When, Where, and Who to Learn CS

Computer Science has already begun to surprise me. It's almost like a political stance, a religion, or an exercise regimen - everyone has something to say about the field and the right way of getting into it. I mean, I'm used to people calling my ideas crazy - learning thousands of kanji starting in English, becoming a translator in a few months, following the Slow Carb Diet... these were all counter-intuitive plans that didn't work exactly as predicted, and I found a way to pull them off in the end. But damn, sometimes I really feel like I'm living in a dream world. lol Ultimately I prefer to experiment and try things out rather than argue about feasibility because my real plan is "action." As long as I'm moving forward, I'm okay with failing towards my goal. The perfect plan that you don't follow is infinitely worse than the decent plan that you do. I'm not all about that risk-averse life. Don't get me wrong, I am open to talking about the details of my plans, just make sure you have your argument down before you come to me. For example,

• I know IT, and those certifications won't get you a job.
• I know CS, and you're wasting your time building up a technical resume using IT.
• I know CS work, and you don't need a master's, you need x (bachelor's, boot camp, self-study, etc.).
• I know human behavior, and you would be better suited toward x (IS, IT, etc.) instead of CS.

For the one or two of you who have read my posts about time management techniques, the following post will look very familiar. I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here, but rather leverage what I've already figured out about myself and accomplishing goals to get things done efficiently and, perhaps, with some effectiveness. We have the why and the what, and now I'll be getting into the when, where, and who of my dream to learn Computer Science. This involves creating good habits and tweaking the environment to nurture progress over time.

I always start with fixing up a clean Unschedule. I'm the type of guy who works best when I've already determined what I need to do for the week and can just run from task to task without worrying about my forgetful nature. The Unschedule does a fantastic job of showing me a full 24-hour view of 6/7 days of my week. NO SPONTANEITY ALLOWED. :p All the props for the Unschedule idea go to Neil Fiore who wrote Now Habit - it involves creating a schedule that starts with adding your leisure activities to enjoy a fulfilled life (reading, seeing friends, exercise) and then adding things that need to get done (sleep, chores, job). You should be left with some empty spaces, which is the REAL time you have to get things done towards your goal. Below is a look at my current 2-week schedule. It's all in Japanese, but here's what you need to pay attention to: the red times are possible learning times. I'm trying to avoid stiff, required learning times, but I should have 1.5-3 hours of free time each night during the week, 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday, and 2 hours on my off Friday to reach an average of 20 hours per week.

To break those 20 hours down, I will use Timeboxing in any way that I can. Essentially this involves setting timers for up to 30 minutes blocks, and maintaining concentration during that period at as high a level as possible. When the timer goes off you take a quick break, do something really fun, and jump back in. The key is finding a time limit that gets you into your Flow state, focusing on the task HERE and NOW. It's difficult to say at this point whether I'll be able to stop or speed up parts of the training, but attempting to do this will be too good an opportunity to pass up. Every week I'll print out a "blank" schedule and fill in each 30 minute timeboxing block by hand until I have 1,200 minutes or more each week. It's not the years, months, days, or even hours you've trained - I'm all about dem minutes.

The next logical step (for someone as obsessed as me, anyway) is to step out of the micro-view of time management and to create a Goal Calendar based on the macro-view. I use this to track my progress everyday, and eventually see everything I did from beginning to end in order to maintain confidence, direction, and enjoyment. My sub-goal is obtaining IT certifications, and I'll be focusing on that between 5/29/16 and 8/20/16. The metric will be hours of study; 111 (A+) + 91 (Security+) = 202 hours to be exact.
Goal: 202 hours
Daily goal: 202 / (37 + 30 = 67 days of trainings) = ~3 hours
Weekly goal: 3 * 7 days = 21 hours
Monthly goal: 21 * 4.5 weeks = ~95 hours
Right now: 30 minutes
Note that because time is limited and I'm trying to complete the entire training rather than learn on my own, I will not be calculating for "action time" (as I explained in my original post) that involves earning 1 "non-habit / 不習慣" free day for every 6 completed habit days (effectively lengthening the trainings).

Now I need to decide where the magic will happen. In my case, we have an office with a desk where I perceive most of my work taking place. So I prepared by cleaning off the desk and straightening up the room for starters. I plan to blast some electronic music out of the speakers in there, at least at first in order to create a consistent mindset that I can return to while associating what I've learned in my head. I even purchased a whiteboard to make myself feel important, and maybe I'll get around to using it to write fancy math equations and to brainstorm projects. Once I've passed the brainstorming phase, I have a composition notebook and a digital Evernote notebook to organize my notes and ideas, a physical and digital folder to dump documents related to my work, and a task management app (yes, I'm still using Remember the Milk) to keep track of to-dos.

Lastly, and not to be understated, is the who - my own identity. As Neil Fiore illustrates in Awaken Your Strongest Self, identity is one of the most important make-overs you must undergo to commit to accomplishing your goals. While I was studying Japanese, I assumed the identity of a Japanese man named Moritaka Kawachi (川地 最高) who had no excuse not to know the language fluently. This may seem to be a deliberate ignorance in the face of reality when it comes to things you just can't do, but we all pick and choose what we see when it comes to threading our own web of beliefs and perceptions. We want our identity to work for us and lay the foundation of a positive, confident attitude. I know I'll get some flack for this, but I've already begin thinking of myself as a computer scientist, in contrast to my identity that has lasted for years - someone who is inept at math and bored when it comes to work that lacks human interaction. I'm giving myself a new *secret* name to consider myself as, and will be wearing my cool new glasses while learning whenever possible (and while looking in the mirror practicing affirmations ~_^).

Those are all of the main resources that will keep me on track throughout this dream. The next post will cover the how - or more precisely, how I intend to learn Computer Science using learning principles I've picked up along the way. You might even notice something you recognize (like SRS)...