Gav's Guide to Motivation (includes help with studying)

[Jariel]

I decided to dig this one up as I've been lacking motivation for studying lately. Anyway, it definitely deserves a bump...

 

[Jariel]

Dirtheart, that is immense! Being able to remember essays like that is photographic memory at its finest. You must have worked seriously hard to be able to do that, or maybe you're just a natural . Perhaps you could add to my guide to memory below. Btw, did you use tony's major system - the list of 1000 key memory image words?

I missed this before, but here's how to do it.

You need to pick out the essential key words in a piece of text, such as proper names and maybe any important verbs or adjectives. The fewer you can get away with the better.

What you should end up with is a list of keywords which you can then memorise using one of the systems mentioned in the original post.

Once you have these key words memorised, re-read the text a couple of times. What you should find is that your mind fills in the gaps between the key words by finding a logical link between them (speed reading works in a similar way).

As with everything, the more you practise the easier it gets.

 

[Don_Marko]

Yes it's really pretty to think all those things, in fact that kind of thinking is exacly how I aced my first year of classess...

But to me academic learning is a mastrubation in itself... they keep on seperating real world from theory and hide behind the books and the degrees so they can feel superior and look down on those dumbasses who didn't bother to learn... exacly how you described it gav. But let's think about it:

Will schooling make you smarter? NO schools are designed to encourage obedience and conformity! it might make you more informed but NOT SMARTER ... Will it make you rich? again no... it'll get you a job and a carrer but wealth is made by other characteristics than how many degrees you hold. True knowledge comes form childlike curiousity and the desire to explore the world, not from a sylabus which some guy thinks you should learn.

If you trully want to learn something you won't need to say things to motivate you or memorize dumb things... you'll have unexplainable energy within you and you will actually get pissed at a prof. if he isn't doing a good job.

But yeah all this is typed up when i'm supposed to be studying for a macro-econ exam that's tommrow....

School is just a system to get trough... so don't think you are special just because you made it, only means you took more crap than people who didn't go trough with it.

 

[Jariel]

Don Marko: I agree! Formal education is about following formalities and a certain degree of luck. You can't pass an exam if you guess the wrong material to revise, and regardless of how well written and intelligent your essays are, you cannot pass unless you follow the criteria. So how is that a measure of intelligence??

Teachers aren't even allowed to teach using the most effective methods - they have to do things a certain way. In fact, the education system is all about throwing information at students without teaching them how to effectively absorb it, record it or use it.

However, after some years of unemployment, I realised that you have to play the system in order to survive the system. I don't give a damn what some author thinks of another author, or why a certain poet uses rhyming couplets or any of that crap, but the English degree it will earn me will open more opportunities for me.

 

[Don_Marko]

Originally posted by Jariel
Don Marko: I agree! Formal education is about following formalities and a certain degree of luck. You can't pass an exam if you guess the wrong material to revise, and regardless of how well written and intelligent your essays are, you cannot pass unless you follow the criteria. So how is that a measure of intelligence??

Teachers aren't even allowed to teach using the most effective methods - they have to do things a certain way. In fact, the education system is all about throwing information at students without teaching them how to effectively absorb it, record it or use it.

However, after some years of unemployment, I realised that you have to play the system in order to survive the system. I don't give a damn what some author thinks of another author, or why a certain poet uses rhyming couplets or any of that crap, but the English degree it will earn me will open more opportunities for me.

We're on the same page here bud, it's only a piece of paper that opens certain doors in the system.

Just it bothers me that some people feel suprerior because they posses that paper.

 

[MixMaxster]

Thank you! Don_Marko,

you've put into words the very thing I never could. When I was going out with my ex I tried to explain to her the exact same thing and she thought I was just lazy . Not to say I'm not, but honestly lazyness is messing my life up so I'm aiming to stop that.

Just it bothers me that some people feel suprerior because they posses that paper.

But that's just it, it really doesn't mean much if you can't do anything with that piece of paper. My brother is a Doctor and is a pretty smart guy (hell he must be to pass medicine) and the funny thing though is that he's a Doctor and he's applying for a job as a janitor because he can't practice just yet. How ironic! A guy who is a certified Doctor working as a Janitor.

At least he can make an honest living out of his profession, my sister is a smart person and has an honours degree in English, but she's working at a book store and has been for about 6 years now. That right there goes to show you how things work, so that's why for me I want to not have to end up in that situation. It doesn't take a genius to realize that education won't get you everything.

As for this entire post, it's very very interesting stuff and has me wanting to check this stuff out.

 

[Ricky]

great post

 

[Jariel]

Don Marko: I agree and the truth is, I improved my intelligence more in 1 month of being unemployed and reading books for enjoyment, than 2 years at Uni.

I also hate the way academics use their status and qualifications to act superior. Yet you look at many students at prestigeous universities like Oxford and Cambridge and they seem almost retarded. Sure, they may be academic geniuses, but they have virtually no understanding of society or how to interact with people.

This, and the backwards methods of teaching, is something I feel strongly about, but it's probably best saved for a discussion in Anything Else.

 

[CadillacCTS]

"Delayed Gratification Over Instant Gratification"

Live by those words...

Most people don't realize that studying, working out, DJing a longterm pleasures, instead they assume there is no pleasure invovled.

 

[aBAzLLnA]

Frantically looking for a free copy of Tony Buzan's stuff...but I couldn't find any. Well, looks like I'll have to buy it... any recommendations?

 

[Jariel]

For memory exercises, you can try Kevin Trudeau's megamemory audio book (mp3). It's very similar to Tony Buzan's method, just a little dumbed down.

 

[AFK Protector]

Well...about the luck thing, you kinda need to study everything. Then you will pass no matter what. I used to "guess" at what was going to be on the test, then I thought of an excellent analogy:

Say you have a wall and there are holes in it. You need to block all these holes because there is water on the other side. What do you do? I used to guess which holes were where and even though I couldn't really see them, I just stuck a piece of clay there randomly. Water got through. Now I plaster the whole fuggin wall with clay so nothing can get through me. Of course, most of that clay will be used in places that didn't need to be covered, but I learned that material and will forever know it.

That's all. I guess everyone has different takes on education.

 

[Bronxtal112]

This post is remarkable. It shows that sometimes things we do in this life effect the future greatly and we don't even realize it at the present time. Again, studying for a hard test and doing well on it is one of the best feelings in the world. Also, doing well in college opens the gates to anything you want.

such as:
cars you want to drive
houses you want to get
family you want to raise.

dont get me wrong - you can do all of this with out an education, but I guarantee it will be 100X harder.

good post though...

 

[Duke]

Gav, those memory exercises are tight as hell. Also, the VISUALIZATION where all the sensations become more intense and you see yourself succeeding... THAT SH!T WORKS. I have an old topic called "Mental Dating" where I used that technique. I got the gist that most people didn't take it seriously, but it got me results.

Good, useful posts. Thanks, Gav.

 

[aBAzLLnA]

dont get me wrong - you can do all of this with out an education, but I guarantee it will be 100X harder.

There are plenty of successful people who never went to college.

 

[Fenderules]

yeah i went throught he personal power program. it does wonders! great veiw on life!

 

[AFK Protector]

Originally posted by aBAzLLnA
There are plenty of successful people who never went to college.

And there are tons more who did.

 

[AFK Protector]

bump

 

[AFK Protector]

bump'd

 

[gav]

Didn't think this post was still around.

jariel, that stuff about memorising key words in text then rereading the stuff to fill in the gaps sounds sweet; gonna give that a bash later.

jariel, don_marko and mixmaxster, i totally agree that modern education does not necessarily correlate to increased intelligence; however i think there are some useful products besides mere certification, such as improved expression and perhaps people skills and the ability to work in a team (they're trying to work that into the education system nowadays - with such pathetic attempts; for instance with law, most courses must now contain some form of assessment where you work in a group). I do feel though, as jariel said, that you could improve your personal skills, such as intelligence and social proficiency, to a much greater extent outwith the education system. e.g. public speaking - what's better? - giving a speech to your class once a year because you have to or going out in the street any time you like with a tanoid screaming about the injustice of monkeys being persecuted because they were connected with the birth of HIV.

-----
as far as the whole idea of the post goes, i now think differently. It didn't need 2 or 3 thousands words to explain it. Simply put, you know what you need to do, now shut the fvck up and get on with it.

talking about it and thinking about all the benefits and side-effects are for women to talk about- they are masters at talking about stuff without doing anything useful. Men do things. Women (and pvssies in general) talk about doing things.

"You never really know the consequences until you act" - that quote is one of the few i've held onto from this site.

that whole memory thing is an interesting idea, so too is speed reading and is useful only to a certain extent. i now see it to be a way to sidetrack your studies; to postpone substantive work and take yourself behind the scenes and fiddle about with the idea of "how" you're going to study, instead of actually studying.

in first year law, i got straight c's - mediocre.
second year law, i have had nothing worse than a B so far and am still waiting on my degree exam results for the first semester, which i spent so long studying for. Even if the results are bad, i'll still be happy knowing that i put a champion's effort into them -"it's not getting to your destination that counts, but the path you take to get there."

e.g. we a had a take-home exam. paper got sent out at 12pm and we had to hand it back in at 12pm the next day. I spent 20 hours straight working on that thing. from 12pm to 8am the next morning. i nearly collapsed when i got to the office.

anyways, can't remember whose granddad said this, but "shut the fvck up and get on with it" is the best goddamn advice i've heard yet, and i live by it today.

keep up the djing, men