Screw Your Plan! You Don't Need It

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I had the perfect schedule all laid out. I was in college and I was set to go own my A+ rampage. I was getting good grades at the time but I wanted to crush them. My schedule started at 6 am. I'd get up. I'd workout. I'd eat. I'd shower. I'd study. Then class. Then more studying. Then another class. Then... more studying. I'm sure you get the point.

I was reading a book on time management and it inspired me to try and become a better student through being more organized with my time. It didn't take long before I realized how stupid my plan actually was. Within a week I wanted to quit school and join the circus.

That's what a schedule can do to you. (Everything except possibly the circus part. I'm weird.) A schedule seems like a wonderful thing in theory but it takes a special kind of person to actually put it into action consistently. I've talked with tons of students that had similar experiences to me. When you make an exact plan for what you need to do, you're just setting yourself up to fail.

You are not a study machine. You can't just insert a schedule of hole punched cards in your mouth and program your actions. (If you understand that joke then you win some geek cred.) You can't program yourself into doing things you want to do. Even if you could, it probably wouldn't be better than the alternative. What's the alternative?

Passion Is The Plan

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This may be something you can't understand right now. If you've never experienced it then it can seem a bit unbelievable but after a few years of practice, it comes together. There are times in the day that I'm  dying to get studying. I'm serious. My brain is pumping with every focus hormone in the world and I'm thinking, stimulate me! (No that's not a sexual reference. No matter how much it sounds like it. I use that kind of a reference because it's eerily similar.)

Your brain knows what it wants better than you do. Despite what you may be told, you're brain isn't naturally lazy. It takes years of training to make your brain that way. When you work to stimulate your brain, it can break free of that natural stagnation. Eventually, when you break off some of the brain rust, you can get it running naturally again. What's your brain running naturally?

Your brain wants to think. It's designed for it. It wants to soak up all the information required for it's survival. Once you start getting that survival instinct kicking, you may even start to want to study. (It will likely start with studying subjects completely unrelated to school. It's an urge you want to cultivate from there.)

Your brain won't always want to study but eventually your brain will tell you that it's time to start thinking. When your brain tells you it's time to study, hours of scheduled studying would mean nothing compared to 10 minutes of passionate studying.

Sure, scheduled studying may sometimes be a necessity but so much more is possible when you get passionate.

Schedule Of Passion

As much as anyone would love it to, passion doesn't happen to come on a schedule. It's impossible to predict the dates and times that you're going to feel passionate about studying. That means, you cannot count on scheduling to set up the best study periods of your life. They need to come naturally.

I believe a study time scheduled daily is helpful for studying in school for two reasons.

First of all, it takes time to break the bad study habits that hamper most students. Most students have effectively trained themselves to hate studying. (Who can blame them with the way the school tries to educate them?) That means the method of getting a student to study efficiently has to change. The first thing that needs to be changed is that hatred for studying. That can't changed without consistent and non-miserable study sessions (short, regularly scheduled, and not too stressful.) To get into my specific prescription, check out the archives of this blog.

Second, you can't count on passion when you have class tomorrow morning. You sometimes need to take it into your own hands. Eventually, with practice the schedule gains the same advantages as I'm about to discuss. It just takes time to work out the skill.

As you begin to hate studying less and less, you'll get more and more moments that you actually want to study. At first you may only feel the urge to study once a month. Over time though, you'll find that urge can come as often as daily.

Breaking The Plan...

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One of the worst things you can do for the efficiency of your studying is making a ridiculous plan. Sure, it can make sense to plan a half hour a day but you need to be unbelievably careful every time you do.

Plans don't work because your brain doesn't work that way. The things that you’re passionate about get your attention whether you want them to or not. There is no magic button you can press to get into the zone studying. It's much better to just be ready whenever you find the inspiration.

The worst part about these ridiculous plans is that they interrupt your ability to study in the future. One week of excessive or boring studying can completely change the way your brain works while studying. The brain needs to be focused to work well. When you force it through miserable study sessions, you won't be able to focus. When you don't focus, you make your brain think it's acceptable to not focus while studying. It all just stacks itself up into the impossible wall of studying that most students never break through.

Do you want to know how to let your brain do the studying without the stress? That's what this blog is all about. Be sure to follow and check out the archives for all the details. Oh... And if you have a kindle, make sure you give the ebooks a look too.

Why Hopping On One Leg While Studying Works (And Other Insane Methods Work)

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I spent years experimenting with different study strategies. I would spend hours and hours experimenting with different study strategies and then test the results. Some of those experiments were practical. For example, I spent over a week experimenting with listening to music while studying. (In case you're curious, it didn't work well.) Other of those experiments would seem downright stupid.

For example, I spent a couple days experimenting with hopping on one leg while attempting to study.

While it's a bit of a tangent from my point, I feel I need to explain why I'd experiment with something so ridiculous. I was including that experiment in a larger concept I was working on. I wanted to know how the activation of different muscles changed the effectiveness of studying. (It helps but that's a story for another day.)

That's not the only crazy experiment I've tried before though. (It's not even close to the only one.) I even spent a day trying to study for my history class in a language I barely understood. Again, this was part of a larger series of experiments that I was working on.

While I did tons of crazy experiments that seem completely unrelated to each other, there was one strange fact that most of these had in common. The crazier the experiment seemed, the better it's results seemed to be.

Interruption-Proof

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It can seem odd that doing things that seem completely stupid can increase your ability to study but I have a theory on it based on some solid science.

Imagine a person talking loudly in the background while you're trying to study. You're just trying to get ready for a test but some jerk feels the need to virtually yell everything he or she says. This is the kind of noise that can drive you nuts while you're trying to study. This is the kind of interruption that I'm always hounding on getting rid of in this blog. It can completely ruin every ounce of focus you invest.

Most of my crazy study experiments can seem similar this person talking loudly. Hopping on one leg is an interruption for your brain. Every time you go up into the air your brain has to focus all of your stabilization muscles for the impact. With my studying in another language, it would seem that having to translate words from the language I barely knew, into the language I knew would be another interruption. They are interruptions but they're just a different kind.

Imagine listening to an air conditioner while you're trying to study. In fact, imagine listening to a super loud air conditioner. How much of a disruption from studying is that? I could see you thinking either way on this one but the experiments suggest a clear answer. White noise, like the kind you'll hear from an air conditioner doesn't hurt your ability to study. (In some cases, it's been shown to help because it blocks out non-white noise.)

Your brain is designed to be distracted by anything unusual. It's not designed to be distracted by something repetitive and boring. The repetitive and odd can actually help you focus even better.

Interruptions That Improve Focus

When you're studying, the hardest part is getting your brain into your most efficient level of focus. The brain is a fickle device when you're not utilizing it properly. To truly understand this, you need to train yourself for year just to achieve your highest levels of focus. That's where some of my odd experiments come in.

Hopping on one leg while you're trying to study forces your whole brain and body into the studying. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't get distracted from studying. To maintain the pace I used, I needed to keep my brain completely invested in studying and not falling over. I couldn't suddenly think about the show I watched last night or I'd fall on my... Moving on...

The language translation studying forced my whole brain into the studying.

Of course, each of these individual study methods had other mechanisms at work but fundamentally, they could have helped just because they forced me to invest more of my excess energy into the study time.

Should You Hop On One Leg To Study?

No.

There is one fundamental flaw with all of these strange study strategies. Eventually, your brain and body gets used to the unusual factors about studying. At that point, you're brain doesn't need to focus quite as hard at it. That means the focus advantage deteriorates. (Anyway, you look like an idiot hopping on one leg to study.)

To make it even worse, your brain gets used to the excess stimulation while you're using one of these strange study methods. That will ultimately makes it more difficult to study when you're just sitting in a chair trying to learn it. (Your brain wants to be hopping while studying. That distracts you.)

Why Does This Matter?

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I personally gave up playing with silly sounding study strategies. Ultimately, I realized most of them may improve studying but they take a whole lot of management to constantly cycle through. I would have to change my study session nearly every week to keep studying at a high efficiency. And honestly, the 5% boost I was averaging wasn't worth the stress. Instead I figured it would be much better just to focus on improving my brain's focus without the extra tricks.

Through all these personal experiments I learned one important thing.

The human brain is awesome.

I'm serious.

While studying, it can sometimes feel like we've got a brick bonking around in our skull where our brain should be, but we still have the most complex machines around. The human brain is designed to learn information pretty darn well. If you feel like you're not learning something that you need to be learning then trust your brain to tell you what to do.

If you don't feel like you're learning something. You're probably not. If you're not learning with the strategy you're trying then it's time to change strategies. Stand up. Think. And do something new.

You may not understand exactly how the cogs turn in the mill of your noggin but all you need to do is trust that they're spinning in the right direction and let them turn.

Would you like to have the tricks your teachers don't tell you about how to study faster? That's what this blog is all about. Be sure to check out the archives. (And the books if you're in a hurry to learn it all.)

7 ACTUAL Reasons You Should Be Getting Good Grades (And 1 Reason You Shouldn't!)

Okay. I get it. So you haven't necessarily put in 100% effort into your grades so far. I've spent plenty of years slacking through school myself but eventually the slow kick in the butt the world gave knocked some sense into me. For years, I struggled to care even the slightest bit about my grades.

I did have one reason that I kept trying to use to force myself to study with but it never worked. Since I've started working with students on how to improve their grades, I've learned that it's actually one of the most common mistakes students make.

Do not get good grades to make someone else happy.

Despite all the whining of your parents or teachers, you cannot give in. Any attempt to study to make someone else happy is an almost completely wasted effort. You have only one life to live. Right now it might not seem like a big deal but you will regret the time you waste studying for this reason. Studying to make other people happy is a completely inefficient and painful way to spend your time. If you're going to find a reason to get good grades then take the time to find a good one. That will speed up your studying and make sure you can actually enjoy the process.

What are the reasons you should be getting good grades.

1. The Pursuit Of Knowledge

Yes. This is the noble and blatantly obvious first answer. Of course, 99% of you will glance over this like a crack in a sidewalk but this crack happens to be wide enough to break your ankle if you're not looking out.

Your grades can be thought of as a sign of the knowledge you're gaining. While it's never as simple as that cliché, it holds some truth. If you're looking to gain knowledge that they teach in school, focus on getting good grades as proof that you're actually learning it.

That being said, this should not apply for most students. Don't feel bad if you really don't care about the subjects taught in school.

2. Personal Training

I may have never enjoyed many subjects in school but after I started focusing on scoring high, this was one of my fundamental reasons.

You only have so much time in your day. If you want to be a better person, you need to use that time to improve. Considering you spend hours of your day cramped up into a dim classroom, you might as well use it as a way to improve yourself.

Your grades improving is usually a sign that you're improving your ability to learn information in school. These improvements will be helpful well past your school years.

3. To Get People Off Your Back (Yea. It's different.)

I know what you're thinking. Isn't this the same as making other people happy? Not exactly.

You should not be getting good grades to satisfy someone else but, for most students, getting poor grades would be absolutely miserable. Not because there is some major life consequence (well... probably) but mostly because parents and teachers would be poking you with annoying comments all day about your lack of effort.

If you're in a non-voluntary school situation like high school or earlier, satisfying people to the point that they shut up is a reasonable motivation to get good grades. If you're getting C's and your parents are complaining that you should be getting A's, try only getting B's and see if they stop whining. If they do, maybe it's worth sticking with the B effort. If they still keep complaining then either get the grades they want solely to shut them up (and don't put in an extra ounce of effort over that,) or forget trying to please them.

The difference between this and to make other people happy is this. Do the minimum to get people to let you live your own life. (Sometimes no amount will do this. If not, this reason is not for you. Deal with the people in your life. Not your grades.)

4. Prepare For A Career

So, you've decided you want to be a doctor (or maybe a professional basket weaver?) Getting good grades now, particularly in related subjects can be a great way to start prepping for a job. Notice the word start. It's definitely a small step for most careers but some career fields this is particularly useful.

If you want to be a math teacher (or engineer or card counter etc.) then focus on getting good grades in math. These lessons will definitely help you in your future career. Your history grade might be a complete waste of time though.

5. Create A Buffer

Okay. Maybe you're not so motivated by any of these other reasons. Despite that, you might still want to pass the class (how odd of you, right?)

Good grades can be created as a buffer for more slacking in the future. With some courses, the early lessons are significantly easier than the later lessons. For those courses (and certain other situations) you may want to get great grades early on so you can slack off a little later in the year without worrying about your grades failing.

Imagine how great it will feel having a final coming up that you could completely fail and still get a good grade in the course. Yea. Studying isn't all that hard in those cases.

6. Top School Or A Scholarship

Notice the word top school. I did not use the word good school. Good colleges do very little to help your career in the future versus the average college. They generally charge more to give you a slightly better education. That better education, usually doesn't pay off with a better career.

Imagine you're an employer reading an application that shows a person went to Joanasburg University? That may be the greatest college in the country educationally but if your potential employer hasn't heard of it, it means nothing. Top schools include MIT, Harvard, and other recognizably named colleges. On top of that, they can usually get you significantly better connections for your future.

If you're close to qualifying for one of those top colleges then you should consider keeping those grades up to make sure you have the chance to get in. At the very least, you may be able to get an academic scholarship. That can also be a great reason to keep fighting for great grades.

7. Cause You Wanna

Don't let me tell you not to score high if you have some personal reason you want to get good grades. Maybe you want to impress the girl sitting next to you in class? Maybe you're hot for teacher? Maybe you're a time traveler planning to learn information to take back to your society where you'll use it to defeat the evil ninja monkeys on mars? Whatever really floats your boat it a good motivation. As long as it really gets you excited, it can be a good reason to get a good grade.

Just please... don't do it to try and make other people happy. If they need your grades to be happy then they have bigger problems they should be worrying about.

Do you want to know how to get better grades than ever without putting more time than ever into studying? Be sure to follow this blog and our twitter to get all the updates.

Notes On The Elusive “Photographic Memory” (Improve your visual memory)

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If there were one intellectual pursuit I considered worth pursuing at a young age it was developing a photographic memory.

Imagine just how awesome it would be to look at a textbook page for a minute, and then remember the image of the textbook page like you could still see it. That means, you wouldn't even have to read the page. You could read the textbook page by looking at the image in your memory and reading it then. It would be amazing. That's the dream of a photographic memory.

A photographic memory is not just a good visual memory. It's a virtual reference folder of perfectly remembered pictures in your brain. Despite the salesman trying to tell you otherwise, this kind of memory has not been scientifically proven to exist.

The Science on Photographic Memory

There have been hundreds of studies looking for people with photographic memories as described above. The vast majority of those studies (particularly the more scientifically rigorous ones) have shown the traditional view of a photographic memory being almost complete bunk. That being said, the traditional view of photographic memory is very narrow.

Most people, do, in fact, have an amazing ability to remember certain images. Those images just aren't as beautifully accurate and accessible as the traditional view of a photographic memory would require.

For example, have you ever seen the face of a person you recognize but you still can't remember their name? That face is an image that's been stored in your brain. Despite that facial image being stored in your brain, you can't figure out when you stored the face and why it's being stored. You need to ask yourself question after question like, “Where do I know this person from?” Oftentimes, you still won't be able to figure the name out. That's our photographic memory's poor ability to archive the information. You can figure out the face is important but you don't know why.

On top of that, most people that recognize that face, still couldn't use that image of the person's face to draw the person without the real face for reference. Photographic memory seems to be more powerful on a subconscious level than a conscious one.

Faces aren't the only thing that brains are good at photographically memorizing though. Think biological requirements to narrow it down farther.

Ever been riding around somewhere out of town and realize you've been there before? You recognize a sign or something and it just clicks. Landmarks are also an example of the visual memory doing it's magic while not inviting you in to watch.

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The Magic Of Childhood

The closest thing to a photographic memory that science has actually proven is an eidetic memory. While a photographic memory is thought to be almost perfect, an eidetic memory is just a very good visual memory. The person may be able to remember an image with ~90% accuracy depending on the complexity.

Some people do have an eidetic memory. By some, I'm talking about a tiny minority of the population. Oftentimes, people with an eidetic memory don't even know they have it because it's that unimpressive. To them, it feels like they can just see things in their brain clearly. That might not even be noticeable because they never get the chance to compare their amazing visual memory to the average persons' blurry and narrow images.

An eidetic memory is something that nearly 10% of the population has while they're children but as they grow up, that eidetic memory starts to fade away. Many theorists suggest that's because the use of language eliminates the need for such precise images in the brain.

If we were to take that as a fact, it could be interesting to consider this possibility. Visual memory may actually be much less useful than the ability to memorize words. For example, let's say you see a guy kick someone. You have two ways of trying to remember the situation. One; you remember the image of the guy kicking someone. That memory includes tons of colors, streaming video, and provides very little context to the situation. Or two; you remember “That guy is a jerk,” or “That guy fights back.” Those are four words each and they can provide significantly more context than photo in that situation. 

Perhaps a visual memory isn't the most awesome thing in the world? You're regular memory just might be more useful.

How To Improve Your Visual Memory

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Spending years trying to figure out how to develop a photographic memory is awfully disappointing but it did come with a few perks. I was absolutely miserable with my visual memory before starting. I could barely get an image in my brain. I'm definitely not gifted in this respect but I was able to learn a few tricks for developing a more powerful visual memory.

First of all, focus on colors. The hardest point of memorizing an image for most people, is not understanding this basic formula. Colors are your vision. There is absolutely nothing else that you take in. Most people try to memorize an image through just closing their eyes and hoping. Instead of that, focus on getting the colors into the right spot. As soon as you can do that, you're on track to improve.

Developing the details over that color is where you're likely going to plateau many times. That is painfully difficult even  for people with an eidetic memory. Don't feel bad.

The next thing you need to worry about is conscious awareness. To remember an image, you need to consciously try and remember it. It seems pretty obvious but it's overlooked by a ton of people, usually, after they missed their chance to become consciously aware of it. For example, test day comes and they think, “Why didn't my visual memory store this?!?” while they never actually consciously tried. They just kind of hoped. That can kill the motivation for any practice in the future.

You can't expect to memorize pages of textbooks using your visual memory but you can do some useful things with it. While a full page might be overkill, it's very practical to visually remember diagrams that are important. Instead of thinking through a problem logically you can imagine the diagram in your head accurately and get 90% of the way there. That 90% still, usually, requires traditional study to get the precision. The visual memory is more of a honing mechanism than memory system in this case.

So, I'm sorry to disappoint you but don't expect to develop a magical photographic memory anytime soon. While you can improve your visual memory, don't let it get in the way of using the rest of your memory.

Do you want to know how you can get grades like you have a photographic memory? You know what I''m talking about: spending 10 minutes studying and still scoring high on the test. It's possible. It's not magic but with the right tools it can look like magic to an outsider.
 

Be sure to follow this blog and check of some of the old articles to get started. (Or check out one of my books in the sidebar to get a head start.)

The Secret To Getting A Summer Job (And Why You Should)

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Getting out of school for summer can offer a great opportunity to make a little money. While most students end up rotting away searching the internet, talking to friends, and maybe playing some video games, the brave few will actually head out into the real world and search for a job.

A job over summer can be a great way to make a little cash. Through the school year, you're always going to be limited with the number of hours you can put in but during summer you're going to have a whole lot easier a time trying to make a ton of money.

Unfortunately, in recent years, it's been getting harder and harder for most students to find summer work. It can be easy to let the challenges and apathy take over...

Why You Should Worry About It

Most of the students that “want” to get a job over summer end up spending the whole summer half-assing their attempts. They just fill out applications and hope for the best. A few weeks into summer they might even say, “Screw it, it's too late to get a job anyway.” If that's what you're planning on doing then I couldn't blame you for giving up now. There is no need to waste your time trying to get a job if you really don't care.

There are some real good reasons to care though.

First of all, don't you want to treat yourself to something nice. While parents may have to work their jobs to pay for their family, homes, and bills, most students don't have much to worry about other than themselves. The money you make from a job can often help you buy that new car, or that new outfit, or whatever it is you're dreaming about.

Second, college isn't cheap. If you're going to college then you need to consider saving up a little money to help pay it off. While you can get student loans to pay it off, loans end up costing a fortune more in the long run. This is particularly true if you're from an average middle class family. In that situation, you don't get particularly favorable loan terms relative to some students. It's better to pay those school payments in advance than worry about finding a loan to pay them.

Assuming you're truly motivated to find that job then it's time to get started. If you're not motivated then you might as well stop. I'm serious. I won't tell anyone. I completely understand not wanting a job. Just don't waste your time trying to fool yourself.

It's Not What You Know

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It's the most over-reported secret of getting a job. You've probably heard the old phrase at least a hundred times already in your life. “It's not what you know. It's who you know.” This is particularly true when you're looking to get your first job.

The easiest way to get a job (especially a good one,) is to know someone. Companies don't like hiring random people off the street. They know that anyone they hire can end up costing a whole lot of money if they don't work out. That makes it a whole lot easier for a company to focus on hiring people that they have more information on.

If you know a hiring manager then that's absolutely ideal. Talk to that person and be direct that you're looking for a job. If you're polite, qualified, and not picky, you'll have a good chance of finding a job.

Of course, most of us don't know a hiring manager. That's alright though. Even knowing a regular employee at a company can get you the leg up for an interview. Talk to friends that have jobs and ask if they can help you get a job at their company. Oftentimes, one recommendation from a well-liked employee will get you in the place for an interview.

This might seem a little odd but it's general policy for most companies in the world.

Don't know anyone? Well, it's not the end of the world. It just becomes a little more challenging.

Don't Be Picky

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I mentioned these three words in the previous section and I hope you noticed them. They're one of the most important factors you need to keep in mind looking for a summer job. I'm sorry but most of the jobs you're going to be able to get, aren't all that awesome. I know you don't want to have to be a fast food employee but, sometimes, you gotta do it.

Getting the first job is the hardest part. Once you have a job and leave a good impression, you have significantly more friends with jobs, and a much more attractive application for other jobs.

The more picky you get, the more impossible you make the whole situation. Unfortunately, most people aren't going to be able to distinguish how awesome you are without some kind of a work history backing it up. To get that work history, you sometimes have to compromise.

Don't only focus on not being picky with your job choices though. You also want to be open for anything in the actual job. The interviewer might ask how many hours a week you're available to work. If you say, ten or five, you're going to be way less attractive than if you said, as much as you need me. If they ask if you have a position preference then you can say one but make it clear you're looking to get your foot in the door. (After they find out how amazing you are you can leverage yourself where you want to be.)

Finding a summer job can be a great way to keep your mind active during the summer. While most students sit around and look for the most thoughtless forms of entertainment, you'll be working your brain in unique and powerful ways. That pays off more than with your paycheck. It also helps you become a better prepared student in the future.

Do you want to know how Yoda would teach you to study? Be sure to follow this blog and check out my books on the subject.

How Much Did Your School Year Suck?

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The biggest mistake a person can make is evading reality. When most students finish their school year they instantly try to forget all of the unpleasant school year memories. They try to forget the tests they disappointed themselves on and the mistakes they made. That's understandable but don't let yourself lose sight of reality in all this.

The people that fail in life are not the people that make mistakes. In fact, the vast majority of your life is going to be mistakes. Outside of schooling, mistakes are the expected norm. The successes often come in small doses. You'll end up thinking, “Well... That failed almost completely but... this one part of it worked.” Then you can build off of that single small bit of success you find. (Sometimes you won't even find a shred of success.)

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. In fact, you should be more worried when you don't make any mistakes. When you don't make any mistakes you have to wonder if you're not looking at the situation right, or if you're settling for too low a standard. If you're just blind to your own failure then, objectively, you'll never know how to improve. If you don't care to increase your standards, you better hope the world doesn't leave you behind.

Worse than all of those decisions is the following decision I'm going to describe. This is how the vast majority of people manage their life. Students are certainly not the only sufferers of this decision. When this decision is made it completely eliminates any potential progress from life.

OoOoOohhh SHINY THINGS!

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At the end of the school year the average student doesn't even think about how well their school year went. Since they passed their courses, they no longer think twice about how the courses went. It's summer and they suddenly have way more important things to think about. For the most part, I agree with that. The problem comes when students don't spend any time reviewing their own school year.

It can seem so easy to spend a couple hours thinking about it but most students still try to distract themselves through video games or conversations with friends. I can't speak for every student but I can remember exactly why I didn't like to think about my school year growing up.

I hated school. I despised every day I was forced into it. Early on at least, I did not care about any of it. I hated being ordered around by teachers. I hated being judged by other students. I hated that they forced me to do more work when I got home. To put it simply, I hated it.

When summer came, the last thing I wanted to do was think about the suffering I endured all year. I wanted to pretend that it never even happened. I wanted to imagine none of the teachers, non-friend students, or faculty even existed. I did that through drowning myself in programming, writing, and video games.

I refused to acknowledge the emotions I was forced through. I did everything I could to forget it. (Repression anyone?) To process any of the school year, I had to process this first. It was quite painful for me and I can't even say I had it all that bad. This might be painful for you too but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

The problem with not acknowledging something is that you can never actually deal with it. When you don't review your school year, you will never be able to improve the results your getting significantly. Eventually, for me, the decision to start preparing for class appropriately wasn't a subtle and easy decision. It was a harsh look back at the poor decisions I made in the past about it. No, I didn't fall for all the victim shaming that teachers do but I looked at myself and asked “When I'm subjected to things I don't approve of, am I going to make the best of it?”

Looking back at my life before that, I wasn't making the best of it. I would ignore an assignment until the day it was due. Then I'd struggle to finish it in time. Then I'd get a subpar grade and feel ashamed of it. That is not a rational way to deal with the situation. It just brings suffering on both ends. I came to realize that I either needed to stop caring about my grades or start treating my grades like something I care about.

If I stopped caring about my grades, my grades might suffer but I would at least be following my opinion. If I cared about my grades, I wouldn't actually put it off until the last second because that would be like caring about a dog and not feeding it until it was starving. That's insane. It's not the way to worry about something.

Making The Hard Decisions

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While most of your teachers, parents, and role models will give you the old, “Stay in school” mantra, I've always found it a bit insulting. If you're old enough to read this then you're old enough to know the repercussions of your decisions. Most people encourage you to avoid even thinking about this logically. They just want you to follow their directions. Following their direction is easy but it won't encourage you to improve your grades or live better.

At the end of the school year, ask yourself, are you happy with how your school year went?

If not then something needs to change. When you're looking for something to change, don't rule out anything without thinking about it first. Does that mean you should consider dropping out if you're old enough? Yes. I think it's a mistake in most cases but NEVER forget that you're the person in control of your life (you are also the one that will suffer the consequences.) When you rule out this possibility, you just encourage yourself to ignore logical options.

Why would you do this?

Because when you go back to the school, you're going to know you're making that decision for the right reasons. If you're making that decision for the right reasons then it's a whole lot easier to convince yourself to study. (You're going to be there hours a day. You might as well get what you can from it.)

I know... your teachers are going to hate me for saying this but your life is only your life when you make your own decisions. Look at the school year you had honestly. Ask yourself what you want to change and then look at the various ways to do it. Don't ignore other people's advice but don't blindly follow it either.

Are you ready to step up and make the best of the time you're in school? Be sure to check a couple of my books out to learn how to make that happen.