How I studied everyday for a year [as a lazy student]
Summary
TLDRThe video script emphasizes the importance of positive reinforcement in learning and behavior modification. It uses the analogy of training a cat to illustrate how immediate rewards can effectively shape behavior. The speaker shares personal experiences and strategies for creating an 'action-reward cycle' to enhance motivation and consistency in studying. The key takeaway is that frequent, small wins are more effective than infrequent, large rewards in sustaining behavior and achieving long-term goals.
Takeaways
- ๐ The speaker emphasizes that their success was not due to routine, habit, discipline, or motivation, but rather understanding the fundamentals of behavior.
- ๐ฑ Positive reinforcement, like rewarding a cat for sitting, is a key concept for learning and behavior modification.
- โฐ Timing is crucial in reinforcement; rewards should be given immediately after the desired behavior to ensure learning.
- ๐ The speaker suggests creating an 'action-reward cycle' to improve learning by closing the gap between action and reward.
- ๐ Small, frequent rewards are more effective than large, infrequent ones for reinforcing behavior.
- ๐ The speaker shares their personal strategy of daily practice and immediate self-assessment to see incremental progress.
- ๐ Winners find multiple ways to win, creating a series of small victories that lead to long-term success.
- ๐ฑ Early positive reinforcement can lead to habits that persist even without continuous rewards.
- ๐ฅ Passion is described as an action-reward cycle where the action itself provides the reward, eliminating the need for external reinforcement.
- ๐ฏ The speaker advises focusing on each study session as a win, rather than only focusing on the end goal, to maintain motivation and see progress.
- ๐ Consistency is key; studying a little every day is more effective than sporadic, intense study sessions.
Q & A
What was the speaker's approach to studying during their last year of secondary school?
-The speaker decided to 'lock in' and studied every day for the entire year, which ultimately led to achieving a perfect score.
What does the speaker consider the key to effective learning, according to the script?
-The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating an 'action-reward cycle' where the gap between performing an action and receiving a reward is minimized.
How does the speaker use the example of training a cat to explain positive reinforcement?
-The speaker illustrates positive reinforcement by giving the cat a treat immediately after it performs the desired action, such as sitting down, to reinforce the behavior.
Why does the speaker argue that waiting too long to reward a behavior can be ineffective?
-Waiting too long to reward a behavior can lead to confusion about what is being rewarded, and the subject may not associate the reward with the correct action.
What is the problem the speaker identifies with the traditional school system's approach to positive reinforcement?
-The traditional school system often provides positive reinforcement too infrequently, with the main reward (grades) coming only at the end of the year, which is not conducive to consistent motivation and learning.
What two factors are important for creating an effective action-reward cycle, as mentioned in the script?
-The two important factors are frequency and amount. Frequency refers to how often the reward is given, and amount refers to the size of the reward.
How did the speaker apply the concept of an action-reward cycle to their own study routine?
-The speaker would do a practice paper each day, mark it, and compare the score to the previous day's to see improvement, thus creating a daily reward for their efforts.
What does the speaker mean by 'finding more ways to win'?
-The speaker suggests setting multiple smaller goals along the way to a larger goal to provide more frequent positive reinforcement, which helps maintain motivation and a sense of progress.
How does the speaker relate the concept of positive reinforcement to the idea of passion?
-Passion is described as an action-reward cycle where the action and reward are the same thing, providing immediate satisfaction and thus not requiring external reinforcement.
What advice does the speaker give for studying every day?
-The speaker advises viewing each study session as a win by focusing on small improvements and incremental progress, rather than solely on the final exam or grade.
What does the speaker suggest as a strategy to ensure consistent behavior change, using the example of training a dog?
-The speaker suggests rewarding the behavior immediately and consistently at first, then gradually reducing the frequency of rewards until the behavior is learned and performed without the need for external reinforcement.
Outlines
๐ The Power of Positive Reinforcement
The speaker shares their experience of not studying hard during most of secondary school but realizing the importance of effort in the final year. They emphasize that achieving a perfect score wasn't due to discipline or motivation alone but understanding the fundamentals of behavior. The speaker introduces the concept of positive reinforcement using their cat as an example, explaining how rewarding an action immediately after it occurs teaches behavior effectively. They point out the common mistake of delayed reinforcement in studying, which leads to a lack of immediate gratification and can cause people to give up. The speaker suggests creating an 'action-reward cycle' to close the gap between effort and reward, which is crucial for faster learning.
๐ The Importance of Frequency and Amount in Reinforcement
This paragraph delves deeper into the concept of positive reinforcement, discussing the significance of frequency and amount of rewards. The speaker argues that winners achieve success by creating more opportunities for positive reinforcement. They share their personal strategy of studying by setting daily goals and immediately rewarding themselves with the satisfaction of improvement, which is more effective than waiting for a distant reward like a report card. The speaker also touches on how some individuals, especially children, receive early positive reinforcement that allows them to continue a behavior without immediate rewards, and how passion can be seen as an action-reward cycle where the action itself is rewarding.
๐ Finding Wins in Daily Life
The final paragraph focuses on the mindset of finding wins in everyday activities to create a positive feedback loop. The speaker encourages looking back on past achievements to recognize more wins than initially perceived. They suggest lowering barriers to success and finding more ways to win, which can lead to a mindset where every small victory is celebrated. The speaker also mentions their free community for Q&A calls and posts, inviting viewers to join and continue the discussion on finding more ways to win in life.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กPositive Reinforcement
๐กAction-Reward Cycle
๐กDiscipline
๐กHabit
๐กMotivation
๐กFundamentals of Behavior
๐กWinners
๐กPassion
๐กStudy Habits
๐กIncremental Improvement
๐กMindset Shift
Highlights
The importance of positive reinforcement in learning and behavior modification.
The concept that discipline, motivation, and habits are not the sole keys to success.
The significance of immediate reinforcement for effective learning.
The analogy of training a cat to illustrate positive reinforcement.
The problem with delayed reinforcement in traditional schooling systems.
The need for an 'action-reward cycle' to enhance learning efficiency.
How winners create multiple opportunities for positive reinforcement.
The strategy of viewing each study session as a win to maintain motivation.
The idea that passion can be a form of immediate action-reward cycle.
The impact of early positive reinforcement on long-term behavior.
The concept that discipline and habits are not prerequisites for success.
The suggestion to find internal satisfaction in each study session.
The advice to look for small wins in daily activities to foster a winning mindset.
The importance of seeing progress in the short term to maintain long-term goals.
How to train oneself or others effectively using the principles of positive reinforcement.
The idea that passion is an action-reward cycle where the reward is immediate.
The strategy of shifting mindset to see each study session as a win rather than focusing solely on the end goal.
The concept of lowering the barrier to find more ways to win.
Transcripts
so for most of my secondary school life
I did not study I did not work hard but
in my last year when my gcss were coming
up I was like okay got to lock in and I
studied every day for that whole year
and ended up getting my perfect score
and I can tell you it's not routine it's
not habit it's not discipline it's not
motivation those things are fine and
that's what most people talk about but
in today we're going to analyze the
fundamentals of behavior and I actually
have a special guest for this video she
is an expert in Behavior a perfect
example my cat and for my test subject
you'll be
using now imagine if I wanted to get my
cat to sit down like Kendrick Lamar
right what would I do well I probably
tell her to sit down give some sort of
signal then if she's sat I would
reinforce the behavior by giving her
some food this is positive reinforcement
and it's one of the most important words
that you'll learn from this video but
here's the thing that we don't really
think about imagine I told her to sit
down she sat down and then I wait 5
minutes I wait 10 minutes before I give
her the treat would she learn anything
now she doesn't know why I'm rewarding
her it's not clear and she doesn't learn
or she might just learn the wrong thing
within those 5 minutes she could have
gone take a I would have reinforced
her taking a not reinforce her
taking a Sit bars and so this seems
obvious but if you look at the way you
study and the way most people study it's
exactly like this you study no
reinforcement you study no reinforcement
no reinforcement no reinforcement and
then you wonder why at some point you
give up and this is the problem that
I've always had with school the positive
reinforcement is too far away think
about it you have to to do an action
like study every day so 365 days of
action and then the one reward you get
is the report card at the end of the
year so the ratio is messed up it's 365
actions but only one reward if my cat
sits down 10 times I have to reward her
10 times it has to be equivalent and so
what I'm about to say is really
important winners win because they just
find more ways to win they find more
ways to get that positive reinforcement
Loop going and so here's how you can do
it for
yourself and so even if you do a quiz
and next week the teacher gives it back
to you one week is still too far apart
the thing is if you have to work and do
an action for 6 months and then you get
one little bit of positive reinforcement
at the end that's not how we learn
imagine if my cat sat down and I waited
6 months to give her the treat she would
have learned anything at all so we need
to create this thing which I will refer
to as the action reward cycle so it kind
of looks like this Loop you do an action
you get a reward which Spurs you on to
do the action again you get more reward
again and again and again and the key is
if you have action and reward you must
close the gap between them that's how we
learn faster and so there are two
important factors the frequency and the
amount that you reward frequency means
how often reward meaning the cat is out
10 times you give him 10 treats that's
frequent rewards amount is how big the
rewards are so my cat could sit down 10
times and I only give her a reward on
the 10th one so only once but I give her
a hella big reward I give her whole
salmon she could still learn
right but which one would you bet works
better probably the small frequent ones
right so that's what I did to train
myself so what I did is that every day
I'll would do a practice paper and then
I'll mark the practice paper and after I
marked it I could see the score and so I
could compare it with yesterday's score
so for example today I got a 66 tomorrow
I get a 67 that's positive reinforcement
and you can see a slight increase so I
test and check and test and check and I
have like all the papers in like a file
or in a book and I write the grade at
the top so you imagine this is the paper
right I write a grade at the top so I
can flip through and see the grades
increase almost like a flip book so I'm
going to illustrate this to you visually
so let's I hop on my laptop I'll draw
some stuff for you hello welcome to
white bulb with love so here's how you
can visualize it with a timeline imagine
this this is how most people look they
have one goal which is the report card
with the straight A and they're here and
they want to get from point A to point B
and maybe they have one checkpoint in
the middle which is like the midye exam
right but most of the time it's just one
goal one win no positive reinforcement
ain't nobody got time for that but this
how the winners look like they find many
ways to win in between so they reinforce
the behavior math practice paper
improved by 2% I studied 30 minutes more
today than yesterday I finished that
group project that was really annoying
done my first 10 study sessions when the
double digits now yet scope improved my
essay writing by 10% slept at the same
time for over 2 weeks now finally
locking in 50 practice papers done for
let's say over like 8 months and the
same thing goes with YouTube If I said
hey bro get 200k subs right now it would
be such a daunting task because you
would have to go very long without
seeing any positive reinforcement and
90% of people will quit but this is how
I saw it on my journey it's more like
this every single 10,000 subscribers was
a win and of course it should be right
10,000 people is a lot of people every
video they uploaded was also a win and
so I just found more ways to win winners
win cuz they find more ways to win
that's whiteb with W back to the normal
video the best way to actually stick to
something for the long term is to see
progress in front of your eyes we only
get discouraged when we don't see
results when we feel like we're wasting
our time here when nothing is changing
nothing is moving we've been living the
same week for like 4 weeks 5 weeks 2
months so the question if we're even
doing the right thing for most of my
life it was no reinforcement no no no no
no and then I got the reinforcement of
the good grades and that was okay but
for a lot of people like children who
are raised right it was actually flipped
and so they got positive reinforcement
to begin with and this is a very
important concept if you can get a big
positive reinforcement in the beginning
you can go super long without any so for
example some kids their parents were
really supportive when they got a good
grade that's why they turn into these
students that it seems like school is
made for them they're easy right for me
it's not key point after a while if you
have big enough positive reinforcement
you can actually stop positively
reinforcing and you'll still continue do
the habit for a prolong period of time
for example how the first 100 times that
you tell the dog to sit you have to give
the dog a treat give the dog a bone but
at some point like with most dog owners
you just say sit and the dog sits even
if you don't reward it it just just
learns The Habit the same thing here and
a little side note I have here which I
find quite interesting is this is why
you don't need discipline or habits when
it comes to your passion because what I
Define passion is is action and reward
in the same thing so you know how I said
the action reward cycle right you do an
action and then you get reward and the
closer is the better the more you will
do the action what I see passion is is
when they're exactly the same the moment
you do the action you get the reward in
that moment for example right now as I'm
recording this video it's an action but
I also get reward right now because I
like doing it right I like explaining
stuff and especially like writing so
writing the video is actually more fun
than recording but I like both processes
and so you don't need to love school to
do well at it you just need to know this
process of action and reward and
replicate it for example there are
thousands of students every year that do
really well in school I see so many
students so stressed for the O levels a
levels psle even and guess what do you
think they're doing it because they love
school so much they're willing to do
anything they're willing to put up for
it no they're doing it because they've
been rewarded in the past for doing the
same action or they've been punished in
the past for not doing the action so
most of those students probably don't
even know about like habits routine they
haven't read those books haven't watched
these like self-improvement videos but
they don't need to CU they've been
taught positive
reinforcement unintentionally and so I
made this whole video because of this
comment that I'll put out on screen
right now and I also made a community
post about it so I'm just going to read
it really quick how do I study every day
well look at the things that you
naturally do every day and copy that I'm
not talking about brushing your teeth or
breathing or walking I mean the things
you naturally do every day that others
probably don't for me that's writing and
the reason I do it every day is because
I find internal satisfaction with every
word I'm typing even right now if I was
writing a book instead of looking to the
end of the year for the full book I
would find every page as a fun challenge
so maybe instead of looking at the end
of the year for your grades if you want
to study every day look at each study
session and see it as a win because if
you look at the things you do every day
and you never struggle to do whether
it's an instrument art or sport you find
it fun because you learn to see those
small incremental increases in skill you
find those small improvements exciting
you get positive reinforcement from that
positive feedback loop you see those 1%
improvements as you level up same way in
a video game you don't constantly worry
about beating the whole game to just
focus on the current level so instead of
obsessing over the final grade if you
focus on the current study session and
once it's done you see it as a win you
get to the final boss more prepared
winners just find more ways to win and
so assume that you weren't you and you
needed to train a person or you train an
animal to do an activity how would you
guarantee that they learn this Behavior
well number one I would reward them
instantly when they do it right number
two I would not reward them if they
don't do the thing or even punish them
and then number three I would increase
slowly until they learn the behavior so
the first time I would reward them very
quickly very quick very quickly very
quickly but after 6 months I reward them
less reward them less again reward them
less again until at some point I can
just stop rewarding the dog I can say
sit and the dog will still sit and
that's when I know they're fully trained
so the way that I studied every day for
a year was I saw each study session as a
win it was a mindset shift not like a
real like physical reward I didn't you
know eat sweets or something like a lot
of people say that like oh you do the
Pomo technique 25 minutes of work then
those 5 minutes you can go play a video
game so you can positively reinforce
yourself bro if I went to play a video
game I would just not work again for the
rest of the day I would just continue
playing and when I say I studyed every
day I don't mean 12 hours every day I
just mean every single day I did some
sort of studying some days were 30
minutes some days were 2 hours maybe
closer to exam time you would be like 3
4 hours but I did it every day without
fail and so I think it's more of the
internal satisfaction which is like
going back to the drawing that I showed
you it's same Journey same goal one
person has one win one person has 100
wins so instead of seeing the win as the
straight A on your report card
which will take a year to get to anyway
see the win as the 1 or 2% increase in
your practice paper so with this mindset
look over the past week of her life the
past month of her life in the moment it
doesn't seem like there's many wins but
if you look back now look at the wins
that you did get they're probably a lot
more than you actually thought now go
get
more lower your barrier find more ways
to win and I guarantee you you will
start winning more take action
[Music]
I just realized that like half the
screen in this video was just white
because of how like the exposure from
the Sun but it's just I just move just
move this way you know just pretend it
never happened there we go but yeah if
you like this video you can join my free
community I do a Q&A call every week or
once every two weeks where I just hop on
and you can talk to me I can also just
make posts the community is really big
now like I think we're closing in on
10,000 members soon so Bo know if you
want you can join completely free first
link in the description it's the one
that just free and uh yeah find more
ways to win
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