Dream Binder

Horizons of Focus & Five-Year Plan

Henry Fan
Application Support Analyst I · CVC OEI Exchange
Aspiring MS CS · PhD in CS Education
April 2026

"Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them."
— David Allen, Getting Things Done

Built on: GTD · PARA · CODE · Conquering College Lab 4 · Second Brain

Part I

Horizons of Focus

From David Allen's GTD, adapted via Jeff Anderson's Conquering College Lab 4. Think from purpose down to actions — each level gives meaning to the one below it.

Horizon 5 — 50,000 ftPurpose & Principles

Why do I exist? What do I stand for? What kind of world do I want to create?

To democratize CS education — making first-principles, hands-on computer science accessible to community college students who've been told this field isn't for them. To prove that deep understanding doesn't require elite institutions.

Horizon 4 — 40,000 ft3–5 Year Vision

Where do I see myself in 3–5 years? What does success look like?

Enrolled in or completing a PhD in CS Education (or Learning Sciences/HCI). Published researcher. MS CS knowledge equivalent. YouTube channel with a following of CC students learning CS from first principles. Financially stable. Physically strong.

Horizon 3 — 30,000 ft1–2 Year Goals

What do I want to achieve in the next 1–2 years?

Horizon 2 — 20,000 ftAreas of Focus

What are my ongoing areas of responsibility? (PARA: Areas)

💼 Career — CVC OEI Exchange (Application Support Analyst I)

🖥 CS Mastery — Self-study toward MS CS equivalency

🎓 PhD Prep — Research identity, papers, faculty outreach, applications

💪 Health & Fitness — Daily exercise, energy management

🎬 YouTube — CS Ed curriculum channel for CC students

Horizon 1 — 10,000 ftCurrent Projects

What projects have a clear outcome and deadline? (PARA: Projects)

Ground Level — RunwayNext Actions

What is the very next physical action I need to take for each project?

Part II

Vision, Values & Purpose Statement

Conquering College Lab 4: "Develop your purpose and find your reasons to work hard."

My Core Values

What principles guide every decision I make? List 5–7 values.

My Purpose Statement

In one sentence, why am I doing all of this? (Revisit and refine monthly.)

My Vision Statement

Describe your ideal life 5 years from now in vivid detail. Where do you live? What is your daily routine? What have you accomplished? How do you feel?

What energizes me?

What drains me?

Part III

Five-Year Academic & Career Plan

Per Jeff Anderson Lab 4: "Create, develop, and maintain a concrete plan for your work and beyond." Flexible, easy-to-edit, visually appealing.

🎯 Target School & Degree

School

Degree Track

Major / Department

Expected Start

Target Programs

🤘

UT Austin

MSCS Online · ~$10K · 30 hrs

🐝

Georgia Tech

OMSCS · ~$7K · 30 hrs

⚡

SJSU

MSCS · ~$34K · 33 units

🔴

Cornell

PhD CS Ed · Funded · 34 hrs

🦁

Columbia

MSCS · ~$84K · 30 pts

🐯

Princeton

PhD CS · Funded · 6 courses

Year 1 (Apr 2026 – Mar 2027)

Job: CVC OEI Exchange. CS Phases 0–1. PhD prep: papers + outreach.

Quarter	Work	CS Learning	PhD Prep	YouTube
Q1 Apr–Jun	First 90 days — earn trust, learn systems	Phase 0: Discrete Math, Data Structures, Python/C, Linear Algebra	Paper reading pipeline (2/wk). Draft RQ.	Plan channel. Script first 3 videos.
Q2 Jul–Sep	Contributing phase — ship improvements	Phase 0→1: Finish prereqs. Start CLRS.	Sharpen RQ. Faculty outreach (1/wk). Start SoP.	Publish first videos. Monthly cadence.
Q3 Oct–Dec	Impact — propose process improvement	Phase 1: CLRS, OS (Silberschatz), Sipser	SIGCSE 2027 deadline. Program research.	4–6 videos live. Iterate based on feedback.
Q4 Jan–Mar	Established at CVC	Phase 1: Complete OS + Theory of Computation	Submit PhD apps. Finalize SoP + materials.	Build audience. ~10 videos total.

Year 2 (Apr 2027 – Mar 2028)

Quarter	CS Learning	PhD / Research	YouTube
Q1	Phase 2: ML (Bishop), Deep Learning	Decisions from PhD apps. Start pilot study?	Bi-weekly videos. CS fundamentals series.
Q2	Phase 2: AI (AIMA), Databases	Summer research or thesis prep	Series on building computers from scratch
Q3	Phase 2→3: Start specializations	Draft SIGCSE/RESPECT paper	Breadboard computer series
Q4	Phase 3: NLP, RL, Bioinformatics	Submit paper. Refine research agenda.	~25 videos. Growing channel.

Years 3–5 (2028 – 2031)

Year	CS / Career	PhD / Research	YouTube / Teaching
Year 3	Phase 3–4: Specialization + capstone project	PhD coursework (if accepted) or continued independent research	Established channel. Curriculum for CC students.
Year 4	MS CS equivalent complete. Apply skills at work or transition.	PhD qualifying exams. Dissertation proposal.	Full curriculum library. Speaking at conferences.
Year 5	Senior technical role or full-time PhD	Dissertation research + writing. Defend.	Impact: CC students using your materials nationwide.

Part IV

MS CS Self-Study Roadmap

5 phases, 30+ months. Synthesized from UT Austin, Georgia Tech, SJSU, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton curricula.

Phase 0 Prerequisites & Foundation (Months 1–3)

📐 Discrete Mathematics — Rosen 8th ed. or MIT 6.042J
🌲 Data Structures & Algorithms — Sedgewick & Wayne; Princeton Coursera
🐍 Python + C Fluency — Automate the Boring Stuff + K&R C
🎲 Linear Algebra & Probability — Strang 6th ed. + Ross Probability

Milestones: 50 LeetCode problems · Proofs by induction · BST, hash table, graph in C · Matrix ops & Bayes fluent

Phase 1 Core Graduate Foundations (Months 4–9)

⚡ Graduate Algorithms — CLRS 4th ed. + Kleinberg & Tardos
🖥 Operating Systems — Silberschatz 10th ed. + Bryant & O'Hallaron
🔄 Theory of Computation — Sipser 3rd ed.

Milestones: CLRS ch 1–35 with exercises · Build shell + thread library in C · Understand P vs NP · Network flow problems

Phase 2 AI, ML & Data (Months 10–16)

🧠 Machine Learning — Bishop PRML + Hastie ESL + Geron Hands-On
🔮 Deep Learning — Goodfellow et al. (free)
🤖 AI — Russell & Norvig AIMA 4th ed.
💾 Databases — Silberschatz DB + Kleppmann DDIA

Milestones: Implement CNN for image classification · Transformer from scratch · Bayesian methods & EM · Query optimizer prototype

Phase 3 Specialization (Months 17–24)

💬 NLP — Jurafsky & Martin 3rd ed. (free) ⭐
🎮 Reinforcement Learning — Sutton & Barto 2nd ed. (free) ⭐
🧬 Bioinformatics — Durbin et al. + Compeau & Pevzner ⭐
👁 Computer Vision — Szeliski 2nd ed. (free)
🌐 Networks — Kurose & Ross 8th ed.
λ PL Theory — Pierce TAPL + Crafting Interpreters

Milestones: 20+ papers in chosen area · CRISPR off-target ML predictor · 2 specialization projects · Capstone proposal

Phase 4 Research & Capstone (Months 25–30+)

📄 Research Methods — Booth et al. Craft of Research 4th ed.
🏗 Capstone Project — ML-Guided CRISPR / Web Platform / RL Guide Selection
✍️ Paper Writing — Literature review → draft → submit
🎯 Applications — SoP, CV, program spreadsheet

Milestones: Literature review (50+ papers) · Capstone defense-ready · 1 paper submitted · Applications to 5–10 programs

Part V

The Library — Textbook Inventory

24 textbooks across 3 tiers. Check off as you acquire each one. 8 are available free.

Tier 1 — The Canon (Must-Read)

⚡

Introduction to Algorithms (CLRS, 4th ed.)

Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, Stein

AlgorithmsPhase 1All 6 Programs

🤖

AI: A Modern Approach (AIMA, 4th ed.)

Russell & Norvig

AIPhase 2

🧠

Pattern Recognition & ML (Bishop)

Christopher Bishop

MLPhase 2

🔮

Deep Learning

Goodfellow, Bengio, Courville

DLPhase 2FREE

🖥

Operating System Concepts (10th ed.)

Silberschatz, Galvin, Gagne

OSPhase 1

🔄

Introduction to Theory of Computation (3rd ed.)

Michael Sipser

TheoryPhase 1

🎯

Algorithm Design

Kleinberg & Tardos

AlgorithmsPhase 1

Tier 2 — Essential Companions

📊

Elements of Statistical Learning (ESL)

Hastie, Tibshirani, Friedman

Stats MLFREE

🎮

Reinforcement Learning (2nd ed.)

Sutton & Barto

RLFREE

💬

Speech & Language Processing (3rd ed.)

Jurafsky & Martin

NLPFREE

👁

Computer Vision: Algorithms & Apps (2nd ed.)

Richard Szeliski

CVFREE

💾

Database System Concepts (7th ed.)

Silberschatz, Korth, Sudarshan

🏗

Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Martin Kleppmann

Distributed

⚙️

Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective

Bryant & O'Hallaron

Systems

🌐

Computer Networking: Top-Down (8th ed.)

Kurose & Ross

Networks

Types and Programming Languages (TAPL)

Benjamin Pierce

PL Theory

Tier 3 — Prerequisites & Specialized

📐

Discrete Mathematics (Rosen, 8th ed.)

Kenneth Rosen

Prereq

📏

Introduction to Linear Algebra (Strang, 6th ed.)

Gilbert Strang

Prereq

🎲

A First Course in Probability (Ross, 10th ed.)

Sheldon Ross

Prereq

🧬

Biological Sequence Analysis

Durbin, Eddy, Krogh, Mitchison

Bioinformatics

🔧

Hands-On ML with Scikit-Learn (Geron, 3rd ed.)

Aurélien Géron

Practical ML

🌲

Algorithms (Sedgewick & Wayne, 4th ed.)

Sedgewick & Wayne

UG AlgorithmsFREE

📄

The Craft of Research (4th ed.)

Booth, Colomb, Williams, Bizup

Research

Part VI

Daily Operating System

The System v2.0 block schedule. Print and post on your wall.

Weekday (Mon–Fri)

6:00–7:00💪 Exercise1 hr

7:00–7:15☕ Shower + Coffee15m

7:15–8:00🖥 CS Theory45m

8:00–5:00💼 CVC OEI9 hrs

5:00–5:15🚶 Decompress15m

5:15–6:15🖥 CS Build1 hr

6:15–6:45🎓 PhD Prep30m

6:45+🌙 RestEve

Weekend (Sat–Sun)

7:00–8:00💪 Exercise1 hr

8:00–8:15☕ Shower + Coffee15m

8:15–11:15🖥 CS Deep Work3 hrs

11:15–11:30🚶 Walk + Snack15m

11:30–12:30🎓 PhD Prep1 hr

12:30–1:00🎬 YouTube30m

1:00+🌙 FreeRest

Weekly Hour Budget

Track	Weekday	Weekend	Weekly Total
💼 CVC OEI Work	40 hrs	—	40 hrs
🖥 CS Learning	8.75 hrs	6 hrs	14.75 hrs
💪 Exercise	5 hrs	2 hrs	7 hrs
🎓 PhD Prep	2.5 hrs	2 hrs	4.5 hrs
🎬 YouTube	—	1 hr	1 hr

Part VII

Weekly Review Template

Sunday evening, 30 minutes. The most important ritual. Print multiple copies.

Week of: ________________

Review Checklist

Process inbox to zero

Review PARA: move completed Projects to Archives

Review CVC work: What did I ship? Carry-overs? Monday priorities?

Review Exercise: Did I hit 5–6 workouts?

Review CS Learning: What did I build/read? Next module?

Review PhD Prep: Papers read? Outreach sent? RQ sharper?

Review YouTube: Content planned? Video recorded/edited?

Advance CODE pipeline: notes ready to distill or express?

Check calendar for coming week

Identify One Big Thing for each track

Rate yourself on 6 Dimensions of Learning

Clear workspace: file papers, close tabs

One Big Thing — This Week

💼 CVC:

💪 Exercise:

🖥 CS Learning:

🎓 PhD Prep:

🎬 YouTube:

Wins This Week

Lessons & Adjustments

6 Dimensions Self-Rating (1–5)

❤️ Caring: ___

🧠 Metacognition: ___

📚 Foundational Knowledge: ___

🔧 Application: ___

🔗 Integration: ___

🤝 Human Connection: ___

Part VIII

Open Questions & Skills to Develop

Per Lab 4 (1.D.ii): "Generate a list of specific questions you want answers to." And (1.E.iii): "Create a list of skills you want to develop."

Questions I Need Answered

Skills I Want to Build

📚 Reading List (from Jeff Anderson's Community Challenge)

Grit — Angela Duckworth

Getting Things Done — David Allen

The Bullet Journal Method — Ryder Carroll

Deep Work — Cal Newport

Ultralearning — Scott Young

Building a Second Brain — Tiago Forte

So Good They Can't Ignore You — Cal Newport

Designing Your Life — Burnett & Evans

Drive — Daniel Pink

Willpower — Roy Baumeister

The Power of Full Engagement — Jim Loehr

Decisive — Chip & Dan Heath

Deliver excellence at work. Build mastery on the margins. Earn the PhD.
Create the type of world you want to live in.