Gazing upon the upcoming path…
Staring at the night sky, hiking my way to the top of a mountain, and enjoying the joy of knowledge…metaphorically and literally, that sums up my life. Sure, the night sky is clouded most of the times. Sometimes, the hike is nearly impossible as the trails are obstructed by colossal rocks and pitfalls. And even the freedom of knowledge is lost due to lack of time, energy, and resource. But how do each of these phenomenon’s impact anyone’s life? Do I constantly question the meaning of individuality and actual freedom?
My name is Dhwani and I currently have a Master’s in Computer Engineering/Computer Science and about to start pursuing my PhD. this month. I’ve never really been the one to blog, social media sure (actually too much), but I decided to start this to alleviate certain things that will transpire in my upcoming journey. And with the PhD. itself being a highly outreaching subject due to research and all the writing, I figure I start writing a blog to possibly enhance these skills and get criticism regarding it from whoever might be watching and/or paying attention.
Currently, I have a full-time job as a full stack software developer along with being a founder and CTO of my startup company. Now you may think that this will all be my past once I start my PhD. Well friend, you’re mistaken! I will be working full-time on all of these and start my PhD. studies full-time as well. Some may say that this is crazy! Other’s may say it’s ambitious! My personal belief is, everything has a reward, regardless of the time it takes and the pain you have to go through. Now whether this reward is in the form of money or knowledge, I could care less. Yes, it’s pretty cliched statement, that without money, there is nothing. Well, this may be true and to a certain extent, I would not want anything more than being financially stable, as would anyone, but the importance to me (or I wanted it to be) is that my family and I can be stable and live comfortably. To me, knowledge has a more ultimate power, for which without it, we wouldn’t even have the concept pf money to begin with.
As of today, I spend 8 hours/day at my job, about 3-4 hours/day on my startup, 1.5 hours/day for gym, and the rest I dedicate to my social life (family, friends, Facebook, etc.). My typical sleeping happens after 1 AM and lasts till about 7:30 AM max. Weekends are a tad bit flexible, but that’s on purpose. You see, the brain is a very delicate piece of the human body, as I’ve come to realize. Constant pressure and overuse leads me to be inefficient and less productivity. Now the real concern comes, I already work about 12+ hours/day, how will I handle the extensive load of a PhD? To me, this isn’t a question, it’s more of a fact of life! Or rather to simplify, an equation. How will I handle x when I already have so much y + z? This question will come up at some point or another in anyone’s life. And my answer is pretty simple, I’ll dedicate more time and sleep less. That’s just how it should be. One of the true great bodybuilders of the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had a very famous speech: The 6 rules of success. In it, he described what he felt success is and how to achieve it. One of his famous quotes was:
…I’ve always figured out that there are 24 hours in a day. You sleep 6 hours and you have 18 hours left. Now, I know there are some of you out there that say well, wait a minute, I sleep 8 hours or 9 hours. Well, then, just sleep faster…
To me, this is very powerful and is truly what I believe I model my lifestyle after. Sure the time is not exactly 18/6 split, but this is the answer to my crazy scheduled life. Every minute that I spend right now towards a dream equates to a moment of success I will achieve in the future. This is the drive! This is the determination! This is what will fuel my ambitious mission starting now! As I continue to advance on this fantastic journey, I will continue to blog about this fantastic journey. Even though this first blog post has come to an end, the journey has just beginning.
#cheers