5 Tips to Prepare for a Test

Chances are, if you are reading this article, you are busy cramming for a test. Because you are probably busy studying, I will keep this article short and try to quickly touch on some essential tips for helping you study more effectively for an exam.

1. Flashcards

Flashcards are one of the simplest and most effective ways of studying. Even just the act of creating the flashcards can help you committ a lot of the material to memory. When studying, quizzing yourself is essential, and flashcards give you the opportunity to quiz yourself over and over again. Just reading the material you are supposed to learn is not good enough, you have to make sure that you can answer questions when they are posed to you.

An interesting addition in the world of flashcards is that of digital flashcards. If you have a mobile device such as an iPhone or a Blackberry. Check out Cram, a simple flashcard application you can download and use for only $9.99.

Or if you are looking for something free, check out gFlash, it utlizes Google Docs as a way to make flashcards and looks pretty handy.

Finally, if you are looking for a digital flashcard program for your laptop or desktop, I highly recommend jMemorize. I have used this flashcard system for two exams so far, and both experiences with it have been very positive. Using digital flashcards is much more handy than making physical flash cards. Not only is it tiring for your hands to write that much (I can type much faster than I can write with a pen), but after the exam it is a pain to keep all those little index cards around your house, it’s much easier to keep a digital file of them on your computer. Also, digital flashcards are more friendly for the environment! (less trees to cut down).

2. Start Early - Avoid Cramming

Again, another obvious tip, yet so overlooked. The truth is that cramming rarely works, and it is also makes our experience of learning less enjoyable. Yes, learning can be fun and rewarding, believe it or not. So to maximize the fun and sense of accomplishment you get out of learning, start studying early.

An excellent way to start studying early is by studying in short sessions. Instead of beginning your studies the night before the test, why don’t you try starting two weeks before the test? But instead of trying to be a superhero and studying for hours at a time, just tell yourself that you will begin studying half an hour a day, or even 20 minutes, during the first week, and then during the second week, try to increase that amount of time. You’ll find that by the second week of studying, all those shorter sessions have paid off and the material will be very familiar to you.

It’s very easy to let things “creep up on you”, and to find that all of a sudden you have a test in a few days. This happens because we get so wrapped up in our daily lives, and our jobs, or our homework assignments. One thing I recommend doing is to set up a reminder either on your cell phone/PDA, or on an online calendar such as Google Calendar. At the beginning of the semester you can put all the test dates in your calendar and set it up so that automatic email reminders are sent to you two weeks before the scheduled test. You can even set up daily reminders that say “Study for the Exam!”, if you find that helpful. If you are not on board with the electronic calendars, even putting them on a paper calendar can be helpful. The point is, don’t wait until it’s too late, you are only doing yourself a disservice.

3. Study Smart

You don’t have to be a “smart” person to study smart. What studying smart really boils down to is to being conscious of what you are doing and why. The problem is that when faced with a challenge such as a test, many people get nervous and they just start going through the motions of studying with really thinking about what they are doing. These people may spend hours upon hours “studying”, but when it comes to test time, they realize they don’t know anything. Just putting in hours doesn’t ensure that you will do well. Someone who studies for 12 hours might do worse than someone who studies for 1.2 hours.

Studying smart, is also learning how to study efficiently. Don’t read your whole textbook for example, if that isn’t going to help you. If you need to study an article or a chapter in a textbook, try to condense the important points out of the chapter and focus on those. Part of the art of studying is learning what you need to study. This point can be complicated if we have a bad professor who doesn’t make it clear what needs to be studied. So if our professor has not made it clear for us, we have to either ask for clarification, or forge ahead on our own and try to make our own study plan based on what we have studied in class so far, and our lecture notes.

Smart studying is that art of learning how to learn. If you want to be a smart studier, you have to become aquainted with how you learn, and it will be different for everyone. The most important thing is to take a step back from time to time and ask yourself if you are learning or not. If the answer is no, then you are not studying smart.

4. Test Yourself

As mentioned before, flashcards are a great way to quiz yourself. In addition to flashcards, practice tests are also critical. If your teacher did not provide you with a practice test, you can make your own. It is absolutely crucial to quiz and test ourselves. Failing to do so is just tricking yourself into thinking that you know something. There is a big difference in posing yourself a question with no notes whatsoever in front of you, and seeing how well you can answer the question. Repeatedly asking yourself questions is the only way to prepare for a test.

Testing yourself can be done in a variety of ways. As mentioned above, you can create your own practice tests, or a practice test provided by your instructor, or you can create flashcards. You can also spend time with a friend and quiz eachother. Your friend can create new questions that are worded differently than your practice exams and challenge you in new ways. Also, when you quiz your friend you will find that you are learning at the same time. It’s a great way to get an idea of how much you know. It can also help inspire you if you find that your friend knows more than you. Competition can be a good thing if it inspires you to learn!

5. Attitude Adjustment

More important than any technique is your attitude when you study. When was the last time you saw one of your classmates actually excited about studying for a test? Have you ever heard a classmate say, “This test is going to be really challening, but I’m really looking forward to facing this challenge”? My guess is that you have never heard that before. But we can become that classmate. It is absolutely amazing what a change in attitude can do for you.

There is a lot that can be said about changing your attitude. Basically, instead of studying for a test with a dark black cloud of doom and gloom hanging over your head, trying keeping a positive attitude. Tell yourself that you actually want to learn. Studying shouldn’t be looked at as a form of punishment, but rather an opportunity for you to learn more about the subject, and to expand your mind as well as your will power.

It is also important to tell yourself that you are going to do well on the exam. Don’t constantly say to yourself, “Oh God!!! I’m going to do HORRIBLE!!!”. You are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, say to yourself “I’m going to get an A. I might even get 100%, who knows. I am definitely going to do well. I am going to study well, and I am going to learn this material joyfully.” I know it sounds really strange, but if you are actually able to say this to yourself, and believe it, it will have a huge impact on your test taking performance. Having a positive attitude makes our mind more receptive to learning, and allows information to be absorbed more easily. On the other hand, a negative attitude makes our minds small, closed, and dark, which is not a suitable environemnt for learning.

How to Transform Yourself From a “Messy Person” to a “Clean Person”

Have you always considered yourself a “messy person”? Do you have a friend who always keeps his or her house clean ,and you just can’t fit your mind around how they do it? I will be posting a series of tips on how to become that “clean person” and how to leave that old “messy person” behind.

Baby Steps

I’m a firm believer in starting small. Most of the time, we get a great idea in our head, or a sudden surge of inspiration such as “I’m going to finally get in shape”, the problem is we usually try to achieve everything all at once instead of taking a realistic approach to our goal.

You need to start slow and work your way up.

Consistency

When it comes to being clean, consistency is crucial. Of course, we could let our cleanliness go 364 days a year, and then on new years eve we could spend all day cleaning our house, but is that what we really want? You have to start with something very small, yet very tangible, and commit to doing that seemingly insignificant thing every day with consistency. If you can do that, then you are on your way to being a clean person.

Begin With the Bed

I am going to recommend a simple cleaning task, and you should do this every day. Don’t move on to other cleaning tasks or worry about adding more to your cleaning routine. If you can do this extremely simple task every day for a month, I am positive that you will see a small shift in yourself, you will begin to shift away from being that “messy person” to being that “clean person”.

The simple task I’m talking about is: making your bed. There are many reasons why starting with you bed is a good idea, I will cover two of the most important:

1. It is a simple task, unlike cleaning your desk, for example, which is probably one of the tougher places to tackle in your room.
2. It is the place where you begin and end each day. It is the place where you lay down to rest each night after a productive day, and it is also the “springboard” from which you bounce up out of every day to begin a new productive day.

Simplicity

When embarking on a new personal discipline it is always important to begin with a simple task that is repeatable. If you can’t repeat the task over and over again and ingrain it into your system, it is never going to change your life.

Compare making your bed to cleaning your desk. Cleaning your desk can literally take hours because you have to sort through all kinds of papers, electronic devices, bills etc… Making your bed on the other hand only involves three ingredients: sheets (including pillow cases), blankets, and pillows. It’s a totally realistic place to begin the transformation from a messy to clean person.

The Beginning and the End of the Day

Because the bed is the place where we end our day, and the place where we begin our day, it has a weighty symbolic significance. If we are trying to become a productive person, it is vital that we begin our day in the right way. Making your bed is a sign that you have left “sleepiness” behind, and that you will not be sleeping throughout your day. You will be awake. When you see the room of someone who does not make their bed, it almost feels like there is still a part of that person sleeping in that bed. Whereas, if you see a room that has a neatly made bed, you know that that person is 100% awake.

When you are a productive person, you can even be productive in your sleep (i.e. “lucid dreaming”). Therefore, it is important to begin sleep by crawling into a neatly made bed. Climbing into a made bed will help you to focus, give you peace of mind, and help you to sleep lightly instead of like a rock falling to the bottom of the ocean.

Practical Advice

I will not go into great detail about how to actually make your bed, as I hope that everyone has an understanding of how to do it. I will say that when you try to make your bed you should be mindful the entire time you make it. You should make your bed with the intention that it is going to help you lead a more productive life. Don’t try to be too fancy with your bed making. Just shake out all your blankets, and lay them down on your bed in a neat and orderly way. Smooth out all those wrinkles, and imagine you are smoothing out the wrinkles in your life while you do it. Fluff up those pillows and lay them neatly down, imagining that you are giving more volume and meaning to your life as you do it.

A Clean Bed Radiates Outward

Something magical may happen both outwardly and inwardly if you can keep up this simple exercise. Outwardly, you will notice that your clean bed is almost like an island in the midst of all the chaos of your unclean room. In one way, you may start to realize how unclean the rest of your room is when you compare it to your clean and orderly bed. This is actually a positive thing, and it may inspire you to clean up other parts of your room, almost spontaneously. The integrity of your bed will inspire you, and you may start to feel that integrity radiating out to other parts of your room, and your wish to clean those other parts of your room will be enhanced.

Inwardly, your bed will serve as a sanctuary for you, especially if the rest of your room is a mess. You will know that there is at least one place in your life that is clean, orderly, and consciously maintained. It is important to have a place in your life that is consciously maintained. Being conscious and aware is like medicine for the soul.

Conclusion

Shifting from a messy to a clean person is definitely an attainable goal, it is also a worthwhile goal. Being clean should not become an obsession though, there is not point in becoming “neurotically” or obsessively clean, that would not be a positive step in our lives, and may actually be harmful to one’s mental well-being. Instead, being a clean person should serve as a metaphor for one’s inner life. Keeping your outer environment clean should be a reflection of how you feel on the inside, and it also works the other way, seeing your clean room will inspire a sense of calm inside of you. So it works both ways.

Don’t try to become a clean person overnight, but instead begin with a realistic task that you can commit to and be consistent with. This simple task may seem meaningless at first, but it will slowly begin to inspire you and finally may actually completely change your life. I’m serious, it’s possible. Never underestimate an action no matter how small it is. Making your bed is an action that while seeming small, can have ramifications that are amazing. Good luck with it.

Inner Peace Through Road Rage

We all know the dangers of drinking and driving, but is there any reason to give up “thinking and driving”? There have been countless times that I have been in the drivers seat, only to abruptly snap out of a dream…I wasn’t sleeping, I had just let my mind’s auto pilot function totally take control.

Auto Pilot

Our auto pilot takes over for us not only in the car, but also in other activities in our lives. Sometimes our auto pilot takes over when we are at work, sitting in front of our computer; something suddenly brings us to our senses and we realize that we have been zoning out the entire day. Where have we been? We’re not quite sure.

Our auto pilot can also be an angry auto pilot. We snap at family members, friends, or co-workers, and when the snapping is over we wonder who exactly that was who was being such a jerk. Was that really us? Or were we on auto pilot? Even worse, some people never snap out of it; they spend their whole lives that way…on auto pilot.

Mind-Body-Automobile

Our mind is like a driver and our body is like a car. Our mind uses our body to go places, accomplish things, and to experience the outside world. In the same way we use our body as an extension or vehicle for our mind, we use our cars as extensions of our bodies.

Our bodies are the first level in which we become separated from other people. What would it be like if we didn’t have a body? If we were just an immaterial mind? Would we fight with other people? Would we push other people out of the way so we can get ahead? Or would the idea of agression become absurd, because there is no solid “other”? Once we are in our bodies, we are able to physically fight with others.

When we get in our cars, we experience ourselves as if we were inside a bigger, stronger, faster body. In a car we are also more isolated from other people. When we are in our car we have can’t see the people in the other cars, all we can see of other people is maybe a fleeting image of their face, or maybe the back of their head, and we often can’t see a person at all. All we see is another “car”, another machine.

Being inside a car is like having a second body.  Our car is like a shield of armor. Being inside a car can make us feel invincible. The notions of man and woman are equalized inside a car. A SUV is not gender specific.

All of these factors make it easier for us to feel separated and isolated from other people who are driving. This isolation and separation makes it easier to not feel empathy for other drivers, because we forget that their are actually people inside those cars.

Road Rage

What do I mean when I say “Inner Peace Through Road Rage”? Basically, what I’m saying is that if we are able to analyze and become mindful of the mechanism of road rage, and how it works, then we can use our road rage as a catalyst for transformation.

In fact, this applies to more than just “road rage”, we can apply this to our entire “car mentality”, the way we are in our car. Just look at your behavior the next time you are in a car. Do you turn into a mindless robot when you are in a car? Do you have a short temper while driving? Do you yell and curse at others, or speed up to cut people off? Are you courteous to other drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists? Do you curse and bang on your steering wheel when you get stuck in a traffic jam?

I’m definitely guilty of all of the above. I’ve flipped people off a number of times. I’ve cut people off, zoomed past pedestrians, and yelled profanities at other drivers. I’ve used the protection of being in a car to do things I normally wouldn’t do if I was just in pedestrian mode.

Good Car-ma

So what do we do with all this rage and impatience? First, we have to realize that if we really want to grow as a person, we have to bring a mindful attitude into everything we do. We have to be conscious when we are cooking, cleaning, going to the bathroom, watching TV, driving, walking, working, surfing the internet, talking on the phone, eating our breakfast, brushing our teeth, crossing the street…you get the picture. There is no event in our lives that does not require our full presence. The only thing that makes an activity worthless or meaningless is whether we make it meaningless or useless. If we engage in all activities in our lives, no matter how mundane, with consciousness, mindfulness, compassion, and clarity, then everything we do becomes meaningful, even grating cheese can become meaningful.

So the next time you are in your car, try to remember that being stuck in a traffic jam might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Why not use that opportunity to relax, conemplate, meditate, or reflect? Open the windows a bit, turn on some nice music, or sit in silence. You could just sit an relax, take deep breaths. Or you could contemplate an issue in your life that is giving your trouble, and try to come to a resolution.

Specifically, when someone is trying to pull out into oncoming traffic and you are able to accomodate them, instead of being annoyed by them, why not joyfully let them in. Think about how much you would appreciate it if someone let you in instead of just being another one of those jerks who zooms by you and doesn’t look at you. Nobody wants to be the one to disturb their routine, or inconvenience themselves. So why don’t you be that person who lets the other person go before you? I’ll tell you, it feels pretty good.

The Car as a Sanctuary

While being in a car can turn us into raging maniacs, it can also be a place of sanctuary for us. In today’s modern world there are few places that you can scream at the top of your lungs and not have anybody hear you. You can sing songs of joy as loud as you want, and nobody is going to be bothered by it. You can let off all the steam from your job and that dreadful boss of yours, and nobody is going to hear what you say. Our cars can be the perfect place for us to decompress and not worry about anybody hearing what we say. We should utilize this aspect of our cars and make it a place where we can just be ourselves. We can listen to our favorite songs, sing along with them, and nobody is going to judge us.

Conclusion

So the next time you are in your car and you realize you have been on auto-pilot, try to realize that driving can bring with it many experiences that can help us grow as a person. Take those experiences in which you used to respond with road rage, and transform them. Don’t just look at your time in your car as going from point A to point B and getting frustrated when you don’t get to point B fast enough. Cherish your time in your car, be kind to others, develop patience when other people are not patient. If you can just hold on to your sanity, mindfulness, integrity, and basic goodness while driving, then you can truly say that you are achieving inner peace through road rage.

Five Reasons to Start a Garden

I recently started a garden in a bed that is approximately 6ft x 12ft. Not the largest bed, but the amount of vegetables it has produced has been pretty startling. The vegetables I have harvested from this garden so far are: tomatoes, potatoes,cilantro,carrots,kale,corn,zuchhini, and onions.

I am a fairly inexperienced gardener, but I’m looking forward to finding ways to maximize the output of my small garden. 

5 Reasons to Start a Garden

For those of you who have never started a garden, and are a little hesitant, you may want to think about some of the benefits of starting a garden. I’ve listed some of them below:

1. Saves money on groceries (this may take some time though)
2. Nothing is more delicious than homegrown vegetables
3. Working in the garden is physically therapeutic
4. Mentally therapeutic - working outside has a special healing power
5. Working with your spouse or children is a great family bonding activity

Saving Money

While you might not initially save money from your homegrown vegetables, you eventually can. I recently planted about 80 red onion bulbs which cost me about 4 dollars total. When was the last time you bought 80 red onions at the organic produce store for $4?

This article on lifehacker.com entitled “Save Money by Converting Your Lawn Into a Garden” provides some links to tips from Fritz Haeg, who is an advocate of getting rid of your lawn and turning it into what he calls an “Edible Estate”.  Vegetable gardens, if planned correctly, not only provide you and your family with food, but they don’t need as much water as a lawn does. So you will ultimately save on both grocery bills as well as the water bill. So go ahead, be the trailblazer in your neighborhood, and get your neighbors to start “thinking outside the lawn”.

The “Deliciosity” of Homegrown Vegetables

There is something indescribable about eating vegetables that you have grown in your own backyard. I think it has something to do with the fact that you were an integral part of the process to make that vegetable come to life. When we buy vegetables from the supermarket, we are disconnected from the process. We didn’t see that vegetable grow from a seed. It just magically appeared one day in the supermarket.

A homegrown vegetable is also as fresh as it gets. Fresh vegetables have more flavor, they haven’t been grown with pesticides. They haven’t been shipped in on a truck. They haven’t sat in the supermarket. Fresh vegetables are pulled straight from the ground, and put straight in your mouth.

Physical Therapy

The physical benefits of gardening are many. When you garden, you will find that you are using many parts of your body that you normally aren’t using during your daily activities. If you haven’t gardened for a long time, you might even find that your body is sore the next day. That can actually be a good indication that you are starting to use parts of your body that have been neglected.

When you garden, you are also exposing yourself to the sun. Modern scientific research has suggested that getting sun is actually very important in order for our bodies to create Vitamin D. In fact, some studies have shown that not getting enough sun actually puts you at greater risk for getting cancer than getting too much sun! Just make sure that if you are going out on a sunny day to wear sunscreen, and a hat. And don’t over-exert yourself when lifting things.

To read more about the health benefits of gardening, check this WebMD article out.

Mental Therapy

Not only is gardening good for your body, it’s also good for your mind and can help reduce stress.  As it says in the WebMD article entitled “Gardening for Health”,

More recently, studies presented at the 1999 Culture, Health, and the Arts World Symposium in England also found beneficial effects of looking at nature. In one study, conducted in Uppsala, Sweden, 160 postoperative heart patients were asked to look at a landscape, an abstract art work, or no picture. Those who looked at the landscape had lower anxiety, required less pain medicine, and spent a day less in the hospital than the control group patients.

I think part of the reason we enjoy being outdoors is because it was not too long ago that we considered nature to be our homes. It is only over the last 100 years or so that humans have become so disconnected from their natural surroundings. Our bodies and DNA have evolved over thousands and thousands of years to live in nature, not in a high-rise apartment, so being in nature is a little like returning home.

Family Bonding

Working outdoors together as a family is a great way to spend time together and feel closer to one another. While some people, both adults and children, are sometimes stubborn and reluctant to get out into the garden and work (they might just rather watch TV), after working outside for a while everybody starts to notice a change in how they feel. 

After a few hours of hard work, everyone is hungry, so go ahead and share a hearty meal and eat together. Eating together is another way to bond, and nothing feels better than eating after a hard days work. You might also notice that your kids tend to eat better if they took a part in growing the vegetables themselves. An article on “Modern Forager” entitled “Kids Like Homegrown Vegetables” talks in depth about this phenomenon.

So whether it’s to save money, eat delicious food, get a good workout, reduce your stress, or bond with your family, you just can’t go wrong with starting a garden. Look for more gardening tips on this site soon, including composting and pickling!!!!

Done Already? Don’t Forget About Consistency and Persistence.

We all get inspired from time to time. Sometimes I am listening to a really moving piece of music, or I watch a great movie, and I feel the urge to create or really do something great with my life. This feeling is common, and it should be cherished and acted upon.

However, what happens when that initial inspiration fades away ? Maybe the next morning, next week, next month, next year. How do we keep that initial flame of inspiration burning bright and help it grow?

Consistency

One of the most important things I have learned in my young 31 years on this earth, is that an idea isn’t much of anything if you are not consistent. I have had many flashes of inspiration, but many of them have died out because of lack of consistency. 

Consistency is often “un-romantic”, it doesn’t carry with it that same sense of spontaneity that the initial flash of inspiration had. It can often feel mechanical. The essence of consistency is repetition, which can often lead to boredom. But consistency is crucial. 

For example, if you want to learn a language, it will do you little good to practice or study once a week. You really need to study every day, even if it is for 5 minutes. Or if you want to be an artist, you need to do something every day, even if it is just a minor doodle in a sketch book.

Remember that it isn’t so much the quantity of what you do. For example, don’t try to study 8 hours every day, it’s simply not something you can keep up. So study in small bits, but do it every day. After some time, you will notice a cumulative effect of the consistency. Those five minutes of study, or drawing, or whatever it is, will seem more and more powerful. Eventually, those five minutes will turn into something more powerful.

Consistency will once again give birth to inspiration.

Persistence

Persistence is very similar to consistency. But it implies a sense of effort as well. In order to be consistent, you also have to be persistent. Persistence is a kind of stubbornness. It’s like when you want to get a job, sometimes you really have to bug that person who is hiring. Keep calling them, sending them emails, and eventually they might just break down and give you the job.

Persistence is also the force that stands up to laziness and lack of inspiration. It is the bull-headedness that we need in order to make ourselves be consistent. If we don’t have persistence then laziness, dullness, and depression will soon take over and our consistency will be gone in a matter of minutes.

Done Already?

Did you have a recent flash of inspiration? Have you had a life long desire to do something great? Did you put some time into actualizing that dream, a few days of effort here and there? A whole year of effort? Are you done already? Just remember that you aren’t going to be successful over night. True dreams are worth fighting for, and that can sometimes take a whole life time. Dreams don’t come true on accident. So don’t forget to keep that spark of inspiration going with the fuel of Consistency and Persistence.