Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Hello and welcome to
the Exam Study Expert Podcast,
where we're all about helpingyou study smarter with the
science of learning so you canace your exams without overwork
and overwhelm.
I'm your host, WilliamWadsworth, psychologist and
study strategy coach.
The idea I've got for you todayis a short one, but it's a
powerful one.
(00:25):
We talk a lot here on the showabout things to do, ways to help
you study smarter.
But here's the thing (00:30):
if we just
keep adding tasks to your
overall system, it doesn't work.
Our time is limited.
We can only take on so much.
So we need to make choices weneed to prioritize.
Let's take a look at three casein points to illustrate what I
mean and start to help you thinkthrough how this principle could
(00:51):
apply to you and what things,some useful things you can take
from today's episode.
So the first one I wanted totalk about relates to well-being
and self-care advice.
We talk about that as anoccasional theme here on the
show, not least, we had Dr.
Kimberly Horn last week if youcaught that episode.
It's a really lovelyconversation talking about the
power of human connection andhow we can all find time to make
(01:13):
a little bit of meaningfulconnection each week, even when
we are, as I know many of youare listening, super, super busy
and have a huge amount on ourplate.
So I'll often talk to people whoare trying to do all the right
things when it comes to theirself-care, their well-being.
You know, they've taken on themeditation, they've taken on the
exercise, uh, you know, they'redoing the journaling.
(01:35):
Perhaps in light of last week'sepisode on human connections,
they're making time to seefriends or make connections.
You know, they're doing all thethings, and it's completely
overwhelming.
The schedule is bursting at theseams.
There is just so much they'retrying to do each day, what with
between everything else.
Adding in extra things into thatalready full schedule is just
(01:57):
making the problem kind ofalmost even worse.
You know, I might I might lookat their Google Calendar, I
might talk through theirschedule with them.
You know, it's it then it makesme feel exhausted.
You know, it's a complete hustleto make it all happen each day,
each week.
So it's absolutely true that forsome people, the path to better
well-being is through addition.
You know, there is space and andand and kind of bandwidth in in
(02:18):
each day, in each week, to addin more things, uh, add in
exercise, and that will make abig difference compared to if we
before we made that switch.
Uh so you know, for someone thatthat that isn't exercising at
all, for example, adding in thatas a daily habit a little bit,
or kind of most days, you know,that's going to make a big
difference to your to youroverall well-being, uh, physical
and mental health.
Um but if we are alreadybursting at the seams and we're
(02:43):
trying to do everything, we maystruggle to perhaps we might not
be able to do everything at thesame at the level we want to.
So my message here is absolutelynot like don't stop exercising
when you get busy.
Like I think that's the wrongchoice to make.
But it might be the right choicefor someone to make to maybe
rein in what they're used todoing.
So, for example, if you're usedto an hour, a 90-minute workout
each morning, you know, you takeyour physical fitness very
(03:05):
seriously, you know, maybe justfor a season we need to scale
that back to 15, 20 minutes,half an hour.
It's not the choice we'll makeforever, but at that level,
we're still maintaining good,good physical mental health, um,
but we're creating a little bitmore space, a little bit more
space to breathe each day.
Um I'd also note uh the the theworld uh the the kind of
consideration when it comes tothe sort of extracurricular
(03:25):
things, particularly for my someof my younger listeners.
You know, I'm a huge fan of kindof the extracurricular stuff,
the co-curricular stuff.
You know, I did a ton of music,drama, uh, sport growing up, and
and it was a big thing for me.
And and I'm really, reallygrateful for those
opportunities.
And I'd really recommend anybodyuh you know seize those.
But equally, when things getbusy academically, when we're in
(03:46):
a big exam season, it may bethat we just need to pause on
that, bring that in a littlebit.
It's not a choice forever, we'renot necessarily walking away
from it forever, but just forthat season, we may need to
pause a few things, scale a fewthings back, maybe push some
projects out to a later point inthe year.
You know, all that is absolutelyfine.
And there's no shame in that.
That could be the right choiceto help you through a busy
season.
(04:07):
Um, you know, finally, for thoseof you who are a little bit
older, a little bit further downthe path listening, uh, and
you've got some familycommitments, you know, thinking
about how you can, as my wifeand I say with our family, how
we can sometimes push that easybutton when things get very
busy, you know, when we're in akind of an intense season of
life, you know, and you perhapsyou're preparing for a big exam,
you know, how can you just pushthat easy button?
(04:27):
Um, you know, it may be that wekind of are are uh are a little
bit simpler in terms of ourambitions for sort of meal prep
each day.
We don't kind of cook quite aselaborately.
Uh maybe you make some smarterchoices, you make some choices
in terms of getting a little bitof help around the home or with
family.
You know, there might not bechoices you make forever.
It may be slightly moreexpensive in the short term, for
example.
But that's a good choice perhapsto make just for a few weeks, a
(04:48):
few months while we get throughthis b uh uh busy season and
then we can resume normalservice on the other side.
So the second thing I wanted totalk about, now zooming in
specifically to your your actualstudy mechanics, so what you're
doing uh in terms of the actualstudying.
Um and it's and it's it's whenwhen we learn about something
new, a new and more effectiveway of learning.
(05:09):
You know, we've shared lots ofexamples of that on the podcast
over the years.
Uh and and and you know, perhapssome of you've listened to some
of those ideas and and you know,you're experienced scholars,
you've been studying for examsin the past, you you learn about
a new way of learn of working,you know, through us or or
otherwise, and you get excitedabout its potential.
The the trap that that asurprising number of people fall
(05:31):
into is that we try and then addin that extra thing on top of
the things we're already doing.
And that again can be a recipefor feeling very overwhelmed and
not being able to fit everythingin.
So so what we want to bethinking about doing is having
that confidence to let go ofthose things, those older habits
uh that aren't as effective.
(05:53):
You know, having that confidenceto let go and that frees up the
space and the bandwidth to adoptthe new things.
If we try and do both, we end upspreading ourselves really thin,
stretching ourselves too thin,and and nothing is as effective
as it could be.
This is often a key part of mywork when I'm coaching a new
client.
You know, in many cases, I'llI'll have have longtime
listeners come to me and they'velearned a little bit from the
(06:14):
listening to the show over theyears about the right things to
do.
But a key kind of conversationwe'll have is helping them build
that confidence to let go of theless helpful things.
So look out for this playing outfor you.
And if it is playing out foryou, please come and see me.
Let's have a chat.
We'll do some coaching on it.
I can help you through.
The sense of peace that you'reon the best path is often a key
(06:35):
thing that comes out from thoseearly coaching sessions
together.
People often come to me for thestrategies, the practical,
tactical stuff to optimize yourapproach to learning, your
routine, et cetera.
And I'll certainly give you thebest tools in your situation.
Um but beyond the tools, beyondthe practical stuff, that that
reassurance, uh that peace thatyou're doing the right thing,
that confidence to focus onwhat's going to matter most for
(06:57):
you, and the confidence to letgo and put down the other
things, then the peace thatcomes from all of that is often
one of my favorite things to seeemerging in one of my new
students, uh, typically in thosefirst few sessions.
So if I can help you with thatas well, do head to examstudy
experts.com forward slashcoaching for more in.
My third and final point uh forus today is related to the last
(07:20):
one, but thinking less about howyou study and the methods you're
choosing, so much as what you'restudying and the resources
you're working from.
So again, often students willcome to me feeling overwhelmed
because they've got so manydifferent resources to study
from.
There are so many differentoptions for the resources they
could use.
You know, there's the revisionguide, there's the textbook, or
(07:40):
several textbooks, uh, there'snotes they got from peers,
there's the sets of brainscapeor anke cards they've inherited
from someone, or maybe they'vemade their own materials in the
past.
There's the past papers to workfrom.
For some older students, uh, youknow, there's there's academic
material to review too.
You know, there's journals,recent papers, review articles,
official guidelines from yourfields governing body, and so
(08:01):
on.
There's uh, you know, so muchmaterial.
You can do anything, but youcan't do everything.
And so we need to look at allthe different things you're
doing, all the different thingsyou could be doing, I should
say, and make some choices aboutwhere your time is best spent.
You've got a limited budget oftime to invest.
(08:22):
Let's invest it in the areasthat are going to give you the
highest yield.
If we try and do everything, wewon't end up doing anything
particularly well, and we'llfeel frazzled and overwhelmed.
So we need to make the bestchoices.
We've got a limited amount oftime.
Where do we spend it?
Which horses do we back?
Uh that could give you thebiggest bang for your buck and
help you make the most progressin the time available.
It's a very rough rule of thumb.
(08:44):
Uh, I like to think in terms ofaiming for about three core
study tasks each week.
Um less than that is good.
Like if it's just one or two,that's that's cool.
Like we may be able to stretchthat slightly, but once we
stretch that too much, you know,we're trying to progress five,
six, seven, eight, nine, tendifferent things each week.
That's when you know both thebrain starts to spin uh and we
(09:06):
get that feeling of uh ofoverwhelm.
Uh and also uh you know, wedon't feel like we can make
meaningful progress so muchbecause we're trying to spread
ourselves too thin.
So it's like a magnifying glassfocusing the rays of the sun
onto a piece of paper.
You know, when we focus thatenergy uh strongly on just one
or two, three things, uh, thenwe can get to that point where
the the paper ignites uh and wecan sort of ignite some
(09:27):
learning.
But if we try and you know don'thave that magnifying glass, we
don't have the sun's raysfocused, we could leave that
paper out in the sun uh andnothing would ever happen.
Uh even if the sun shone it onit all day, it would never kind
of catch light and ignite untilwe focus those rays down.
So so we don't want to spreadourselves too thin.
We want to focus on those keyareas.
Um I gave you that rule of thumbof three.
(09:48):
I mean, we there may be kind ofuh there's there's lots of sort
of exceptions to this.
Uh and you know, if you arestudying multiple subjects, it
may be that that rule of threeapplies kind of within each
subject.
Um, but that's a that's ahelpful little guidance to be
going on with that that worksfor kind of many situations.
Ultimately, the simpler our planfeels, the simpler it is to kind
of know what your plan is andbeing able to just at a moment's
(10:10):
notice just think about theplan.
You know, if you bumped intosomeone in a lift, in 30 seconds
you can kind of communicate yourplan to them, how you're
studying, what you're focusingon each week.
Um, the more we can get to thatpoint, the less the brain will
spin, the calmer you'll feel,uh, and the more you'll be able
to make progress each week.
And again, sometimes this kindof thing, how which bits that we
focus on, that's often a keypart of early coaching sessions
(10:31):
with clients.
So if you are a regular listenerand you're facing a big exam or
set of exams, whether it's atschool, university, or for
slightly older students as partof your career, uh, and if
you're not already one of mycoaching clients, as many
listeners are, um, what are youwaiting for?
Uh it's never too late to make adifference, but the best time to
(10:51):
start work together is alwaysnow.
The sooner the better, becausethe sooner we can optimize your
approach and help you make 20%,10%, 20%, 50% more progress in
each hour, in each week thatyou're studying, the longer you
have to benefit from those gainsand ultimately the more
successful you've been.
The exam you're working onmatters to you.
You've chosen to invest time inlistening to the show and
(11:13):
learning about how to worksmarter.
Um so I would warmly encourageyou to take the next step, um,
follow in the footsteps of somany listeners before you who've
done just often quite a littlebit of one-on-one.
You know, it's my my work isrelatively light touch.
We're not sort of uh uh signingup to vast, vast numbers of
sessions together.
Uh, you know, I can I can I canhave an impact in a very short
space of time.
Um, and and and let's worktogether to review, refine your
(11:35):
study system uh for peace andprogress now and success and
pride on results day.
The first step to workingtogether is an exploratory chat
to get to know each other, talkthrough how you're getting on,
and explore how I might be ableto help you.
So if you'd like to take thefirst step today, book your chat
with me over atexamstudyxpert.com forward slash
(11:56):
coaching.
Again, that's examstudyxpert.comforward slash coaching.
I look forward to supportingyour success.
Thanks once again for tuning intoday, and I will look forward
to seeing you next time, wishingyou every success, as always, in
your studies.
SPEAKER_00 (12:11):
Well, that was good,
wasn't it?
I found myself taking notes.
If you need a reminder ofanything from today, head to the
website for a write up of thisepisode as well as lots more top
knock advice and resources.
That's examstudyexpert.com.
See you next time.