ZOD: The Biggest Obstacle to Your Success...Your Phone

Zen of Data Science #11

The Big Idea

The biggest obstacle to career success is your phone.

Think about the last time you tried to study… how much of a distraction was your phone?

If you’re like most people, you checked your phone multiple times throughout your study session.

Think about the times you’re feeling motivated to study… but something else is pulling your attention away.

It could be a show or a video game, but most likely it’s your phone — social media, TikTok, YouTube, etc.

Each one of these interruptions… every one of these pulls away from what you should be doing, is hurting your success.

Your attention is one of the most valuable assets you have.

You NEED to be able to sit down, focus, and study data science/coding concepts for a few hours uninterrupted.

This will set you apart from 99% of people.

I’m gonna talk more about this in the next issue, but for now follow this simple rule:

If you’re studying/working, the phone goes away.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Set a timer, work for an hour straight, check your phone after.

We’ve gotta get past these constant disruptions if we ever want to take our skills to the next level.

What I’m Reading

I’m revisiting “Automate The Boring Stuff With Python”.

My Python skills are in need of a refresher, and this is one of the books that got me started, so I’m back to the fundamentals.

If you wanna learn Python, improve your Python, or just build some projects to help improve your workflow, I recommend checking this book out.

(It’s also available for free online: https://automatetheboringstuff.com)

Quote of the Week

“Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams.”

— Derek Sivers

Distractions take a lot more from us than time… they take the potential of everything we could’ve done with that time.

Something Interesting

This Data Hackathon put together by Ken Jee was awesome to watch.

If you’ve always wanted to watch your favorite data Youtubers go head to head… here it is!

Feel-Good Finds

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Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

– Josh