There is a unique way of thinking that dedicated people have. In the same vein, there is an all too common way of thinking that undedicated people have. Here are some things I’ve heard over the past month on the topic of studying:

• No one needs to study for a week for an exam.
• I don’t want to over-study the material.
• Don’t be such a lame-ass, finish that essay tomorrow, drink with us now.

… and the list goes on and on.

Those who are dedicated to achieving high marks and accomplishing their goals are very focused on what they want, and will not allow obstacles to get in their way. They understand that a single-minded dedication, focus, even obsession is required to get what they want.

Frankly, it may seem “lame” or “weird” to those on the outside looking in. Yet if you want to truly excel, then the opinions of other people should not matter. What makes them such experts anyhow? Are they performing superbly in the area you want toconquer? I doubt it.

I know you are a very intelligent person. I know that you want to improve yourself in a number of different ways. So if you were to let the transient thoughts of people get in the way of that improvement, you would be doing a great disservice to yourself.

Since you are in control of your mind and your faculties, you should be the judge of what is or is not appropriate to do.

As we are in the exam season, many of us want to do well on our exams. What are you prepared to do about it?

I got this joke from one of my friends, it highlights this in a funny way:

A student comes to a young professor’s office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, and kneels pleadingly. “I would do anything to pass this exam.”

She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully into his eyes. “I mean,” she whispers, “I would do anything.”

He returns her gaze. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

His voice turns to a whisper. “Would you…study?”

Study?! What kind of punchline is that?

The best kind of punchline. It is the crucial ingredient people seem to forget. We don’t need insane strategies, we don’t need lucky shoes, we don’t need to update our facebook/MSN messenger status. What we need is content in our brains! We need to study.

For the most part, I try to keep these posts light-hearted, but sometimes we all need a kick in the ass.

To address the quotes at the beginning of this post:

• A week is too long to study? If you don’t feel prepared after 3 days of studying that’s probably because you need more time. Only you know how much time you require to cover your material well? Although you don’t want to fall prey to Parkinson’s Law (it states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”), the more time you study, the more information you’ll get into your brain.
• In a similar way, while it is possible to over-study, for the most part you are going to have to study A LOT A LOT to get to that point. I think it’s funny that people worry about getting too bulky or big from going to the gym, without even lifting a pound. In the same way that you’ll notice that your triceps are getting bigger, you’ll notice that you are starting toover-analyse your studies. Even if you start to over-analyse, you’ll be in a far better position than before opening your books.
• Successful people understand that there is a time for play, and a time for work. While it is popular to be the guy or gal that’s always ready to party, it doesn’t always work out. Understanding that sometimes we have to be uncomfortable to get what we want is crucial to personal and academic growth.

The bottom line: Stay focused, even obsessed with your goals. Don’t let naysayers distract you. While dedication is not always the most popular option, it is one of the wisest.

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. “

— W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

As is the case with most posts, recently I have been noticing the theme of commitment coming up in my life. As such I wanted to share my views on it and hear some of yours.

Commitment is a driving force that can help us accomplish all the tasks before us. These tasks can include getting involved in extracurricularactivities, exercising, biochemistry labs or philosophy essays. Whatever they are, commitment will bring them to life.

What is so powerful about commitment? In one way, it leaves you with only the option to succeed. In burning your bridges, you know you must complete your duty, or perish. As much as one may not want to complete an essay, the alternative is a lot worse.

In committing, you give yourself a renewed energy. All of your energy becomes focused on your task rather than all the other possibilities.

I’m sure I don’t need to go on about the importance of commitment. The better question is: How can we commit ourselves?

I have a couple methods that work for me.

Tell people what you are doing

Recently, I wanted to contribute an essay to the Philosopher’s Cafe, a publication here at Queen’s University. Yet, initially I wasn’t sure if I was able to commit myself. I didn’t know if I had enough time, enough creativity, enough content. What I did have a lot of was bullshit excuses. (Pardon my language.)

In this case my commitment had to be externalized. So I told almost everyone that would listen that I was writing an essay for the Philosopher’s Cafe. I told my friends, my lab partners, my parents, even one professor. Sometimes I would find reasons to steer the conversation to this work, just so I could tell them about it.

It almost sounds a little crazy, but it works. Why?

It could be for many reasons: People will talk about it, and it will remind you to work on the essay. As well, since so many people know about it, you don’t want to disappoint them. You have your pride to remember. The idea of having even a few people read the essay, and like it, was also pretty exciting, and made me want to wow them. I’m sure you will have your own reasons for wanting to tell people.

However, I must give you a small warning. There are certain goals that you shouldn’t share with certain people. Some goals will make a certain person jealous, so don’t tell them. They won’t reflect the positivity that you are looking for, and may resent you for your efforts. As much as I’d like to see everyone as perfect, we aren’t, so these things happen.

Luckily, there are often at least one or two (if not more) people that will be happy about your endeavours. Tell them!

Of course we cannot just rely on others to motivate us, we have a role too.

Break down barriers and distractions

I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, but if something is in your way, don’t complain about it. Do something!

If you think you can’t commit to studying for 3 hours because your roommates keep talking, you can try asking them to let you study for a while, threaten them if necessary. You could move to the library, a basement, anywhere.

Sometimes, we have internal barriers that we need to break down. I often worry that my writing will not be helpful or intelligent or gramatically correct… so on and so forth. These worries can disappear if you talk to your friends or rationalize with yourself. Even if I help a few people, or one person, my work is having an impact on the world. Sometimes though, my justifications can be harsh: Although my writing is not always Pulitzer-worthy, there is a lot of writing out there of a much lower quality that probably has too many readers.

Sometimes we have to do what it takes to get us past those barriers and get the job done; hopefully, while keeping good conscience in mind.

There is something to be said about the sort of energy surrounding those who commit and those who don’t. Just go along with me for a bit. When one of your friends says that they are going to finish their lab report by 4PM, but you don’t believe them, there is usually a good reason. You know they aren’t committed to completing it. As a result, you will say that fake, “Oh, ok…” response, while thinking, “Yeah sure…” They are attracting negative energy from you and/or emitting it themselves. This sort of energy will prevent them from accomplishing their task.

In a less ethereal way of thinking, since you know that person is not committed, you are less likely to help them out, making them even less likely to complete their task. When your friend is committed though, you can sense that determination and you are willing to help them. In fact, many people may be willing to help them.

When you commit, you are more willing to complete your task, your friends and others are also more keen to help you. Sometimes even, seemingly random events will happen to help you accomplish this task. Whatever the mechanism, the first step is commitment, “… then Providence moves too.”

So maybe now is the time to get yourself to commit to those goals you’ve been wanting to accomplish. Use the infinite creativity that I know you have, and find ways to commit yourself. Heck, I’ll even help you out. If you want to tell me what you want to commit to, I’ll remind you of it, or we can talk about it.

I’d like you to read the quote that started the piece one more time; I’ll paste it here:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. “

— W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Do what you must to get things done.

For the longest time, I was always fascinated in how things work and the little intricacies of life’s puzzles. That fascination developed into a burning desire to learn and excel in my academic life. I’d read hundreds of books before I turned the age of 6. That continued into my adolescent life right up until the end of high school where my self-motivation and desire to do much of anything peaked and then came crashing down like 747. After that, it took me about 2 years to get back to where I once was, and here I am today.

My theory is that personal growth is rooted in two things: Accountability and Independence

If you want to start to get out of whatever rut you’re in, you need to get those two things.

Accountability - what is it, and where can I get some?

What it is:

It is the simple concept of taking. Taking control of your life, taking what belongs to you and taking every and all opportunities available to you. It is taking responsibility for your actions and reaching a level of maturity that accepts and faces the consequences of said actions. A person who doesn’t run from negative consequences is a person who is accountable. If you only take the positive and do not take the negative, then you are not accountable, you are a coward.

Gettin’ Some:

• Make a conscious effort to be accountable. Think it. Believe it. Do it.
• Do not blame others, no matter what. Even if it appears to be some one else’s problem and you are affected, you, in almost every circumstance, can do something about it.
  • Ex: Roommate pissing you off? Leave. Talk to the person. Move out.
  • Ex: Not liking school? Stop going. Change Programs. Find something you love.
• Internalize every aspect of your life. You and only you have the ultimate control on what direction your life heads into.
• Grow a pair. Face your fears. I believe someone said, there’s nothing greater to fear but fear itself.

Independence -

What it is:
It is solitude. Being alone. Being NOT DEPENDENT. Yes, I realize you, me and everyone else understands the definition of independence, but few and far between experience it. True independence is when your reliance on others is minimal or nonexistent.

Gettin’ Some:

• Lose some friends. Face it, some friends you have are useless. Cut them out.
• Rely on no one. Until you can satisfactory say, “I am happy. I can survive by myself.” You should not be dependent on others, especially if you can’t even depend on yourself.
• Do it yourself. Stop seeking help, do it yourself for a change, learn something.
  

Those are the things a person has to do to truly grow. Obviously, I’m no suggesting blaming yourself for everything, but you should definitely seek your own faults before you seek others. Since you’re reading this website, I was presume you’ve probably experience to some degree accountability or independence, but I challenge you to push it to further boundaries and achieving greater goals.

Personal growth is not like Christianity, you can’t pay lip service every Sunday and expect results. You gotta be like a Mormon, go out there, believe it, breathe it, be it, and convert some heathens.

As usual, my posting frequency has gone down. Once again, I am sorry for the delay. Hopefully an explanation of my doings will show why.

I have just started a club at Queen’s University called the GOL! Club (Goal-Oriented Living) and it is taking a surprisingly large amount of my time. In fact, it has its own website. As a result of this preparation, I have not been posting.

However, all is not lost. I have scheduled 2 interviews — one with a medical student and one with a doctor and professor of “history of medicine” — and once I have either transcribed them or uploaded them (I will be recording the interviews), you may partake in the sexy, sexy new information. Oh, and I am lining up another interview with a husband and wife physician team: Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide of the Eide Neurolearning Blog. It is quite an interesting site, I must add. I always was a sucker for the nature of knowledge acquision.

Even if you are not planning on pursuing medicine as a career, I have a feeling that you may find the interviews interesting, enlightening and even educational!

Education? From this site? Who would have thunk it?

So in closing: Visit The GOL! Club’s website. It’s awesome, you may even set some goals!

I have to start by apologizing for my long hiatus. Frankly, I have not been placing this site very high on my priorities list for many reasons: MCAT preparation, going to the gym, learning guitar, chillin’, etc. From now on, my posting will be much more frequent and regular as I am placing it much higher on my “to do” list.

What is the number one quality you can improve in order to perform better? Well, if you read the title you’ll know what I’m going to say: Motivation.

I find – and I know many of you are the same – that continuing to work can be very difficult. However, once you are working, you can get into a flow that feels fantastic. Ay, here’s the rub: If we can’t get started in the first place, how can we get into that flow?

The trick is to find out how you think and use that knowledge to find what will drive you.
Allow me to clarify with a little question. Assuming that you don’t adore cleaning your room, which of the following would motivate you to clean it:
a) The fear that I will come over to your house and kick your gonads (testicles/ovaries) into oblivion.
b) The incentive of 100 dollars for your efforts.

While you may prefer one to another (which you should keep in mind), I will assume both will put a spark in you. We can use this to our advantage.

These basically fall in two categories: toward and away from. (This is an idea from Neurolinguistic Programming, NLP.) While I am a big proponent of positive thinking, ignoring your specific idiosyncrasies (tendencies) and problems is not realistic.

Acknowledging this, in motivating yourself you can start with an away from motivator, then quickly follow it with a toward motivator.

I will use myself and studying for the MCAT (basically, a medical college entrance test) as an example. I find the idea of my not being accepted into any medical school to be quite frightening. As well, the idea that my peers will decisively out score me also makes me uncomfortable (as petty as that is). Since I want to move away from these outcomes, I am motivated to study.

The idea of getting a freakishly high score is very gratifying and will give me a tremendous sense of accomplishment afterwards. This outcome pulls me towards studying hard for this test.

So when I talk to myself to get/keep myself going (as I frequently do), I say something like, “It is time to study. I will not stand for rejection from any medical schools. I can see myself reaching astronomical new heights in MCAT scores.”

While this may be a little much (which is good), you get the point.

Once you have sufficiently motivated yourself, it is important to start working right away while you have the energy. Constantly engage in this kinetic self-talk, it will work wonders.

So get to it! Find which one works better for you (toward or away from motivators) and then use both to their fullest. Block off that time to work hard. No interruptions! (Move if you have to) And work, work, work! Once you reach the end, you’ll be glad your newly found motivation kicked in at the perfect time.

Happy studying!

A couple weeks ago I emailed Steve Pavlina about posting an article about tips for college students. I’d like to say he created one just because I emailed him, but he said that it was already on his “to write” list.

His 10 Tips for College Students post tackles general and specific techniques to improve your university/college experience. The most important and first mentioned one being purpose. This is the area that I believe most people struggle with — myself included.

We would all perform better in finding our purpose for attaining a higher education. This summer I am tackling this problem head on, and I recommend the same for you as well.

His specific time-management and memory techniques are also very interesting and useful. I have actually created a post about pegging - a very useful memory technique that he mentions - and I really love the picture I included with it.

I will try to implement many of his techniques this summer as I am taking an MCAT course and I’ll tell you how it goes.

So have at it: 10 Tips for College Students - it’s worth the read.

More and more, I’ve been noticing that people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. People aren’t willing to admit when a mistake is their fault. People don’t like the idea that we are the only ones in control of our future.

Someone might be performing poorly in school, so they might say:

• “My parents didn’t push me hard enough.”
• “This professor sucks.”
• “My friends won’t help me.”
• “My underwear is too tight.”

Well, I don’t really know what to say about that last one, other than ‘buy another pair’. For the other excuses though, while they can be true, they are usually just ways of shifting the blame away from themselves.

If we continuously externalize the burden of learning – pushing the onus on our parents, friends or even inanimate objects – then self-development is impossible. We won’t feel compelled to grow because the factors controlling personal growth are always out of our hands.

Well after all this negative talk, does this mean there is no hope? Of course not.

The solution: Take back control of your life.

Once we realize that we are in charge of our lives, we become empowered to create sweeping changes. This is a pretty important point, so I’m going to elaborate a bit, just to drive it home.

Your success or failure in anything really only hinges on one factor: You. Your drive and dedication, your attitudes, your knowledge – all of it, stems from you.

It doesn’t really matter what your dad says, or what your friend thinks or what your grade 3 teacher wrote in the comments box. When it comes down to it, it is just you and your thoughts before you go to sleep. Well, there may be someone else with you, but that’s none of my business.

Once again, when we take back control of our lives and take responsibility for shaping our future, we can break free from limited thinking and affect drastic changes.

For example: You are hesitant to begin reading your text. You cite a number of people who have distracted you, causing you to lose focus, leaving you with little time to read the text. How dare those people force you to talk to them?

Aaah! This is garbage. You start to realize that you are allowing yourself to be distracted. Once you realize only you can change this, you move to the library (without your computer, come on) and finish your readings in record time.

This sort of process can only happen went accountability lies with a specific person. Can you guess with whom? Yes, you. *gives a cookie*

I have to point out, that this sort of responsibility-shifting is actually quite insidious, because most of the time, people don’t even realize that they are doing it. I’m not one to name names or point fingers, so I recommend we all do a little introspection to see if we can catch ourselves doing it.

While shifting responsibility away from ourselves may make things easier in the short term, in the long run, it only robs you of your potential. So take your life back!

“How can you expect to hit a target you can’t see?” – Zig Ziglar

When you work do you have a specific, definable goal that you are working for? If you don’t, how can you know if you are getting closer to reaching it? How much material will you have covered by a certain date?

You need to have some goals to get things done, really done.

The advantages to having specific, realistic, dated goals are abundant:

• They let you see if you are on track or if you need to pick up the pace.
• They give you focus, allowing you to accomplish specific tasks.
• They keep you calm by putting your tasks into smaller, manageable bundles. As opposed to looking at a huge list of everything you have to do, freaking out, screaming/crying, eating ice cream, and having nothing accomplished 2 days later.
• They drive you towards the completion of tasks. You can just look at your goals and you will know what you have to do, which will increase the chance that you will accomplish it. They will remind you to continue to chip away at a goal until it is complete, simply because you want to cross it off your list.

I think you get the point.

To solidify this, I’ll give you some personal examples. I do practice what I preach.

For this site, I told myself: I will have 15 posts by April 2, 2006. I put this sign on my bulletin board, right in front f my chair with a little tally underneath it. I made this goal about a month ago, as I planned to have a new post every 2 days or so. Initially, I was quite ahead of schedule; however, after a series of outings, I fell slightly behind. After looking at my goal, I realized I had some catching up to do and produced a few more posts fairly quickly.

It is important to note that I actually did not post one of them because I didn’t feel it was up to par with the other posts. Don’t work for the sake of working; remember the essence of your goal.

I didn’t want 15 bad posts by April 2, nor did I want 14 good posts and one poor post. I actually meant 15 quality posts. Maybe I should have added that in, but I knew what I meant. As of the time of this post, this will be my 13th “real” post. Which means I’m exactly on pace for reaching my goal.

Switching back to academia: It would be better to say, “I will cover 3 chapters of chemistry well” and do it, rather than covering 5 chapters inadequately. If you were to do that, then what would be the point of all of this?

For a personal academic goal, as I mentioned before, I would like to improve my anatomy practical mark. Now my goal is to get 90% on the final practical exam.

This is a fairly lofty goal from where I stand, but I know how much work it will take to achieve this (in terms of effort and time), so I still think this goal is very achievable. I’ll update you later on how well I have reached my goal.

Do not be afraid to aim higher than usual, to stretch yourself more than normal. You might surprise yourself.

I remember reading a quote in my middle school class a long time ago. “Aim for the moon, because even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Even in middle school I thought it was cheesy. I remember also thinking that the person who said that didn’t realize how far away we are from the rest of the stars (I was a bit of a smart-ass). Those points aside, there is a good point in there: Aim far. The worst that can happen is that you learn something and improve.

I know that goal setting can have the same benefits for you as it does for me. Get it done, write down your specific, definable, time-stamped goal. Remember to challenge yourself and work hard at it. With determination, I know you’ll reach your goals.

After a disappointing performance in one of my courses, I’ve decided to redouble my efforts in order to improve.

The course in question was Anatomy, and even after some drastic measures (maybe I’ll show you later), I know I could have done better.

After writing the practical midterm, I realized that I placed too much of my focus on the theoretical portion, and I didn’t study certain parts that I felt were really boring/complicated. As one would expect, I did quite poorly on the parts that I didn’t study properly for.

This leads me to a lesson I picked up a while ago, but apparently forgot to apply: If there is a subject or topic that you find boring or difficult, you shouldn’t leave it until the end, nor should you spend less time on it as it suits you. You should work on this subject/topic first, and you should work on it the hardest.

If you find a topic boring, it generally means that you won’t do as well as you could. This is due to a lack of a will to learn and the general poor retention that results from chronic apathy. To combat this, you must disproportionately increase your effort in this area to make up for a lack of interest. (By disproportional I mean you’ll need more effort to learn the same amount of information because it’s harder to absorb – initially, at least.)

When you start to really intensely study a “less interesting” subject, you’ll find that an interesting thing happens: You will actually start enjoying the subject more.

A collective “Gwah?” comes from the masses.

It’s true though. Once you begin to learn more, the concepts enter your brain increasingly quickly. You start to feel excited as a once insurmountable mountain becomes a very manageable speed bump. You start making connections within the subject matter, and you start to see how things interrelate. The concepts actually have flow! Maybe the course was taught in this order for a reason. Maybe there is a reason your professor finds the material more interesting than her own apparel, which would explain why she only wears those floral print shirts… bleck.

The main point is that in order to be successful in a topic that isn’t your fancy, you will have to put additional focus and resources towards it. It will start getting easier and easier, I swear. But you’re going to have to try it to find out. All you have to lose is a disdain for some subject…