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In this video, I'm going to show you how
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you can study more in one month than
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most people do in an entire year. I'm
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going to do this by teaching you a
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unique strategy that helped me graduate
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at the top of my class for my mast's
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program while studying less than 10% of
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the time compared to my peers. I call it
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the displacement strategy. And in this
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video, I'll teach you what the strategy
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is, followed by a four-step framework on
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how you can actually use this strategy
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to achieve 12 months of work in just 30
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days. So, what is the displacement
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strategy? Well, there are two ways that
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you can try to achieve your goals. One
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is using the distance strategy, which is
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much more common. And the other is the
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displacement strategy, which is much
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less common, but much more effective and
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efficient and less stressful and just
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better in every way. So, let's say that
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this person here is yourself, and you're
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trying to reach this goal, which is a
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star. There's going to be a path between
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where you are now to you achieving this
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goal. And so let's say that uh just for
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the sake of this analogy, let's just say
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that this is 10,000 steps for you to go
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from where you are to achieving your
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goals. But just because someone takes
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10,000 steps does not mean that they are
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equally closer to their goal. For
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example, someone could take 10,000
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steps, but their path could look like
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this. And so actually they have not
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really progressed from where they
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started at all. And so what we can say
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here is that both people have traveled
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the same distance, which is the same
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number of steps. However, the first
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person had much more displacement as in
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where they ended up compared to where
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they started. Whereas this first person
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had very little displacement. And so to
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be an efficient person achieving their
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goals in a shorter period of time, you
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want to have the maximum possible
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displacement with the minimum possible
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distance. Aka, you want to make the most
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amount of progress with the least amount
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of work and time. Now that statement
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might seem obvious to you, but most
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people never think about displacement
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and they purely measure distance,
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especially when it comes to something
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like learning. Here's what I mean when I
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say people are measuring their distance
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for studying and learning. Some common
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examples are measuring how effective
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your studying is, how efficient you are,
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how close you are to achieving your
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learning goal based on the amount of
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content you've
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covered or the amount of notes that
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you've written or the number of practice
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questions that you've completed. Well, a
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common one, how much time you have spent
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on studying. Even among really advanced
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learners, I'll have uh doctors training
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for their specialization exams trying to
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follow this 1,000 hour rule. I'm going
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to study a,000 hours before my exam
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because if I hit this magic number, I'm
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going to pass. And so these are actually
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all very useless measures of progress
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because what you get done during that
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time completely depends on your methods
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and your processes and all these other
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strategies. This is something that I
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wish I knew when I was trying to enter
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into medical school. When I was 17, 18,
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studying 15, 20 hours a day. And all I
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thought about was how can I study more?
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In order for me to reach my goal of
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entering into medical school, I just
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need to study as much as possible. If
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I'm not doing well, it must be because
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I'm not studying enough. And so, I just
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study more and more and more and more.
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And I left that year feeling extremely
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burnt out, constantly stressed,
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constantly anxious, working as much as
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possible and being the busiest I've ever
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been, but somehow despite that, feeling
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the least in control of what the result
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was going to be. And so if you're
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feeling that way or you felt that way
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and your response is just to keep
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measuring distance to see whether you're
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on track to achieving your goal or not,
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then uh you need to use the displacement
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strategy. So what does it look like
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instead to measure these things using
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displacement? Well, measures of
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displacement tend to be a lot more
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specific to the goal. They're actual
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markers of if you were to achieve these
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metrics, then you are on your way to
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achieving your goal. So for something
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like learning a common one would be
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retention or mastery as in how deep your
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understanding is, how complex of a
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problem can you solve using what you've
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learned. And when it comes to learning,
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you actually have to test yourself to
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figure this out. You have to actually
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test your retention and how deep your
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understanding is to see where the gaps
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are and how close you are to your goal.
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So when you measure yourself based on
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displacement instead of based on
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distance, it allows you to make much
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more meaningful and strategic changes.
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The point of the distance, the point of
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studying content and writing notes and
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doing practice questions and spending
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time is to achieve the retention and the
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mastery. This is the standard by which
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you need to assess the effectiveness of
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what you're doing. There's no point
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measuring all this distance stuff and
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then thinking that it's not good enough.
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So, just doing more of this without
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actually realizing if it's even helping
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with your retention or your mastery. And
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the powerful thing about this strategy
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is that it's not hard to do. It doesn't
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require training. All of you are smart
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enough that once you understand this
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concept and you just aware of the fact,
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hey, I should measure displacement more.
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You will already be able to make changes
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that are more productive. Just
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yesterday, I was having a call with one
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of my students and she was talking about
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how she was running out of time to do
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all of her her her practice test and
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testing strategies while she was
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studying during medical school. So I
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asked her, okay, so of the things that
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you're doing, which ones do you think
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are contributing to your retention and
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your mastery the most and which ones do
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you think are not? And just by asking
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her that question, she was able to point
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out a strategy that she was using and
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had been using for months, which she
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realized is not serving her anymore. The
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human brain is great at fixing the
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problems we can see. And if you've been
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trying to fix a problem to do with your
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time or your efficiency or your workload
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and you can't seem to fix it, it could
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be that the problem is that you're just
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not looking at the right place. And I
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highly recommend that one of the first
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places that you look towards is down
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into the description because I have a
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free newsletter where I distill through
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all of these insights and concepts that
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I think will help you to look at the
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right types of problems as well as give
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you strategies on how to fix those
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common issues. It's a free newsletter. I
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write them. It takes about 3 to five
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minutes to read, but it's the type of
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stuff that if I had had someone explain
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to me would have saved me weeks or
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months or years of trial and error. So,
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if you found this video interesting so
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far and you want more tips on how you
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can achieve more displacement and less
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distance, then check out the newsletter.
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The link is in the description below.
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Now, here is my four-step framework on
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how you can actually get 12 months worth
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of displacement in just one month's
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worth of distance. This is a four-step
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framework that I have refined over 11
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years of experience starting from 2011
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when I was trying to enter into medical
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school through to 2022 where I aced my
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masters. Now, the first thing that you
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want to do is make the win criteria very
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clear. This means making your goal very
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clear and explicit and actually breaking
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it down into what you need to achieve to
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achieve this. So, if your goal is to get
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a really good grade in an exam, don't
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just say, "Okay, my goal is a 90% for
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this exam." What do you need to get 90%
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in that exam? What topics and what
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concepts covered at what level of depth?
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What are the things that you can get
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away with just trying to memorize? And
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what are the things that you need to use
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in a more complex way? You don't want to
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be able to enter into an exam having no
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idea how well you're going to do and
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then the only piece of feedback you get
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is whether you succeeded or failed. You
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want the ability to test yourself on
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your progress every week or every two
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weeks to see where the gaps are and
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actually make targeted changes to your
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strategy. So, how did I achieve this?
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So, before the first day even started, I
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went through and read all of the
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learning objectives, all of the lecture
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objectives, all of the assessment
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criteria, all the marking rubrics. I
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went into day one having a very clear
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understanding about what it would take
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to succeed, which enabled me to check
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myself before I wrecked myself. Do
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people still say that these days?
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Anyway, once you've made the win
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criteria very clear, the second step is
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to scout the type of challenges. Back
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when I was trying to enter into medical
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school, I was very reactive to any
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problems or issues. So, I set a test and
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I realized I didn't do very well. And
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then I'll be very reactive to trying to
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figure out what went wrong there. And
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then I'd realize, oh, okay, I screwed up
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here and there was this challenge that I
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was trying to overcome that I only
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realized because I did badly. And
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looking back on it, I made a lot of
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mistakes on how I handled my workload,
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how I tried to distribute my studying,
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how I tried to think about preparing for
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exams because I just wasn't proactively
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aware about what types of challenges I
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was going to face. And there are two
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types of challenges that I think is
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worthwhile to actively scout for like at
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the very very beginning of the year or
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the beginning of your program. The first
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is content type challenges. So content
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challenges are looking deliberately for
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concepts that you're less familiar with
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the topics or the concepts that you feel
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like you're going to struggle with the
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most. Knowing this is useful because it
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means that you probably need to spend a
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little bit more time on those areas. you
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need to tackle that a little bit more
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intensively than you might need to for a
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different subject. You might need to
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check yourself more frequently for those
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types of concepts. And if you're
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knowledgeable about different learning
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strategies, you might use different
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learning strategies to tackle those more
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complex concepts. The second type of
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challenge is to think about timing
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challenges. This means actually looking
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at your personal schedule and actually
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trying to figure out how you're going to
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manage on a daily basis to overcome your
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content challenges. Take the time to
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properly plan that out. Don't make
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yourself get to a situation where you
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didn't plan it out. Something happened
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and now you're having to react and
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micromanage and make it work. That's
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going to waste time. It's going to
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create stress and anxiety. It's going to
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destabilize you during that week and
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then you're going to have to catch up on
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it later. All of those things make you
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have more distance without really
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getting you any closer to your goal. So,
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me using the displacement strategy was
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very different. and how I handled my
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workload. I used to just have time
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blocks of like two hours to study this
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paper, then two hours to study this
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paper and just repeating that every
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single day. But for my masters, it was
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very targeted. It was I'm spending more
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time for this paper where I feel less
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confident and there's more density and
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I'm splitting that across these
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different things. And I could see that
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the plan that I had created was tailored
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for my specific challenges, my specific
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restrictions, and for my specific goal,
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which was to be the best. The third step
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of the framework is to plot your
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landmarks. Your landmarks are basically
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like displacement milestones. So if
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you're starting off here at the very
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very beginning and you're trying to
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reach your goal at the end, there are
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certain points where you can use as like
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checkpoints of progress. So, I used to
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think about these landmarks and
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milestones as just my next exam or my
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next assignment. So, I'd say, "Okay,
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I've got six weeks to study this thing."
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And I'd think, "How can I fit it in
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within six weeks?" And that's good to
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know, but again, it doesn't actually
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give you information between now and
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those 6 weeks. It's really hard to tell
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whether you're on track. And I wanted a
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way to see how on track I was on a
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weekly or fortnightly basis. So instead
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what I did is I looked through the topic
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and I tried to find where there are key
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changes and concepts or topics like okay
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we're spending the first one and a half
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weeks learning about this and then we're
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shifting to another topic at this time.
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So I need to be able to check my
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understanding after the first one and a
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half weeks to make sure that this topic
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has been well covered. So on top of the
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university's own schedule I had my own
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schedule layered on top of it of the
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test that I made for myself and when I
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was going to start assignments. So I'd
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start assignments weeks earlier than
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everyone else. I would have meetings
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with the lecturers after the first two
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weeks where I present to them a model or
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a framework of what I've learned to be
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able to check my understanding in
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advance. And that's not required. I
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didn't need to do that, but I chose to
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do that because it allows me to operate
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on my timeline. So in step three where
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you're plotting your landmarks you're
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looking proactively for areas where you
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can test yourself where you can check
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your knowledge anytime the challenges uh
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are changing moving from one topic to
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another topic not because anyone else
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requires it of you not because you need
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to test yourself but because you know
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that by testing yourself and getting
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that feedback data you are in a position
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where you can make faster changes and
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progress towards your goal more quickly.
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And once you do that, you just move on
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to step four, which is to actually
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create the strategy. How are you going
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to overcome the challenges and then hit
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your landmarks and therefore achieve the
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win criteria as quickly as possible? And
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so while before my kind of only strategy
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was how do I study more tomorrow than I
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did today, my new strategy was saying
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how can I make sure that every hour I
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spend on trying to progress towards my
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goal is actually creating displacement
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and not just distance. How can I make
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sure that every minute I'm spending
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helps me to overcome my challenges and
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then achieve my landmarks and
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milestones. And obviously the strategy
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you actually end up creating depends on
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your goal and depends on your
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challenges. It's going to be different
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for everyone. And part of creating a
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good strategy is going to be about
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eliminating some of the assumptions and
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traditions of learning that you might be
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used to. For example, I was really used
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to studying a certain way through high
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school and early university. if I chose
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to study for my masters in that exact
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same way just because that's what I'm
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comfortable with and that's how I just
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assume studying is meant to look like
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and that's the schedule I need to follow
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then I wouldn't have been able to do so
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well in such a short period of time
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while also working double full-time and
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so when you create the strategy you have
00:14:08
to start from a blank slate start from
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the ground up one of the strategies that
00:14:12
I had was that for one of the papers I
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decided to study the entire paper in
00:14:17
just the first week Now, that as an
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intuitive concept of doing doesn't seem
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like something that many people would
00:14:23
consider, but after going through the
00:14:24
process of realizing what it takes to
00:14:26
win for that paper, what types of
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challenges I expect and where the
00:14:31
landmarks are, I realized there's no
00:14:33
reason why I couldn't achieve that. I
00:14:36
had access to the textbook. I had the
00:14:38
resources. I knew that I could check
00:14:40
myself and test myself. And I knew that
00:14:42
I could start that assignment earlier.
00:14:43
And so, when I plotted it on a timeline,
00:14:45
it seemed to work. And later in the year
00:14:48
when my classmates asked me what my
00:14:49
approach was, they never even considered
00:14:53
tackling the paper that way. And that's
00:14:55
because their win criteria was just do
00:14:58
well. Their mechanism was just write
00:15:00
more notes, spend more time studying.
00:15:02
They responded to challenges very
00:15:04
reactively. They didn't understand how
00:15:06
to check themselves earlier on. And so
00:15:08
naturally, they were forced onto a
00:15:10
distance strategy. And this strategy of
00:15:13
trying to maximize displacement instead
00:15:15
of distance is a strategy and a
00:15:17
principle that I think about all the
00:15:18
time. I've used this in many aspects of
00:15:20
my life, including business strategy. I
00:15:22
even use it for YouTube. Any situation
00:15:24
where you want to make more progress
00:15:25
towards your goals in a shorter period
00:15:28
of time than it would normally take you.
00:15:29
Now, if you're trying to create your
00:15:30
strategy of how to study 12 months worth
00:15:33
in one month, you may also want to know
00:15:35
more about different types of learning
00:15:37
strategies to help overcome some of
00:15:39
those challenges. And if that is the
00:15:41
case, then you might be interested in
00:15:42
this other video
00:15:50
here. Maybe here. It doesn't show up
00:15:53
here, does it?
