The Irony of High Standards

I have just passed two of my tests to become an insurance agent and I think back to all my previous exam and test experiences. Focusing on just these two recent papers though, I have to say I did not do well in the mock papers the night before I took the actual papers. Therefore, I told my friends that I did not pass my mock paper and not high chances of passing the actual one. I was being totally honest here, but one different side that I did not show was that before the actual exam itself, I would always convince myself positively that I would pass and excel. Even if I do not study, even if I did not practice… regardless of the circumstances, I will tell myself that I will still ace each exam. From the moment I started practicing this, I began to find myself studying much lesser, but doing much better.

Therefore, whether it was because of the law of attraction or whatever metaphysical reasons, I can’t explain in words. It’s a feeling you have to experience to know that sometimes our subconscious mind is more reliable than our conscious one. Many people who practiced this call it law of attraction and some call it mental power or positive thinking. Regardless of the terminology, they are more or less trying to make use of something that science cannot explain yet and I have no explanations too. However, for those interested, this was one of the major reasons why I changed from someone who always rank in the bottom of the class in secondary school to doing better now.

At one point of time, I became quite an unpleasant person to be with, because people perceived me to be arrogant. However, they didn’t know that it was just that I’m not used to the concept of doing well in my examinations. However, through time, I gradually got used to it and realized an important attribute in humans and that is humility. No matter how well we do, we can always do better. Humans are just made with that potential to achieve and make new breakthroughs second after second. That’s why we should never be proud, because if we are, we stop learning and we stop improving.

With that in mind, I changed again and people’s perceptions changed. My friends can all feel the change and even for myself, I feel happier. When I scored 99.5%, I was more concerned with figuring out my mistake that cost me the 0.5% instead of happily showing off my results. However, that led to another issue. My constant high standards led some people to think that I am hypocritical. When I make mistakes, I am usually really sad that I did not do as well as I know I can, sometimes blaming myself for not studying. However, sometimes the grades I get back is still better than average, so they feel that I’m not being totally honest when I said I screwed up after exams.

Well… maybe my definition of screwed up is different, but that does not mean that I am a hypocrite. Many times, I honestly told them what happened in the test and when I do predict the grades, I do make quite a close guess. However, I know that sometimes people do not feel good after seeing other people get better grades and still not satisfied. I know that for a fact, since I was in that very position for over 10 years of my life. Now, I realized that it’s just that people just seek to constantly improve and set higher standards for themselves. It’s not hypocrisy, rather just the expectations to do better.

Of course, if I was a closet mugger and say that I did not bother to study, that’s a hypocrite for sure. However, I can safely say that I have no need to lie like this, because when I do study, I’m really proud of it. Many times though, people think that I study secretly and act like I don’t need to study. First things first, I do need to study. Secondly, I don’t like to study in secret or I would not have always asked people out to study with me, although I constantly get rejected. Thirdly, I have no need to act. The truth is I always fall asleep when studying at home, so I don’t study much. However, when I do find a grave need to study like on the eve of examinations, I use my ultimate studying secret: The Law of Focused Attention.

Sometimes, just by using this secret, I can spend just two to four hours to get A for my examinations. If you know the 80-20 rule, then you get what I mean. Some people think that they spend days to study, when only 20% of the time is effective. When you break it down, if you spend every minute effectively, you just need a couple of hours. Of course, even for myself, I do study ineffectively at times and I will just fall asleep again. I got to discipline myself more.

With all that said, the next time you see someone doing very well in examinations, do not assume he’s a closet mugger, instead ask for his study strategies. He may be studying smarter than you do.

The next time you see someone with high standards, do not think that he is a hypocrite. You may just be using different units of measurements.

The next time you hear of something metaphysical and unscientific like the Law of Attraction, do not assume it is bogus. Test it out for yourself.

Finally, the next time you read this blog, remember to bookmark it and come back often. Heck, don’t even have to be the next time, bookmark my blog now, haha. Cheers