MSA Mentorship
“Productivity & Presentation”
This will include a cursory overview
of Presentation Tools. Dive into the
stuff you find interesting at home.
Why Does Productivity Matter?
All we are trying to do is lead you in the correct direction of things to
look at and think about more carefully. There’s so much under the
surface you don’t think about and so you never discover it. There is
equally as much stuff that you’ve never even heard of.
When having fun, you should always be adventurous, look for
creative routes, and seek pleasure in carefully pursuing your
whimsical desires.
When working, you should always aim to be productive, to
accomplish tasks properly, and get solid results. The sooner you
learn to separate the mentalities of work and fun, the better.
BUT some of the best things in life are when you don’t have to!
Those are the things where you’re productive and having fun.
Life’s discoveries revolves around finding and engaging in those. 
Why Does Productivity Matter?
Your work is not a game you can just pick up and enjoy randomly
whenever you want.
TIME is the biggest factor and you don’t have time to burn if you
want to succeed.
PROCRASTINATION is the manifestation of Shaitan’s whispering,
whether it’s salaat or homework or anything. It’s the single greatest
struggle for students and ruins 95% of them, which is a huge shame for
kids that have great potential and talent, but a weak work ethic.
Under almost no circumstance will a successful student delay
actions they will end up doing eventually. There’s ZERO need to
delay tasks and let them inevitably build up.
Why Does Productivity Matter?
1) Master yourself
 find out the ways you work best, the environment,
how long/many breaks you take, etc.
2) Make a structure
 for the way you handle work built around the
completion of tasks, not the need to finish time
periods.
i.e. try “3 hours to finish Tasks A, B, C”, instead of “3 hours to
finish as much as possible”
Why Does Presentation Matter?
Only Allah
can judge the inner content of our work and character
properly. Human nature is to be subject to our surface emotions. It’s
a blessing that can be a curse if we forget that the CORE is what
ultimately matters, not the presentation. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t
be completely neglected like so many people do.
We are dealing with people that can be horribly turned off, or,
more importantly, swayed in your favor, by your
presentation. No matter how un-ideal, this is the way people,
especially the business world, work. This travels with you
throughout life in interviews, applications, and everyday
interactions with new people. A suit + tie can matter because of
its underlying messages, especially in the US.
Why Does Presentation Matter?
All we are trying to do is lead you in the correct direction of things to
look at and think about more carefully. There’s so much under the
surface you don’t think about, so you never discover it. There is
equally as much stuff that you’ve never even heard of.
Moreover, once you know the tricks of this techy age, being
presentable is so easy and so high yield, it doesn’t make sense to
not show your best. When people say “show your passion”, how well
it’s displayed is how passionate you are in the mind of an outsider.
NOTE: Be aesthetic, NOT gaudy. This comes with practice alone.
Microsoft Office
“Everything you build, build with a level of professionalism”
Use to your advantage:
Word
INSERT - Proper Headers & Footers & Cover Pages
Ideas are best explained with pictures, use Charts & SmartArt (flowcharts) when possible
DON’T use clipart, they look stupid, find pictures online w/Google Images or Flickr
PAGE LAYOUT - Margin minimizing, Page Borders, Columns to save space, & Format Painter to save time
REFERENCES – toughest part about papers is forever gone, Word does the Citations & Bibliography for you now!
REVIEW – Deny it all you’d like, everyone uses “right-click  synonyms”, learn
how to use Spell Check properly, can comment docs (better online, explained later)
Poor grammar and spelling can literally put apps in the bin. Don’t neglect it!
Microsoft Office
“Everything you build, build with a level of professionalism”
Excel
Math Functions, graphs & charts, any type of proper presentation of calculations or data
should be done using Excel
PowerPoint
Animations, Slide designs, Transitions, Embedded Video are
all so easy now! You just have to play with these programs
a LITTLE bit to become proficient nowadays
Microsoft OneNote
Section
Tabs





Main
Notebooks
Good software for extensive compilations of note-taking.
More useful than any other MS Office software when used correctly.
Can password-protect pages and automatically sync w/Dropbox
Can print files/websites directly into a OneNote page.
Can highlight, color, write, draw, do anything.
Individual
Pages
The Google Arsenal
Gmail
All of these are also easily
accessible from smartphones.
Calendar
YouTube
Maps
Drive
So if you CAN invest in a
smartphone, you DEFINITELY
should just for tools like these
Gmail
Explore things like making professional
signatures at the end of your emails, look
through the Labs Google offers, and forwarding
email from other email addresses you have
Filters – Help you clear the clutter. Some
people are fine with 1,000+ unread messages in
their inbox and they can handle. I like to limit
the frustration by filtering emails and maybe
deciding to read them or not
Labels – When you can filter, you can add
colored labels to make finding that stuff easier.
To start, make general titles, nothing too specific.
It might seem trivial, but it makes life way easier
in college when you get ~50 emails a day
Google Calendar
Different Calendars
and Task Lists
You can easily define a location for all
events, define repeating events, &
share/invite other Gmail users to events
Google Calendar
When you see embedded
Google Calendars, there’s a
button to add that calendar to
YOUR Google Calendar so you
don’t have to check the
webpage.
We do this and even MIT’s
Registrar utilizes this because
it’s so flexible and widespread
YouTube
Build Video Playlists
with different sharing
settings:
Public – everyone can
see and search
or
Unlisted – only those
you give the link can
view (most useful)
or
Private – only those
you specifically have
given access to can
view
Maps
“How can I expect you to deal with
anything if you can’t even be on time
or know where to go!?”
Muslim people (and most minorities) are
habitually late, which is both embarrassing
and unacceptable. Travel self-reliance is
horribly underestimated.
Many don’t know how to use even the basic
functions of Google Maps. There is no need
to ask anyone for anything more than an
address.
You can share shortened URL’s, different
travel directions, & use Satellite View if you
like to use landmarks to navigate.
Google Drive
Google Drive is the new
Google Docs. You can make a
Document, Spreadsheet,
Forms, Drawings,
Presentations, and Folders
This is how we built our website
and organize our materials. It’s
another “sharing-restricted” file
source where you can upload any
file type, do real-time updates, and
work on files with multiple people.
Dropbox
Dropbox is nice because it can be built
into your computer’s file Explorer. You
get 5gb free of storage with Dropbox and
5gb free with Google Drive
You can right click files in the public folder,
and copy the public link to give to people so
that they can view the file
Desktop Sticky Notes
Desktop sticky notes are especially useful
because you will have to see them a lot. I
switched to using my smartphone notes app
because I have my phone on me 24/7 and it’s
more accessible like in a conversation.
Find whatever digital note-taking software
works for you. Paper and pen can’t be
shared well.
Super Useful Software
WordPress (website builder)
Every Discipline – website publishing tool that requires basic knowledge of HTML
MatLab
Every Discipline - Interface to basically do anything: program, model,
chart and analyze data. Engineering-centered
Photoshop / Illustrator
Graphic Design (which can be useful for any discipline) – image editing
software. Easiest way of learning concepts of layers and effects that
apply to almost all other software.
SolidWorks
Mechanical & Civil Engineering – 3D CAD software involving
anything mechanical design
Super Useful Software
After Effects
Graphic Design – Video editing, effects, & post-production
Mathematica
Mathematics & Materials Science - Similar to MatLab except
heavily math-centered & more aesthetic output
LabView
Every Discipline – This is what you will probably use for gathering
data in a lab
Useful Websites & Freeware
http://www.sendspace.com/
Send file attachments up to 300mb instead of the regular 25mb Gmail limit
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
How everything in the world works, explained much more concisely than Wikipedia
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/
Suite for all media purposes, especially MP3 converter & YouTube Downloader
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Precision audio editor, recorder, mixer
http://www.easybib.com/
Free bibliography maker (if Word isn’t working for you)
http://www.lynda.com/
Online software training vids, always start with the “Essentials
Training” for each software
Popular plug-ins for Google Chrome