The Holistic Journey | September 3, 2023

(sorry for the delay, I've been pretty busy w/ school lately - enjoy)

It was 4:00am on a Sunday night.

I was sweaty, stressed, and dehydrated.

In front of me were stacks of paper, packets upon packets of my homework.

I was a mess.

For the past 6 hours, I've been cramming knowledge in my brain for one sole purpose.

To pass tomorrow's (well technically today's) test.

It was at this point sometime around 4:30am that I had enough.

I packed up all my homework, shoved my papers in my bag, turned off the lights and hit snooze for the night.

Keep in mind I did all this knowing I'd walk into school the following morning like a zombie, on 2 hours of sleep and a mess of information in my mind.

I walk into my first class.

AP World History.

This is it.

This is the test you wasted hours upon hours of your life for studying.

I get handed the test.

Boom.

I go through it, look the questions, but there was one. big. problem.

This was the first question:

Question #1 : "In addition to commissioning the creation of objects such as the one shown in the image, ruler of early civilizations most commonly used which of the following activites to demonstrate their religious authority?"

"F*ck."

"What does this mean?"

"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck."

It didn't matter at this point.

I didn't remember anything.

Those hours studying last night?

Nope.

Didn't help me one bit.

"F*ck it."

I randomly chose C.

Next question.

C.

Next question.

A.

I had no idea what I was doing, midway through the process I hated myself.

How could I not know the answers to any of these questions?

I LITERALLY STUDIED FOR 6 HOURS STRAIGHT!

That was my thought-process throughout the entirety of the test.

I ended up getting a 74%.

That may seem like a decent score to you.

But that wasn't it for me — I have high standards for myself (and you should too).

​I discuss more on the importance of standards in this letter.​

Chances are, you've probably been in a situation like mine, or one even worse.

So how exactly do we learn and perform better?

Say goodbye to your 6-hour long study sessions.

It's time to build.

But before you do that...

It's time to face the reality.

The Reality

Nowadays, and especially in school...

They expect us to remember everything we learn — and for so many of us that's impossible.

Whenever we attempt to study or even learn about something, we default to the norm.

What's the norm exactly?

• 4-8 hour long study sessions (with a phone break every few minutes)
• Low quality sleep (who needs that when we can cram right?)
• "I'll just do this later" (leads to those 4-8 hour long study seshes)

It's all one big pile of sh*t.

I'm here to change that for you.

To break you out of the cycle that you so desperately despise.

And how do you do that?

By building and tapping into your curiosity.

Become A Builder

You don't have to pretend that you like many of the things you learn about in school.

I certainly didn't.

But now, I tackle all my learning — whether in school or out of school with a system.

The first thing you want to do is isolate exactly what you want to learn.

Chances are it has to do something with improving yourself or improving your education.

The second you want to figure out is if there's a way for you to start first, then you learn.

The third thing you want to do is once you've started and taken action — share your learnings online, or to others in real life.

​Check out letter on why you should share your journey online.​

When you share what you've learnt to others, it taps into your ability of active recall — the process of retrieving information directly from your memory.

As a result, you remember the thing you learnt even better and you're helping someone else learn.

It's a win-win situation all around.

But that's not all.

When you've become a builder of some sorts, whether through sharing your self-improvement journey online or creating a project to show your friends...

You're also building something very valuable.

Credibility.

Your creation(s) are a testament to your expertise (as much or as little as you may have) on a subject.

Becoming a builder is the holistic approach to life.

• You learn things better
• You learn how to teach
• You learn how to influence
• You have an open mind to new opportunities

Talking about building is great and all, but how about you start building?

Right now.

Build. Now.

The first thing you want to do is make the important decision of what you want to build.

If you're having trouble deciding between several things, check out the Decision Making Matrix. (my personal system for making life-changing decisions at 50% off)​

Once you've decided what you want to create, make the choice of either going to X or Threads to share your learnings.

I prefer Threads, and since you've probably found me on Instagram, you might already have it.

But what's the point?

Unlike the other social media platforms, like Instagram and Youtube where you need video content.

Writing platforms like Threads and X make it easy to share what you know and force you to be concise and straight to the point — important details only.

Threads is going to be your commonplace journal — the area where you share everything you learn about your interests.

Not only will this tap into your ability of active recall...

But if your writing content is good, you'll also attract a following of people, which you can view as your "students."

And you're the teacher.

This isn't meant to put any pressure on you.

In fact, it's meant to do the opposite.

Imagine having the ability to remember everything you learn, learn better, and garner students who you can teach to.

Isn't that amazing?

While at the same time it keeps you accountable.

This forces you to keep creating, keep expanding, keep building.

Like I said, this isn't meant to pressure you.

It's meant to get you fired up.

That's it for version 1 of How To Remember Everything You Learn.

As I learn and apply more strategies throughout my school year, I'll definitely be making a version 2.

Until then...

Talk soon.

Remember why you started.

— Ethan P.

👇

---

Tools & Guides

Decision Making Matrix [50% OFF: $2.50]​​

Mental Mastery Guide (free)

Journaling Guide (free)

Flow Guide (free)

​Linktree​

​
​