How I get TOP grades WITHOUT being SMART

Summary

This video script challenges the notion that natural intelligence is the key to academic success. The speaker, who identifies as Asian, dispels the stereotype that Asians are inherently gifted and shares personal experiences of overcoming language barriers and mediocre grades through hard work and dedication. The script emphasizes the importance of effort over innate talent, using the gym analogy to illustrate the long-term benefits of consistent practice. It encourages viewers to embrace the process of learning, develop an obsession with improvement, and leverage resilience and the compound effect to excel in their studies.

Takeaways

• 😀 The script discusses the prevalence of 'gifted' individuals in various fields and the pressure this can create.
• 📚 It challenges the idea that one must be naturally smart to succeed academically, emphasizing the importance of hard work over innate talent.
• 💪 The speaker shares personal experiences of struggling with language and academics, highlighting that hard work can lead to significant improvement over time.
• 🏠 The story of attending an intensive study camp in the UK is used to illustrate the power of focused, disciplined study.
• 📉 The script explains the concept of the 'Compound Effect,' where consistent hard work can eventually surpass natural talent.
• 💡 It uses the analogy of gym-goers with good genetics versus those who work hard to demonstrate the long-term benefits of effort over natural advantage.
• 🌱 The importance of patience and persistence is underscored, likening the process to a plant growing roots underground before sprouting above ground.
• 🔍 The speaker encourages identifying and learning from weaknesses, suggesting that recognizing one's shortcomings is a strength in itself.
• 🚀 The power of obsession in driving improvement is highlighted, suggesting that dedication and focus can overcome innate talent.
• 📈 The script advocates for resilience, stating that the ability to handle failure and learn from it is a key component of academic success.
• 📝 It concludes by emphasizing the universality of struggle in education and the idea that overcoming obstacles can lead to becoming the best version of oneself.

Q & A

What is the main message of the video script?

The main message is that natural intelligence is just a head start, and hard work, practice, and resilience are more important for long-term success in academics and other areas of life.

Why does the speaker believe that being naturally smart might be a disadvantage?

The speaker suggests that being naturally smart could be a disadvantage because it might lead to a lack of practice in developing a strong work ethic and resilience, which are crucial for overcoming challenges and achieving long-term success.

What is the 'Compound Effect' mentioned in the script?

The 'Compound Effect' refers to the idea that consistent, small efforts over time can lead to significant results, eventually allowing those who work hard to surpass those who rely solely on natural talent.

How does the speaker describe the importance of hard work in the context of studying?

The speaker emphasizes that hard work is essential for improving grades and academic performance, even if one does not start off as naturally smart. It involves consistent effort and the willingness to put in the work to learn and grow.

What is the role of 'obsession' in becoming successful according to the script?

The script suggests that obsession, or being deeply dedicated and focused on a particular pursuit, can overcome talent. It implies that an individual who is obsessed with improvement is more likely to succeed than someone with natural talent but less dedication.

Why does the speaker mention the story of the caveman discovering agriculture?

The story of the caveman is used as an analogy to illustrate the importance of patience and consistency during the initial stages of any endeavor, where results may not be immediately visible but are crucial for long-term success.

What does the speaker mean by 'resilience' in the context of the script?

Resilience, in this context, refers to the ability to handle failure and use it as an opportunity to learn and improve. It is the capacity to bounce back from setbacks and continue working towards one's goals.

How does the speaker's experience with English illustrate the point about hard work and improvement?

The speaker's experience shows that despite starting with a low level of English proficiency, consistent hard work and dedication led to significant improvement and eventually excelling in the subject.

What is the significance of the 'mistakes note' mentioned in the script?

The 'mistakes note' is a tool for identifying and addressing weaknesses. By writing down and practicing areas where one makes mistakes, one can turn these weaknesses into strengths and improve academic performance.

What is the final piece of advice the speaker gives to students who feel they are not naturally smart?

The speaker advises such students to embrace hard work, be patient through the tough transition phase, and stay consistent in their efforts. They should also recognize that everyone struggles and that overcoming these struggles can lead to becoming a better student.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Overcoming the Myth of Natural Intelligence

The speaker addresses the common perception that gifted individuals are ubiquitous, especially on social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram, where young prodigies seem to abound. They express the frustration of being compared to these 'naturally smart' individuals and the pressure to perform well academically. However, the speaker challenges this notion, sharing their personal experience as an Asian student who was not naturally gifted but managed to excel through hard work. They recount their journey of learning English from scratch and their struggles during the 11 plus exams. The speaker emphasizes that while natural talent provides a head start, it is hard work and perseverance that truly drive success. They argue that the discipline and practice of working hard are what lead to long-term achievements, using the analogy of a person with good genetics who doesn't work out compared to someone who consistently goes to the gym despite having average genetics.

05:00

🌱 The Power of Obsession, Consistency, and Resilience

In the second paragraph, the speaker delves into the importance of obsession, consistency, and resilience in achieving academic success. They use the analogy of the first caveman who discovered agriculture to illustrate the concept of the 'tough transition phase' where one must remain consistent and patient without immediate results. The speaker highlights the value of knowing one's weaknesses and turning them into strengths, suggesting that making mistakes and learning from them is a crucial part of the learning process. They argue that naturally smart individuals may struggle with failure because they lack the resilience built through overcoming challenges. The speaker encourages students to embrace the process of learning, to be persistent, and to use their mistakes as opportunities for growth. They conclude by reminding students that everyone finds school challenging and that overcoming these obstacles is what shapes the best version of oneself, advocating for hard work over talent in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Keywords

💡Gifted

The term 'gifted' refers to individuals who possess exceptional natural abilities or talents in a particular domain. In the video, the speaker discusses the prevalence of gifted individuals on social media platforms and the pressure it creates, using the example of an 8-year-old playing Campanella on YouTube to illustrate this point.

💡Hard Work

Hard work is the act of exerting effort and dedication to achieve a goal, often surpassing the advantage of natural talent. The video emphasizes that hard work is more important than talent, as it sustains personal and academic growth. The speaker contrasts hard work with natural talent, sharing their own experience of improving in English through persistent effort despite not being naturally gifted.

💡Talent

Talent is the natural ability to perform exceptionally well in a specific area. The video script discusses talent as a 'head start' but not a guarantee of long-term success. The speaker argues that while talent can give someone an initial advantage, it is the dedication to hard work that truly drives success, as illustrated by the gym analogy.

💡Compound Effect

The Compound Effect is the idea that small, consistent actions can lead to significant outcomes over time. In the context of the video, the speaker uses this concept to explain how hard work can eventually surpass talent. The video suggests that consistent effort in studying and self-improvement will lead to greater achievements than relying solely on natural abilities.

💡Work Ethic

A work ethic refers to a strong commitment to work and a willingness to put in effort to achieve goals. The video highlights the importance of developing a good work ethic, especially for those who may not be naturally talented. The speaker shares their personal journey of becoming the best in English through a strong work ethic.

💡Obsession

Obsession in this context refers to an intense focus and dedication to a particular pursuit. The video argues that obsession can outperform talent, as it drives a person to continuously learn and improve. The speaker gives examples of their own obsession with mastering new skills, such as video games or sports techniques.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. The video suggests that naturally smart people may lack resilience when faced with failure. The speaker encourages embracing weaknesses and using them as opportunities for growth, turning them into strengths through persistence and learning from mistakes.

💡Mistakes

Mistakes are errors or incorrect actions that can be valuable learning opportunities. The video emphasizes the importance of recognizing and learning from one's mistakes, as they are a path to improvement. The speaker advises keeping a record of mistakes and practicing them to overcome weaknesses and achieve academic success.

💡Studying

Studying is the act of learning and gaining knowledge, often in preparation for exams or to master a subject. The video script discusses the challenges of studying and the misconception that only naturally smart individuals can excel. The speaker shares their own struggles with studying and how they overcame them through hard work and practice.

💡11 Plus Exams

The 11 Plus Exams are a set of tests taken by students in the UK to qualify for entry into grammar or selective secondary schools. In the video, the speaker recounts their experience preparing for these exams, highlighting the intensive study camps and the competitive environment, which served as a catalyst for their personal growth and development.

💡Discipline

Discipline refers to the practice of training oneself to follow a pattern of behavior or a code of conduct. The video script mentions discipline as a key component of the work ethic necessary for success. The speaker's story of attending intensive study sessions and consistently working hard exemplifies the role of discipline in achieving academic goals.

Highlights

The prevalence of gifted individuals online can lead to feelings of inadequacy and comparison.

The speaker refutes the belief that one must be naturally smart to excel academically.

The concept that natural intelligence is merely a head start, not a guarantee of success.

The importance of hard work over talent for long-term academic and personal growth.

The speaker's personal experience of not being naturally smart and the journey to academic success.

The story of attending an intensive study camp and the competitive environment it fostered.

The realization that talent is just a starting point and hard work is what sustains growth.

An analogy comparing natural talent to good genetics in physical fitness.

The compound effect of consistent hard work leading to overtaking those with natural talent.

The speaker's struggle with English and the hard work that led to becoming the best in secondary school.

The idea that not being naturally smart can teach valuable lessons about the necessity of hard work.

The speaker's obsession with mastering new skills and how it contributes to success.

The power of obsession over talent in achieving academic and personal goals.

The importance of persistence and the compound effect in skill development.

The story of the first caveman discovering agriculture as a metaphor for the unseen growth during hard work.

The value of resilience and learning from failure as a non-gifted individual.

The strategy of identifying and addressing weaknesses to turn them into strengths.

The encouragement to embrace the struggle and see it as a filter that leads to self-improvement.

A call to action for students to work hard, overcome obstacles, and become the best version of themselves.

Transcripts

is it just me or does it seem like

there's just gifted people everywhere

you open YouTube and you see some

8-year-olds like play

Campanella you open Instagram and you

see some computer science like pry

7-year-old that's already got into MIT

do you get frustrated so you put down

your phone just to get compared to some

random gifted Asian cousin by your

mom and it's the same with studying when

you're struggling to do your work or

like you're struggling with that Mas

question do you ever just find yourself

thinking if phon I was smarter this

would be so much easier man

it's easy to think that you're not made

for studying and that Asian in your

class would just end up beating you

anyway but you don't need to be

naturally smart to get good grades

people think I'm naturally gifted and

it's because I'm Asian that I can study

well but even as an Asian there's levels

in between Asians and I can tell you

that naturally I've never been smart I

literally came to this country without

knowing how to speak the

language I was like pretty mediocre all

the way up into like Secondary School my

grades were never that good and so in

this video I'll cover why being

naturally smart might actually be a

disadvantage the thing that beats talent

and the things you can do to get the

good grades even if you think you're not

naturally smart let me tell you a story

I remember I Was preparing for my 11

plus exams which are the set of exams

that you do to go to grammar schools in

the UK or like the better set of like

secondary schools now remember although

like we never had done tuition it was

like maybe like a month out from the

main exams they start running like these

intensive study camps and so not too far

from my house it's basically like this

kind of like mini Mansion it's like this

big house this there's a person that

runs it and basically they reform the

house into like a big like study area

and so there's like I don't know 30 40

50 like basically mostly like Korean

kids and then you go into the house and

then from like 8: until 5:00 in the

afternoon you just study P paper

questions they bring a like teachers and

then for each of like the subjects

basically math and English mainly for 11

plus you study and then you're basically

in that like group and it's like a week

long thing and I just remember there's

one teacher for maths we would do like

these papers and then on the Whiteboard

he'd write down in order your name and

what your score was in order for

everyone to see and I remember I was

just never at the top the thing you have

to realize is that natural talent and

ability is a head start start but that's

what it is it's just a head start Talent

is the natural ability for you to

perform exceptionally in a particular

field whereas hard work is what keeps

your personal and student growth alive

and thriving even if highly talented

people have a head start hard work is

more important than talent in a way that

was a good thing because although my

like Head Start was Zero that just means

I had to put in more work but that meant

I had the practice of putting the work

in and doing the hard work and let me

tell you why this is important if at the

gym there's someone with really good

genetics they've never gone to the gym

like they only go to the gym like mebe I

know like a couple of times in their

lives like we all know that one person

right they don't really go to the gym

but they just have like a really good

physique and we're all kind of jealous

of them whereas like you might have been

going to the gym but you just don't have

good genetics so even though you've been

going for like a year straight that guy

who's never gone to the gym you still

look the same as that guy the thing is

although the outcome you guys both look

the same although you've gone to the

year consistently for a year that Head

Start ends there whereas you're going to

start to overtake it right in 10 years

time because you built up the good work

ethic the discipline the patience to

know that you have to put in the work to

improve yourself even if that like guy

who just had natural good gentics and

have the good body because he doesn't

have the practice of having to put in

the work to like get the good physique

he's going to end up losing that and

that's why you always see the story of

the gifted student because he never had

to put the work into study when it comes

to the big exams where actually like he

didn't know how to study like he never

had the practice of study he ends up

failing that's because having to PR the

work and having to build up the work

ethic Etc will set you up for the long

run and that's called The Compound

Effect people that have the natural

ability will seem like they're naturally

smarter than you will seem like they

have an advantage over you and that's

because they do in that moment they have

a head stop but when you consistently

put in their work there'll be a points

that you overtake them I had to

continuously work hard with my English I

came to this country without knowing how

to speak English I don't know so

although I might have been like the

worst in like primary school I wasn't

good and I always was like below average

my gradient or like my rate of

improvement was higher because although

I started lower I had that momentum I

had that patience I had that hard work

going for me and so then by secondary

school I was the best at English that's

why starting off like not naturally

smart having bad genetics actually

teaches you more you have to put in the

work you learn the process of how to get

there and once you know that process of

how to get there you don't lose that and

you can rinse and repeat that for

everything and you get okay with that

transition phas and this leades on to

Obsession I've always been obsessed with

anything I get into whenever I start a

new video game like I remember like

vividly valerin I watch hours of tips

and tricks videos Bon I'd watch hours of

like videos about like how to do each

technique I remember I literally get my

racket and I practice like the footwork

and like the technique for like a back

hand clear in my living room I ended up

like scratching the the ceiling of my

living room and like the Mark is still

there whatever I start I get obsessed

with and the thing is Obsession beats

Talent if you're really dedicated to

becoming a better student you obsess

over it that's what wins Adam s said

obsession is going to be Talent every

time you got all the talent in the world

but are you obsessed I thought everyone

did this when they started something new

I thought like everyone would like try

to like get really good at it like

whenever binton Etc if you start it I

thought everyone would like try to get

good and be obsessed but actually that

just wasn't the case if you want to

improve you have to stick to it remember

it's The Compound Effect you won't see

the results for the first week but

getting a straight A like academic

comeback doesn't happen overnight

staying consistent and being obsessed

knowing what you have to do to get

better focusing on the action is

difficult especially when you don't see

results think about like the very very

first caveman that discovered like

agriculture imagine he bought like a pot

of soil with a seed in it to his like

clamat and he was like guys guys guys

okay from now on like I know we're

running low water I know it's drought

season but we're going to like give half

of our water to this plant every single

day like the clamat would be called him

stupid like what like bro like our

grandmother like dying off dust and you

want to use that water on a plant you

want to like throw that water away into

like the DT that makes no sense he's

going to be like guys guys trust me

trust me so on the first day they're

skeptical and they give him water and he

actually gets the water dumps it in the

soil and from what it looks like to them

he's just like dumping water into the

ground it's like what the hell they're

wasting precious water and he does that

for day two day three day four day 5 day

6 day s all do until day 14 and you

can't see anything it feels like he's

just been wasting water for 14 days and

they're ready to like just like stab him

right but on the 14th day when the

Sprout comes out and then it starts to

blossom into like a fruit you get more

water more hydration and more fruits you

can start to see like sing is growing

well Suddenly It's like oh yeah well

yeah we can water there because we can

see like there's a sprout during those

14 days that plant was just making Roots

underground that you couldn't see it was

setting up the foundation for you to

thrive and grow it's easy to do the

actions it's easy to stay consistent

once you see the results but when it

comes to studying you might have to

study for a week straight 2 3 4 5 weeks

a month two months for you to finally

start seeing results but are you willing

to go through that tough transition

phase stay consistent be patient through

that phase because that's when you're

seeing results and lastly resilience

naturally smart people tend to be unable

to handle failure and we can use that to

our advantage if you want to get good

grades without being naturally smart

knowing your weakness is actually really

valuable as a student since it's an

opportunity to turn that weakness into a

strength you can't turn a weakness into

a strength if you don't know where your

weaknesses are Superman for example

knows his into his Crypt Tonite so he

knows to stay away from it he knows like

that he has like defense mechanisms

against it right instead of cowering

away from your mistakes hiding under

like your bed because you did bad write

down where you tend to lose marks and

lose them as Josh rkin said success lies

on am Mount of mistakes each time you

act adjust and repeat you're making an

incremental improvements and that's why

as a student I think having a mistakes

note writing down the mistakes you tend

to get wrong and practicing those will

make it so that you can get good grace

even without being naturally smart

because you're just studying in a smart

way and remember every single student

finds it tough it's not just you it's

easy to think that everyone else is like

find School easy it's a breeze and

you're just the one that's like always

struggling but it's not when you're

feeling that pain everyone else is as

well and think of it as a big filter you

start the race with 100 fish but then

the first hurdle comes up you feel a

stitch in your left side how many people

are going to start continue like some

fish will like stop swimming some people

will stop like running the race right

and so 10% of the whole 100 fish get

weeded out and you you have 90% left as

you start going like you got start to

feel the cramps in your like legs or 50%

of the fish suddenly dropped out every

time you face an obstacle think of it as

this net and once you overcome it you're

just going to get better and better and

better until the best version of you is

remaining it's not just you that's

feeling the struggle it's everyone else

and so remember hard work beats Talent

beat your competition and become the

best student that you can be if you like

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can be as always take action in what you

learned today and I'll see you in the

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