- There are some things in life
that you cannot cook in the microwave.
And there are some things in school
that you can't do either.
Watch this video.
(edgy rock music)
Hey what's up?
This is Kantis Simmons, academic success expert
and leading authority on student achievement,
and today, I want to help you build
some strong study habits.
Now before I do so, I want to tell you this quick story.
A few weeks ago, my mom,
she cooked me a chicken pot pie.
She brought it to me, I ate it,
and man, that chicken pot pie was so awesome.
It was so awesome that the next few days,
I was absolutely fiending chicken pot pies.
So I went to the local grocery store
and I purchased me maybe about five chicken pot pies.
I took the first pot pie,
I opened it up,
I put a few holes in the crust,
stuck it in the microwave for maybe four to five minutes,
pulled the chicken pot pie out,
ate the chicken pot pie.
And then I noticed that the chicken pot pie,
it didn't taste as good as my mom's chicken pot pie.
So the next day came around,
I did the exact same thing.
I said well, I didn't cook it long enough.
So I pull the chicken pot pie out,
put a few more holes in the crust,
put the chicken pot pie in the oven.
And I put it on five minutes and 30 seconds.
Pulled the chicken pot pie out, ate it,
and then I noticed again,
it still doesn't taste like my mom's chicken pot pie.
So I called my mom and I was like
Mama Mama Mama, I'm cooking chicken pot pies over here
and I noticed that my chicken pot pie
doesn't taste like your chicken pot pie.
And she said well son, what are you doing?
I said Mom I'm simply taking the chicken pot pie
out of the box, putting a few holes in it,
sticking it in the microwave
and eating the chicken pot pie after it cools down.
She said son, you're putting the chicken pot pie
in the microwave?
She said, baby I don't do that.
I don't put any chicken pot pie in the microwave.
I put it in the oven.
She said son, there are some things
that are not microwavable.
(crickets)
(slo mo) There are some things that are not microwavable.
As a student, whether you're a middle school student,
high school student, college student, returning student,
or maybe you're taking some classes online,
when it comes to these school books and studying,
it's not microwavable.
You know, we do live in a society
where everything is fast.
We have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,
we can text message somebody, email somebody,
and things happen very fast.
But here's the thing,
when you're studying for your subjects,
when you really want to achieve academic excellence,
you have to take some time,
where studying those subjects are concerned.
And what I want to do,
I want to give you four things that you can do
to build and to strengthen your study habits.
Number one, I want you to begin
to write out a specific goal for your study time.
Let's say that you're sitting down to study chemistry
for about two hours.
What's the goal for that two hours span
when you're studying chemistry?
Go ahead and write down the specific goal.
For example, I will learn the periodic table
or the elements of the periodic table
over these next two hours.
If you're studying mathematics or doing calculus,
write down a specific goal,
I will understand the Pythagorean Theorem
within these next two hours.
Step number one or habit number one
is begin to write a specific goal for your study time.
Number two, I want you to establish
a specific place to study.
And only study in that specific place.
Let's think for a second.
When you sit down or you lay down in the bed,
your body knows to go to sleep.
When you sit down at the kitchen table,
your body knows it's time to eat.
When you even sit down and watch television on the sofa,
your body knows to enjoy the entertainment.
And truth be told, when you go to the bathroom,
your body knows exactly what to do, right?
So the same way your body's programmed
for the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom, the sofa,
go ahead and program your body
to have a specific place to study.
When you sit in that place, your entire being
knows it's time to study and it's time to focus.
Here's step number three,
I want you to set a specific time
to study a specific subject every single day.
Yes, every single day,
set a specific time to study a specific subject
and do it every single day.
If you're studying chemistry or math or English
and literature, what time of day
are you studying that subject?
And do you do it every single day?
This rolls over to habit number four
or study tip number four,
which is to study your more challenging subjects,
when you're most energetic.
You know, a lot of times students will wait
to study those harder classes late in the evening,
probably around the time period they're lethargic.
But if you find yourself having challenges
in certain classes,
make sure you start studying those subjects
when you're most energetic.
Maybe you're a morning person,
maybe you're an afternoon person,
maybe you're a late night person like myself.
Whenever you feel your superpowers,
that's the time period for you to study.
So there are four study tips
that you can start to implement right now.
Number one, set a specific goal for your study time.
Write it out, write out the goal
for that study time.
Number two, establish a set place to study
and the only thing you do in that place is study.
Number three, set a specific time every single day
to study a specific subject.
And then number four,
make sure you study your more challenging subjects
when you're most energetic.
Hopefully that was helpful for you.
If it was, I would love for you to leave me a comment
and let me know what you thought about this video.
Also, if you have any other challenges academically
or with school that you want me to shoot a video about
and give you some of my advice,
just leave me a comment and I will do that as well.
And you know what?
There is only one game in life.
There is only thing in life,
one thing in school that you can do,
and that's to play your A-game.
(edgy rock music)