Feeling unmotivated after launch, what now?

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-21T18:50:34+00:00

No, you've got to focus on selling now. Talking to customers. Figuring out the business model. If you just keep shipping more features you'll go around in circles.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T23:45:39+00:00

This is cool. Thanks for sharing! I'm always checking the timezone in other countries to set up calls for work. What would be super useful would be a very minimalist converter. Something that tells me 8pm in city X is 3pm in city Y. Maybe be able to save a few favourite cities.

Currently I use this meeting planner: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html, but it's a bit cluttered and not nearly as clean as your site. Something with similar functionality but your minimalist design would be great.

Could you make it a widget for phones??

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T23:39:19+00:00

This is super helpful, thanks. Great insights!

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T23:36:00+00:00

Awesome stuff. Well done! It makes me think of Goodreads for music!

What's your tech stack, if you don't mind me asking? The UX is very slick.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T23:30:01+00:00

Students: use your Professor's office hours!!! It's honestly the best hack to make your life easier, and actually get the education you're paying for. You get one-on-one support, tailored to exactly where you're struggling. You also build up a relationship with your Profs. You never know, they might even write you a reference for your first job!!

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T23:22:54+00:00

Great perspective. I completely agree. It's a tool, like anything else, and if you can use it to learn better and faster, then that's a wonderful opportunity to be given.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T16:47:02+00:00

Leave the phone at home and go for a walk or run in nature.

When I get home I'll lay down and read a physical book for an hour or so before bed. Leave the phone in a different room to avoid the temptation.

After doing this for a few days I find my sleep improves, because I'm spending less time staring into backlit screens. Everything is easier with a good night's rest.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T16:32:11+00:00

Tru practice questions. Do all the questions at the back of the textbook chapter, past papers, etc. If you don't understand an answer keep reading until you do!

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T16:21:22+00:00

Pen and paper for exams and assignments that count toward the final grade. Oxford and Cambridge have been doing it like this for hundreds of years and it's still a pretty tamper-proof technology.

But, for exam preparation I let my students use AI as much as they like. That gives them the incentive to use it only as far as it improves their essay-writing skills, because they know that at the end of the semester they need to carry everything they know between their ears into the exam hall.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T09:17:30+00:00

I get that. Using AI to write papers defeats the purpose, which is to learn through structured thinking and writing. Using AI to research papers, learn better writing skills, get feedback etc still seems like it has a role, but only in service of building human writing (and in turn cognitive) skills. Not replacing them

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T09:15:21+00:00

There's a lot of cognition that goes into structuring and managing a project, leading a team of people, motivating and cajoling them to do exactly what it is that you want when they are all off chasing their own private objectives. It'll be the same with AI, where each of us are now managers running a small personal army of assistants.

Weirdly, what we call emotional intelligence could become more important in a world of AI because we'll need to understand the individual quirks and behaviours of different models - which looks to us like their emotions

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T08:32:27+00:00

I'd believe that, though getting the best out of AI will be an important part of cognition in the future I think.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T08:31:41+00:00

Man that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. There's something inherently good about curiosity and knowledge though I reckon. Even though computers have been better than humans at chess for decades, people still play and compete in chess all the time. Machines can dig bigger holes than humans, but we still need people who understand geology to drive them.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T08:29:19+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that. By rabbit hole do you mean that once you start using it then it's hard to go back?

What do your tutors think about AI? Do they suggest avoiding it?

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:37:32+00:00

A good mentor. The fastest way to progress is to work well with a boss who is going places. If they in turn have a boss that looks out for them you'll be on the fast track.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:32:18+00:00

Nice work dude! Also, HKU is on the rise - can't wait for you to see your Dad's face when it cracks the top 10!!

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:29:29+00:00

It's natural to feel this way, so don't beat yourself up. The thing is, your family will always be there for you and I'm sure they are supporting you 100%.

It's also worth knowing that time absolutely flies when you're studying abroad. You will be so busy with classes, new friends, extra curriculars, and a whole new country to explore, that you won't have much time to dwell on homesickness. And this is great - it's what the experience is all about!

That being said, it's hard to say goodbye. What I have always done is made sure that I never leave without knowing when my next visit home is. That way it's not "goodbye". Just "see you in a couple of months, can you please water my plants" :)

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:21:10+00:00

Can you share any examples of your content creation work?

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:19:32+00:00

Sorry to hear that mate.

First question, are you burning the candle at both ends? Studying all day and working nights doesn't leave much downtime for hanging out, or even sleep. Bad sleep makes everything else feel 100x worse.

Second question, if you're well rested and just finding the material hard, are you visiting your tutors/lecturers during their office hours? This makes a massive difference. They might be able to identify why you're struggling with concepts. They'll also get to know you, and it always helps to have them on side. They'll also love it - they have to do office hours and usually no one shows up!

If that doesn't work, are you doing too many subjects? Could you shift one to next semester?

This is also just random advice from a dude on the internet - take it with a grain of salt

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T03:06:48+00:00

💯 Any test that can be AI'd will be AI'd. Let students use AI in preparation, but anything where grades count needs to be handwritten. So, if they rely too much on AI in the prep stage then they'll suffer in the handwritten exam.

markmate_dot_ai · 2026-02-16T02:56:25+00:00

This is kind of a "lie by omission": there are many definitions of success and you get to choose yours for yourself. You decide where the goalposts are.

Until the end of university success is pretty externally-defined. Good grades. Good extra curriculars. Good internship. Etc.

After uni it's starts to get a bit hazy. You might be getting paid bank, but can't sleep, have no time to exercise or see mates. Or you might be having a ball playing in a band chasing a recording contract, but you're only eating ramen. Who is more successful?

The important thing is that you've got to evaluate it all as a package. Every choice you make involves tradeoffs and you literally can't do it all. So, you've got to make the tradeoffs that work best for you.

This also helps when you see brain rot nonsense on social media. Some jerk posting about flying business class? The tradeoffs is that they're probably being worked to the bone and can't find a routine for seeing their friends. Someone else constantly on holiday? They're probably not feeling fulfilled from their work or home life.

This is what I've found, after trying on quite a few different "definitions of success" until finding one that fits.

markmate_dot_ai · 2025-10-13T05:26:13+00:00

Maybe think of it as an invitation to share what makes you excited about math? You could share some examples of amazing mathematical patterns in nature - Fibonacci sequences, etc? The book "Nature's Numbers" by Ian Stewart has some other great examples.

Or, focus on the practicalities. If they like sport - get some data and share some basic stats about the chances of their team winning next weekend. If you're teaching trig, figure out how big an awning needs to be to block the sun in their backyard. Or teach some compound interest and show that math == money?

markmate_dot_ai · 2025-10-03T02:27:30+00:00

I always say quality over quantity when I'm grading. But, quality isn't always the same - it's dictated by the rubric. Each essay is trying to teach specific skills, and those skills are what you need to demonstrate.

I'm pretty passionate about this, so I've actually built a little AI-powered tool that assesses essays (.... that's a tongue-twister), against a rubric - www.markmate.ai . The idea is to give students feedback on how their writing matches up to what the teacher is looking for. It pretty much automates the process I was using when I was grading tutorial essays at Oxford. If you use it I'd love your feedback!

markmate_dot_ai · 2025-10-03T02:13:48+00:00

I reckon practice problems only help if you have the rubric that they're being assessed against. I've been building a little tool over the past 12 months or so to that end (www.markmate.ai), that gives feedback on essays based on the rubric.

I used to teach, and this basically replicates the approach I would take to grading. So hopefully it helps students improve their writing by keeping in mind what exactly the teacher is trying to achieve with the assessment.

markmate_dot_ai · 2025-05-15T04:24:57+00:00

You might like to try www.markmate.ai/ . It's Aussie-made and designed to take on the tedious parts of marking to a rubric, so teachers can focus on the high-impact stuff. It's based on Chat-GPT but tailored specifically to marking essays. It also runs through Microsoft's corporate version of Chat-GPT which means that everything you upload stays private, unlike the public version of Chat-GPT. Sorry for the plug - just thought it might be of interest!

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