～).
2) Practice, practice, practice. No amount of reading is better than hands-on practice. Generally, for technical knowledge, you can find practical methods online.
For example, in computer knowledge, the practical method is usually writing code.
When learning some challenging and in-depth knowledge, first find the corresponding demo, starting from the most basic and simple practice, progressing step by step. You don't have to "eat like a big fat guy" right from the start.
Additionally, it's best to type the code yourself rather than being a C-V engineer.
If this process isn't smooth sailing, then congratulations, because in the process of encountering problems and solving them, you will definitely gain a deeper understanding of that knowledge.
I once gained similar insights while reading the article "If Learning Efficiency Is Low, Try a Different Approach", which stated:
“Quickly practice, gain positive feedback, and then go back to solidify the foundation; this is actually not a bad approach.”
➕) There’s also a technique I didn’t use well this time: external accountability.
Agreeing with a senior or someone close to you to review the PPT content a few days in advance gives you some buffer time and allows you to foresee risks.
But be careful with this "a few days in advance"; it shouldn't be too early:
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One reason is that it might not be realistic time-wise, and you may not complete it;
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The second reason is that if it's too early, both parties are likely to forget or not take it seriously because it’s still early (don’t ask me how I know👀).
So here I suggest that a one to two-day advance review is sufficient for general sharing.
Alright, that's all for this time. Are you ready for the new week? The last week before National Day! 🇨🇳