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How To Manage Your Time As A Student

2022-10-08 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 14:14 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: Learning and studying, Goals, purpose and life design, Health, sleep and habits, Mindset, motivation and happiness) · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Aimed at students, His medical past, Sponsor segment present

Ali gives students 12 time-management tips from his school and university years: avoid cramming and learn to study effectively, experiment with self-care time, plan an ideal ordinary week, scrap revision timetables, watch TV only socially, keep a 2 a.m. curfew, run life from a calendar and schedule everything, welcome distractions from friends, study in the holidays, and choose to be satisfied with your day.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Tips 12 and 11: avoid cramming and learn how to study effectively

  • ★★★ Ali's 12th tip for students is to avoid cramming: four hours of cramming the night before an exam is far less efficient than four hours of study spread over weeks or months. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Ali's 11th tip is to learn how to study effectively, which he says no one ever teaches us at school or university. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Ali picked up how to study effectively in his second year of medical school, from an optional psychology lecture on the science of memory. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Applying active recall and spaced repetition freed up tons of Ali's time at university, and he wishes he had known these strategies at school too. — 00:00:58 · active recall, spaced repetition
  • ★★ Ali recommends his friend Unjaded Jade's book The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need, in which he features with a paragraph on spaced repetition. — 00:01:27 · spaced repetition

00:01:42 — Tip 10: be experimental about your self-care time

  • ★★★ Ali's 10th tip is to experiment with how much self-care time you need: if you think you need three hours of TV each night, try two and a half one night and see how you feel. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Ali is sure that at the end of university, what students regret not doing is taking part in different activities and trying out different things. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Ali says students, and adults too, tend to waste a lot of time under the guise of self-care, though he calls self-care an important part of avoiding burnout. — 00:02:26

00:03:21 — Tip 9: your ideal ordinary week as a student

  • ★★★ Ali's ninth tip is to work out your ideal ordinary week as a student, fast-forwarding your calendar to a blank slot, and compare it with how you actually spend your time now. — 00:03:21
  • ★★ As a student, Ali's ideal week had no TV unless social and no random scrolling, but more reading; yet he did a lot of the former and made no time for reading. — 00:03:44

00:04:00 — Tip 8: scrap revision timetables for the retrospective revision timetable

  • ★★★ Ali's eighth tip is to scrap revision timetables: he calls them a waste of time and a way to procrastinate, which feel good to plan but are not followed. — 00:04:13
  • ★★★ Instead, Ali recommends his retrospective revision timetable, which he still uses whenever he needs to study anything and finds more efficient and enjoyable than any revision timetable he has tried. — 00:04:35 · spaced repetition

00:05:00 — Tip 7: no TV unless it is a social activity

  • ★★★ Ali's seventh tip: at university he made a rule not to watch TV unless it was a social activity, which freed up hours he had wasted at school on shows such as Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy. — 00:05:05
  • ★★ At university Ali held weekly Game of Thrones nights in his room with friends, a projector and pizza, some of his happiest times there. — 00:05:05 · Game of Thrones
  • ★★ Ali does not regret seeing fewer TV shows at university and is glad he spent the time on his YouTube channel, learning to code and other skills, and studying without stress. — 00:05:46
  • ★★★ Ali's sixth tip is the rule that nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m., which he thinks comes from How I Met Your Mother and first learned in his second year of university. — 00:05:46

00:05:57 — Tip 6: nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m.

  • ★★ Ali thinks the deep conversations happen between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.; staying up later only leaves you exhausted for the next day's lectures. — 00:06:15
  • ★★★ Ali's fifth tip is to use a calendar and run your life religiously from it. — 00:06:15

00:06:35 — Tips 5 and 4: run your life from a calendar and schedule everything

  • ★★ A broadly accurate calendar lets you see whether you really have time for something, Ali says, instead of beating yourself up over the 100 things you think you should be doing. — 00:06:44
  • ★★★ Ali's fourth tip is to schedule absolutely everything, from classes and sport to social events and even travel time, so the small pockets of time it frees can be used intentionally. — 00:07:25
  • ★★ Ali tries not to squander short gaps between classes: 12 minutes here and there could go on reviewing flashcards or notes, or a walk around the block, rather than scrolling social media. — 00:08:23
  • ★★★ Ali tells himself that we can always make more money but never more time, so he asks why he would squander his time on things he does not genuinely want to do. — 00:08:23
  • ★★ Ali says he is not anti-social media, having built a career on it, but favours using time as intentionally as possible. — 00:08:52

00:09:18 — Tip 3: embrace welcome distractions

  • ★★★ Ali's third tip is to embrace welcome distractions: at university he propped his door open with a $5 doorstop, one of his best purchases, so friends could drop in for a chat or tea. — 00:09:21
  • ★★★ Ali remembers no time spent studying but does remember moments with friends, and thinks productivity and time management should not come at the expense of friendships and relationships. — 00:09:51 · time management

00:10:13 — Skillshare sponsor read

00:11:38 — Tip 2: use the holidays to study

  • ★★★ Ali's second tip is to use school and university holidays to study: at medical school he gave term time to socialising and studied in the holidays at the local library. — 00:11:48
  • ★ At medical school Ali had six-week holidays and tended to fall behind in term time, finding it genuinely hard to keep on top of lectures. — 00:11:48
  • ★★ Ali is glad he followed this formula through his six years of medical school, as it let him spend loads of time with friends and on clubs and societies. — 00:12:17

00:12:41 — Tip 1: choose to be satisfied with how you spent your time

  • ★★ Ali realised fairly recently that beating himself up does not change how much work he did; it only makes him feel bad for the evening and struggle to sleep. — 00:12:46
  • ★★★ Ali's first tip is that, however much studying or socialising you managed, you can simply choose to be satisfied with your day at the end of it. — 00:13:35 · choose to be satisfied

Threads in this video

  • restate · Should you cram or study a little every day? — Ali's 12th tip for students is to avoid cramming: four hours of cramming the night before an exam is far less efficient than four hours of study spread over weeks or months. (00:00:00)
  • restate · How do you study effectively for exams? — Applying active recall and spaced repetition freed up tons of Ali's time at university, and he wishes he had known these strategies at school too. (00:00:58)
  • refine · Should you watch TV? — Ali's 10th tip is to experiment with how much self-care time you need: if you think you need three hours of TV each night, try two and a half one night and see how you feel. (00:02:26)
  • restate · How do you design the life you want? — Ali's ninth tip is to work out your ideal ordinary week as a student, fast-forwarding your calendar to a blank slot, and compare it with how you actually spend your time now. (00:03:21)
  • refine · Should you cram or study a little every day? — Instead, Ali recommends his retrospective revision timetable, which he still uses whenever he needs to study anything and finds more efficient and enjoyable than any revision timetable he has tried. (00:04:35)
  • restate · Should you watch TV? — Ali's seventh tip: at university he made a rule not to watch TV unless it was a social activity, which freed up hours he had wasted at school on shows such as Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy. (00:05:05)
  • restate · How do you sleep better? — Ali's sixth tip is the rule that nothing good ever happens after 2 a.m., which he thinks comes from How I Met Your Mother and first learned in his second year of university. (00:05:46)
  • restate · Should you time-block your calendar? — Ali's fifth tip is to use a calendar and run your life religiously from it. (00:06:15)
  • refine · Should you time-block your calendar? — Ali's fourth tip is to schedule absolutely everything, from classes and sport to social events and even travel time, so the small pockets of time it frees can be used intentionally. (00:07:25)
  • refine · How do you stop your phone and social media from eating your time? — Ali tries not to squander short gaps between classes: 12 minutes here and there could go on reviewing flashcards or notes, or a walk around the block, rather than scrolling social media. (00:08:23)
  • restate · How do you make the most of university? — Ali's third tip is to embrace welcome distractions: at university he propped his door open with a $5 doorstop, one of his best purchases, so friends could drop in for a chat or tea. (00:09:21)
  • refine · How do you make the most of university? — Ali's second tip is to use school and university holidays to study: at medical school he gave term time to socialising and studied in the holidays at the local library. (00:11:48)
  • restate · How do you become happier? — Ali's first tip is that, however much studying or socialising you managed, you can simply choose to be satisfied with your day at the end of it. (00:13:35)
  • restate · How much is your time worth? — Ali tells himself that we can always make more money but never more time, so he asks why he would squander his time on things he does not genuinely want to do. (00:08:23)
  • restate · How do you keep friendships and avoid loneliness? — Ali remembers no time spent studying but does remember moments with friends, and thinks productivity and time management should not come at the expense of friendships and relationships. (00:09:51)
  • refine · How do you avoid regrets in life? — Ali is sure that at the end of university, what students regret not doing is taking part in different activities and trying out different things. (00:02:26)

Mentioned

Central: choose to be satisfied · ideal ordinary week · time management

Also: People: Taimur Abdaal · Unjaded Jade

Works: 90210 · Game of Thrones · Gossip Girl · Grey's Anatomy · How I Met Your Mother · The Office · The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need · The Vampire Diaries

Organizations: Instagram · TikTok

Concepts: active recall · spaced repetition

Products: Google Calendar

Also centred on ideal ordinary week: How To Figure Out What You Want To Do With Your Life · How to Figure Out What to Do With Your Life #shorts

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