Do This BEFORE You Start Engineering (4 Hacks to success)

The speaker introduces the topic of four crucial things engineering students should do before starting school, highlighting that only about half of students graduate due to a mismatch between preparation and demand. He shares his own experience of feeling overwhelmed and aims to help new students start on the right foot.

Preparation for engineering school involves two forms of currency: money and time. While money is a fixed cost, time is highly variable and crucial. The amount of time required for homework, studying, and projects differs greatly among students and weeks. It's essential to free up as much time as possible in your daily schedule before school starts, making space for academic demands rather than trying to fit school into an already busy life.

To succeed in an engineering degree, your education must become your number one priority. This means making everything else in your life flexible around your studies, viewing your education as your livelihood. It's important for your actions to align with your declared priorities. Students should communicate this shift to their loved ones and workplace, ensuring they understand the commitment required.

Self-discipline is defined as the ability to consistently do something in service of a greater goal, regardless of how one feels. This transferable skill can be developed through any consistent effort, like work, sports, or hobbies. To cultivate it, set a challenging goal and work on it persistently, prioritizing it over emotions and distractions. This relentless pursuit of a goal builds the self-discipline necessary for an engineering degree.

The video concludes with the importance of adopting a growth mindset, contrasting it with a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset sees intelligence as static and avoids challenges, while a growth mindset believes intelligence can be developed, embraces challenges, values effort, learns from feedback, and is inspired by others' success. A growth mindset fosters self-improvement, resilience, and robustness, which are essential for navigating the inevitable setbacks and challenges in an engineering degree.