Last Updated on January 23, 2020

Learning Data Science and Machine Learning is exceedingly challenging and if you are easily distracted or you are just getting tired from all the social media junk that surrounds the productivity articles, then you need to do something.

Let’s drift, I want to shed some light on the emotional intelligence that can potentially help you productively spend your time building the skill-set integral to learning Data Science and Machine Learning.

Being an avid observer, I think the most common reason among many learners who quit even before getting started is that they allow their emotions to push them in the directions that aren’t helpful and it can be very damaging.

It’s simple, If you allow emotions to override your common sense, then you’ll have a disputed cognition and even the high-school level maths will seem impossible to learn.

When we learn something new, especially if wide and complex, It is necessary to avoid confusion. Also, It is never a bad idea to evaluate your own mental hygiene.

Most importantly, You can only focus when you first learn to stop foretasting your future glory because your mind actually matters.

Last year, I was highly distracted and struggling with learning advanced topics in Python for Data Science.

I took a free course about learning to use powerful mental tools by Barbara Oakley and I can say that it has actually changed the way I think and approach learning.

It helped me a lot and you may also like this course, it gives an easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in Music, Math, Science, Sports, and many other disciplines.

I am not a productivity guru but as a fellow learner, I can confidently say that if you learn to focus, then it is much easier with practice to grasp the advanced topics.

My objective in this piece is not to emphasize on Focus-Driven Learning but why you need to think Philosophically?

I encourage you to continue reading for few minutes, so that we can keep examining our desires, questioning our questions and learn to should stop drinking our own poison. After all, It’s the simple little things that matter, not big ones.

I’ve used strike through for a very reason that we can see what matters is that many things actually don’t matter…!

Why Focused Driven Learning? think your own thing…

You may have a strong desire to excel in your Data Science or AI career and the evidence of that desire is that you are reading about it right now.

However, It seems that your understanding about Mathematics or Statistics is not so good.

As time goes on you do realize that in order for you to have a successful career, you must tighten your grips on Mathematics because you have to be good at creating Machine Learning models and yeah want to learn the art of integrating Deep Learning workflows in your future data science projects.

As you may already know, Machine Learning is a critical skill for data scientists and nowadays the majority of the data scientists are also actively investing their time in deep learning to improve the personalization and data accuracy in products and services.

To learn Machine learning and Data Science, you need to have a solid background in mathematics and statistics. Most importantly, you have to think the way professional mathematicians do.

What is your first reaction to all of this? Scared or anxious may be…

Why do you feel what you feel ? Or Why does it matter at all ?

Pay closer attention, much closer attention to your own thoughts.

If you have been spending your time recklessly, that little talking person in you will seriously convince you that you are useless but there is no need to see through the screen of seriousness or doubts.

Actually, lot of people including qualified engineers are often times scared of mathematics.

Few months ago, I came across this piece on YCombinator about Learning Math for Machine Learning which sheds some light to frame the math prerequisites and goes on to discuss how Math and Code are highly intertwined in machine learning workflows.

For me, The key take away from this piece was to embrace code as a way to solidify my own learning experience.

Also, In both Data Science and Machine Learning, people lose passion when their efforts seem to bear bad fruits and only yield frustration due to weak background in Mathematics. So, I came to realization that most of our frustration in learning mathematics has nothing to do with our learning abilities but it is due to the fact that we listen to ourselves more than we talk to ourselves.

It is a dangerous thought process. We know we are not super rational beings and we still allow our rationally to be distorted because of the constantly shifting feelings about our ever-changing circumstances.

We all have that little voice, that talking person in us, that deceiving and self-excusing voice, only to help us fall back and destroy every good possibility.

If you keep looking through the screen of doubts, change the way you look.

Honestly, You are actually far better at looking inward than you are at looking outward. Hence, how can you be good at anything?

The answer is simple, Start talking to yourself, engage curiosity to bootstrap your capacity for patience while trying to learn.

One thing required of you to thrive in any field for years is to genuinely being curious about it.

The business of curiosity is too large to deal with at the tail end of this section, However, I would like to encourage you to think about the things you should think to understand your own thinking pattern.

How to Inspire a Focus Driven learning 🧐 Just try to think clearly !!!

You only make a distinction by pushing yourself to learn and detecting the triggers that make you feel intimidated by words like Algebra, Calculus or regression.

Yeah, there’s a need to burn some midnight oil to nurture genuine curiosity so that you don’t outgrow your passion for what you truly and genuinely desire.

However, you don’t need to burn your bridges quite often otherwise you are prone to inspire dread.

Unlearn the way you’ve learned to think, be willing to challenge your learning framework and question every single thing that is there to question but be considerate, very considerate to trust the learning process with gentleness.

So, Without further ado, Let me suggest two applications to help you inspire a focus driven learning.

— Manage Your Time, respect your time

Effective time management plan will require the full consent of your mind and heart and will.

I have experienced lack of joy at work after attempting to learn Numpy and Pandas. Like many, I am more focused in the mornings but whenever I tried to learn difficult topics in the mornings, I ended up having a tight skin during the day.

So, I integrated a study plan during working hours that for some mysterious reasons it helped me to overcome some struggles and learn much faster.

May be, You can try that to avoid any frustrations and among other things, I richly benefited from a printed copy of a weekly calendar.

Also, devote some time to ask yourself the hard questions and answer honestly.

— Avoid Digital Distractions , Your Mind Matters

It’s important to build a strong mental hygiene. Anyone can easily testify that if they stop concentrating their energies on mindless scrolling and tapping, they’ll get ahead.

However, Understanding WHY and HOW to minimize the time people recklessly spend on their Phones is easily ignored.

The unhealthy digital addictions keep flourishing because we fail to see the consequences.

It’s funny, how the phone is an object of increasing anxiety, exhaustion, and dependency.

Anyway, If you experience lack of joy, then do what gives you joy.

For me, I like to walk during the midday so that i can take a good look at the sky. I am filled with immense joy and encouragement, simply by reflecting on the true beauty of beauty.

Discipline helps, like doing the simple things to take intentional care of yourself, your body, your mind.

I am simply suggesting to think about everything you can do in your ability to neglect a meaningless substitute for inspiring intelligent learning, that’s all.

After all, you feel how you want to feel and this is why self-knowledge is critical for self-awareness.

Thanks for making it to the end ;)

If you liked this piece, I’ve got a few practical reads for you. One about how to learn data science and one about Maths and Statistics for Data Science and data science.

I’ve also got this data science and ai newsletter that you might be into. I send a tiny email once every fortnight with some useful and cool stuff I’ve found/made. Don’t worry, I hate spam as much as you. ☟

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