This perspective is actually only partially true. During my first 2-3 years in the university, I studied relentlessly from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, a grueling 12 hours every single day(with minimal breaks especially for tests and exams), and I would have easily done more, but our school library was only open for that small operational window. I devoured Soviet textbooks from Mir Publishers, classical Cambridge treatises in calculus, advanced analysis, differential equations and also French books on abstract algebra. But even with all of this deep, rigorous, and exhausting study, I still painfully struggled with non-standard problems in advanced mathematics, and I had absolutely no practical idea how to formulate, execute or publish my own independent mathematical research. Still, I stubbornly continued to study, constantly buying hard copies and downloading PDFs. I deeply understood the fundamental principles, the foundational axioms, and could effortlessly replicate complex proofs on a blackboard. But the very moment it came to actually carrying out my own independent research, or tackling novel problems, I would completely freeze. It was as if my brain completely stopped thinking the second I dropped the books. So, for this exact reason, I made a drastic decision(during my third year): I completely stopped reading. I picked out a very difficult mathematical problem, and made a solemn vow to myself never to open a single textbook until I found the solution entirely on my own. I deleted all social media apps from my phone, disconnected my Wi-Fi, and turned off my internet connection completely. After two solid days of intense research, I emerged not only with the complete solution to that specific problem, but I also derived a detailed, generalized mathematical blueprint for solving that entire class of problems. This was the exact, transformative moment I realized what had been critically missing from my study routine all along. I had never taken the necessary time to engage in deep, independent thinking, to truly digest, internalize, and synthesize what I had learned. Instead, I had been mindlessly, passively, and uncritically accumulating raw knowledge strictly for knowledge's sake. Textbooks and academic treatises should only ever be viewed as basic guides, structural maps, or starting points, and never as a substitute for raw, independent, and creative human thinking. Now, I regularly go out for long walks, often staying outside for up to five hours at a time, pacing around the compound to think. Walking, pacing, and solitary contemplation are precisely how I do advanced mathematics, conceptualize systems, and draft my essays. Extensive, rigorous, and disciplined reading is essential, but it must unconditionally be accompanied by deep, original, and active thinking outside the books. This is the single most vital piece of advice I desperately wish someone had given me when I was younger.