Episode 14 - Key Exam Trait: The New Global Currency

Hello, this is James Davey, The Exam Coach and Welcome to Episode 4 of Davey Discusses a new podcast series I'm putting together in time for the 2016 Exam Season. This short podcast series is designed to tackle everything to do with exams from preparation to performance whether you're at school, college or Uni there is certainly something of value to be taken away.  Let's get stuck into this one then.    So in last week's episode I talked about a key exam skill, this was effective application of knowledge rather than simply knowledge itself. In this week's episode I want to talk through one of the key traits of people who succeed in their exams have. The interesting thing about this trait is that over the last 10 years or so it has become even more important and an even more crucial component part of effective exam preparation and performance.    This trait is something that I mentioned in my Snapstory earlier this week, it's the ability to control where you place your attention at any moment.   There's three key reasons why I see this attribute as so pivotal to exams success:    The first reason is that everyday people and companies compete for our attention. It's valuable to them. This has always been present in human society, from something as simple as having a conversation with someone to noticing and reading an advertising billboard - we are spending time and attention which other people value. What's very different about today is that the touch points through which we can be contacted have proliferated massively. No longer is it just the in-person conversation or traditional advertisements that are able to hold our attention. We're constantly being bombarded through the technology we use everyday. And its not necessarily a bad thing, a lot of this interaction and bombardment is voluntary on our part, we like doing it, we like chatting to friends on Facebook or Snapchat, watching the latest vlogger on You Tube and being able to have most of what's going on in the world at our finger tips. But because all of this information is more accessible than ever and it is almost unlimited in its quantity, I believe anyone who wants to achieve anything has to become highly selective about what they do and don't pay attention to. And I'm not talking about the very simplistic positive thinking narrative that is so often pushed by the numerous inspiration and life gurus online. I'm talking about the information you allow into your head on a daily basis, the quality and utility of that information in relation to the direction you'd currently like to be headed in. To many students allow their time and attention to be monopolised by all of the people, companies and things which in reality add little value to them. Of course, this all depends on what you perceive value to be, value could be entertainment, knowledge or a whole number of different things. The Exam Coach way of defining value is something which puts you in a better position to achieve or do something that matters.    In The FUN Exam Plan I detail exactly how I'd go about an 'attention diet' during exam season. I believe that during exam time you have to make the holes in your metaphorical attention sieve much smaller. In the build up to exams you should only be focussing and paying time and attention to those things that truly add value to your exam preparation and performance. It's a students ability to effectively execute this and have a robust system that stops them from being distracted and losing valuable time and attention that has a large role to play in the final results achieved by that student. This can be anything from installing a number of preventative measures during exam season like website blockers or installing a routine where you put your phone face down and on do not disturb every time you sit down to revise. Whenever I forget to do this, yes The Exam Coach does make numerous mistakes, I notice that its my automatic reaction to turn and look when the notification sound on my phone goes off, I just can't resist looking down at the screen to see what has popped up on the screen of my phone. It's conditioning and during exam time you have to set up something to combat against this because all of these little distractions add up in the form of loss of momentum, drops in concentration, re-reading of text, more work and less results for you.    Aside from preventative measures one of the most effective ways I have discovered to combat against attention distraction is to realise and fully comprehend the argument I am laying down before you right now. Simply understanding that its really not the most fortunate, well off, intelligent, best looking or whatever other factor you think contributes to achievement in any pursuit in life that really matters. If you cannot control what's coming though your attention sieve then whatever you put out is going be a reflection of this rather passive, zombie like existence. Instead its those people who can make firm decisions about what they do and don not want to allow through their attention sieve and into their mental space who will be able to make inroads both in the micro context of exams and the macro context of careers, life in general and anything else you may care about. Once you realise that attention is one of the really important unspoken global currencies in the world you currently live in then the holes in your attention sieve will naturally become a lot smaller, you'll start becoming more selective and more decisive about what it is that you want to let in and how that it going to impact what you then put back out into the world. Primarily its about value exchange how is that thing that is asking for your attention going to contribute to you in a positive way?      The second reason why our ability to control where we place our time and attention is so important is because  the people, companies and forms of communication or entertainment who are competing for our attention are developing ever more sophisticated ways of earning it and keeping it. They know what makes you tick as a young person. They know how to keep you wanting more. They know how to peak your interest, they know what you like and they know where you live. Okay maybe I've gone a bit far there but the majority of that remains true.   I'll try to give you a case study to think about. I think television series like Game of Thrones and the rest of them have pretty much got it spot on in terms of knowing how to grab and a students attention and keep it. I hadn't watched any Game Of Thrones until a couple of months ago and I still haven't watched more than the first five or six episodes of season . I was more interested to see what kind of hooks they're throwing out there that gets students addicted to what they have to offer. But really when I thought about it after watching a three of four highly addictive episodes back to back I figured that the broad themes in every box set series are roughly the same and involve some cocktail of human emotions and behaviours that we are intrigued by. Drama, suspense, violence, storytelling, good vs evil, action, sex and the rest of them.... They just know how to appeal to what humans are naturally interested beyond how we think, they're tapping into the way we have developed over thousands of years and capitalising on those genetic predispositions.   Without getting into too much detail I think any student should realise the basic overarching idea that people at the head of these big companies competing for your attention know what makes you tick, they know how to grab your attention and keep it. From all the videos that autoplay one after the other to the classic cliffhanger, they know how to do it. But you must always remember that they don't care much for you personally, they don't care about your exams and what you really want to do with your life - all they care about is that you're watching becuase that's another person added to their overall viewing figures. This may all sound a bit serious but you really can't afford to be sucked into a tv box set series during exam season. When you have the time then go for it, tv series do well because they are actually enjoyable and entertaining, i'd say you just need to be selective about when exactly you want to be entertained. And remember this is always your choice.     The third and final reason why your attention is so important is for the following reason...Something that I will always push at The Exam Coach is the idea that exams are more about the investment of hard work and time than they ever will be about natural ability or good fortune. Furthermore there is a recipe to preparing for and executing great exam performance. Exam success is not reserved for those people who have the smartest parents, started reading books the earliest, just get maths or anything else. I really do believe you can turn things around pretty sharpish... why, because an exam is a fixed amount or body of knowledge and therefore all the information within the remit of the exam it can be learned, memorised and recommitted to paper easily with practice. Exams are often criticised because they encourage students to rote learn information and regurgitate it onto the paper. That's fair enough but as long as that system remains in place I'm going to do everything I can to allow you to succeed within the current 'market conditions'. It's a great market to be in as well because hard work and time invested are rewarded as opposed to good fortune or anything else that is out of your control. How you spend your Attention is a vitally important part of this market, you won't be able to work as hard as you need to if your attention is invested all over the place in things that really aren't going to help you grow or add value to you as a person. It doesn't matter how bright you are if your watching Game of Thrones throughout exam season you're not going to be hitting A town, and that's a guarantee.   Being able to control where you place your attention at any moment is the unspoken ingredient that goes into the exam success recipe. Furthermore it will stand you in pretty good stead in any other field you care about and would like to achieve in and see things through. Practice this now and reaps the rewards at a later date. Be patient, see your attention as an investment, unlike other investments you don't need money or experience, all you need is the ability to make a decision about where you are going to put it on a daily basis. Make deposits regularly and watch them grow into something that you value.