A Regular Schedule Is Not the Same as a Healthy Schedule
My schedule has always been relatively regular. Previously, my study time was mostly concentrated from noon to before 11:30 p.m. Before 12 p.m., it was basically a relatively relaxed period: sleeping, attending classes, or doing things that did not consume much energy. After eating at 11:30, I would officially enter study mode.
This arrangement was indeed efficient in the short term, but after a long time, the body slowly began to send signals of fatigue.
Later I realized that a regular schedule is not necessarily a healthy schedule. Long-term late waking, late studying, and late sleeping may be stable in daily rhythm, but they are not necessarily friendly to the brain and body.
Therefore, I plan to adjust to a healthier rhythm: get up at 7:30 every day, start studying at 9, eat at 11:40, then rest until 2:30 in the afternoon, and continue studying until 10:30 at night. In any case, I must leave the lab before 10:30 to avoid keeping my body in a state of excessive fatigue for a long time.
Calculated this way, the total study time is about 10 hours and 40 minutes, a little more than the previous 10 hours and 30 minutes. Of course, this does not mean I must always maintain such long high-intensity study. If the truly effective study time reaches about 9 hours, that is already very good.
Energy Management Matters More Than Time Management
Some people seem to have a lot of time, but a large part of it is actually “garbage time.” During those hours, they do not have enough energy. Their minds are dull and their attention is scattered. Even if they sit there, it is difficult to produce high-quality learning results.
So I increasingly feel that energy management is more important than simple time management. Without energy, learning efficiency will definitely drop.
I have also seen many bloggers share methods of energy management, such as the Pomodoro technique, ensuring sleep, eating snacks to replenish energy, and so on. These certainly make some sense, but for me, their effect is not as great as imagined.
My own experience is that instead of constantly reminding myself “what I should do,” it is better to first clarify “what I should not do.” The most important things are: do not stay up late scrolling on the phone, do not frequently scroll on the phone during the day, and do not spend large amounts of time on games and short videos. They are almost double killers of energy and time.
As long as these sources of consumption are avoided, energy naturally becomes much more abundant. Combined with a long enough block of usable time, the efficiency of study and work improves significantly.
Therefore, I have almost quit scrolling on my phone before sleep. Human self-control is limited, so it is best not to bring the phone to bed. I can directly wear earphones and listen to an English podcast, then fall asleep before 11:40.
The same is true during the day. If I can avoid looking at the phone, I should avoid it as much as possible, especially during rest. Many people think, “I am resting now, so looking at my phone will help me relax.” But in reality, this is often a misunderstanding. Scrolling on the phone does not truly restore energy. Instead, it makes people more and more tired.
What If a Plan Cannot Move Forward?
Sometimes, a task can block a person for a long time, even several days.
This happens often not because the person is not working hard, but because the task itself has not been refined enough. I once tried breaking a complex task into 10 smaller tasks, and progress became much smoother.
This is a very valuable experience. It made me realize that solving problems and pushing tasks forward actually require a reusable paradigm.
Musk once spent more than 100,000 dollars hiring a lecturer to train employees. The core idea that lecturer kept emphasizing could be summarized in four Chinese characters: refine the task.