How I Wasted My Time In College
I graduated as an electrical engineer in 2016. If my life was a WatchMojo episode, those will be the best years of my life.
- I made few but amazing friends,
- became semi-extrovert,
- learn about myself, and
- found new hobbies (coding yay).
But I also wasted a lot of my time. I could have developed a better personality.
Of everything, I wish I cultivated the habit of having good habits. Now I realise somethings compounds over time. Things like:
- good sleep cycle,
- daily exercise,
- reading, and
- investing in money.
Good Sleep Cycle
A few days ago I was watching someone stream. It might have been Tanmay. Not sure. I heard something, thought something and tweeted this:
I think I am creative at night because as a kid, my days were occupied with school - which systematically killed creativity
— Ali khundmiri ⚓️ (@alicodermaker) September 6, 2020
Is this true? I have no study to back this. But I have fixated my mind on this. Pretty sure people are creative in night, because school killed their creativity.
Daily Exercise
Never had the conviction to go a gym daily, for a long period of time. It's pretty common I guess. Back in school, Atyff was my dorm mate. He worked hard to be like this.
Wish I had cultivated a hobby to be fit. It must feel nice to feel fit and not breath heavily after climbing 2 flights of stairs.
Reading
How I wish I had started reading earlier. When I say read, I mean anything. Any thought that crosses your mind, you should investigate into it.
I get random thoughts like,
- How does the iPhone know when to stop charging a phone?
- How is seawater different from drinking water?
- Why do people love watching sport?
- Why do I want to paint? Even though I can't paint.
- Where is the brain of a plant?
- Why are all planets shaped like a ball? Are there any cube planets?
- Who voiced the metro announcement system? How do I get that job?
- Singers get paid per the popularity of their songs. But devs of popular game and website don't get recognition?
The idea here is, once you have the habit of reading, you start to learn. As your reading library grows, you start gravitating towards a certain topic.
That becomes your purpose of life.
Money Investing
I was lucky enough to start investing 4 months into my first job. But that SIP in Mutual Funds. I could have to spend time learning how companies and businesses operate.
My 4-year goal is to find 10 small companies and invest in them every month.
Before investing and expecting returns, one must learn to:
- read a balance sheet and P&L sheet,
- find out what the company does,
- understand their business plan,
- figure out their strategy, &
- be in touch with the decision-maker.
In other words, act like your own and run the company.
See, I am not sure what I am talking about. For all, I know balance and P&L sheet could be the same thing. But I know for a company to do well in business, they need more profit than their expenses.
It's not rocket science, but it's nice to have the patience of a rocket scientist.
Conclusion
I could have done all these things. But I didn't. I had time, resources and even the will.
But I didn't.
Why? I am not sure. I guess we all have a thing or two we want to do but never do. I could start now.
I am trying to sleep early. Failing big time in this department.
I do a few exercises in the morning. I wish this sentence was true.
I read daily. I also have a huge list of articles to read. I never read them. I wish I could find time to read them. I bought a few books, but haven't gone around to read them as well.
I have an ongoing investment using SIP. Haven't gone around to find companies and learn about them. I started writing Python code to help me with this, but I guess I'll just give to go with Tickertape.
4 years after graduating, I am doing 2 out of 4 things I wish I did in college.
Not bad progress.