Playbook: Focus

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The Focus process is designed to help you achieve a depth of expertise in specific topic areas.

Purpose of Focus:

At TKS, we've developed a new method to accelerate your understanding of topics. Rather than read and watch videos, which is what you did in Explore, you will build and research during your Focus - it's much more hands on. You will also develop content around your research and projects. The more work you put in, the more knowledge and quality content you will get out.

Core Principles:

The core principles around a Focus are:

  • Structurally unstructured - the Focus process provides guidance as you're learning, but also the flexibility to choose what you want to work on. As a result, you'll be able to follow your interest areas, learn to think for yourself, and be forced to train your 'figure it out' skills (especially when working on a project that nobody else has done).
  • Project focused - by working on projects you'll have tangible results that can demonstrate what you're capable of, develop a deeper understanding in your Focus topic, and help you develop important skills that people in the industry use.
  • Doing and teaching are the best ways to learn - through the Focus process you'll be doing both.
  • Create content to show your work - there are multiple benefits of creating content that often get overlooked. Through creating content, you'll need to explain your projects to others, and as a result internalize the learnings at a deeper level. You will also improve important skills, mainly verbal and written communication, video creation, storyboarding, and personal branding.
  • Effective - The outcomes of a focus are having a depth of expertise in a topic area, developing a strong portfolio that can unlock opportunities for you, internalizing the learnings through creating content, and developing your communication skills by writing articles, making videos, and building webpages to showcase your projects.
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Completing a Focus is not a race. Put in the effort, get results, and remember to build high quality content - have high standards for your focus.
Note: If you're questioning the value of the TKS process (explore<>focus), talk to alumni about it - they've experienced the benefits first-hand.
Note: If you're questioning the value of the TKS process (explore<>focus), talk to alumni about it - they've experienced the benefits first-hand.

Purpose of Explore:

The purpose of Explore is to help you:

1. Identify emerging areas that you could be interested in pursuing for your Focus.

2. Gain a better understanding of the world by exposing you to a breath of knowledge.

3. Learn about how we’re using emerging technologies and sciences to solve big problems.

β†’ Explores are designed to be high level. You can't expect to have a deep understanding of something just by watching videos and reading articles.

β†’ Explores should help you identify your Focus area. You should choose a Focus topic that you want to go deeper in, build things, and meet experts in that industry.

Expectations:

During your Focus, you will complete objectives. It should be challenging and take between 2-5 months (depending on how much time you commit each day).

  • You will need to push yourself to figure stuff out; don’t expect someone to hold your hand.
  • You will learn new skills yourself. Use the playbooks, figure things out, seek guidance.
  • You will build a portfolio, write articles, work on projects, and make video recaps of your work.
  • You should have high standards for yourself, since you're doing this for yourself and your personal brand - not a grade.
  • You can go as deep or shallow as you want. Some people get very passionate about their Focus and build really interesting projects. It's up to you how deep you want to go.

How to start a Focus

To Focus on a topic, complete the explore module for the topic. Then go to β€œDashboard” > "The Process". Under explore, select "Start Focus".

Explanation of objectives

There are 2 types of Focuses: Technical and Scientific.

πŸ€– Technical Focus

  1. Learn
  2. Replicate
  3. Replicate
  4. Create

πŸ§ͺ Scientific Focus

  1. Learn
  2. Apply
  3. Review
  4. Idea

Technical Focuses are optimized for building, whereas Scientific Focuses are designed for research. Once you select a Focus, it will automatically show you the objectives. In each objective, you will:

  • Write an article πŸ“
  • Film a video 🎬
  • Make a project webpage πŸ–₯
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Note on writing articles:
β€£
Note on making videos:
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Note on personal websites:
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Below is a guide to help you understand each objective better. Identify what high standards are and understand the why behind each objective. The process was built very intentionally.

Technical Focus

β€£
Learn
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Replicate #1
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Replicate #2
β€£
Create

Scientific Focus

β€£
Learn
β€£
Apply
β€£
Review
β€£
Idea

Certified Focuses

We want your Focuses to be validated by industry professionals to ensure quality and legitimacy.

Certifying is a step after completing your Focus deliverables. You present your Focus to two industry professionals who have a minimum of 6 years of experience in the subject domain. They will review your Focus and determine if it’s legitimate, accurate, and of high standards.

Learn how to Certify your Focus πŸ‘‡

Playbook: Certified Focuses

BONUS SECTION

During your Focus, you can also do additional activities that will enhance your learning. Remember, this is real life! You are not constrained to any rules. See below for a Bonus section that can give you ideas on other interesting things you might want to do in your Focus.

⭐️Here are some BONUS ideas:

  • Interviews: interview experts in the industry. Smart people are usually open to being interviewed for podcasts and articles. By interviewing them, you can learn more about their story, discoveries, and get advice. If you make a podcast, make sure the audio is high quality.
  • β†’ Note: prepare before the interview! Have questions ready and do your research.

  • Lab or Office Tours: Reach out to labs and offices to schedule tours. You'd be surprised how open people are to showing you around, especially startups. There's no downside in asking, especially if you've already had a good meeting/conversation with them, asking for a lab or office tour could be a good next step.
  • β†’ Wording: "Would you be open to giving me a quick tour of the office? I'd really love the first-hand experience of seeing the real-world. It's difficult to get that exposure being in school all day."

  • Mentorship: Ask experts if they'd be open to mentoring you. The specific ask could be a once/week meeting for 30min for 1-2 months. If that's too much for them, you can ask for twice/month meetings. If you can prove to them you have potential, work hard, and you're on-the-ball, they will usually be very excited to mentor you. Show them what you've done and why you're passionate about learning about the specific industry/technology.
  • β†’ Tip: Do not get more than 3 mentors. More is not better. Find 1-3 that are really good, and schedule weekly check-ins with them. Prepare for those meetings and put in the work. Show them your growth every week.

  • Competitions: Apply to competitions like CES Young Innovators to Watch, or Junior Breakthrough Challenge. There are tons of competitions that offer prize money $$. This shouldn't be the reason of doing a Focus, but it's a nice benefit on the work you put in. In the past, TKS students have won over $15k from projects they've worked on in their Focuses.
  • Presentations/Speaking Opportunities: Your projects can unlock doors to unique speaking opportunities. That might be through TKS, or you can hustle them on your own. Don't hesitate to reach out to conferences if your project might be a good fit in their theme. Send them your articles/videos and see what they say. No downside πŸ™‚.
  • Extra Articles/Videos: You can create more content than what's shown in the Focus section. If you make more articles and videos, add them in the bonus section of your Focus.
  • Whatever unique ideas you have: Think for yourself about what you can do to go above and beyond in your Focus. This is REAL LIFE, not school. The possibilities are endless because you're working on meaningful projects that you're passionate about.

βœ… Traits of a successful Focus

You know you've done a Focus well if:

  • You struggled and challenged yourself throughout your Focus. If it was easy for you to complete, you probably didn't do it well. Push yourself just beyond what you think you're capable of.
  • You enjoyed working on the objectives and chose projects based on interest, not what other people would think.
  • You met experts in the industry and build out your network.
  • You learned new skills specific to the industry. For example, you learned Qiskit because you were doing a Quantum Computing Focus, or you learned Benchling because you were doing a Gene Editing Focus.
  • You had high standards for the content you created. Look read the playbooks and followed best practices.

This isn't school. You aren't being graded. The work you do in your Focus will actually help you in life, help you connect to experts, and catalyze your career. Put effort into it because at the end of the day, you're the one who will get the benefits.

Crush it πŸ¦„