Let’s begin our today’s video with a short story of a girl named MOLLY.
So, Molly is a 15-year-old school-going girl. In the summer, she went to a riverside camping with her parents. There she saw a few fishermen swimming across the river. She got excited and decided to join a swimming class. After coming back home, she started surfing the internet to learn the best methods and techniques to be a good swimmer from the best of Olympians.
On the first day of her swimming class, the instructor started guiding her along with 10 other new joinees about the know-hows. While others felt a little confused and nervous to dive into the water, Molly was fully confident because of her prior research. She refused to use the learning board and jumped into the water. HOLY MOLLY! She felt embarrassed with all the water in her ears and nose when she was pulled out by the instructors, gasping for breath.
Even though she knew best of methods and techniques beforehand, why did she drown? The answer is simple here. She lacked the skills required and the practice of those skills to be a good swimmer.
A topper is just a normal student who has mastered certain skills with regular practice. So, In today’s video, I will give you,
- Top 5 skills to beat a topper.
- Techniques to easily master those skills.
- And 1 Surprising tip at the end
These skills are suggested by top personalities like Warren Buffet or Leonardo Da Vinci and practised by the toppers of top universities of the world like Harvard or Cambridge.
So, let’s get going.
Hey this is Chetna and you’re watching ChetChat. And let’s dive right into the Top 5 skills to beat a topper
Skill number One is Graphical Thinking
Graphical thinking is a little modified version of Analytical Thinking. It has two parts – the first is Breaking an activity into a structured format (Grids, Tables, Charts) and the second is Working on one activity at a time.
For example
- Artists use the grid method to make perfect drawings including Leonardo Da Vinci. Something like this-
- Or a Cricket batsman could think something like this
Perfecting Area 1 like Rohit Sharma for example in a practice session.
Toppers break down difficult tasks or assignments into small salami sized pieces. For example you can divide your assignment into four parts-
- The first – collecting information and filtering it
- Second – giving a basic structure like indexing, headings, sub headings, design of the front and last page, writing the introduction and bibliography
- Third – decide the presentation style and start writing with your own ideas
- And finally write the summary, review the content and give it a final edit
This way no task will be too big or difficult for you to complete
Skill Number Two is Self-Discipline-
“We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We just have to be more disciplined than the rest” said Warren Buffet.
Self-Discipline is not difficult. The reason people fail at self discipline is because they try to change everything from the next day or in a week. Abra ka Dabra, no, that’s not going to work. Now, let’s take an example.
Suppose you want to change your routine, don’t try to do everything from tomorrow. Start with one thing at a time.
On the first day just try waking up at 6 A.M and do some exercise that’s it (one activity at a time).
Do it for one week or if needed two weeks and once your brain gets comfortable with it, add another activity like “meditation”. Again, start with 5-10 mins on the first day, remember -breaking the activity. Next, you can try to study for at least two hours everyday.
These will be the little steps to success, because remember that there is no elevator to success, we have to climb stairs.
We have a dedicated video on “How to study smart and not hard”, so pick up some smart study habits and make your own perfect routine.
Skill Number three is the QEAR Technique)
This is a self analysis skill that is critical not only for becoming a topper but for anyone looking for leadership roles. QEAR is Question– Experiment– Analyse- Repeat
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Q – “ask questions” and answer them honestly.
like- Why do I want to be a topper?
To get admission to a good college? To get the attention of my crush? My parent’s desire? Peer status?
Recently, Oaakeen Phoenix delivered an Oscar-winning speech for Best-Actor for his movie “Joker”. He addressed the crowd as such
“I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love, the love of film.”
His reason for beating the toppers was none of the above. What’s yours? 
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E for “Experiment”
Like studying at night or morning. Try both and analyse the difference.
We have a video on both morning and night study routines which you could follow and choose which works best for you. I will drop links for you under this video.
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A for Analyse
Analyse the results of the experiments honestly
. • R for “Re-ask”
Re-ask the question if you are not satisfied with the answer, or ask a different question to complete your self analysis
And if you want the secret study tips of toppers then I will share a link to one of our recent videos which will help you.
Skill number four is a Plan-B skill
Ok! Now do it with me. Stand on one leg – measure on a stopwatch how long you can do it, not repeat this with the other leg. Clearly, there will be a huge difference.
Similarly, devoting your entire year only to studying is like standing on one leg. We tend to make it a “do or die” situation which creates more stress to perform better and in the end loss of concentration.
Having an alternated area of interest not only helps create a Plan B, but also increases the focus on the present due to that assurance.
So, find your B Skill like music, sports, art and crafts, blog. Add it to your routine and try to excel at it. It will balance you like the yin and yang.
Skill number five is Social Skills
According to a book by Cal Newport (How to become straight-A Student), when asked from the toppers of Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, MIT and other top colleges. Almost none of them compromised over their social life, family life, sleep, parties. When asked why? All of them wanted to experience the overall college-life.
Social awareness changes your attitude towards everything including studies and you don’t have to be an extrovert for it.
So, work on your Social Skills. Next time when you are surrounded by a bunch of your friends. Try to gain attention with your intellect, humour or conversation skill. You don’t need to colour your face for that.
And now for the Surprising Tip
Emotional Balance
You don’t need to win every time to be happy.
Or lose every time to cry.
It’s ok to be angry sometimes.
It is scientifically proven that emotional balance could bring much more stability into your mind and hence efficiency.
So, I will end the video with one more Warren Buffet’s famous line- “It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.”
So celebrate yourself and Happy Learning!
