- So somebody recently asked me a question and they said
that whenever they begin to study,
whenever they sit down to study, all the bad things and all
the failures in their life and all the bad things that
they've done get in their brain,
and they start thinking about those
and it's hard to focus on studying.
And as crazy as that might sound,
I think that's more common than not.
Because something very similar was happening to me.
It was 2009 and I was training
for the USA Memory Championship.
And every time I would sit down to start practicing,
to memorize a deck of cards,
during the middle of memorizing a deck of cards,
these negative thoughts were creeping into my mind.
And the negative thoughts weren't anything related
to memorizing a deck of cards.
The negative thoughts were things I was worried about
in my life.
I had a family member at the time who was just
in a terrible spot in their life.
And as I was thinking about that as I was memorizing.
And so what I started to do to deal with that,
is before I would sit down to memorize a deck of cards
I'd close my eyes and I would visualize this person,
not how's their life was right now,
but how I wanted it to be in the future.
How I visualize their perfect life to be.
And what was happening was is my anxiety
and my cortisol, cortisol is the stress hormone.
When I was sitting down to study the deck of cards,
my anxiety level was rising because I was thinking about
this family member.
But when I close my eyes and visualize them
in a positive way and the way that I wanted them to be,
I was calming myself down.
And then when I focused on studying,
I was able to study the cards really well and effectively.
I ended up setting the record for the fastest to memorize
a deck of cards back then, back in 2009.
So what I'm saying to you is this,
when you sit down to study and you get everything out,
and then all your negative stuff starts popping up
in your mind, I don't think that's abnormal.
And one of the reasons I don't think it's abnormal
is probably it's in the back of your mind,
your subconscious all day long,
but you're doing other stuff.
You're going to school, you're driving,
you're checking your social media.
You're doing all this other stuff,
so you're not really focused on it.
But then when you sit down and everything's quiet and all
the distractions are gone, then your brain has time to say,
Hey, what about this?
You're not distracted with anything else.
So let me pass, let's worry about this.
So I think it's natural at that moment of ultimate quietness
of ultimate serenity, right before you're about to study.
I think it is natural that
your brain would start bringing up the things
that you're worried about or that you're concerned about
or that you're stressed about.
But as natural as that is, let's push it back.
Let's push it back by closing our eyes and visualizing
the way that we want things to be.
The way that we wished that they were,
and then take a deep breath and open your eyes.
Now, here's the thing, your brain is smart and you're smart.
You can't trick yourself.
If things aren't really good, you're not going to trick
yourself into believing that they're really good.
But I think doing that visualization is a way to calm
yourself down, but also realize, Hey, this is possible.
This is a possible solution.
Let's deal with it later,
but right now we need to focus on studying,
but we're going to deal with that later.
And also, you might ask yourself
when those negative thoughts creep up,
Hey, is this really real?
Is the threat really real?
Is this in the past?
Is it over?
Is it done with?
Is it something to move on with?
Is there anything I can do by worrying about it?
Close your eyes, see yourself happy,
see yourself successful.
And I think there's a lot of value to that.
It certainly worked for me.
Don't beat yourself up if those negative thoughts creep
in at that time of quietness right before you study,
I think it's gonna happen,
but don't let it overwhelm you.
You got to study.
You have to center yourself and you have to focus yourself
in that moment.
My name is Ron white.
I'm a two-time USA Memory Champion.
If you would like my course on how to improve your memory,
I actually have a course.
It's called Black Belt Memory and it teaches you how
to remember names, numbers, study better,
remember what you study.
I think one reason, I'm going to be honest with you.
I think one reason people get stressed
and they start thinking about all the negative things
when they're studying, is because they're not confident that
they're going to be able to remember what they're studying.
When you have a memory system, it improves your confidence
and makes studying more enjoyable.
So, click the link down below,
check out my Black Belt Memory Course,
get the free gift at a minimum.
And maybe at a maximum, join the Black Belt Memory Club.
Get my course, get a certificate
in your Black Belt in memory, it's kind of fun.
Give me a like if you have ever tried
to study and you've dealt with this.
If you've ever sat down and tried to study and you've dealt
with that negative thoughts.
If that's ever happened to you,
give me a like and comment down below and tell me
how you dealt with it or tell me your situation with that.
And we'll see what we can do together, talking about it.
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