4 reasons why I failed in academics

Firstly, I didn't know the craft of separating the wheat from the chaff and shed equal importance to everything. But the Pareto Principle dictates that in all the fields, 20% is responsible for the 80% of the result.

Less than 20% clothes in our wardrobe we wear more than 80% of the times. Less than 20% apps of our phones we use more than 80% of the times. Less than 20% of our acquaintances we talk to more than 80% of the times and so on.

I’ll quickly brief you about the origin of this principle: in 19th century an economist named Vilfredo Pareto discovered that less than 20% peapods in his garden produce more than 80% of the peas. He further found the same 80/20 pattern applying on other fields: less than 20% people own more than 80% of the world’s wealth, less than 20% of the employees do more than 80% of the work, less than 20% of people make the decisions for more than 80% people and so on.

The same 80/20 pattern reigns when it comes to preparing for our exams. If you pause and think, you’ll find that less than 20% in your course covers more than 80% of the exam questions. But I thought that I must shed equal importance to the entire 100% of the course, while in truth some things are made less important.

It’s the job of the student to identify what’s that 20% which is going to cover the 80% of the exam questions. I went full steam at most of the things – reading voluminous novels to epics to literary criticism of different sorts. I don’t deny that my reading was unfruitful. But getting high scores by this approach prevented me to bestow my prime attention on the core.

Lazy thinking and indiscriminate actions.

Now the question crops up how could have I separated the core from the fluff?

The answer is simple. I could have read the previous years’ question papers and had charted my reading strategy keeping them in mind. It’s an open secret that questions of the previous 5 years repeat and repeat, though their words are different. Reminds me of selling the old wine in new bottles.

I read novels; some of them were more than of 10 volumes. I read literary criticism and volumes and volumes of the history of English literature, but it all boils down to only 20%. In the jungle of less important (or extraneous information) I couldn’t focus my attention on the essential. And this was one cause of my failure.

Secondly, I shied back from tough work. reading and reading books is easy, but marking the tough and the important, making notes in your own words and trying to see for answers is not. I was ready to read books passively, but if you had asked me of identifying and marking the important or making notes in my own words, I could have presented an excuse.

Do you know a dirty little secret about us?

We’re smart people, and to give ourselves an impression that we’re busy and engaged in a meaningful work, we invent and invest our energy in shallow work. We talk at lengths with our friends about the stories or the nuances of our subject, all the while fancying that we’re dedicated, curious and passionate for our studies.

But such conversations are often our laziness in disguise. For example, if we’re handed the task of writing a 2000-word paper on the soliloquies of Shakespeare, we might phone our friend and ramble about the merits and talents of the writer instead of actually studying the soliloquies and writing about them. Talking about black holes is easy but reading a book with the aim of making notes on a specific branch of it is not. Given a choice, we generally would go with the easy and overlook the tough.

And what’s easy may not produce results. I could have prepared my own questions from previous years’ question papers, set the timer and conducted mock exams on myself, but it had been too taxing for my mind. Giving 3 hours of intense work twice or thrice a week is no easy feat.

Well, this brings me to the third point. While I studied, I didn’t know how to make a studying-suitable climate. By this I mean shutting off all distractions and shedding your full concentration at the work at hand.

We achieve this level of concentration while taking our exams. If during exams our phone rings, we won’t ever pay attention to it. Unless I’m thoroughly thirsty, I might not even oblige myself with some water.

But while studying at home I invented excuses of detaching myself from hard work. Most of the times I had my emails open, remained available in messengers, and then my phone too remained within my reach. That I was well connected was due mainly to my foolish desire of trying to show that I’m advanced and tech savvy.

Of course, evading the tough work was also a cause. If I hadn’t accomplished anything even though I’m turning page after page, at the end of the day I could have preserved my self-esteem by telling that it was due to that phone call or chat message etc. Yes, let’s face it, holding ourselves responsible for our failures and shortcomings isn’t the job of the faint-hearted. We invent smart excuses to preserve our self-esteem and feel free of guilt.

I hope I’m making myself clear.

When you say that you couldn’t study because your phone rang or because someone messaged you on Facebook or because there was a highly political drama running in the nation, it purely means that your studies for you are of second import. Most of the things can wait. If your friend is calling you up to chat about a distant college event OR ABOUT GOING ON AN OUTING, you can put her on wait. If someone commented on your Facebook status, your response to it can wait. I’m reminded of a quote by Alexander Graham Bell, which says, “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

By cutting off distractions I could have radically scaled up my efficiency at studies. And this brings me to the fourth point, which is in complementary to the third.

Fourthly, I didn’t know about the Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law?

Given by a British naval historian and management theorist Cyril Northcote Parkinson, this law says – “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

If you have 2 days to doing a 1000-word paper, you’ll fill all the time doing it. But if you have only 2 hours for the same work, you’ll get laser-focussed to cover it in 2 hours.

One way I could have squeezed out my real energy at studies was by implementing Pomodoro Technique. According to Pomodoro Technique, we’re required to set the timer for 25 minutes, and during this short time we’re not permitted to hop over other things. Things can wait for 25 minutes. If during the Pomodoro you get an itch to check your Facebook, you can tell yourself to wait for the timer to go off.

After 25 minutes are over, you can take a 5-minute break to respond to your itch. Then again the 25-minute Pomodoro gets active. I could have used 6-8 Pomodoros of 25 minutes each in a day to score high.

To end, I’ll summarise the points I mentioned just now.

1. Pareto Principle says less than 20% input is responsible for more than 80% output. Identify and chase that 20% syllabus which is responsible for the 80%.

2. Focus your energies at doing the results-bringing work which is tough. Let not your mind make excuses for shying back from it.

3. Make a study-suitable climate by cutting off all distractions. Other things can wait – studies for you are of prime import.

4. Remember Parkinson’s Law and implement Pomodoro Technique to get laser-focussed.