We read it all the time, everywhere, if you follow more study-blogs you have probably read it today already. ‘If you plan good, you will have extraordinary results and you will become a straight-A student blabla.’ I admit it, you will become successful when you plan ahead and I guess you want to start planning right now when you read a post about it. ‘ Hell yeah, I’m gonna be productive and successful! Let’s plan!’ I say: STOP RIGHT THERE!
Allright, this is the plan
You shouldn’t start planning right now..
Because you will plan too much
Of course, you want to be successful now and want to become the best student in class, you want to start now and continu till you drop dead. So you start with a good planning, every day of the week. But that doesn’t work. You know yourself. You won’t study every day for ten minutes before going to bed. That seems like a good planning now, but you won’t maintain it. Observe your own behavior and learn! You are enthusiastic and want to study, but you ain’t going to do it.
Because you plan too long
Now you think you can study for hours, and you will plan that. ‘Ah the friday afternoon is free, let’s get my math done then.’ But, you will end up with a full to-do list playing Star Wars Battlefront.
.. Unless.
You know yourself! You want to plan right now, go do it! That is great, but don’t plan too much and don’t plan too long. Even better, plan too less. Plan with the feeling ‘this is not going to make me a straight-A student.’ And you will discover, that this is a planning you can maintain and this is a planning which brings you to instant success.
Conclusion.
Know yourself, and plan with that knowledge. Plan less, maybe too less and you will stick to the plan! Now, go do it! Release your inner-wantingtobecomethebeststudentever-feeling and plan!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
soo soo soo true that too much planning is a BAD thing – that you plan too much. haven’t heard it put so well before actually. it’s like embarking on a big goal process mission, you get into it for a few days but you’ve just got yourself too deep and you do nothing. rather phase it in gradually and get into the habit rather than preconceive a plan. the plan comes AFTER you’ve done it a bit. rather get going and mess it up a few times than plan forever.
for me – having finished high school 2 years ago and now in university – after improving my marks from 40% average and failing maths to all A’s graduating high school and doing a degree in maths at university – the way i made it happen was “1 step – sit down and do it”.
now something else that really helps with studying and things in general, a quote from 4 hour work week, “am i being productive or just active?”
…but the main thing is that when it comes down to it, you don’t need to plan. you know what needs to be done, do it. planning is great but it’s so misused that it’s often easier to just keep your main goal in mind and LIVE it completely until it’s done. and when you get sidetracked i find it’s really helpful to ask yourself, “do i want this?…or do i wanna live a lame life? up to me.” – just wrote a post about productivity actually since we’re also going through exams. check it out.
respect and all the best with the new site
alex – unleash reality
this is a major problem for me too…countless times i gave set study goals, pasted them on thewall along with motivational quotes but have never stuck to them.. the thing is that i feel so overwhelmed by the tasks that i have to accomplish that i JUST DONT DO them…just thinking about all the monumental studying makes my shoulders slump…LITERALLY…i ‘d rather watch tv with my sister ( who has dropped out of school) than study…seems much safer & painless…