PP068 : Productivity Tips for Seminary
Are you a new seminary student? Starting graduate theological studies is exciting, but also daunting. This episode focuses on the tips I would give you as a new student. For someone who graduated with my M.Div almost 15 years ago, I wish I had many of these resources then.
My first recommendation really is a 3-parter. They are all related to saving the information you learn.
1 - Your class note-taking system.
You will want whatever solution you come up with to be digital and searchable. Yes, I am a big fan of paper, but it gets too complicated searching through handwritten notes for things. I like Goodnotes 6 with my iPad.
2 - Your reading system.
Tools like Readwise.IO are amazing. I WISH it would have been around when I was in seminary. If you read on Kindle, or any other digital file, go grab Readwise.io. Ali Abdaal has a great video on how to use tools with Readwise.
I wrote this article last year on how to read complicated things. There are several great tips in there for graduate school reading. I also keep a reading kit. It is helpful when I am engaging with paper books.
3. Your general note system.
To use a tool like Readwise.io, you will want some sort of information management system. If you aren’t handwriting any of your class notes, this will also be a great place to take class notes. While it isn’t my 100% favorite, if I were starting seminary, I would use Notion for this system.
My last recommendation is outside of these three.
Think through your time management system.
Learn to Time Block plan. Also understanding how long it takes you to do things is really helpful. No one likes dealing with crunchtime.