How I Took 22 Coursera Courses in 3 Months | Productivity Tips

My favorite productivity Books:

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport: amzn.to/3xlm7pn

Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success Hardcover by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness: amzn.to/3aBpoax

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport: amzn.to/3sIOnik

Deep Learning Specialization on Coursera: imp.i384100.net/DV5kyn

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Courses I took:
Deep Learning (5 courses)
Executive Data Science (5 courses)
Algorithmic Toolbox
International Cyber Conflicts
Usable Security
Global Diplomacy (Diplomacy in the Modern World)
Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences
Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Physical Sciences
Introduction to Probability and Data with R
Building your Leadership Skills
Communication in the 21st Century Workplace
Success
Introduction to Graph Theory

0:00 Taking 22 Coursera courses?
1:11 Why it's hard to study as a "volunteer learner"
1:40 Making the time to study
3:34 Deep Work & Focus
5:17 Combine studying & other tasks
6:04 Study groups!
6:37 Focus on REST
8:18 Buy back your time
8:36 Find your motivation

When you're a self-motivated learner, it's harder sometimes because you don't have all that external motivation, like a bad grade. Personally, I just love learning and it's kind of a hobby for me. While some courses I took for a specific purpose like furthering my career because I really want to become a software engineer, other courses I took because it was just kind of fun.

One of the ways I got so many courses done in just one quarter was really just prioritize studying.

And basically I made it a goal to do that every single night. Of course I didn't actually accomplish it every single night during this entire quarter, but, because I had scheduled it every single night I did it probably 90% of the time at least.

I really recommend reading Deep Work by one of my favorite authors, Cal Newport.

It's helped me become very efficient with my study time. The book teaches you how to have full focus when you're doing something. Unfortunately, our life is full of distractions and our phones are constantly buzzing and social media is huge, and it's hard to focus on the task for so long.

This book recommended some great exercises for me to train my focus skills. One of the recommendations was to print out the articles/tasks that you had to read or whatever, you had to study, leave your phone at home, and take those papers into the woods and sit there for an hour. You don't have to study, you don't have to do anything, but if you're sitting there with nothing else to do you probably will end up studying the paper.

I realized how much my everyday life was distracting me. I had the Apple watch and I still do have it, sometimes wear it, but I turn all the notifications off. I train myself every day to be able to focus. Cal Newport also has a book called "digital minimalism", and talks about tactics to break you of your social media addiction. I did his exercises for a bit, and one was just cutting out social media for a week.

I also created a study group at work! I talked this a bit in my video on 5 things I wish I knew before my first software engineering job, but having a work study group to motivate each other to learn and commit to even an hour a week often would kickstart my motivation again. If you don't have study groups at work, create one. School was kind of great, because you always could show up to the library. I've sometimes even found "study with me" youtube videos or twitch streams kind of motivational when I wanted a virtual study buddy.

But another thing is, I also focus on rest. it's very difficult to study for many many hours every day without a break, especially if you're doing this on a volunteer basis. Same with code. No one can code for 18 hours a day, every day, for long stretches of time. The people that claim to, are never that productive. In my opinion, I'd rather work less hours but fully commit to learning and truly focus.

Now, what's quality rest? Quality rest for me was doing something I truly enjoyed. So, spending time with friends, or bring my puppy Quarky to the beach. Instead of guilting myself for not working, and then trying to work but getting nothing done, then get mad that I didn't rest or work, I'm going to actually rest the right way.


Disclaimer: Affiliate links may be used in my recommendations! If you buy through my links I provide, I may receive a portion of the sale amount. This doesn't change the price you pay.