Capacity rule of thumb: Each credit hour ≈ 2 hours of weekly study. If your total planned study > realistic hours, cut commitments now (not in Week 10).
Two-minute rule: If ≤2 min, do now; if >2, convert to a dated task and move on.
Canned replies: Save 3–5 friendly templates for common requests (availability, file request, meeting recap).
7) Energy management (your secret multiplier)
Match work to energy: High-focus (proofs, coding) during your peak; admin during dips.
Movement snacks: 2–3 quick walks or stretches/day; it resets attention.
Minimum viable recovery: Aim for 7–8h sleep, daylight before noon, water at arm’s reach.
8) Guardrails that keep you sane
To-Don’t list: Courses first; say no (or “not this month”) to non-mission-critical gigs.
Friction removal: Pre-stage materials (open IDE, notebook, dataset) before breaks so restarting is easy.
Parking lot: Capture cool ideas without derailing the current block.
9) Weekly review script (10–20 min, Friday or Sunday)
What moved the needle? (Top 3 wins)
What dragged? Why? (environment, estimate, unclear next action)
Calendar autopsy (where time actually went) → adjust next week.
Reset boards: clean desktop, empty downloads, archive old notes.
Plan next week’s Top 3 outcomes + first task for Monday.
Quick-start: 30-minute reset for
this week
Dump every open loop into a list (classes, labs, orgs, life).
Star five items that matter most before Sunday.
Put them on your calendar with real blocks + 40% buffer.
Set your AM Startup and PM Shutdown alarms.
Pre-stage tomorrow morning’s first task (files open, doc titled).
Lightweight templates you can copy
Daily 3–3–3
Must: ① ___ ② ___ ③ ___
Should: ① ___ ② ___ ③ ___
Could: ① ___ ② ___ ③ ___
First task tomorrow: ___
Meeting recap (paste to group chat)
Decisions: …
Owners: @Name → deliverable (date)
Dates: next check-in (dd/mm, hh:mm)
Project card (one per initiative)
Goal & metric: …
Next deliverable: … (date)
Risks / blockers: …
DRI: …
If you want this tailored
Share your class schedule + typical club/competition commitments, and I’ll lay out a week-by-week time-blocked plan (including suggested study blocks before each major deadline) and give you a one-page template you can reuse.