Great timing.
One of the questions was about what did I do during my undergraduate years to prepare for exams. I was in a bit of a dilemma whether or not to tell the truth about my undergrad experience or tell them a textbook answer about exam preparation.
I went for the truth, because they deserve it and it's my responsibility.
I told them straight up: I hate exams. To be clear, I understand their importance and I understand their relevance. I still study for exams and I appreciate why I have to study. I'm not a rebel without a cause. I don't jump out of an airplane, hoping to build my parachute on the way down.
Don't be a fool.
At the same time, I'm going to be real with people who ask me these kinds of questions. I hate exams, because I don't like the culture that we have built around it. The original intention of exams is something that I can get along with.
The original intention of exams is to measure how much a student understands and we can use the measurement as a useful feedback for future improvements. That's great! But we don't think of exams that way anymore. Now, exams is a measurement of how worthy you are as a person.
If you get an A, it's not just an A in a paper; you are an A. If you get a C, it's not just a C in a paper; you are a C. I lived the majority of my school life thinking that way. But I was an A student and I thought that I was the A.
But that's not the case. An exam is not how you define yourself. So, I changed the way I see it by looking not at the exam itself, but I look beyond it. In my mind, my focus is on how I am going to use the questions given and the answers I write to apply in my life.
Why?
Because exams are not the end game of university. Exams are pit stops, not destinations. I trained myself to think beyond exams and look at what's coming after them. I look at the value it can add in my life, beyond a piece of paper with alphabets and numbers on it.
That way, my journey doesn't end when I took my final paper. I will always be moving forward and seeking for something more. I always have something more to look forward to because that's life. Life is a series of choices. Once you made a choice, another choice will come.
It keeps you going.
If you study for exams, your journey ends after your final paper and you will left feeling bored. You don't know what to do now and you have to make something up to fill in the time. But, if you study for life, your journey will never end and you will always have something to do.
Something to fight for.
That's more exciting.
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Come join me in my next and last class of 2018!
Be Unshakeable: How to Be Confident When You're Nervous
Date: December 29th, 2018 (Saturday)
Time: 10am - 2pm (4 hours)
Venue: WORQ TTDI
Nervousness is a sign that we value the thing we are nervous about. But, just like any other human feeling, nervousness can go haywire. It can hold us back from moving forward.
This class is not about removing nervousness. It is about controlling nervousness, before it controls you.
It all starts with our mind.
What will you learn?
We will dissect my latest bestselling book "Unshakeable: How to Be Confident When You're Nervous".
Below are the main points of the book:
1. The Power of Your Mind
2. Be Mindful of Your Mind
3. How You Think Is How You Feel
4. Choose to Be Positive
5. Confidence is a Process
6. Your Ego Has to Go
7. What People Think of You
8. Make More Mistakes
9. Not Getting What You Want
10. Grow a Thicker Skin
11. Change is the Only Constant
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