The latecoming first blog

First of all, I am sorry of being late. It makes me feel quite nervous but forces me to avoid it from happening another time :)

I have been thinking about taking this module long time ago and have actively made some time management for it. While when the time really draws near, I find myself quite exhausted. I talked to Zhao Cong, a very good friend of mine who took the module one year ago and we concluded that "Sometimes, people need some stress to cheer up again". Then I read the latest blog of Prof. Ben and saw the very same idea:

"CS3216 is about learning how to take risks and work outside our comfort zones. Why would we want to do something like that? Well, because if we do not push at the boundaries, there will be no progress - and if we do not push at the boundaries aggressively enough, there will not be breakthroughs. "

Well, that is true. Stress optimizes the capability of body and brain, helping the person chasing a higher goal. While how could we have the stress? I suspect that stress comes from interest and competition. Once interested in something, we feel like doing it. So the stress from interest is the starter. As time passes, we might probably feel bored and our interest drops. At this time, competition starts its function. It forces us progress and stresses our limit. Finally the things is done and we grow.

Every coin has two sides. Proper amount of stress is the essential to success but excessive stress blows the thing up. Most likely, it make us worn out and completely crippled for some time. This is what I felt after last semester as I described above : exhausted. So proper and continuous management of stress is crucial.

CS3216, as a interesting, tough and competitive module, should fits my above analysis well. So if we could keep heart filled with interest and passion, as well as gauge our stress scale well, we will make it through!