Study Summary 9/3/10 - 9/9/10

I came near to achieving it, but couldn't. I said last week that I wanted to accomplish a goal this week of completing two reading assignments for The Journals of Ayn Rand and Good Calories, Bad Calories, along with two more of those David Harriman articles over at The Objective Standard, but as of this writing (Thursday night) I have been unable to finish the second Harriman article. After a long day of studying *Journals*, doing conceptual exercises, rubberducking, and other things, I find that my attention is too spent to allow me to productively read another article. I haven't managed to induce physical exhaustion, but my comprehension is shot and I'm fidgeting like hell.

In summary, I managed to take notes and do ten conceptual exercises for chapters three and four for *Calories*, take notes and do nine conceptual exercises for chapters three and four for *Journals*, do a pure reading of Induction and Experimental Method, do a pure reading of approximately half of Isaac Newton: Discoverer of Universal Laws, and greatly increase my writing input here on this blog. Despite not having having achieved my weekly goal I'm quite satisfied with myself. I may not have achieved my aim, but I do know I did exert myself to pursue it. I even managed to eliminate the discomfort I had previously with studying into the late hours of night.

Perhaps most importantly, I'm making significant headway on my patience. As noted before, I once had the problem of wanting to mentally cheat myself and speed through my study assignments so that I could generate faux satisfaction by crossing things off my list. After fighting such an urge for so long it seems to finally be defeated. As testament, yesterday I managed to spend approximately three consecutive hours studying *Calories* without rushing over the content to get it completed. In the act of studying, I've learned, pace means nothing: It's the progress and efforts in your thought that matters anything at all. As a corollary of my efforts to establish patience, I've also been doing well to conquer idle daydreaming and, unexpectedly, guide it towards mores productive outlets. More on that later.

For next week I want to retain this pace: Finish two more assignments for both books, finish the series of Harriman articles, and reach a decision on whether or not to purchase The Logical Leap: Induction in Physics. I also have some writing goals, but I want to keep silent on those for fear of psychologically "jinxing" them. There's also some other things I'd like to talk about, including a entrepreneurial conundrum, but I'll talk about that later due to sheer laziness. I deserve it, you know.

But -- to muse just a little bit further -- perhaps I should restart the practice of keeping an introspection journal, or diary if you want to call it that. Again I find myself somewhat unfulfilled after my studies: It's that old question of what to do to unwind after work. I haven't much funds for recreational expenses, television is largely boring, I hardly enjoy video games, music isn't all that resonate with me, and my cooking/baking is stunted while my most significant project is in effect. I do recognize the need to rest after my studying, but how to rest? Perhaps I'll increase the frequency of my visits to my local nature park, or search for some new values to enjoy.

Anyhow, with practice I hope my productive output soon becomes equalized by my productive aspirations. Armed with the right methods and thinking, I've just got to push push push.