Taking the Long View From College (Guest Post for Hill Investment Group)

This post was originally published on Hill Investment Group’s “Our Latest Thinking” blog.

This summer we were privileged to work with a young man named Dominic. He was a huge help around the office and we miss having him here! Below you can read about his experience in his own words:

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t reluctant to join Hill Investment Group for a summer internship. My background is in public relations, media studies, and writing. I’m not even part of the Business School at Xavier University where I’m entering my junior year. In fact, finance and investing were nowhere to be found on my radar until Rick Hill walked me through a Monte Carlo Simulation during my first week at the office.

But what I found most valuable about my time at Hill Investment Group wasn’t my indirect personal finance lessons from Rick nor the investment lingo that I picked up from John Reagan. As I talk with other college students, I can’t help but notice how ego shapes their opinions about work, specifically internships. So often, the main concern is the title of the position or what type of tasks they’ll be assigned. What I’ve discovered is that valuing learning and opportunity over credit and titles opens the most doors. This was confirmed during my time at Hill.

Instead of looking at this internship as something on top of everything else in my life, I found instead that it complimented aspects of my life that I never thought possible. Because of HIG, I was able to apply the skills I’ve cultivated to a real, professional business. In addition, the HIG team taught me what it means to run a client-centered operation. They instilled in me the value of connecting to clients on a personal level – knowing the names of their kids and where they go to school, asking about family vacations, etc. Such an environment inspired me to implement the same approach into my personal life, as well as my future career.

Hill Investment Group oozes trust and confidence. I sensed this beginning with my first email exchange with John all the way through my last day when I wrote the post you’re reading right now.

As I spent more time with the team, I couldn’t help but notice that the reasons I was drawn to HIG were the same reasons I was drawn to Xavier University: a small group of loyal, purposeful individuals, maximized attention to detail, and a simplified approach to solving problems. But perhaps the most striking feature of HIG is its transparency.

I’ve heard office horror stories warning newbies to keep quiet and never interrupt “the boss.” Such a culture is nonexistent at HIG. Because team communication is so greatly emphasized, it wasn’t rare for a work project discussion to digress into a personal, real-life story. If you don’t think that’s possible or efficient, read Matt’s book Odds On: The Making of an Evidence-Based Investor.

The opportunity to work with HIG was unexpected to say the least, but oddly, it’s the unexpected things that prove to be the most valuable down the road. I don’t know where I’ll be in one, ten, or twenty years, but the tools that HIG equipped me with have prepared me to take on life with purpose and fortitude.

I’m proud to say that I take the long view.

Dominic Vaiana studies writing and media strategy at Xavier University. He founded a campus newspaper and later went on to advise, ghostwrite, and edit for colleagues and startups. His biweekly newsletter with his personal articles, essays, interviews, and book recommendations, can be found here. For any questions or comments, email dominicvaiana@gmail.com.

4 Productivity Hacks Every College Student Needs This Year

This post was originally published on Laura Vanderkam’s personal website, which was a great honor. Laura is the author of several time management and productivity books, including What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. She has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Today Show.

As a college student, I dislike the phrase “time management.” Time management implies that I’m obliged to find time for everything – to juggle a multitude of tasks and force space for an endless list of responsibilities. I’ve been fortunate to have great mentors in my life whose lessons I’ve applied over the past two years at Xavier University. In regards to productivity, I’ve found that the most effective strategy involves more of cutting things out of my day and less of making space for what people put on my plate. Here are four tactics I’ve used that have enabled me to stay on the Dean’s List, start a newspaper, compete in Division I track, and enjoy myself.

Sleep. College glorifies the all-nighter. We like the story about the guy who got an A on his final paper after slamming six Red Bulls in the library at 4 a.m. Nobody hears about the guy who wrote his paper over the span of a week and received the same grade, even though he didn’t look like a zombie the morning it was due.

The belief that you need to sacrifice sleep to increase productivity is nonsense. Functioning on less than 7-8 hours of sleep per night in college is not only detrimental to performance, it’s not sustainable. When work impedes sleep, poor planning is to blame – not superior will power. For the students who brag about their long hours and minimal rest, it isn’t their performance that keeps them going. It’s just ego and obstinacy.

If I find myself studying late, I’ll stop in order to get optimal sleep. This not only allows me to reap the results of increased productivity and wellness, but also saves money because I don’t need coffee to get me through the day. Ample sleep also eliminates the need for naps which slow momentum. There’s an extra hour added to your day (or more depending on your napping habits).

The 80/20 Principle. Formulated over 100 years ago, this principle states that 80% of our outputs result from 20% of our inputs. My study habits during my first semester of college were disorganized and ineffective. After reading about the 80/20 principle, I dissected my study habits and determined which 20% of my study techniques resulted in (roughly) 80% of my retention of material. I ditched flash cards and study groups and amplified my reading and hand-written notes.

The 80/20 Principle applies to activities as well. College counselors often advise students to join an arbitrary number of clubs or organizations – this is useless. Instead, determine which one or two activities make you the happiest and push you to be your best. Bottom line, if it’s not making you significantly better, drop it.

Set deadlines – even if they aren’t real. Without deadlines, even minor tasks will consume time. We lament and dread how awful the paper will be until the next assignment inevitably pops up. Thus the cycle repeats, and at the end of the day nothing is accomplished.

Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available for it (and, correspondingly, a task’s perceived importance will swell in relation to the time allotted for its completion). In other words, by creating deadlines for ourselves we rise to the occasion and get things done on time.

With deadlines, you don’t have the luxury of telling your friends how much you hate a class or project. Instead, you just get it done. Deadlines force us to become creative and come up with new ideas constantly. Used in conjunction with the 80/20 Principle, we not only determine which techniques are the most effective, we do them efficiently as well. The result is freedom and structure.

Batching. Without a schedule, laundry either gets done intermittently throughout the week or in one humongous, time-consuming load each month. Food gets bought on an as-needed basis and cooking is done one meal at a time. Email gets checked sporadically during the day.

The antidote is batching. That is, allotting a specific time each day, week, or month for a specific task so time isn’t squandered repeating it more than necessary.

Example: exercise at 9 a.m., study at 7 p.m., laundry on Fridays, groceries on Sundays, etc. Batching can be applied to virtually anything in college: eating, cleaning, sleeping, and more. Not only will this free up time in your schedule, you’ll also have peace of mind knowing that you won’t have to scramble at the last minute for anything.

Let’s end the pity party for college students who are “too busy” and “too tired.” Nobody said college wasn’t demanding or frustrating. But with sustainable tactics and a pragmatic mindset, there is no schedule that can’t be tamed.

The Strategy That MMA Fighters And Einstein Have In Common

I didn’t know anything about mixed martial arts until I read about Frank Shamrock, one of the sport’s pioneers and arguably the most elite fighter the world has seen. But becoming the undisputed champion of such a ruthless, demanding sport doesn’t happen by chance. Shamrock implements a strategy which allowed him, and now allows many of his apprentices, to construct the ideal balance of power and humility. This is called the Plus, Minus, Equal System.

Each day in this system, the fighter must have someone better who they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal who will challenge them. The rationale is simple: when one simultaneously learns, teaches, and practices, they improve their craft from all angles. This system eliminates the part of us that says we don’t need any help, it eases the fear that we are inadequate, and it kills the tendency to ease up.

The notion of always associating with someone better than you is intriguing. Normally, we would say that it makes sense to have some sort of mentor in the early stages of developing a skill. But Frank Shamrock was the number one ranked pound for pound fighter in the world – what use would he have learning from anybody else?

What allowed Shamrock to maintain his dominance was not physical talent or work ethic. It was his ability to tame his ego. Our ego tells us that once we reach some arbitrary point, be it an athletic accomplishment or a promotion, that we have somehow reached the pinnacle of the craft. In reality, no one ever completely masters anything. There is no endpoint. It’s a constant influx of new information and experiences that shapes us into better versions of ourselves.

Ryan Holiday touches on this subject in his book Ego is the Enemy with the idea of always being a student. The basis of this theory derives from Epictetus’ quote, “One cannot learn that which he thinks he already knows.” The most difficult part about applying this theory, especially if we’ve tasted success, is initially admitting that you can benefit from someone else’s knowledge.

Those who are among the elite in their craft are where they are because they are more open to learning than anybody else in their field. Say what you want about New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, but the man has set the bar for excellence by sitting under people ahead of him. He went from intern to six-time Super Bowl Champion, yet he still dissects plays and studies game film to the nth degree every day. He never played a down of college or professional football. Compare this to the countless ex players whose coaching careers have flopped because they tried to skate by on their own experience.

The Plus, Minus, Equal System and the need for a student mindset is undeniably relevant in areas outside of sports. Aren’t the best teachers the ones who seek out new information for their class instead of repeating last year’s lessons? Aren’t the best writers the ones who read above their level to gain new perspectives? Aren’t the leading scientists the ones who stretch their comfort zone to research new methods? Businesses fail to change and adapt because they’ve lost the ability to learn. Their prosperities have told them that they no longer need to be students.

The willingness to ask questions allows us to maintain humility. Daily challenges with an opponent sharpens our skills. And when we teach our craft to a student, we see it from a different perspective and learn it more thoroughly – we become a student again and the process comes full circle.

Plus, Minus, Equal. It’s how Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity and it’s how Frank Shamrock became the undisputed fighting champion of the world.

“As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.” – John Archibald Wheeler

The More You Talk, The Weaker You Appear: Always Say Less Than Necessary

In November of 2015, Saturday Night Live ran a skit about a fictional TV game show called Should You Chime In On This? The show’s host, Keenan Thompson, made statements about a series of hot-button topics including Syrian immigration, public breast feeding, girls playing football, and Hillary Clinton. He then asked three three dim-witted contestants whether they should chime in on these issues. All the contestants needed to do in order to win the million-dollar prize was simply answer “no” when asked if they should chime in. But of course, these microcosms of our actual society couldn’t help but interject their opinions when given even the slightest window to talk.

Aside from laughing at the contestants’ foolishness, I couldn’t help but wonder when I have acted the same way. How many times have I annoyed people by slipping in my two cents at the cost of disrupting a conversation? Do I talk just to hear myself talk even if I shouldn’t or don’t need to?

It was a wakeup call for me, and a much needed one for a college student. College is a place that begs you to talk, march, tweet, and protest – it turns into a real-life version of Should You Chime In On This. It’s as if you’re obligated to fill a void with your chatter and opinions, even if it accomplishes nothing. But I like the void. It’s cool. In fact, I purposely seek out places devoid of chatter and competing voices. One of those places is the gym, but unfortunately I now have to cross this off my already shrinking list of opinion-free zones.

The culprit was a middle-aged man who looked like the type of guy your dad was embarrassed to say he was friends with in high school. He wasn’t hesitant to pull the trigger on a conversation about how much he loved the equipment at the gym. Deciding not to be rude, I engaged with him (under the assumption that I’d slip away in a few seconds). I don’t quite remember how, but he was able to maneuver our small talk into a political rant, rattling off a list of reasons why I should vote for Donald Trump in the presidential election. Normally, I would say anyone who can make a smooth transition from dumbbells to politics was a master wordsmith. But I quickly realized he was the epitome of what I had been trying to prevent myself from becoming over the past months.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with your generation,” he said. “All this entitled stuff.”

The only thing keeping my mouth shut was remembering Keenan Thompson’s disappointed face when those contestants failed to keep their thoughts to themselves. After several minutes of nodding and attempting to escape, the conversation took a turn for the worse. He felt the need to inform me that he was divorced and that his daughter’s college tuition would be $30,000 per year. Shortly after, he happily announced that he was only legally obliged to pay $12,000, leaving his ex-wife and daughter to cover the other $18 grand. Our conversation eventually dissipated, and my lecturer climbed into his Mercedes-Benz (which was presumably worth two years of his daughter’s tuition).

Congrats, man. Now I know that you have a distorted view of our political landscape and you’re selfish.

As much as I wanted to be angry at the man, I felt sorry for him. How lonely must your life be that you’re so prepared to unleash such an onslaught of your thoughts on an unsuspecting twenty-year-old? What kind of repressed anger and resentment could cause such a desperate and irrational desire to be heard? Regardless of the answer to those questions, I had a clear illustration of what I didn’t want my life to resemble.

In 2014 I read Robert Greene’s fourth law in his book The 48 Laws of Power: “Always say less than necessary,” but I didn’t internalize it until that day at the gym. We desperately want to release the tension and excitement that’s pent up in our minds about some concept or issue. But the problem is that chatter (especially with strangers) is the wrong outlet for this. Oversharing reveals the weaknesses in our psyche before we’ve had a chance to work on them, and we come off as foolish unbeknownst to ourselves.

Excessive talking gives reassurance to the insecure. It’s abundant and free. But we neglect the cost we pay by losing productivity, and worse, wasting other people’s time. What’s scarce, however, is the ability to deliberately remove oneself from the discussion – to listen, observe, and avoid embarrassment.

What would Keenan Thompson think? Are you saying something because it needs to be said, or do you just want to be part of the conversation?

I’ll cut my writing off here before I say more than necessary.

7 Things That Happened During My 7-Day Social Media Detox

“Dominic, a lot has happened since you last logged in to Facebook.”

That was the subject of four emails I received from Facebook over the past week after deleting the app from my phone. Yes, a lot did happen since I last logged in. But not in the sense that Mark Zuckerberg and company thought I’d been missing out on.

I went on a social media detox. I didn’t like any Instagram pictures, read any tweets, or reply to any Snapchats until yesterday. I don’t consider myself addicted to social media. It’s more of an escape valve from my to-do list – a virtual smoke break. When you hear about people quitting social media, it’s usually because it’s seriously interfering with their work or family life. For me it was an experiment.

It wasn’t challenging, but it was strange. For the first few hours, I would catch myself reaching for my phone, only to remember I didn’t have those all-too-familiar app icons on my screen waiting to be opened. It was like riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. At first you’re shaky, but then you wonder why you ever needed them in the first place. Anyway, I figured since I went seven days without social media, I could list the seven most important things that happened:

1. I realized I wasn’t important or popular enough that I couldn’t live without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

2. My productivity increased dramatically. I wrote four articles (including this one).

3. I talked to people. Once I remembered my home screen would be devoid of all red notification icons for a week, I was free to interact instead of burying my head in my phone – at the bank, at the store, and at home.

4. I ate much healthier. I’m attributing that to the absence of sped-up cooking videos.

5. My phone battery lasted all day (usually with 30% to spare).

6. I had more free time. I typically spent a total of 30 minutes per day on social media before the detox, which may not seem like a lot. But 30 minutes lasts awhile if you just sit down and watch the clock. I cooked, visited a couple people I hadn’t seen in weeks, worked out, and read (more than usual).

7. I was in a better mood. You’d be surprised how much other people’s complaining, arguing, and negativity affects your own temperament.

If I had to sum up my social media detox to someone in one sentence, it would be this: If you want to see your productivity skyrocket, ground yourself in reality, and be healthier, delete it all for a week – you won’t be attached even when you have it back.