How to STUDY when you DON’T FEEL LIKE IT! - TRY THIS METHOD!

Summary

In this motivational video, Jun Yu shares practical strategies to overcome academic slumps and low motivation. Drawing from his experiences as a Dean's List biomedical engineering graduate and entrepreneur, he emphasizes the importance of having a clear 'why' or purpose, breaking down large tasks into manageable goals, reducing initial friction through simple techniques, and rewarding small wins. Yu advocates for running towards challenges and using these moments to stand out from peers. The video encourages viewers to harness their struggles as opportunities for personal growth and success.

Takeaways

• 🎓 Embrace the universal student experience of feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated, as it's a common challenge faced by many.
• 💡 Rely on a consistent system rather than fleeting inspiration or motivation to achieve long-term success.
• 🚀 Use low motivation days as opportunities to separate from peers and stand out by pushing through the struggle.
• 🔑 Recognize that everyone has off days, and it's during these times that personal growth and distinction can occur.
• 🤔 Reflect on your 'why' - the underlying purpose that drives you beyond immediate tasks or challenges.
• 📚 Break down large goals into smaller, more manageable micro-goals to reduce overwhelm and build momentum.
• ⏱️ Utilize techniques like the Pomodoro Technique or the 5-minute rule to reduce initial friction and start tasks more easily.
• 🔄 Prioritize and execute tasks by breaking them down into actionable steps, which is key to exceptional productivity.
• 🏆 Reward yourself for small wins and daily efforts to create a positive feedback loop and reinforce good habits.
• 📝 Journaling and reflecting on daily wins can provide powerful affirmations and reprogram your mindset for success.
• 🌟 Celebrate both the big outcomes and the small, controllable actions that lead to them, fostering a growth mindset.

Q & A

What is the main challenge described in the script?

The main challenge described in the script is experiencing a slump or a lack of motivation while having assignments or exams to prepare for, which leads to overwhelming emotions and feelings of guilt for not being productive.

What does the speaker suggest is not a good idea when trying to base actions on emotions?

The speaker suggests that basing actions solely on inspiration or motivation is not a good idea, as these feelings can be inconsistent. Instead, one should rely on a more consistent system or set of steps to achieve desired results.

What perspective does the speaker encourage the audience to adopt regarding off days?

The speaker encourages the audience to view off days as opportunities to create separation from peers and to stand out, by using these moments to push through and continue working even when motivation is low.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Overcoming Academic Slumps and Embracing Challenges

The speaker, Jun Yu, a recent biomedical engineering graduate, discusses the common struggle of feeling unmotivated during academic endeavors. He emphasizes the importance of not relying on inspiration or motivation alone, but instead, developing a consistent system to achieve desired results. Jun also encourages viewers to use low motivation days as opportunities to separate themselves from their peers and to embrace challenges as a means of personal growth. He shares his personal background of overcoming financial struggles and academic challenges to inspire viewers to find their 'why' and to use it as a driving force.

05:01

🤔 The Importance of Having a 'Why' and Breaking Down Goals

The paragraph delves into the necessity of having a 'why' in life to avoid aimlessly pursuing goals set by society. It suggests that understanding one's purpose can help in facing difficult tasks and provides a deeper meaning to the work at hand. The speaker also advises breaking down overwhelming macro goals into smaller, more manageable micro goals to prevent overthinking and to build momentum and confidence. Techniques like the Pomodoro Technique are recommended for making tasks feel less daunting and more achievable.

10:02

🔧 Reducing Initial Friction and Leveraging Productivity Windows

This section focuses on reducing the initial friction that prevents starting a task by using methods like the 5-minute rule or the 321 method. It also highlights the importance of setting up a productive environment to make it easier to begin work, such as preparing materials the night before. The speaker shares his personal productivity window, a non-negotiable 90-minute to 3-hour period each morning dedicated to his most demanding tasks, and the strategy of preparing the night before to ensure success during this time.

15:03

🏆 Rewarding Small Wins and Creating Positive Feedback Loops

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of recognizing and rewarding small wins to create positive feedback loops. These small rewards can help reinforce good habits and make the process of achieving larger goals more enjoyable and sustainable.

Keywords

💡Slump

A slump refers to a period of decreased motivation and productivity, often characterized by a sense of overwhelming emotions and guilt. In the video, the speaker discusses experiencing a slump when faced with assignments and exams, emphasizing that it is a common student experience.

💡System

A system is a consistent series of steps or processes designed to achieve desired results. The speaker advocates for relying on a system rather than fluctuating emotions like inspiration or motivation to complete tasks, suggesting it as a solution for overcoming slumps.

💡Perspective

Perspective is the viewpoint or attitude towards a situation. The speaker encourages a shift in perspective to see struggles as opportunities for growth and to differentiate oneself from peers. This mindset helps in tackling low motivation days by viewing them as chances to excel.

💡Why

The 'why' refers to the underlying purpose or motivation behind one's actions. The speaker stresses the importance of understanding one's 'why' to maintain motivation and direction, linking it to personal goals like helping family or achieving financial freedom.

💡Break down goals

Breaking down goals involves dividing larger tasks into smaller, manageable parts. This method helps reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and makes it easier to start and complete tasks. The speaker uses this technique to tackle extensive assignments and study sessions.

💡Initial friction

Initial friction refers to the barriers or resistance faced at the start of a task. Reducing this friction, through methods like the five-minute rule or preparing the night before, makes it easier to begin and maintain productivity. The speaker highlights various strategies to minimize this friction.

💡Reward small wins

Rewarding small wins means acknowledging and celebrating minor achievements to create a positive feedback loop. This practice helps reinforce productive behaviors and maintain motivation. The speaker emphasizes the importance of rewarding efforts, not just outcomes.

💡Positive feedback loop

A positive feedback loop is a cycle where positive outcomes reinforce the behaviors that led to them. By rewarding small wins, individuals create a loop that encourages continued effort and productivity. The speaker discusses this concept as a key to building long-term success habits.

💡Macro goal

A macro goal is a large, overarching objective that can seem daunting. The speaker suggests breaking down macro goals into micro goals to make them more achievable, thus facilitating progress and reducing overwhelm.

💡Micro goal

A micro goal is a smaller, manageable task that contributes to achieving a larger macro goal. The speaker advises setting micro goals to build confidence and momentum, making it easier to tackle larger projects or study sessions.

Highlights

The speaker emphasizes that feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated is a universal student experience.

The importance of relying on a consistent system rather than inspiration or motivation is discussed.

The concept of using off days as opportunities to create separation from peers is introduced.

The speaker's background as a Deans List biomedical engineering student is shared.

The idea of embracing struggles as a way to stand out and succeed is presented.

Transcripts

you are in a slump there's that

assignment you need to complete there's

that exam that you need to study for and

you just don't feel like it and now

there's this immense sense of

overwhelming emotions right because you

know that you're supposed to be

completing something but you feel guilty

for not doing so this is a universal

student experience you're certainly not

alone I can attest a feeling like this

all the time but I just recently

graduated as a Deans lless biomedical

engineering student with both my

bachelors and Masters simultaneously

which is really really awesome awesome

experience that I've just had so I can

certainly test that happened a lot but

what do I always say when we think about

emotions and trying to base everything

that we do on inspiration or motivation

it is not a good idea instead you need

to rely on something more consistent

like a system something that you know is

a series of steps that will bring about

the results that you're looking for and

that's what we're going to be talking

about today but before I dive into all

of that I I want to switch your

perspective a little bit here we know

that the only thing that we can

guarantee as human beings that we will

have off days we will have days that are

really really low motivation and so if

you know that every one of your peers

are going to experience that of course

to different extents and different

situations but you know that they're

also going to have moments where they're

in their own head and thinking I don't

want to pursue this don't you think that

perhaps this is a good opportunity for

yourself to create some separation from

your peers right this is your

opportunity to stand out what do I mean

by this well I don't come from money I

don't come from resources I certainly do

do not my parents never graduated from

college we always struggled financially

so I'm always looking at it from the

standpoint I'm trying to catch up and

then I need to figure out ways to make

separation well guess what it's in these

moments that we can do that and that's

exciting and so I want you to be

somebody that runs towards these types

of struggles and I know that sounds

crazy but I'm the embodiment of somebody

that does I know that I'm going to have

low motivation days some days I feel

really great and that's an easy day to

complete but on the days that I don't

feel like it I also know my competition

out there are feeling the exact same can

I dig a little bit deeper can I stick in

that emotion for a little bit longer and

still complete what I need to complete

well hopefully this system allows you to

do the same my name is Jun Yu if you're

new to the channel welcome if you're

returning welcome back I really feel

that this video will be something easy

to resonate with no matter who you are

no matter what age you are no matter

what part of schooling you are whether

you're even in your career already

because let's face it these days come

but now I want to hopefully encourage

you to not fear these days I want you to

again run towards them and still have a

lot of success so sit back relax and

enjoy the video if you have any

questions at all leave them in the

comments below I'm more than happy

respond give this video a thumbs up and

of course subscribe number one remember

your why and I want you to consider

these three really important questions

who are you trying to help what type of

lifestyle or career do you want and how

can this challenge evolve you as a

person I want to quickly answer each of

them so who am I trying to help when I

was studying biomedical engineering and

there was a lot of cardiovascular

engineering assignments I really didn't

want to do how was I still able to

complete them well I thought about this

I thought about who was I trying to help

I knew that a career in biomedical

engineering or even in my own business

that if I was successful in it I would

have the financial means to provide for

my family so those were the individuals

that I was trying to help in terms of

what type of lifestyle and career I

wanted I knew that if I was successful

in either one of those Endeavors or

perhaps both of them I would have a lot

of really cool opportunities in terms of

fin cial Freedom along with time freedom

and having an opportunity to do the

things that really resonate with me so I

wanted to be able to help people and

then knowing that the lifestyle and

career that I also would hopefully be

able to have one day was a part of even

that cardiovascular engineering

assignment yes it's not immediate but

it's that bigger why that connects that

type of assignments to a greater purpose

and then the third one how can this

challenge evolve you as person this is

basically everything that we talk about

in our mentorship program as the

Foundation of what we aim to do so yes

in our mentorship program we talk about

how to build a network we talk about

building perspective careers we talk

about personal braing we talk about

making money we talk about being more

productive but none of that stuff

actually will work with Longevity if you

don't base your foundation off of this

type of perspective every challenge in

front of you can evolve you as a human

being in your mind your body and your

spirit and those are our first three

pillars and our fourth pillar is honest

accountability so can we ensure that in

moments like this in really really

difficult moments that many people tend

to run away from can we actually sit in

that struggle for a little bit longer

and can we reach the depths of our

pillars reminding ourselves that our

struggle is meant for something that

there's greater purpose that stems from

it I truly believe that type of

perspective flip is tremendously

powerful and so across those two

questions hopefully you have a better

understanding that you need a why right

everyone needs a why and if you're

currently sitting there thinking to

yourself I have no idea a why I'm doing

any of this stuff well first hopefully

you've taken now the first step of

gaining an awareness that a purpose is

necessary you definitely don't want to

go your whole life never thinking about

that because if you don't Society will

hand you your purpose it will distract

you with the millions of imputs all

around us on a daily basis it will make

you go go go go go until one day you

wake up from The Nightmare realizing man

you've been pursuing things that weren't

necessarily lying to you and you

definitely want to question that you

definitely want to challenge yourself to

understand why am I doing this why am I

a student but that doesn't mean that

your why has to be connected to

something comfortable or easy right that

assignment is hard that exam is going to

be hard and studying for that is really

hard in the current moment and so you

want to be somebody that faces those

challenges head on having the

perspective again that it can involve

you as a person so that purpose is

selected by you but having a better

understanding that it's connected to

something much de deeper than just that

assignment what you have in front of you

is not just what's in front of you it's

something much deeper than that if you

can have the perspective to and that's

how I've been able to show up every

single day and get both my bachelor and

Masters in probably one of if not the

hardest major out there in biom medical

engineering it's how I've been able to

start a seven figure business while

still as a student from zero it's

showing up for yourself even on the days

that you don't feel like it because

those are the days that count but if you

can have a perspective on your why it's

really really helpful and I know I'm

being very exhaustive here and thorough

and if you have't never had this

conversation with yourself that's why I

want to introduce you to the idea but

once you have that type of purpose in

mind this can be an immediate type of

reset right when you're in that moment

just to reflect to journal on your why

can be tremendously powerful number two

break down your goals currently you're

looking at this assignment or currently

you're looking at your task to study for

this exam and it seems so overwhelming

right and probably it's because we as

human beings do a lot of overthinking if

you're an overthinker like I am you can

raise your hand at this moment but what

happens is that when we overthink about

a task at hand we actually create these

artificial complexities complexities

that aren't actually there right we just

make them up cuz we're overthinking

about it and that prevents us from ever

starting and that's very very very

dangerous right and so every time that

you have a macro goal like even

finishing an assignment or going ahead

and studying for an exam you know

perhaps that you need to spend 10 hours

to do either one of those things right

and that's extremely extremely daunting

for yourself well maybe we can break

this up and we can break this down into

smaller micr so we can think of this in

the time standpoint and think to

ourselves you know what 10 hours is a

lot to to do but I can do 25 minutes

right and that's why the pomodora

technique is probably your best friend

here having an opportunity to break down

that macro go into something much more

manageable is incredible because you're

doing two things for yourself you're one

establishing confidence because you've

actually completed about something that

you've committed to long after the

emotion in which you're or set that

commitment in has subsided cuz right now

you have low motivation but you still

completed it cuz you said that you going

do the 25-minute bount it's going to

establish a level of confidence it's

also going to establish positive

momentum moving forward so the

subsequent bouts the subsequent sessions

are much easier to complete and so

that's from the time standpoint but even

itself when we're talking about the

assignment or studying for the exam

really trying to break it down but

perhaps you want to logically chunk the

information so it's a little bit more

manageable for you to start after you

complete one chunk then you can move on

to the subsequent chunks and it's the

same idea of establishing confidence and

momentum so I always always always talk

about this but you have to realize that

anyone can set a macro goal anyone can

have a variety of to-dos right anybody

can do that and it's not hard to do it

what's really hard and what stands

people out and makes people exceptional

and extraordinary and really productive

are ones that can then look at that Todo

prioritize them and then execute them

right but that prior ation will happen

when you can take that macro goal into a

micro goal and then you can break those

bits up and you realize you know what

this is where I start this is where I'm

going to prioritize and then it flows

into each of the subsequent tasks or the

subsequent steps or the subsequent parts

to a single task and that's how you can

be productive so if you're feeling

overwhelmed right now that's probably

one of your best steps to do so remember

your why and start to break down your

macro go into micro gos number three

reduce the initial friction so we've

already started this by allowing us to

make it feel a bit less overwhelming but

there are specific techniques that you

can utilize to even further reduce the

initial friction so the F minute roll

and it's hilarious because everyone in

our program uses it a lot of people use

the 321 method and it's just a very very

simple method that works right it's

basically you telling yourself for 5

minutes you're going to commit to that

piece of work you're going to commit to

sitting down and then you'll decide

whether or not to continue when you can

reduce the initial friction from even 25

minutes to 5 minutes that's a huge

tremendous step and it makes it just a

lot easier for you to do but it goes

beyond just the timing I tell people

this all the time but I have a peak

productivity window it's a 90 minute to

a 3H hour bout that I will never never

sacrifice I it's non-negotiable for me

every morning I wake up and accomplish

that Peak productivity window before I

go to classes before I go to work and it

it's leverag for my most demanding tasks

right but I set myself up for Success so

the night prior I will always do the

things that that don't require as much

cognitive effort that will make

tremendous impact the next day during my

Peak productivity window so I will look

up the assignments that I have to get

done I will open up the tabs on my

laptop and I'll close my laptop and when

I can wake up in the morning I open my

laptop and it's all right there if I'm

utilizing the Learning System books then

I'll keep it up on my desk on the topic

that I need to cover so this is to say

when you can reduce the initial fraction

whether it's the time and you want to

further reduce that with the 5 minute

rule or the 321 method or you want to

physically allow yourself to make it

easy to access your work all of those

things have large impacts and the last

thing trust me the last thing when you

have low motivation is to find the

assignment that you need to do um is to

go and actually break down your work

it's it's to go ahead and then pull out

your books it's that's not what you want

to be doing right especially when you've

allotted that time to to be for your

deep work session so make it easy for

yourself reduce that initial friction

and get the work done when you don't

need the cognitive effort perhaps the

night before or perhaps earlier in the

day to set yourself up for Success

number four reward small wins and I and

I believe that this may be one of the

most important ones right you want to

create a positive feedback loop so that

you can condition yourself to follow

through in difficult times I know that

seems kind of complex but it's not and

it's really important here and I have to

be very careful is that I'm not saying

only reward the outcome I'm not saying

to only reward the A's I'm not saying

reward only when you can hit a huge

milestone in your life no I mean reward

the things that are actually in your

control on a day-to-day basis and I

think a perfect example of this is

recently I hit 5 million on Instagram

the same day that I graduated with my

biomedical engineering degrees and in

that moment people are like why aren't

you doing more to celebrate like that's

such a big deal that's so so cool and

absolutely I did celebrate and I was

able to spend some time with my loved

ones but people have to understand that

man that's just the outcome that was

just an accumulation of my day-to-day

when it actually mattered were the days

I really didn't want to do it right the

days that actually mattered are when I

was waking up at 5:00 a.m. and I wasn't

necessarily getting the best sleep

because it was a really stressful period

of time but I still followed through I

was still productive I was still

effective and that's because I was

rewarding the behavior of the effort

associated with it that's in my control

right so perhaps going and waiting for a

milestone or perhaps waiting for an a

isn't necessarily always the thing

that's in my control but what's in my

control is perhaps going to an office

hour session and asking the TA or the

Professor for help like that's in my

control perhaps it's me being more

active in class and raising my hands and

participating that's in my control

perhaps it's utilizing the Learning

System book and being able to Prime use

effective in-class notes and do my post

class immediate review and use active

recall applications for my revision

that's in my control when we're talking

about social media the amount of videos

that I post on a daily basis the ability

to respond to comments and DMS and and

just interact with my incredible

audience like that's in my control the

amount of following that I increase on

on one day isn't necessarily in my

control does that make sense so I think

a lot of people when they think reward

only associated with a large outcome and

when in reality when we need the

positive feedback loop is actually in

the daytoday right and so if you could

even have the different perspective

switch of telling yourself an

affirmation of if you got worked on on

the day that you didn't feel like it and

taken a second and that's why I always

tell you to journal in our mentorship

program I require everyone in the 60-day

challenge there's many many many there's

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

people that are doing this at they do

their mind their body and their Spirit

wins each day and for their honest

accountability they'll journal and

they'll reflect on it and they'll

reflect on it because when they're doing

things that are hard right when they

didn't feel like accomplishing their

mind their body and their Spirit WIS

along with everything else in their

lives and they can reflect on the fact

that they still did it that positive

affirmation opens and and creates this

reprogramming that's very very very

powerful right and so even that frame of

mind of you know what most people would

have quit today I didn't that's huge and

even that type of positive affirmation

to yourself can be a reward and of

itself maybe it's something a little bit

more physical to that and I think that's

fine sometimes when I really succeed in

my efforts in a particular event or in a

certain school day or for work that I

might treat myself to my favorite meal

for dinner right even something like

that or perhaps my favorite dessert or

something to look forward to our

schedule so maybe it's quality time with

the people that I care for even things

like that are going to be a really good

way to condition yourself in really

really difficult moments to still follow

through so reward your small wins okay

it's not just about the big ones and

it's not just about the outcome based

it's about the daily efforts that's

where we actually need the reprogramming

so with that being said that breaks down

to the four really important steps that

I would encourage you to follow if

you're in a slump the first one would be

to remember your why connect yourself to

the purpose it doesn't have to be this

immediate result but it's a connection

to something bigger than you or perhaps

it's development of your yourself

because of that challenge number two

break down your macro goals into micro

goals keeping it solely as macro goals

can be extremely overwhelming so take

the extra step to break it down into

feasible ones that's a lot more easier

to overcome and build yourself the

momentum and the confidence moving

forward and then number three reduce

your initial friction this can be with

the time consideration with the 321

method of the 5 minute rule or can be

physically setting yourself up for

success and the fourth one reward your

small win so after you put in that type

of action reward that behavior so that

you can condition yourself to

continuously do that in the future thank

you guys so much for watching I hope

that this video was helpful leave your

comments below if you have any questions

I'd be more than happy to respond to it

give this video a thumbs up and of

course subscribe so until next time

please take care and I'll see you all at

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