Got Straight A's this semester thanks to Steve's Blog.

[seeker5]

After five years of being out of school, I went back in January. I had been a 3.0 Student when I went to school the first time, but that involved a lot of last minute stressed out studying. I had a lot of bad memories from school, and I was scared of repeating it. Worst, I was scared of just getting tired of school..and then getting behind and not being able to catch up and thus quitting. I wanted this time around to get straight A’s – something I’ve never done before. So here is the advice I took from this site that helped me a lot:

1) I took the Millionaire’s intention and modified it. Almost every morning during the weekdays, I’d go exercise and I’d read for one minute “In an easy and in a relaxed way, in a healthy and positive manner, I intend to get straight A’s in my classes this Spring Semester”. This helped tremendous – especially for the first exams, when I started feeling stressed, I remember this intention and distressed.

2) After reading this intention for a minute (and reading other intentions for a minute each), I’d close my eyes while running on the elliptical machine visualizing getting A’s in each of my classes – all the while feeling very proud of it. I’d visualize the end of the semester feeling very proud of having all A’s – of going into the Final Exams with no worries because I had such high grades.

3) I also started aerobic exercising. Steve wrote an article about how the physical is important when one starts to improve oneself, so I restarted exercising in the belief it would help me a lot for school. It really did.

4) I was inspired by his articles about how he took so many coursework and graduated in 3 semesters. While I only took 4 classes, and worked during the weekend, I did get inspired and aimed to study in as less time possible. I also set time blocks modified from his schedule. From Monday to Thursday was school and study time. Friday and Saturday, I set for work. Sunday was my day off. Previously when I had gone to school, I’d just study/do homework anytime. This here helped keep things straight, and stay motivated. I also aimed to study in as short time as possible so the next semester I could take a lot more classes and still do well.

5) I read a book called How to get top Grades right before I started school. I was inspired to do this by the articles on Steve’s site about how he sought information on how to get good grades himself.

6) Steve wrote on that you have to be clear on why you want to do well and why you're going to school. So I took his advice and wrote down why I was going to school, what it would mean to me. I also wrote down a list of what I would do to succeed and get my A's. I kept this list in my master folder that kept track of my performance, and I'd refer to it occasionally to help myself stay on track.

7) Steve said to get up early to get an early start. I started doing that too - getting up at 6am even though my classes started at 9am. That allowed me to study early, and do other things to get a head start on the day, and then exersize. That allowed me to go into my first class fully awake and already feeling good.

I also implemented something I learned from Tony Robbins – which is the art of state management – of getting myself into a state of top confidence, and relaxation and energetic state right before the exam so I’d walk in with full use of my facilities.

Another thing, I’m not sure where I got it from (probably Tony Robbins), but it was new for me in terms of school work was to visualize knowing all the answers in my tests. That is I’d visualize seeing my test and just visualizing the answers coming from deep within me. I knew I had read everything, I knew I had gone over everything, had attended all classes, so I told myself the answers should come from deep within me. This is something I had practiced through Toastmasters actually – as a way to give speeches without notes and without much preparation. It worked quite well for tests - I ended getting the highest grade on my exams for at least half of my exams, and one of the highest grade for most of the rest.

The results:
My newfound friends in classes just assumed I’m a great student and from then just assumed I’d have the highest grade. It was quite an identity shift. On one of my harder classes, I’d have a 100 on exams when most people would have C’s or below. I knew I studied less for it then two friends of mine who got a C and a D. I credit my scoring higher for less actual studying to all of the psychological factors I implemented that they hadn’t.

By the end of the semester, I went into the Final Exams with no stress at all. I went in with 98% or higher in each of my classes. In fact, for two of my classes, through discussion with my professor, they revealed I was the highest ranked student. That was another “wow” moment for me. I was going originally going to go for another Bachelor, but all of my professors told me I should just go for a Masters.

So, I wanted to write back about my first major success using tools from this website and say Thank You! I’ll definitely keep checking and trying out different tools from this site that Steve is building. (Starting with the discipline series!)

[Erock]

Really good job dude. I honestly admire your discipline more then the fact that you got As. I think if you apply that to the rest of your life you will have great success. Incredible job.

Erock

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Erock

Really good job dude. I honestly admire your discipline more then the fact that you got As. I think if you apply that to the rest of your life you will have great success. Incredible job.

Erock

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I was so scared of messing up that it really motivated me to do really well. I guess I was applying the darkworker side of motivation .

[LifeFirst]

I wish I could say the same.....I want to congratulate you on getting all As. But reading stuff like this really gets me depressed in a way. Because I am just the opposite. Maybe you can give me some advice?


I study pretty much 24/7, I don't really do anything else and I cannot get good grades for the love of me. I don't even know what it feels like to get good straight As...or even As and Bs. I have absolutely no clue. I'm always at the library until 12:00 in the evening, I go home and study more until 3 or 4(it's what I'm doing right now actually). And I get up the next morning around like 8 and pretty much forget 90% of what I just studied the day before. And I have to do the same thing all over again.

I don't think the word "depressed" can describe me right now. It's beyond that, I have pretty much lost it. I don't care much about anything else anymore. I rarely sleep, eat. By how much I study, I should be getting straight As...but I don't. I don't know how you can study so little and get such good grades. You must have an awesome. I have read Steve's articles, I do try to apply some of the things he says like timeboxing, but the thing is I don't allow myself to stop. When I read my textbook/notes and I can't understand it, I would spent the entire night trying to understand one equation or else it would drive me insane.


In the beginning towards the middle of the semester, I would get up early on weekdays and go exercise. And I would read something positive before I went to sleep....but I don't know what went wrong. I think it was this test that I did horrible on....after that it was never the same. It was just a slow spiral down towards hell. ANd this week is finals for me, so last 2 finals will determine if I pass or fail the class. The pressure is just KILLING me right now. I have never felt so helpless in my Life. And the worst part about that is, I have no one to study with....no one to go to help for. But I have to find a way to pass those classes...I don't know how I'm gonna do it.

[bettyboo11]

Thank you so much for your story, seeker. It completely inspired me!

[skanda]

hi lifefirst..

herez my take on whatz happening.. i have often seen things from the other side.. ie. i would cram in over 5 days and sit at top of my course compared to ppl who would attend uni everyday..study a bit everyday..and often i would get the "how do you do it ? " ..the reason i think is because in those 5 days .. i have an intense desire to get there.. ( conversely..i find without this pressure.. i drift thru life ..and about 5 days before the exam..i know absolutely nothing ...and thus my thread: potential but no self-discipline)

i feel that if i were in your position..i would ask myself some hard questions..

1. why am i studying ? what am i aiming for ?
2. am i in danger of sacrificing my quality of life for grades ?..not giving my brain a rest ..i strongly believe over-exposure to work and anything else can turn u off it .. a good example .. at uni .. i wouldnt attend everyday.. i would just attend the important lectures.. as a result .. whenever i did attend..i would pay 100% attention..and i would retain a crystal clear picture of what happened .. as opposed to people who would be sitting in every single lecture ..BUT NOT REALLY BEING THERE

my opinion..is try to take a break.. really work out what it is you want to do.. is this a subject that you enjoy.. ? and then understand the work.. pretend you are explaining it to someone else.. look away from the book..

at the end of the day.. if you have long-term anxiety from studying..and it is not adding to your happiness.. then you should look at why you are pushing yourself.. i know this forum is about succeeding and self-discipline..but at the end of the day..it is all a stepping stone for self-realisation..and happiness

hope that helps in someway
skannie

[Kamma]

LifeFirst

I have to say that I agree with Skannie. It seems to me that you're studying so much that you're losing your focus. You need to calm down a bit as the amount of pressure you are placing on yourself is tremendous. Clear your mind and see what happens from there.

[Peter S C]

seeker5 thank you for sharing that. Great story, very inspiring.

Peter

[aabukar]

seeker thanks alot for sharing this is a great and inspiring story

lifeFirst .... when i first graduated form high school and started my first semester at university ... i was taken by the idea that i am not smart enough to be in this university and to compete with all these students ... i had a problem with the language ... i was not good in English and it took me hours to translate the text then to understand it and at the end no good results.

i was studying almost 24/7 but my grades range between c+ and B while i used to be an A student ... i remember i got an advice that really helped me alot
"if you study to get an A you will not get it" let the aim of your study is understand what you are doing and to enjoy it then A will come without so much work...

It took me awhile to be able to isolate the "A image" from my head and guess what it works

i graduated from university in the third grade over all students ... i got my masters and graduated with 3.95/4 and order 1st while i was working on a full time job from 8:30 - 6:00 ... and the most interesting part is that i didnt have to study very much as i used to ... i simply liked and enjoyed what i was doing

hope that helped

[seeker5]

Thanks for the feedback.

LifeFirst, Yeah, I agree with the above posts. You're studying too much, and not focusing enough on those aspects that matters. I've heard that psychology is 80% of success. Doing well in school is more then how much time you put in it - if you put your time in the wrong thing, you're not going to do well. Seems to me you need two things: 1) Proper balance of studying with sleep, rest, and proper phychology. 2) Proper management of internal state for each exams so you remember what you need to remember.

Sleeping little and eating little is definitely not conducive to good performance. It'd be like an Olympic Athlete that trains all the time...training up and exercising up without sleeping and without eating until he gets to the Olympic track while getting no sleep and not eating. If he did that, he’d be in last place in the race. The winning Olympic athlete instead trains properly - balancing rest, exercise and proper nutrition. He also doesn't race and exhaust himself right before the race. All successful athletes also do a lot of visualization. I think doing well in school is similar to training for the Olympics in a way.

I believe everything we read and are exposed to is in the mind - the trick is to access it. That's why I'd spend 10 minutes before each exam walking fast all around the school building visualizing intensely every answer coming from inside of me and making sure that I didn't feel tired, or nervous, but instead would feel very alert, very relaxed, and very conscious and very confident in myself. (Walking very fast and breathing deeply before an exam definitely wakes me up on those days I was a little tired!) Even on those final exams where I didn't study much for (because in most cases I didn't need much of a grade to keep my A), I still made sure to visualize and energized myself 10 minutes before my exam so that I'd give the maximum performance possible. This is a very critical key – managing your internal state for peak performance. Tony Robbins has a lot of information on that.

By the way, I didn't mean to say I studied very little overall. I was comparing myself to two friends whom I personally saw study a lot for the exams. I'm sure I spent more time on each class then a number of other students. I did a lot of proactive stuff too during the semester so I wouldn't have to cram at all - I aimed to read chapters of the book the week before the class would cover it, and I'd aim to do my homework the week before it was due, etc. I wanted to avoid stress as much as possible - like Steve said he avoided. I also made sure I attended each class in top form - that is I was fully active and participative in each class period taking furious notes (so my mind would be more active in remembering all the info) instead of just slouched like a lot of students are taking little notes, and like I used to be. So I did spend considerable time for each class - but less then two of my friends I had helped and thus seen how much they studied, and less then I would have beforehand.

I hope this help. Your semester is about over, so there isn't much you can do to change your current grades except aim as high as possible within the current possibilities. Once it’s over I'd suggest you think deeply and do more research so you can plan your next semester better. I think you know within yourself what you're doing wrong - you outlined it in your post. You may need to get rid of the belief that you get rewarded for studying an extreme amount of time, and replace it with a proper belief about how you need to balance all of the important factors and that you get rewarded for performance, not for time to prepare.

[seeker5]

That reminds me of another tip I got from Steve - of waking up early each day and working the first few hours to set the tempo for the rest of the day. I updated my original post.

[LifeFirst]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

I realized that a lot of you mentioned taking a break. Well, what do you guys mean by that? Sit there a couple of hours and forget about studying? Go play around for a few days? I'm scared to take breaks. Because I would usually rest on Friday, and the next day when I open up my textbook it seems as if I'm reading something completely different...something that I don't ever remember. The minute I take a break, it seems I forget a lot of things. So I have to constantly think about what I'm studying, even when I'm not studying at all.


And when I was trying to do the practice final, there are a lot of multiple choice questions. About 90% of them I have no idea what the answers to them are...I can't even recall what they are about. Yes, I have read all the chapters and have taken about 3 notebooks of notes. And I do make a huge effort to memorize all the concepts and equations, but I don't know why looking at these multiple choice questions I have no clue how to answer any of the questions. It's like they're all trick questions. Every single one of them. I feel like I'm the only one that's like this. I've never met anyone else that has this problem.

[Sunnybayes]

I realized that a lot of you mentioned taking a break. Well, what do you guys mean by that? Sit there a couple of hours and forget about studying? Go play around for a few days?

YESS!!! Keep your studying to like 8 hours.... 5 is a good number... or I'm not sure if those number are right, but defiantly not more than that.

In the summer, spend like 4 hours a day or something learning how to learn. Get books on getting good grades. And do some research on goggle about how to balance things out.

Spend a day to go partying on Fridays... like you used to. Maybe even Saturday. It will keep you from being depressed and lonely, and it will let your brain recharge. Your DNA mandates that you be social or you will feel depressed. You will have fun. You fill find some friends that you can study with.

About 90% of them I have no idea what the answers to them are...I can't even recall what they are about.

Its because your brain has not hard wired the concepts into your subconscious brain. Why? Because you've fried your hippocampus because of being stressed out and because you don't give a chance for your hippocampus to do its thing at night and send the new information into your long term memory when you sleep.

Effects of stress on learning

Its like a car engine, if its out of oil you'd better stop or you cause serious damage. Also because if you don't stop to fix it and you keep trying to drive it, then you are going to get nowhere fast.

You sound like you've been stressed the whole semester. I remember high school that I felt like I was getting dumber as the semester when on because the stress was taking its toll on my learning circuits.

Because I would usually rest on Friday, and the next day when I open up my textbook it seems as if I'm reading something completely different...something that I don't ever remember. The minute I take a break, it seems I forget a lot of things.

It takes a little bit for your mind to warm up again. Or maybe because your brain was fried back then too.

Do some meditation before you start learning so that you are not stressed, that you are relaxed, and that you are having alpha brainwaves that are awesome for learning.

Also read this article

It used to be the accepted scientific wisdom that we are born with all the brain cells we will ever have or need. We now know that human brains continually create new brain cells throughout life because of the work of scientist Elizabeth Gould.

Her work sparked a new, exciting and rapidly expanding field called neurogenesis meaning the birth of neurons. The healthy brain is always giving birth, constantly renewing itself with new memories, new ways of seeing, thinking and being. But, under stress, the brain starves.

Gould’s continuing research on stress and how the brain is affected by its “environ-mental” conditions is explored in a well-written, accessible article in Seed magazine by Jonah Lehrer called The Reinvention of the Self.

Read the whole thing.

Also from here:

The structure of our brain, from the details of our dendrites to the density of our hippocampus, is incredibly influenced by our surroundings. Put a primate under stressful conditions, and its brain begins to starve. It stops creating new cells. The cells it already has retreat inwards. The mind is disfigured.

But don't worry, it also goes on to say that it it quite reversible because the brain repair itself.

Thanks seeker5 for the advice! I'll be learning how to do that for next semester. This semester was really easy for me, last semester went well, but next semester is going to be tough. So I am going to come up with an awesome plan like Steve and seeker5 has done during the summer. (assuming I don't work up a plan so that I don't need to go to school again...)

[Cath]

congrats seeker5 and thank you for your inspirational story!

[Sunnybayes]

Hey, Lifefirst, this excellent article sums it all up quite nicely:

The Laziest solution possible

...Laziness is a fairly underrated virtue. It’s synonym made the short list of deadly sins (sloth) and it is often seen as the major culprit behind a lack of success (he’s smart but he lacks discipline). I happen to think the opposite. Laziness quite often means efficiency and when you combine laziness with a strong drive you end up with the desire to find the most efficient solution possible....

And lazy implies less stress=better brain to learn.

also from same article:

As a holistic learner I’ve never been big on studying. While everyone around me chastised me for laziness, I didn’t ask, “How can I study better?” I asked myself why I should bother to study at all. If I didn’t need to there wasn’t much point in spending time and exerting willpower for a similar grade.

True laziness takes a bit of courage as well. It can be very difficult for hardworking person to admit to themselves that they just wasted a bunch of time and energy on something that doesn’t matter.

And he provides a link to the holistic learning that he was talking about.

[seeker5]

Thanks for the feedback Cath.

Interesting articles Sunnybayes.

Originally Posted by Lifefirst

I can't even recall what they are about.

Lifefirst, You may also want to review some memory-retaining strategies. Steve has some useful ones, and you may want to get a book to learn better memory-retaining skills.

You may also want to work on the belief that says you can't remember well at all - it probably has at least some effect in blocking your memory. I know when I started forcing myself to trust myself that the answers would flow out of me, I started being able to better remember stuff.

[Stargirl]

That's great! Seriously, congratulations and keep it up. Thanks for posting this, and offering inspiration to all of us!

I'm entering college this fall... I'll have to look at this thread again before I leave!

Congratulations again!

[LifeFirst]

Originally Posted by Sunnybayes

YESS!!! Keep your studying to like 8 hours.... 5 is a good number... or I'm not sure if those number are right, but defiantly not more than that.

In the summer, spend like 4 hours a day or something learning how to learn. Get books on getting good grades. And do some research on goggle about how to balance things out.

Spend a day to go partying on Fridays... like you used to. Maybe even Saturday. It will keep you from being depressed and lonely, and it will let your brain recharge. Your DNA mandates that you be social or you will feel depressed. You will have fun. You fill find some friends that you can study with.



Its because your brain has not hard wired the concepts into your subconscious brain. Why? Because you've fried your hippocampus because of being stressed out and because you don't give a chance for your hippocampus to do its thing at night and send the new information into your long term memory when you sleep.

Effects of stress on learning

Its like a car engine, if its out of oil you'd better stop or you cause serious damage. Also because if you don't stop to fix it and you keep trying to drive it, then you are going to get nowhere fast.

You sound like you've been stressed the whole semester. I remember high school that I felt like I was getting dumber as the semester when on because the stress was taking its toll on my learning circuits.



It takes a little bit for your mind to warm up again. Or maybe because your brain was fried back then too.

Do some meditation before you start learning so that you are not stressed, that you are relaxed, and that you are having alpha brainwaves that are awesome for learning.

Also read this article


Read the whole thing.

Also from here:


But don't worry, it also goes on to say that it it quite reversible because the brain repair itself.

Thanks for the links. I have been trying my hardest to think positive about the outcome of the test the last 2 days. I hope it helps me.


The thing is that after I read one of the articles I realized how it really described my mindstate. I have always been stressed...or just not happy. I don't think I've ever been happy. At the beginning of this semester I guess I was content and I told myself that I'm going to get straight As. Well that turned out real nice. In my stay at this University I have only gotten 1 A. And that was a Summer class....so it really didn't count to me. I have always gotten Cs...or Ds....or Fs. Before it was because I didn't really care, never studied much, I hated the classes I took and I had no idea why I was in college. But NOW, I have a plan, a goal in mind, I know what I'm doing and I'm STILL on the verge of failing. Now I'm constantly trying to understand the stuff that I'm taught and I'm just getting dumber and dumber. This semester was the hardest I've ever studied, hardest I've ever worked.....and my grades has been probably the worst out of all my semesters. If I didn't worked as hard and my grades suffered...I wouldn't be too upset...because there wouldn't be anything to say. But the fact is that you work so hard and to have all of it just not matter ONE BIT.....I'd lose it. I just hope that after tomorrow's final is done I have enough sanity left to do anything stupid. I seriously just want to quit if everything fails...and just dissapear or something.

[LifeFirst]

Wow....I took my final two days ago and it was terrible. I felt like I did not know how to do any of the problems. The sad thing was that I KNEW exactly what the questions were asking....I just forgot the equations/graphs completely. And I still memorized a lot of them the day before. This is the most embarrassing thing ever. I don't even want to face anyone anymore...I don't know how I can show this to my parents. They are going to be so dissapointed. It's pretty much all I ever do...just dissapoint them. I literally feel shamed....I have never felt this bad in my Life.