As a graduate student, I’m no stranger to reading lots of papers. Okay, that’s not quite true. I’m used to reading parts of papers. We don’t tend to go through the whole thing like you might a book. Instead, I’m looking for bits that might be useful for me.

Each day, I wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, and go for a run. Day after day, month after month. The specifics of each run vary, but the repetition is relentless. I do a similar thing with my writing and drawing. I have a schedule and I stick to it, showing up again and again.

If you’re like me, you dreaded presentations in school. Not only were they nerve-wracking because you had to speak to a large group of people, but you also didn’t really know what to say. You ended up muddling through the presentations, never doing an amazing job.

When I was younger, I wanted to understand everything that was taught to me in class. If the teacher presented it, I wanted to understand it. I was determined to get everything. This extended throughout my secondary and undergraduate education, where I made sure I could do everything that was asked of me.