The shortcut is probably too long🥱.

Friends,

I think I am prone to a particular kind of self-deception, where you believe there’s a shortcut or compromise that works for you and not others.

Last year I was studying for my end-of-semester exams and I’ve always been told by those in higher levels that past papers was the key. Lecturers, who are too ‘lazy’ to even attend most classes, are also too ‘lazy’ to set new questions in exams. So they literally copy and paste questions from the immediate last years and jumble their numbers up then present as a ‘new’ examination. I was at first skeptical of using past papers to study. I’ve always been a ‘read the notes throughout the semester and write what I can in the exam’ kind of guy, not burdening myself with past paper questions. But I ended up using most of the past papers I was given because my notes were incomprehensive for revision.

Fast forward, receiving the results a few months later, they were the best I’ve performed in a while. They were definitely better than the first semester’s results.
Was it the past papers? Maybe. Was it that I got smarter, also maybe :)
But I personally attribute the success to my agreeing to use past papers as revision material.

Shortcuts, sure, they sometimes work. But more often than not, they do not lead to the right way fully.

If told to learn French through reading French news magazines, watching French shows and having conversations in French with native speakers, do that. Choosing to learn it your way might not lead to you loving the language hence not learning the language in the long run.

Gym instructors tell you to do reps a certain way, in certain durations and with a certain diet, do it that way. Thinking you know better might lead to you not maintaining your gym routine.

This can be evident in pro footballers. They often have agents and coaches advising them on their best next moves. The football club physios instruct them on the exercises for recovery such as ice baths after intense games. Few players who respect these advices rarely get injured. The others who love shortcuts for recovery, well, they often are out injured for most of the season.

Revising with past papers is a great example. The shortcut of waiting till last minute to study, or of studying only the notes so as to avoid the task of past paper questions, often doesn’t lead to mastery of the content, or of excellent results.

Sometimes it seems like you are making progress. You’re learning things and feeling pretty cool. It feels every bit like you’re really getting somewhere, yet you’re vaguely aware that other people undertaking the same endeavor e.g. a gym routine, would probably not consider your strategy adequate. Years later, when the thing you were trying to make happen did not happen, you may or may not reflect on why.

After employing one of these “I am a special case” shortcut strategies for a long time, you may or may not attribute your eventual failure to achieve your vision with the fact that you insisted on not doing it the way the successful people told you to. It may just feel like you lost interest, or “shifted priorities”, or that the real breakthrough is still on its way.

Part of the problem with these unorthodox strategies is that they do often give you initial positive results, and that can make you feel like it’s going to take you somewhere. You will get stronger if you start lifting weights randomly at the gym, and you will learn some measurable quantity of French if you have Duolingo lessons a few times a week for a month.

But you probably began with the desire for a real transformation, of the type you see others achieving, and it can take a surprisingly long time to notice that that isn’t happening. “Progress” may be happening, but your goal isn’t.

Recently I am beginning to stop doing things in my special shortcut way that “works for me.” Instead I start doing it the way people successful in those areas do it, and suddenly I experience strong and consistent results, for the first time in my life.

Oh! It turns out that if you read a lot and watch lots of interesting stuff, you can never lack what to write, and your conversations will be more interesting due to the knowledge gained. If you try to write with random uncoagulated ideas in your head with less exposure to other literary works, you get decent writing, but not your best level.

Oh! It appears that if you lift weights with high intensity for a moderate number of sets, and you don’t skip workouts, you keep getting stronger and fitter, like all those strong and fit people. If you just get your couple of sets done, most of the time, a good part of the year, you feel fitter than you otherwise would have, much of the time.

It’s like a gold mine, this secret of actually doing things the recommended way. I highly recommend it. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?

✍🏽Quote of the Week

😃You might have missed my most popular writings😍(so far..)

1. Inside the mind🧠 of a Master Procrastinator⏳ - dive deep into how a procrastinator’s mind leads up to decisions. Find out about instant gratification at the expense of life itself!

2. Trust in God, but tie your camel.🐫 - Focus on the stuff you're in control, let the rest go. Best thing to do, tie the camel and let the God whom you believe in protect your tied camel.

PS: If you have a few seconds to spare, please hit the <reply> button and let me know what you thought of this email. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and what could be improved. It also reminds me that there’s another person reading it on the other end of my screen😅. Thanks.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

✍🏽Reagan.