On Efficiency and Time Management

Recently, when I came across to Cal Newport's blog, I have found an interesting blog. The title is "You can be busy or remarkable --- but never both". I stood in awe at such an unconventional topic, and after reading through this blog, I went through a moment of reflection on my time management. One of the essence of that post includes:

"Terence Tao is one of the world’s best mathematicians. He won a Fields Medal when he was 31. He is, we can agree, remarkable.

He is not, however, busy.

I should be careful about definitions. By “busy,” I mean a schedule packed with non-optional professional responsibilities.

My evidence that Tao is not overwhelmed by such obligations is the time he spends on non-obligatory, non-time sensitive hobbies. In particular, his blog.

Since the new year, he’s written nine long posts, full of mathematical equations and fun titles, like “Matrix identities as derivatives of determinant identities.” His most recent post is 3700 words long! And that’s a normal length."

It is indeed surprising that even the most remarkable mathematician, Terence Tao, is not 'busy'. A further reading of that blog reveals that we have phases of deep work and phases for other activities. So as I finished reading Cal Newport's blog, I've decided to devise my own time, in an efficient way. In the process, I have found a secret key, and the key to greatest efficiency is flexibility.

After a thorough "think-through", I have found that my efficiency works in 3 phases. These 3 phases occur at different times and there seem to be a cycle between these 3. When disciplined people will most probably make a timetable that sounds like "7.00 am school, 5.00 pm sports, 9.00 pm revision, etc.", I have found that rigid timetable will sufficiently reduce efficiency (at least it works for me). And I have found that for me personally, I work in 3 phases. The 3 phases are, Phase of maximum productivity, phase of medium productivity, and phase of low productivity. This post will generally discuss about my way of exercising flexibility in my time, so maybe readers will have different flexibility and preferences. So at least this time management is applicable to me as my current state of being an A Level student. So here you go:

1.) Phase of maximum productivity. These are the times where I can maximize my creativity. Most suitable activities during this phases are creativity-based work. In this phase, I will have my 100% focus and concentration to sit down and conduct deep work. Most probably I will work on creating my own research paper in physics during this phase. I will also use this phase to tackle toughest and deepest Physics Olympiad level problems. During this phase, many creative ideas will be produced and it is best to work on projects, researches, and problem solving situations that require maximum concentration and greatest creativity. I will optimize this phase to produce good physics.

2.) Phase of medium productivity. This phase can be subdivided into 2 phases, upper-medium productivity and lower-medium productivity. For upper medium productivity, it is best for me to work on something that requires an adequate amount of concentration and routine works. Appropriate activity during this phase is revising for SAT (which requires the routine use of test-taking strategies) or A-Level (routine use of classroom knowledge, yet does not require creativity). Upper medium productivity is suitable to be used to prepare for school exams or admission exams (for me personally). For lower medium productivity, I will work on something that does not require much thinking process. Writing my blog is an example of activity that best suite me when I'm in lower medium productivity phase. So by the time I'm writing this blog, I'm in the phase of lower medium productivity.

3.) Phase of low productivity. This phase is the most unproductive phase, unfortunately. And many individuals, including myself, do experience this phase. I tried to produce something creative during this phase, but the plan just does not work out. And that's the problem that rigid timetable poses to me. After more reflection on this phase, I have found that actually I can benefit from this phase. Appropriate activities for this phase include taking a nap or rest, reading other's blog, logging on the Facebook and Hotmail to check for updates, watching a series of Japanese Animation, etc. I have gone through a moment of reflection on how to best benefit from this phase (as I'm getting bored to keep on logging on to Facebook and Hotmail during this phase), and I have come out with an idea of maximizing the benefits of low productivity. I can use this time to learn to play ukulele, an easy-to-learn musical instrument that will soothe my mind and bring the peace of mind to me when I'm in this low productivity phase. I'd prefer learning ukulele (beneficial) than logging on to Facebook, though I'm still working on reducing the number of hours I spent of Facebook each day.

So these are the 3 phases that describe my productivity. The key to be remarkable, as I have found, is the ability to optimize the benefits of each phase. Each phase exists for a purpose, and I believe that failure to make full advantage of each phase will only mean one thing--- poor time management. So I will strive to make myself more flexible instead of planning a nice looking timetable, and to gain maximum benefits from each phase. 

If we are looking for next successful physicist/ mathematician, we can ignore the guy who rush back home to check for his email, while rushing to prepare for next meeting. Instead, look for the quite fellow who stares at the cloud, thinking about what works can be done in this afternoon.------Paraphrase from Cal Newport blog.

Why Physics?

Many people asked me this simple yet profound question before. Why Physics? What makes physics so interesting to you? What is the significant of physics to you? It took me awhile to figure out why, I mean ---exactly--- why I like physics. And here are my own explanation on why I enjoy physics.

A common cliche answer might say that we study physics because of its practical purposes. While that is the reason why many people get into physics, that is not the primary reason I got into physics. In contrast, I personally see that going into physics with practical purposes is some sort of 'dull' reason. I hold a different reason for me to enter physics.

To highlight the essence of my reason, I will offer this quote from Richard Feynman:

Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical 

results, but that's not why we do it. - Richard 

Feynman

This quote essentially caught my reason to study physics, to pursue physics. Yes, physics may produce some practical results, but for me, the most interesting reason as to why one study physics should originate from the motive that one study physics simply for the pleasure of doing it. In my opinion, one should just focus on producing good physics (just for the pleasure of producing good physics), rather than producing good physics for some practical purposes like getting a Nobel Prize in Physics. I think this is important to have the right motive to study physics because the right motive gives the right drive, the right energy to keep on doing physics. One will not get disappointed simply because no recognition is given to oneself who produces good physics. This can be quoted from Terence Tao, one of the youngest Field Medalist mathematician, from his "10 essential career lessons":

2. Focus on contribution

One should never make prizes or recognition a primary reason for pursuing mathematics; it is a better strategy in the long-term to just produce good mathematics and contribute to your field, and the prizes and recognition will take care of themselves. -Terence Tao

Yes, one should focus on contribution, enjoy the pleasure of pursuing and striving to just produce good mathematics (this applies to physics, too). Many of young aspiring academicians make Nobel Prize their primary reason to do physics (or mathematics, chemistry, biology, etc), in which I think is a 'bad' reason to focus on achievements. Focusing too much on achievements can drain one's brain energy and focus when one fails to get recognition desired for a long term. I think it is essential to focus on contribution, but one should note that one should enjoy the pleasure of making contribution, just like Richard Feynman. One of the most remarkable thing I love about Richard Feynman is that he loves doing physics just for the fun of doing it. He never takes in practical purposes as primary focus, instead, he just loves the process of producing physics. He emphasizes the fun of producing physics, and the fun of producing good physics is like going to an adventure. One should not care too much about what comes out at the end of adventure, but one should just enjoy the adventure itself. For me, the same thing applies to physics. I see physics as an exciting adventure. It's like climbing a rugged, rocky mountain without knowing what lies at the peak. Even though one may not be able to reach the peak, the moments and memories during the climb is splendid, and one should not focus too much on the end results. I cherish my journey and experience with physics, and that makes physics interesting to me.

The adventure in physics can also be interesting because I think of it as a sense of discovery. There is always something new in physics, many new discoveries are found day by day. Yes,the discoveries might or might not make significant contribution to society, but I just love the thrill of having discover something new. I'm not a talented inventor myself - never feel interested to create some new gigantic machine or mind blowing technology. I have a heavy declination to build theory - theorem builder. I love to just produce good theories and have them experimented rigorously in great laboratories like NASA (making astrophysical observation), CERN (particle physics experiment), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, etc. That's why I am never suitable to be an engineer and work in the corporate ladder where one always focuses on practical usage of certain invention. I'd love to work in great laboratories in the world, and I am undecided whether to be a theoretical physicist (Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell are famous example of theoretical physicists) or an experimental physicist (Michael Faraday is a widely known example in experimental physicist). I don't know yet which part of physics interests me the most --- it can be quantum physics, it can be astrophysics, it can be cosmology, it can be particle physics or nuclear physics --- I don't know, but I will explore all areas of physics and find one field that interests me badly, and specialize in that field when I further my education pathway to graduate level and postgraduate level.

So this post has captured all the essence on the "why physics" for me. Hope you enjoy. If any one of the readers get interested into physics after reading my post, then congratulation, a physicist is born!

My favorite physicist, Richard Feynman. 

Terence Tao, one of the most profound mathematicians that  I admire

Michael Faraday, whose experimental discovery of electromagnetism contributed heavily to today's technology of electricity, and much more!

James Clerk Maxwell, regarded as one of the top ten physicists who impacted the world heavily with his Maxwell equations

4 Maxwell's equations, It unifies everything we need to know about classical electromagnetism. Heavily contributed to society along with Faraday's discoveries

Albert Einstein, my 2nd favorite physicist

Kaprekar's constant, a math magic trick

When I browse through Recreational Mathematics in CHS Maths Class, I came across with a comment, mentioning the number 6174 has its special feature and properties. So, driven by curiosity, I googled the number 6174 and eventually found out how 6174 works as Karprekar constant (the detail about karprekar constant will be discussed below). It turns out that Kaprekar constant is a mathematical magic trick which is quite interesting, and I will teach you about rules of this game of Kaprekar below.

6174 is a Karprekar constant named after Indian Mathematician D R Karprekar. These are 4 steps in this Kaprekar game which make the number 6174 distinctive from other numbers. Here they go:

1.Take any four-digit number, at least two different digits (leading zero is allowed). (e.g., 0110, 2378, 1220,   0022, 0997 etc)

2.Arrange the digits in ascending order then in descending order to get two different four-digit numbers (adding leading zero if necessary). 

3.Now, (Bigger four-digit number) - (Smaller four-digit number) Subtraction of smaller number from the greater number obtained.

4.Repeat steps 2 and 3 from the final answer obtained in the previous step three.

This is where the miracle of mathematics happens!!! The above process, known as Karprekar's routine, will eventually lead you to the number 6174, in at most 7 times iterations (repetitions). This is the magic of maths!!! The miracle, the wonder, and the beauty of maths.

However, the only condition of four-digit number which does not lead to 6174 is repdigit (ie, 1111, 2222, 3333, 4444, ...). These repdigits will eventually lead to zero at the first step 3 process itself. So, here are some examples and workings for proof of Karprekar's constant:

Once 6174 is reached, the process will continue yielding 7641 – 1467 = 6174. For example, choose 3524:

5432 – 2345 = 3087    8730 – 0378 = 8352    8532 – 2358 = 6174 (3 iterations)

All other four-digit numbers eventually reach 6174 if leading zeros are used to keep the number of digits at 4:

2111 – 1112 = 0999                      9990 – 0999 = 8991 (rather than 999 – 999 = 0)   (leading zero is aloowed)                 9981 – 1899 = 8082                      8820 – 0288 = 8532                8532 – 2358 = 6174  (5 iterations)

9831 reaches 6174 after 7 iterations:

9831 – 1389 = 8442                      8442 – 2448 = 5994            9954 – 4599 = 5355                     5553 – 3555 = 1998 9981 – 1899 = 8082       8820 – 0288 = 8532 (rather than 882 – 288 = 594)         8532 – 2358 = 6174 (7 iterations)

8774, 8477, 8747, 7748, 7487, 7847, 7784, 4877, 4787, and 4778 reach 6174 after 4 iterations:

8774 – 4778 = 3996         9963 – 3699 = 6264        6642 – 2466 = 4176       7641 – 1467 = 6174  (4 iterations) 

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/KaprekarRoutine.html  for a more technical view of this Kaprekar's Constant.

Resource: donsteward.blogspot.com

A complete route to Kaprekar's Constant, from Wikipedia

Hope you enjoyed!!!