Yeah, so I’m behind in my Semester 1 timelines.  But this is good.  …Not that I’m behind.  But that learning has occurred!

I’ve learned what rate of study I can sustain currently.  My entire life, all of my successes, and everything about this quest are based on self-experimentation.  I set the goal of 4 weeks to complete (3) 14-week MIT Science Courses knowing that I’d be hard-pressed to reach it and that this timeline might shift left or right.  But there was only one way to find out!  And I have come to find out that this timeline is a little tight for me, based on a few parameters:

• Life Priorities: I maintain a few, but strict priorities to ensure that I can stay on track in my life:
  1. Maintain the Household – take care of my family, which in includes fulfilling the obligation of 9hrs/day of my current job.
  2. Maintain the Health – I exercise often, eat well, sleep 7-9 hours/night, and am preparing for a Marathon in December.
  3. Pursue the Quest! – After I take care of the above two priorities, my turn-to is Nuclear Science Study, Research, Networking, and Reading for hobby!  Every spare moment is spent in the Nuclear Study Zone!  (My desk)
  4. All other Hobbies – Everything else I do… Soccer, Music, Language, Graphic Design, Surfing, Business-Startups.  Yoga…Sometimes… Comes after I’ve done a sufficient amount of study for the day.
• Study Priorities – HOW I study also greatly affects my rate of study.  If my priority was simply to reach the initial timelines I set out, then I could just to skim through the material quick enough to understand that an Electric Field is some kind of force at a distance that is caused by a charge… and leave it at that.  And I could certainly be done with the 12 chapters of Physics for Scientists and Engineers in one long weekend.  BUT!  My priority is to learn.  As you can see below from my notes, highlights, and detailed example problems (not pictured actually, LOL) I strive in each study session to really grasp the concept and apply it in example and homework problems.  I will post more photos of notes, example problems, and exams to show you the level of detail that is necessary for me to move on from one lecture/topic to the next.  But if I don’t get something I hang with it until I do.  I use all available resources including the web, peers, and mentors.  And although this practice has me working extra hours on lectures that I’ve budgeted only 1 or 2 hours for, it is the learning that matters most, and it will be my timelines that take a backseat.
  This is not to say that timelines don’t matter.  First of all I’ve completed 50% of the curricula for (3) MIT courses in only 4 weeks. But that’s besides the point!  Timelines do matter, and I know all about deadlines from my current job, but I also maintain priorities.  If it matters more to have it done on time I will have it done on time!  But my quest is not to become a quick, material-skimming Nuclear Scientist.  My quest is to become a Champion!  And luckily I have the freedom of being on my own watch for now!