The best opportunities look like problems

Problems can be opportunities.

I don’t know what problems you’re facing right now.

(But, I am right about you facing a problem right now, right? That’s just life. Problems will always be there. My philosophy revolves around trying to improve the quality of those problems.)

I can remember the disappointment in my mother’s face when she talked to me about my high school report card.

I could justify my grades to myself –

I could really convince myself –

“Grades don’t matter”

“I’m never going to use any of this”

“I could do better if I want to”

But… the face of my mother wasn’t as easy to defend against…

Look… even if those things are true – and grades really don’t matter… I knew plenty of examples of people that scored higher than me despite putting in even less effort than I did. Like it or not, I was doing something wrong. And that can hurt.

It’s a problem.

It’s a problem that, for years, I let paralyze me. I would get sad. I might try super hard. But It never worked. And that “motivation” never lasted. So… I barely did anything to change anything.

And, honestly, that kind of disappointment dragged me down in every other area of my life. At the time, I could never imagine a better life in any other area – I was convinced I was some kind of a loser. (And in some sense, that made me one.)

But here is the thing –

That problem was like a meal served on a platter with a cover on the top of it.

I looked at the cover and thought – I guess I can’t eat it. Then I’d justify my self-imposed problem by saying – “yea… there probably isn’t any food under the cover anyway.” – LIFT THE LID, AARON!

Getting better grades isn’t hard. (There are circumstances that can make it more difficult but often these problems aren’t school problems.)

Scientists have been researching the topic of learning from hundreds of years. In the last 100 years, it’s been broken down to some of its essential components. (Active recall, for example.) Learning is literally a science.

(Not that any of your teachers are trained to teach you this.)

That plus a little real world experimentation can give you exactly what you’re looking for from school.

101 Strategies To Improve Your Grades Without Studying can give you a whole list of actionable strategies to improve your grades that never even require you open the textbook. (Grades are about more than studying. And, usually, that non-studying component is the most important part.)

The problem of your grades can be an opportunity.

For me, it was an opportunity to see exactly what I was really made of. In some way, I still think grades are mostly symbolic. But it’s a symbol that opens doors for your future. And I think it’s a huge disappointment when someone wastes a great opportunity.

– Aaron

P.S Thanks to everyone sharing the site over the last week. I’ve had no internet connection for a while (and, yes, there were withdrawal symptoms,) so I haven’t had a chance to catch up on my emails yet.