Four Lessons from My Expeditions in Learning

Having just finished my penultimate year of undergrad and preparing for postgrad applications, I've been reflecting on my academic experience and I thought that I'd share a few of the big lessons that I've learned so far. These are things that influence my work and have helped me progress in a lot of ways. I think that it's really important to keep track of the techniques and habits that you develop as you prepare for your future career, so here is a handful of my mine.

1. You don't have to do things the same way that seasoned academics do.

Being inspired and guided by your lecturers is the best place to start, but don't feel limited by this. When you're a fresher and just beginning your academic journey, using your teachers rather than your peers as role models is the key to success. You will grow out of their way of doing things, though, and that's okay - even important. It's like having the training wheels taken off the day that you think your lecturer who you have always revered is completely incorrect about something and that you can prove them wrong through your own work. This kind of independence is what they want to see. Soon they'll start to respect you as an intellectual equal, and that's when you will have your best discussions and debates.

2. Establish a strong calendar system.

I'm a major fan of time management. I start and end my days with lists. There are numerous calendar, list, and reminder apps on my Android devices to suit every purpose of a busy life. There is absolutely no way that you can do your best work without planning your time. Start at the beginning of term, or even better - start now. Mark your deadlines in your calendar; figure out how many weeks it'll take to complete your reading; schedule in your work commitments, social events, and extracurricular activities.

3. Study skills should be allowed to evolve organically.

When I was a few weeks into my second year, I realised that I wasn't reading the heavy amount of secondary material that I did in first year or doing much group work like during the previous term. This scared me a lot, but I did well in first year and now that I was working differently I was worried that I might be headed down the wrong path. What was really happening was that I was instinctively adjusting my study routine as I became more confident in both my work and the material. You should only force your study techniques in so far as you need to meet your deadlines and make sure you cover all the required material, but that's essentially an issue of time management. Your intellectual development should be guided by time management; beyond that, it should evolve freely. Experiment, screw up a little, change over and over again. Reading, learning, and understanding is, in a lot of ways, a very ambiguous and indefinite process. Don't hinder it.

4. Don't listen when people tell you that your idea won't work or that it's not possible for you to achieve something.

People tell me my ideas and projects are unfeasible all the time. I rarely listen to them. It's difficult to express theoretical concepts before you've actually executed them in writing, so often when you share your ideas with others they will tell you it's too confusing, too tenuous, or just generally stupid. I take such feedback as encouragement to work on tightening up my thesis and the structure of my argument until it does make sense to my peers. Trust your own intellectual abilities. If you aren't convinced that you can prove yourself, no one else will be. However: if a lecturer tells you that a technical aspect of an assignment won't work, you should definitely listen to them.