0:01 You want to hear something crazy?
0:04 Conquering school will make you fail at
0:06 life. What? Well, what I mean is, if you
0:08 follow the conventional way of
0:10 approaching school, like 99% of the
0:12 videos on the internet, that might get
0:14 you decent grades, but you will have a
0:16 rude awakening when you graduate into
0:18 the real world. The unemployment rate
0:20 for new college grads has recently
0:22 surged, and some economists say
0:25 businesses are now replacing entry-level
0:28 jobs with artificial intelligence.
0:31 This is unlike any other how to crush
0:33 school video you've ever seen before.
0:35 This brutally honest take is exactly
0:37 what helped me conquer school, even when
0:39 I studied chemical engineering at one of
0:40 the hardest schools in the whole world
0:43 where I did get a 4.0 GPA. Not only
0:44 that, but what I'm going to share with
0:46 you today is what helped me be
0:48 successful in life. Because at the end
0:49 of the day, isn't that the point? But
0:52 seriously, who am I to tell you? Well,
0:54 as alluded to, I did graduate from
0:56 Caltech, but I graduated about four
1:00 years ago in 2021. Yes, I'm old and
1:02 unrelatable. I'm not a student anymore.
1:04 So, how can you trust what I say? Well,
1:06 guess what? If you want to actually
1:09 succeed as a student and after school,
1:11 which is basically 80% of your life,
1:14 then listening to videos by students for
1:16 students doesn't work here because those
1:19 people have not seen what the fruits of
1:21 their labor and the actual impact of
1:24 their habits are beyond school. As far
1:26 as some actual stats, if you've watched
1:28 any of my study videos before, you'll
1:30 know that I brag a lot. For example, let
1:32 me just be a hater on myself. Hey guys,
1:34 it's Amy and I went to Caltech, which is
1:35 one of the top schools in the world. I
1:36 slept eight hours a night. I was
1:37 validictorian in high school. I played
1:39 varsity, tennis, and basketball, all
1:40 while having migraines, which is a
1:41 neurological disorder at the same time.
1:43 Oh, and did I mention I sleep 8 hours a night?
1:43 night?
1:45 >> All jokes aside, those are all true, and
1:47 I only say those to indicate that the
1:48 time you're going to spend with me now
1:50 is of some value to you. What's more
1:52 important than any of the achievements
1:54 that I listed, that I have on my resume
1:57 or on LinkedIn, is how my content is
2:00 actually not about studying at all. I
2:03 discuss timeless concepts and mindsets
2:05 that will help you live happily,
2:08 successfully, and healthily in any
2:10 context. I'm also living proof of what
2:12 happens if you do the things I'm going
2:13 to share with you today. As background,
2:15 no, I did not come from a super rich
2:16 family. So, you can cross that excuse
2:19 out. In fact, my family was super super
2:22 frugal, and they still are actually. My
2:24 parents came to the US from China with
2:27 only $2,000 in their pockets, and that
2:29 was my grandparents entire life savings.
2:31 They worked extremely hard. My mom even
2:34 taking night shifts at a factory to earn
2:36 50 cents more per hour. While building
2:38 up this middle-class life for my sister
2:41 and me, they taught us strong values
2:43 that have propelled myself to also have
2:45 a strong work ethic and to create the
2:48 dream life I have now. High school or
2:49 even college me could have never
2:51 imagined that now I'm living in New York
2:54 City, my dream city. I've married my
2:56 dream guy. I have dream friends. And on
2:58 a day-to-day basis, I'm very happy with
3:00 the work I do. Now, there's no magical
3:02 wand you can wave, but I'm going to give
3:04 you the next best thing, which is my
3:07 compilation of the reflections I've had
3:10 since March of 2024 since I've been
3:12 essentially working on this video for
3:15 over a year now. Don't expect it to be
3:17 10 minutes long. So, lock in, be
3:18 patient, watch it in multiple increments
3:20 if you need to, but treat it like a
3:22 podcast with many golden nuggets
3:24 sprinkled along the way. I have multiple
3:26 hot takes. For example, the fact that
3:29 which college you go to actually is
3:32 important, contrary to what people are
3:34 saying all over social media. Now, let's
3:36 go into the brutally honest tips/h
3:38 hottakes. Number one, stop watching
3:40 study videos. One or two is fine, but
3:42 the rate of return drops off
3:44 significantly. You are making yourself
3:47 dumber and wasting your time with every
3:49 new study video you watch. You know why?
3:51 because you click on this 12-minute
3:52 video and then you're like, "Oh my gosh,
3:54 let me put this on 2x speed and oh my
3:55 gosh, this person's talking too slow and
3:56 I can only watch 3 minutes of it before
3:57 I leave."
4:00 >> Well, then what kind of brain are you
4:01 developing for yourself that can
4:04 actually sit through a 30 minute lecture
4:06 from your teacher? It's like you want to
4:08 get better at studying and have better
4:10 focus, but then ironically the way you
4:14 approach the study video is already the
4:16 opposite of what you should be doing in
4:17 school. Does that make sense? It's kind
4:19 of meta, but hang with me here. The way
4:21 that you approach content that's
4:23 supposed to help you is the same poor
4:26 way that you approach school that if you
4:29 just fixed your approach to school and
4:32 life and work, that's focus, dedication,
4:34 drive, and grit, then you wouldn't have
4:35 any of the problems at all. Like, yo, if
4:37 you're going to procrastinate, at least
4:39 do it right. Go watch a funny Ryan Higa
4:41 video or best dressed. Why are you
4:43 spending your time procrastinating on a
4:45 study video where you're not even paying
4:47 attention to it? You're just fake being
4:48 productive. You can see that under the
4:51 comments of most study videos. Either be
4:53 serious and learn or consume just plain
4:56 entertainment. In this day of AI, what
4:58 is AI not going to do for you? It's not
5:00 going to put things into your brain.
5:02 It's not going to give you focus and
5:05 drive. It's not going to affect your
5:07 identity. Before you click into another
5:09 plain study video, ask yourself, am I
5:11 someone who values work ethic and
5:13 seriousness, and hence, will I actually
5:15 lock in? or would my time be better
5:17 spent just jumping into the work? Number
5:19 two, be a visionary. I mentioned AI
5:22 earlier, but almost every time I mention
5:24 some kind of AI tool, there are people
5:26 in the comments like, "Ew, just another
5:27 AI tool. Ah, I'm so tired of this.
5:29 Aren't we supposed to be learning on our
5:30 own?" Now, I don't know how old you are,
5:32 but I assume you're not a boomer, so
5:34 stop acting like one. No, but honestly,
5:36 that was me for a while, too. I was
5:38 using the wrong chap GPT for the longest
5:40 time. Don't ask me how. But what I have
5:43 learned that has greatly improved my
5:45 success and efficiency is to go with the
5:48 flow. Go along with the times instead of
5:50 resisting. So if you are a student,
5:53 please, you must be using AI in your
5:55 studying in some way. Everyone always
5:57 talks about working smarter not harder.
6:00 And if you're not using AI ethically
6:02 wherever you can, you are definitely
6:04 working harder. And not only that,
6:06 you're going to fall farther and farther
6:09 behind. It's a skill to be able to
6:11 prompt AI in a way where you can still
6:13 learn. And it's smart if before you do
6:16 any task, you ask yourself, what tedious
6:18 part of this can I make more efficient
6:30 So many jobs, even ones that have
6:32 nothing to do with technical things or
6:34 AI before, are now requiring AI skills.
6:37 It's super important, especially as the
6:38 technological advanced younger
6:41 generation to be adept at prompting AI
6:48 The internet, YouTube, and now
6:51 especially AI actually democratizes
6:52 education. Not only that, but also
6:55 mentorship. So if for example you might
6:57 live in a country with fewer resources,
6:59 well instead of hiring an expensive
7:01 tutor, you can now use the smartest
7:05 person I call it chatty in the world and
7:07 let it be your mentor. You can use it as
7:09 your therapist, ask questions about how
7:11 you should approach something in school
7:12 if you're struggling with it. The
7:14 possibilities are endless. You literally
7:15 don't have to suffer as much as I did.
7:18 For example, I spent so long on research
7:20 and citations. I had to use things like
7:22 easy bib. You know how Google just comes
7:25 up with like 452 million search results
7:26 and it's really hard to see which of
7:28 those are actually credible. That's why
7:31 I wish I had free academic tools like
7:32 Consensus to save me time. Thank you
7:34 Consensus for partnering with me for
7:35 this part of the video. Consensus is an
7:38 AI powered academic search engine that
7:40 only pulls from peer-reviewed scientific
7:42 articles. That way every answer is
7:45 backed by real research and fully cited
7:47 instead of scrapped from random internet
7:49 sources. That's why thousands of
7:51 universities, including Harvard, use it.
7:53 Just ask any academic or study related
7:55 question in plain English. Then,
7:57 consensus summarizes and synthesizes
7:58 findings from highquality research
8:00 papers. But why hear from me when you
8:02 can hear from a real student conducting
8:04 research? Here's what my mentee Ben has
8:05 to say about it.
8:07 >> Hi, I'm Ben, one of Amy's mentees, and
8:08 I've been doing a bit of computer
8:10 science research. I've recently started
8:12 using Consensus, and honestly, if I knew
8:13 about this last year when I was doing my
8:15 AI research, it would have saved me so
8:16 much time and frustration scam the
8:18 internet. You can think of it like a
8:19 Google for research or better
8:21 perplexity, but it only ever actually
8:24 sources information from peer-reviewed
8:25 research papers. That means that all of
8:28 its information is really really
8:31 trustworthy and they even process it for
8:32 you to make it a lot more readable. So,
8:34 for example, I was recently trying to
8:36 find how well an alternative
8:39 architecture of AI language models
8:41 compares to what model chatbots use.
8:43 Using Consensus's deep research
8:46 function, I was able to find all the
8:47 sources I would ever probably actually
8:49 need in a really, really concise and
8:51 easy to understand research narrative,
8:53 so I know exactly where each bit of
8:55 research and information came from.
8:56 There's also quick mode, which is what
8:58 I'd use for really specific questions.
9:00 And honestly, if you're in school
9:02 working on a project or just someone who
9:04 really values high quality information,
9:06 consensus is something you should
9:08 definitely try out and at least give it
9:10 a go because I think it would save you a
9:12 lot of time. Yay! Thanks, Ben. Also,
9:14 there's a cool feature called Consensus
9:16 Meter. Just ask any yes or no question,
9:18 and Consensus will visually show how
9:20 much agreement exists in the research.
9:22 Plus, we'll link the studies to each
9:25 position. Use Consensus to get ahead the
9:26 smart way. It's completely free, and you
9:27 can use the link below in my
9:29 description. Three, use school
9:31 opportunities to develop your EQ. A
9:34 couple months ago, my godfather's son,
9:36 who's an incoming senior, was talking to
9:39 me about what major he should choose. He
9:41 was really concerned with AI. Okay, I
9:43 mentioned AI again. Basically, he and
9:47 his friends don't even know what kind of
9:49 direction to choose for their major
9:51 anymore because by the time they
9:54 graduate college in 2030, AI might make
9:57 that job obsolete, thus making their
9:59 major useless. Here's what I had to say
10:01 illustrated in a LinkedIn post. AI is
10:03 making you useless unless you understand
10:06 this. I attended a sample MIT Sloan
10:08 lecture by professor Rama Rama Krishnan
10:10 on how AI really works. Data pattern
10:12 recognition and probability based
10:15 responses. It clicked AI only follows
10:16 numbered instructions and learns from
10:18 examples. But here's the catch. That's
10:20 exactly how too many people maybe even
10:23 you want to live everything laid out in
10:26 XYZ steps without thinking. The problem
10:28 is that this creates a generation that
10:30 skips critical thinking and then hands
10:33 off all the work to AI. So how to avoid
10:36 becoming useless? You need to leverage
10:38 your human edge, which is creativity,
10:41 nuance, relationship building, and true
10:42 problem solving. If you stay at the
10:45 level where AI lives, chasing ready-made
10:47 formulas, you'll be replaced. But if you
10:49 operate above AI's capabilities, you
10:52 remain irreplaceable. And wow, turns out
10:54 developing your soft skills is exactly
10:56 what I emphasize in so many of my
10:58 videos. So in school, embrace
11:00 opportunities like giving a presentation
11:02 in front of your class. Lead a study
11:04 group. Take charge when you have a group
11:07 project. Join clubs that make you
11:08 uncomfortable. Take leadership
11:10 positions. Go and volunteer. Just put
11:12 yourself out there and do things that
11:14 literally AI cannot do because then
11:16 you're building your human capital.
11:18 That's also why I told my godfather's
11:20 son to not worry too much about the
11:22 major to choose, but to just pick
11:24 something that definitely challenges you
11:26 and causes you to inevitably build
11:29 problem-solving skills. Add on your
11:31 ability to communicate, to build
11:33 relationships, and you are in a pretty
11:35 good position after graduation. The true
11:37 value lies in how entrepreneurial you
11:40 are and what people skills you have.
11:42 Fundamental concepts in biology or
11:44 physics will still be important just so
11:45 you have common sense and you can speak
11:48 to intellectual topics. But as many of
11:50 you may think already, you're not going
11:53 to have to do calculus on the fly or
11:55 name every part of the cell. So, focus
11:57 on the highest anticipated ROI areas,
11:59 which is EQ. Number four, learn about
12:01 money. I cannot tell you how many
12:04 fullblown adults still don't know what
12:06 compounding interest is or really
12:08 understand the value of money and time
12:09 at all. When you're a student, you can
12:11 choose to live in a bubble or already
12:13 have exposure to the real world where it
12:15 matters. Learn how to earn money through
12:17 any method you can, whether it be
12:20 freelancing, tutoring, helping out at a
12:22 local community. What's more is that
12:24 when you earn money now, you have the
12:26 ability to spend money and you should be
12:28 willing to spend money. I say this as an
12:31 Asian immigrant kid with a really big
12:33 scarcity mindset. Money can buy you more
12:35 knowledge from outside of the classroom
12:37 and it can buy you convenience, which is
12:39 time. This is how you can already begin
12:42 to invest in yourself in a monetary way
12:44 and to learn what money really is. It's
12:46 something that can provide freedom, an
12:48 opportunity, a choice. One of my biggest
12:50 mistakes in high school was not being
12:52 willing to pay for like anything,
12:54 including college consulting. Instead, I
12:56 have to waste so many hours of my
12:58 precious time being an amateur in the
13:00 college process, which only happens once
13:01 in your lifetime. So, you might as well
13:03 get the knowledge if you can, especially
13:05 from an expert. And I am definitely
13:07 applying this tip to myself now even
13:09 more than ever. I actually just signed
13:11 up for an AI boot camp. specifically if
13:12 you're a student to learn outside of the
13:15 classroom. Be willing to spend money on
13:17 joining a sports team or a computer
13:19 science program, a summer math camp,
13:21 etc. Number five, be picky. In school,
13:24 it is super easy to be insecure and to
13:26 want everyone to like you and then care
13:27 about what everyone thinks of you. But
13:30 you know what brings inner peace super
13:32 easily, like at the snap of a button?
13:34 What if instead of thinking that people
13:36 are judging you, you judge other people
13:37 in a nice way, of course, but what I
13:39 mean is like be picky with the people
13:41 you surround yourself with. Be picky
13:43 with who you have a crush on, and be
13:45 picky with yourself. For example, if a
13:47 certain person does not meet the
13:50 standards you set, then you have no need
13:53 or stress to please them in any way.
13:54 I've made this mistake so much, too.
13:56 going to be a little cringe here, but I
13:58 say this out of experience from multiple
14:01 friendship heartbreaks and crush
14:03 heartbreaks. Like I would have crushes
14:05 on so many people that if I look back
14:07 now, I'm like, "Ew, like why did I spend
14:10 so much time, energy, and emotion on
14:12 that person?" It's simply because my
14:13 standards weren't high enough that like
14:15 I felt like I had to have at least one
14:18 crush at any point, even if the pool of
14:20 people available to me wasn't that
14:22 great. I wish I had an older sister to
14:25 tell me in the future I will meet a guy
14:27 way better than any of those middle
14:29 school and high school guys. And so just
14:31 to focus on myself and protect my
14:32 energy. So since I didn't have that then
14:35 there I'm telling you that you will find
14:37 someone who is up to your level and
14:40 perfect for you. Don't worry if someone
14:41 doesn't like you back because that means
14:43 they have bad judgment. So overall why
14:46 does be picky not only give you peace
14:48 but also help you level up so much more?
14:52 Well, the only way to level up is to
14:53 have higher standards. Because think
14:56 about it, consider, you know, like this
14:58 block as a range of what you could have
15:00 if you're in school right in the middle
15:04 of this range. Well, meeting Zenaia will
15:05 probably not be in your range of what
15:08 you can achieve. At the top might be to
15:10 be friends with the smartest, most
15:12 inspirational, kindest person in your
15:14 school. Right? So, that is the peak.
15:16 When you have higher standards, you're
15:18 telling yourself that you are only going
15:20 to choose what is at the top of your
15:23 range. And then when you do achieve the
15:25 top of your range, whether it be
15:28 relationships, grades, extracurriculars,
15:30 then this higher level now becomes the
15:33 middle of your new range. And so you see
15:37 how your entire level just increased.
15:39 Then you repeat. That's why you should
15:41 also be picky and have high standards
15:44 for yourself. I'm so done with so many
15:44 people out there like,
15:46 >> "Oh, but I'm bad at math. I'm someone
15:48 who procrastinates. I just can't do this."
15:48 this."
15:50 >> You are giving yourself an identity that
15:52 you wouldn't choose. But by saying it,
15:54 you're actually making it a
15:56 self-fulfilling prophecy. So, choose
15:58 identities like you would choose for
16:01 your avatar. Like, if you go into a game
16:02 and you pick an avatar, you're not going
16:04 to choose someone that's like, "Oh, I'm
16:06 going to make their skill bad at math.
16:08 I'm going to make their skill oh, bad at
16:09 focusing." You're going to choose
16:12 someone who, oh, is determined to have a
16:14 growth mindset and be good at math. And
16:16 I'm going to choose someone who does
16:17 their homework the day that it comes
16:19 out. That's how you begin identifying
16:21 with higher standards and then embodying
16:24 them. So then do what you're going to
16:27 do. Do what you say you will do and act
16:29 in a way that aligns with your values.
16:32 Imprint the word conviction into your
16:34 head. I feel like people nowadays just
16:36 don't have any conviction. They say
16:37 something and they do something else.
16:39 They have this big dream in their head
16:40 and then they never take a single step
16:42 toward it. No. If you don't have
16:44 conviction, that's how you create really
16:46 poor self-esteem. The way you build
16:48 self-esteem is by building self-rust.
16:49 There's this quote I really like from
16:52 Alex Hormosi, who is a really successful
16:54 millionaire and creator. The only work
16:56 that matters is the work that no one
16:58 sees. It shows who you really are rather
17:00 than who you say you are. Being picky is
17:03 a recipe for success because you are
17:06 also selecting your environment to make
17:08 yourself better. So if you have an
17:10 environment of hardworking, inspiring
17:12 people, you won't even feel like hard
17:14 work is that painful. And you won't even
17:16 feel like your big dreams are that
17:18 unachievable. It'll just be normal
17:20 within your group. So if you do want to
17:22 kick off having a good community of
17:24 like-minded people, well, I'm trying to
17:26 make my Discord more active again. So
17:28 you can join with the link below. It's
17:30 called Amy's A Team. It is filled with
17:32 people who are from my YouTube channel
17:35 or from my newsletter. Plus, my mentee
17:38 Ben, who you saw earlier, he created a
17:40 really cool tool that is completely free
17:42 within Discord called Athena, which is
17:45 my very own chatbot assistant where when
17:47 you ask a question and you tag Athena,
17:51 then Athena can answer what I have said
17:53 before in my videos. So, if you have a
17:55 question for me, but I'm just so busy
17:57 that I can't respond, you can tag Athena
17:59 and be like, "Hey, Athena, what is the
18:00 best way to study for the SAT?"
18:03 >> And then Athena will pull the data and
18:06 transcribe what I said in my previous
18:08 videos, give you a summarized answer,
18:10 and link the video from which it came
18:13 from. Ben worked so so hard on this
18:16 chatbot so it can be a free resource for
18:18 you, the A team, because I know it's
18:20 really hard now. It's a good and bad
18:22 thing that now I have over 700,000
18:24 amazing people in this community. So,
18:26 how many hours did you spend on this, Ben?
18:26 Ben?
18:29 >> So, across the many versions we made
18:31 before we decided on the Discobot, I
18:34 think we worked for around 60 hours
18:36 across the past 4 months on Athena.
18:39 >> Wow, that is awesome. So, please do
18:41 justice to Ben's hard work and check it
18:43 out with Discord the link below and try
18:46 using Athena. Number six, live like an
18:48 old grandpa/g grandma. Here's what I
18:50 mean. So, still be a visionary, not a
18:52 boomer when it comes to using new
18:55 technology. But you know what's really
18:57 cool about old people? They just don't
18:59 give an F about what people think about
19:00 them anymore. And they just do whatever
19:02 the heck they want to. And they're just
19:05 always happy. Even if they seem like a
19:07 cranky old grandpa, well, they're
19:09 finding joy from being cranky. And they
19:11 don't care that other people find them
19:13 cranky. Because if you have such limited
19:15 years in your life, why not spend them
19:17 literally doing whatever you want to do?
19:19 Doesn't that seem so blissful? And
19:20 that's why I believe we should time
19:23 travel in our head and already be
19:24 putting ourselves in that kind of
19:27 mindset because old people are wise,
19:29 right? They have it figured out. So why
19:31 not embody what they already are doing?
19:33 So stop giving an F. You'll find that
19:35 most of the time the things you care so
19:36 much about don't really matter. For
19:38 example, I used to be really shy in
19:40 school until I made this simple
19:43 calculation. Would you rather ask a dumb
19:45 question that people forget about in 2
19:47 minutes and get clarification that helps
19:49 you learn better? Or would you rather
19:52 sit there never knowing the answer and
19:53 then falling more and more behind
19:55 because you were just too shy to say
19:57 anything? You see, because fear is
20:00 something that will destroy your dreams
20:02 and destroy your potential. Here is
20:04 proof. Summer before my senior year at
20:06 Caltech, I had an internship. That is
20:08 where I met Shawn, who scandalous was a
20:11 full-time employee. At this point, I had
20:13 already learned the value of just going
20:15 for something and not giving an F. And
20:18 so, I was brave enough to chat with him
20:21 and get to know him and be bolder than I
20:23 ever was with any other guy I was
20:26 interested in. If I had not done that,
20:28 then we would not be married today.
20:29 Literally, what does that mean
20:31 tactically for you as a student? Well,
20:34 be willing to do things simply because
20:35 you want to do things for yourself. Join
20:37 math competitions even if none of your
20:39 friends do. Go to office hours alone.
20:41 Use the heck out of your resources like
20:43 your school counselor, even if your
20:45 other friends are not. Raise your hand
20:47 in class. Speak the f up in whatever
20:49 situation you're in. The more you live
20:50 for yourself and stop caring what others
20:52 think, the more you'll realize that
20:54 there are actually very few
20:56 consequences. The bigger consequences
20:59 are actually sacrificing your own values
21:00 and needs. If you struggle with
21:02 confidence, just understand this. The
21:04 older people get, the more confident
21:06 they are because the less they care
21:09 because they've gone through enough to
21:11 prove that it doesn't matter. So,
21:14 accelerate your path to confidence and
21:16 happiness by simply doing that. Now,
21:18 number seven, workout. I don't care if
21:20 you think you are bad at sports. I am
21:22 actually incredibly bad at sports
21:24 naturally. You can ask my basketball
21:26 coach. You can ask my tennis coach. My
21:28 form looks atrocious. The only reason
21:30 I've ever had any success in sports is
21:32 because I work really hard and I'm
21:34 scrappy. When you're young, if you don't
21:36 know how important your health is, then
21:38 you are lucky because that means that
21:39 you've never struggled with it. For
21:41 myself, I had migraines, which is a
21:44 debilitating headache that makes me lose
21:46 vision in half of my face. So, I had to
21:49 quickly early on learn the importance of
21:51 sleep. My body is also very sensitive,
21:54 so I used to get back injuries and just
21:57 easily injured in general. But if I had
22:00 not played sports or learned how to
22:02 exercise and lift weights when I was a
22:04 student, then currently at this adult
22:07 age, my back would be a lot worse. My
22:09 joints would hurt a lot more. And then
22:11 going into the future, who knows what
22:13 kind of mobility I would be at. When you
22:15 work out and play sports young, that's
22:17 how you build an understanding of what
22:20 your body's value is because you can see
22:23 what it does for you and not just define
22:25 it, but how it looks when you practice.
22:28 and can make basketball shots so much
22:31 more accurately or you gain muscle at
22:33 the gym. You are both building your
22:36 mental toughness and setting a great
22:37 foundation for when you're an adult.
22:40 Because so many adults, they have on
22:42 their New Year's resolutions start
22:44 working out. But why is it so much
22:46 harder for them? Why is it like 10 times
22:48 harder for them than someone who's done
22:50 sports before? It's because it's not as
22:52 easy for them to pick it up. They also
22:54 don't have the structure of perhaps gym
22:57 class or inter mural sports to have that
22:58 easy start. When you're young, you may
23:00 not see some limitations your body has,
23:02 but when you push it through sports or
23:04 working out, that's how you can get a
23:06 taste of how important it is to stay
23:08 active and value your health instead of
23:09 waiting to see when it's too late.
23:11 Number eight, don't worry about how
23:13 attractive you are. When I was in
23:16 school, I literally had a list in my
23:18 planner with a title called fix where I
23:20 listed all the things about my
23:22 appearance that I wanted to fix about
23:25 myself. Like I was insecure about my
23:29 calves. I wanted to have slimmer thighs.
23:31 I wanted to have bigger eyes. I wanted
23:33 to have smoother skin, better fashion,
23:35 jewelry, like you name it. So, I did
23:37 work on them to get a baseline of
23:39 attractiveness where I would be socially
23:41 accepted, right? for example, I wouldn't
23:44 have like bo and I wouldn't dress in a
23:47 decent way. But if I compare that to how
23:51 I am now right now, I am way more glowed
23:53 up. And I am so grateful that I can look
23:56 back at my school self and be like, "Oh,
23:58 she actually did not know what she was
24:00 doing style or attractiveness wise."
24:02 >> And here's why. Across all of my
24:05 successful female friends now and
24:06 successful female creators I've seen
24:08 online, okay, this is anecdotally, they
24:10 all look way more attractive and
24:12 beautiful now than they did in school.
24:14 Like they had their glow up later in
24:16 life after graduating. And here's why I
24:18 think this is important. So nowadays on
24:20 social media, you see all these
24:22 teenagers looking like they're like 25
24:24 with like supermodel makeup and like
24:25 worried about like retinol and things
24:28 like that, like the Sephora kids. But if
24:30 you peak in your beauty and
24:32 attractiveness when you're in school,
24:34 then my theory is that you will put more
24:37 weight on how you look on the outside
24:40 rather than the human capital and beauty
24:42 you're building on the inside. And when
24:43 you're younger and especially in school,
24:46 it is so so important that you actually
24:49 focus on education and building skills
24:51 rather than spending an hour and a half
24:53 on hair and makeup every morning. It is
24:57 inevitable that as time naturally flows,
24:58 you're going to learn what things look
25:01 better on you. You're going to have more
25:03 time in the future to learn better
25:06 makeup techniques simply because of more
25:08 practice and experience in life. Number
25:11 nine, accept that studying will never be
25:14 close to a video game. I am so tired of
25:16 seeing all those videos pop up like how
25:18 to make studying so fun. It's like a
25:20 video game. Like, please, come on, man.
25:21 Come on. You you know that can't be
25:23 true. But it's a great title and so many
25:25 people click on it. But what is the
25:28 proof that those videos don't work?
25:30 Well, it's because if all those 2
25:34 million or 3 million viewers had those
25:36 tips work for them, everyone would have
25:37 straight A's. That means that after
25:39 those videos went up, then every other
25:41 subsequent study video would be useless
25:43 and have zero views because people don't
25:45 need them anymore. Nothing worth doing
25:46 is ever easy. The goal is to make
25:49 yourself happier while doing it, while
25:51 understanding the true value of why
25:53 you're doing it and getting yourself to
25:55 want to do it. But it can never be as
25:57 fun as a video game. Imagine your friend
26:00 Jack. Jack graduated at the top of his
26:01 class. And you look up to Jack. So you
26:02 ask him,
26:04 >> "Hey Jack, how did you get A+es in
26:05 everything, including all of those hard
26:07 AP classes?" And he just goes, "Oh yeah,
26:08 I just gified everything. I really,
26:10 really hated studying and I wanted to
26:12 procrastinate every single time. But you
26:13 know what really helped me is by
26:16 treating studying like a video game and
26:18 by studying two grueling hours, which I
26:20 absolutely hated and I just don't like
26:22 learning. Well, then I gave myself a
26:24 little cookie as a reward. And I also
26:25 imagine that I was leveling up in a
26:29 video game. No, like you want Jack to be
26:31 inspiring and be like, "Oh, I have this
26:33 drive and this dream in life to become a
26:35 doctor and to help kids because when I
26:37 was young, I used to have this kind of
26:39 like sickness and I understand how hard
26:41 life can be for people who don't have
26:43 the best health. So, I want to help
26:45 people in the future." You want someone
26:48 who has drive and a reason behind
26:50 they're doing something, right? You want
26:52 Jack to say, you know, studying isn't
26:55 fun, but I wanted to do it because every
26:57 hour I study, I knew that was closer to
27:00 me achieving my dreams or to be able to
27:02 retire my hardworking parents in the
27:04 future. And I know the value of studying
27:07 and how this is such an insane
27:10 opportunity and privilege to have
27:11 education and to have to go to school.
27:13 No, I get to go to school. It's not just
27:14 telling himself with affirmations in the
27:16 mirror like, "Oh, I get to go to
27:18 school." No, like he truly believes it.
27:19 that's the kind of person you want and
27:22 therefore to actually succeed in school
27:23 and in life then you should be the
27:25 latter, the actual inspirational person.
27:27 Another Alex Hormosi quote, sorry,
27:29 hopefully Hormosi doesn't get cancelled
27:30 in the future because I've quoted him
27:32 way too much at this point. If it's hard
27:34 for you, it's hard for everyone. And
27:36 most people avoid hard things, which is
27:37 why you can beat most people by just
27:39 trying. If we do want to talk about
27:41 studying actually being more enjoyable,
27:44 then don't even complain because it is
27:45 actually easier than ever to make
27:47 studying more fun it was before. You can
27:49 just let this AI platform pop in the
27:51 terms and then create a game or
27:53 flashcards for you or to give you
27:54 practice problems which is more
27:56 interesting than reading the textbook.
27:57 Just accept that at the end of the day,
27:59 I'm going to be honest here. A matching
28:01 game with vocabulary is not going to be
28:03 as fun as Mario Kart. So, you should
28:05 just do painful things, right? That's
28:06 how you become successful because it's
28:08 harder. Well, no. That's why tip number
28:11 10 is remember that pain is not
28:12 progress. One of the biggest mistakes
28:14 that so many students make is that they
28:16 go like, "Oh my gosh, I worked so hard.
28:18 I studied for 10 hours straight
28:21 >> and they use that as a proxy for how
28:23 productive or achieved they are. But
28:26 instead, you should use the achievement
28:29 itself or how efficiently you worked or
28:31 what you learned. So I always talk about
28:33 increasing efficiency, right? But what
28:35 is efficiency really? So consider an
28:38 input output equation. Input is how much
28:40 effort or pain you put in. I guess
28:43 output is your learning your improved
28:46 skills maybe the concrete achievements
28:49 like an award or or a grade of an A.
28:52 When you increase efficiency and focus
28:55 more on what you're actually getting out
28:57 as a result of your effort, that's how
29:00 you achieve more sustainably and
29:02 therefore are less likely to burn out.
29:04 Don't put yourself through more pain for
29:06 pain's sake. If you're not getting the
29:09 result you want, like for example, so
29:10 many people comment,
29:12 >> "Oh, I studied for like 4 hours and I
29:13 study so much more than my peers, but I
29:14 still get worse grades."
29:16 >> Then that is an indication for you to
29:20 evaluate what input you have and how you
29:22 are studying. That way you can iterate,
29:25 become a better problem solver, and then
29:27 actually get better results. Plus, this
29:31 way of increasing ROI or efficiency will
29:33 prevent burnout and make you more
29:35 successful. An interesting thing is that
29:37 my peers would always ask me, "Oh, Amy,
29:38 how much did you study on for that test?"
29:38 test?"
29:40 >> And I would never know because I never
29:43 count how many hours I study as a means
29:44 of progress or be like, "Oh, I'm going
29:46 to study 2 hours and get this kind of
29:48 reward." I will always tell myself, I'm
29:50 going to read the textbook and do these
29:52 practice problems. When I'm familiarized
29:53 with them, then that is a sign of my
29:56 progress instead. Number 11, understand
29:59 the goal is to have the power of choice.
30:01 What is the point of all your effort and
30:03 conquering school? whether it's getting
30:07 good grades, skills, awards, etc. Well,
30:10 it is so then you have more of the world
30:12 open to you. When you have more
30:14 achievements, then you have more
30:17 colleges available to you to apply to in
30:19 a higher likelihood of getting in. Then
30:21 this will accumulate where in the future
30:23 you will have more jobs available to
30:25 you. So, if you do a really hard
30:28 engineering degree like I did, well, I
30:30 can choose to do a chemical engineering
30:33 job or I can also choose to be a
30:35 business management consultant, which I
30:37 was. I could also take on a bunch of
30:40 other jobs that perhaps do not require
30:42 the same level of rigor or technical
30:43 experience as chemical engineering. And
30:46 I hate to bring in tiers, but honestly,
30:48 that's a lot of how the real world
30:51 works, right? So like if I picked a
30:54 somewhat easier major like business in
30:55 college, right? Not saying anything
30:56 against business majors of course,
30:58 right? But if I was a business major,
31:00 then I cannot have a chemical
31:02 engineering job in the future, right?
31:04 Because I don't have those skills. So
31:07 it's valuable to choose something hard,
31:08 not only because of the recognition,
31:10 because my business management
31:12 consulting firm, they saw that I study
31:14 chemical engineering in Caltech. They're
31:16 like, "Okay, just by that alone, I know
31:18 that this girl knows how to work hard
31:21 and tackle difficult problems. She's
31:23 probably smart, and I bet that she can
31:25 pick up whatever business skills she
31:26 needs to later on. You will have that
31:30 hard proof where an employer will assume
31:32 these great attributes you have, and you
31:34 will also truly have those skills and
31:36 attributes. School is the perfect
31:38 opportunity where in this safe
31:40 environment where you can take risks.
31:42 You are putting yourself at the highest
31:44 caliber possible. You don't want to
31:46 waste your years of school, not study
31:48 hard, and then after you graduate only
31:50 have a few options to you, which by that
31:52 time might even have lower pay, and then
31:54 you can't sustain yourself in the
31:56 future. I didn't know about it. But by
31:58 working hard and smart in my school
32:00 years, I gave myself the power of
32:03 choice. So, I can choose to live in New
32:06 York City. I can now choose to work my
32:09 dream job of doing this. I have more
32:11 choices of what people I want to
32:13 interact with and who to get close with.
32:15 The earlier you widen your power of
32:17 choice, the more the effects will
32:20 accumulate. So imagine a golf ball. You
32:23 hit golf ball A in one direction. Oh,
32:25 direction A. Then you hit golf ball B
32:28 just two degrees to the right of the
32:30 first golf ball. But over time, the
32:33 distance between them is farther and
32:36 farther away. And golf ball A, if they
32:38 chose a better path, for example, they
32:40 could be farther and farther along than
32:41 B could have ever imagined. And you
32:43 wouldn't even know that those two golf
32:46 balls came from the same spot. This
32:48 place where that golf ball came from is
32:50 like the beginning node of a decision
32:53 tree. You might not realize this, but
32:54 where you spawned in the world, where
32:56 you were born, and to whom you were
32:58 born, your entire circumstances that you
33:00 couldn't have controlled, that already
33:02 puts you on a certain life path. I don't
33:04 know about you, but I could not pick
33:07 where I spawned in the world or in what
33:09 time period, right? It totally makes
33:12 sense when people say, "Oh, but I can
33:14 never achieve this unrealistic dream of
33:16 becoming an actor because I live in this
33:17 third world country." Right? So when I
33:19 say achieve your dreams, I mean things
33:21 that are reasonably so like within your
33:22 reach, right? Don't give up. But there
33:24 are certain limits. I'm not going to lie
33:26 to you and say, "Oh, hard work is all
33:28 you need." People come from different
33:31 circumstances which affects the range of
33:33 choices and opportunities that they can
33:35 begin with. As James Clear and many
33:37 other self-improvement gurus say,
33:39 environment is more important than
33:42 motivation. So where you spawn matters.
33:44 But guess what? When you work hard in
33:46 school, you can actually for the first
33:50 time choose your environment from where?
33:53 College. That's why I disagree with
33:54 people who say, "Oh, a college degree is
33:56 worthless. Why don't just drop out and
33:57 then start a business?" No, it's not
33:59 just as easy as that. The reason is
34:01 because college is the first and one
34:03 chance where you get to choose what
34:05 environment to put yourself into. What
34:08 state, what city, what kind of
34:10 surroundings and influences are you
34:12 going to have in your life? Are the
34:14 people at the school you're picking
34:16 going to be entrepreneurs and super
34:18 excited about innovating for the world
34:20 and to work hard or are you going to
34:22 pick a school full of party people,
34:24 which there's nothing wrong with, but
34:26 that's going to influence the kind of
34:28 path that you go on later. Because when
34:30 you pick an environment in a decision
34:33 tree, you are giving yourself a range of
34:35 options falling under that environment,
34:38 that node, per se. Think about how
34:40 important your pre-ol years are. That's
34:41 one of the biggest opportunities you
34:43 have to transform your life. I am
34:45 actually super grateful that I was
34:48 rejected for one of my in-state
34:50 scholarships which would have paid for
34:53 any school I choose in the state full
34:54 ride. Since I didn't get that
34:56 scholarship, I went to Caltech. Oh yeah,
34:59 I was forced to go to Caltech. But this
35:01 gave me an environment of people that
35:03 made me realize, oh, I can actually
35:06 achieve more and take risks than I ever
35:07 thought before. Because I went to
35:10 Caltech, I started vlogging on YouTube
35:11 and I started realizing, hey, I actually
35:13 really enjoy this and helping other
35:15 people. Then because of Caltech, I took
35:17 an internship in San Diego, which is
35:19 where I met Sean. Then because I met
35:21 Shawn and he was so supportive of my
35:23 creator dreams, then I pursued YouTube
35:26 more seriously. And now I can literally
35:29 make a living doing what I enjoy. I can
35:31 even have great perks like free things
35:33 sometimes, meet famous people, walk on
35:35 red carpets, go to movie premieres,
35:37 right? Like this is what the butterfly
35:40 effect is. One little change and getting
35:41 put into different environments can
35:44 completely transform your life. Final
35:46 tip here. I know this video is getting
35:47 super long. I did warn that in the
35:50 beginning, but I think because it's so
35:52 hot and the lighting keeps changing that
35:55 I'm just like really struggling to say
35:58 the stuff in this video as well as I had
36:00 hoped. But I just want to say that you
36:02 should care about the word waste. People
36:04 say waste all the time. Like it's no big
36:06 deal. like, "Oh, I wasted 2 hours
36:07 yesterday scrolling on TikTok."
36:10 >> I think a reason why I can value my time
36:12 so well is because due to my Asian
36:14 immigrant background, I know how
36:16 terrible it is to waste things. Like, we
36:17 would never consider wasting food. We
36:19 would never consider like wasting money.
36:21 We would pinch every bit of value we
36:25 could have from our time and our
36:27 financials. And thus, waste just seems
36:29 like an awful word. Like, I understand
36:32 the value and weight behind this. My
36:35 biggest fear is wasted potential. I
36:36 believe that more people should care
36:38 about the word waste and thus fear
36:40 wasted potential. But we can also take
36:42 it as a positive, right? We're like
36:44 instead of thinking of lack and doing
36:46 something due to the fear of wasted
36:48 potential, just understand that you you
36:51 listening right now have this unique set
36:53 of traits. You are special in your very
36:54 own way. No matter where you come from,
36:56 you have something to offer to the world
36:58 that only you can. And so we need that.
37:00 We need good people like you to work
37:02 hard and to use their potential and to
37:04 make the world a better place. We need
37:05 people like you to become successful.
37:07 Think of it as a positive. Realize the
37:08 potential you have and use that as
37:10 something to propel you to use it
37:12 because then that makes you be like, why
37:14 would I ever spend time doom scrolling
37:16 because I don't care about these
37:18 strangers on my phone. I know that I
37:20 value to give and so I'm actually
37:22 excited and happier doing work. And see,
37:24 that's how you can do work in a more
37:26 happy way rather than pretending it's
37:27 like a video game. Because when you
37:29 pretend like like it's a video game,
37:31 you're still forcing yourself to do it.
37:33 You're just kind of lying to yourself.
37:35 The actions you do in life have to be in
37:36 alignment with what you believe. If you
37:38 lie to yourself, you're never going to
37:39 become successful that way because
37:41 you're just going to be getting to a
37:43 place inauthentic to you. I might have
37:46 put more pressure on you listening to be
37:47 like, "Oh my gosh, I can't mess up
37:48 school." Or like if you've already been
37:50 through school, like, "Oh, shoot. I'm
37:50 late now."
37:51 >> But that's not true. No matter where you
37:53 are, just take where you are now as a
37:55 starting point. Don't feel like you have
37:57 to have everything figured out because
38:00 school is literally the start of your
38:01 life. It's just getting started. You
38:03 have no idea how great your life is
38:05 going to be later. When I was in school,
38:06 I thought that school was my whole life,
38:08 right? Like I wanted people to like me
38:11 and I had insecurities, but those all
38:13 just don't matter at all now because I
38:15 still did what I had to do, which was to
38:16 study and work hard in that chapter of
38:20 my life to create all of the amazing
38:22 chapters I'm living now and the more to
38:24 come. My dad always says that there is a
38:26 time for everything. So when you're in
38:27 school, you should be studying and
38:29 working hard and gaining the value that
38:31 education will give you. When you start
38:33 your first job, you work hard and do
38:35 that, right? When it's time to have a
38:37 family, then you do that, right? So life
38:39 is made of chapters. But if you don't
38:41 use school for what it's supposed to be
38:43 used for, if you skip chapters or you
38:46 resist moving on to a new chapter, that
38:48 will cause you nothing but misery. This
38:50 is the time for learning. There are many
38:52 great viewers who email me about how
38:54 they're struggling to learn now and go
38:57 back to school in their 30s, but it is
39:00 20 times harder when you're trying to
39:02 get your education as an adult because
39:04 now you have bills to pay and you have
39:06 to do all of the adult responsibilities.
39:09 That's an example of not doing what you
39:11 are supposed to be doing at each age.
39:13 Like I know there's a lot of nuance and
39:15 people are like, "Oh, but like there's
39:16 no cookie cutter path that everyone
39:18 should follow." But the way that society
39:19 is set up, you know, you still got to
39:21 play the game because that's the way
39:23 that will benefit you most, right? And
39:24 that's actually self- loveve and doing
39:26 things for yourself. I'll leave you with
39:29 this. If you truly want to consume more
39:31 content, to conquer school, then consume
39:33 content that's actually not about
39:34 school, but it's about life instead.
39:36 Read self-improvement books, but also
39:38 act upon it so you convert it into your
39:40 own knowledge. And watch more videos
39:43 about general, you know, life advice
39:44 like I have on my podcast literally
39:47 called CEO of life. do that and don't
39:49 focus too much on just studying for the
39:51 sake of studying because how boring is
39:52 it and how useless would it be if you
39:54 were just like super good at studying
39:55 and then you graduate and then you can't
39:56 even get a job, right? I'm just looking
39:57 out for you. That's why I ramble and I
39:59 emphasize that so much. Remember to try
40:01 Consensus, the smarter, faster, and more
40:03 trustworthy way to navigate scientific
40:05 literature. Link below in my
40:07 description. You can also join my
40:10 discord where you can use the chatbot
40:12 Athena to get advice from the virtual
40:14 assistant that will pull information
40:16 from everything I said in my YouTube
40:18 videos. Wow, so cool. If you're here
40:20 this part of the video, then write below
40:22 in a comment, "Thanks, Ben, for building
40:24 Athena." Or just, "Thanks, Ben."
40:26 Remember to subscribe and hit that like
40:27 button. It's interesting as a YouTuber.
40:28 I feel like I haven't said that in a
40:30 while. Now that you're hopefully fired
40:32 up and ambitious about life, be careful
40:34 because you also don't want to burn out.
40:36 So, if you want to learn how to avoid
40:38 burnout while still being successful and
40:40 achieving more than ever, then you can
40:42 click here at this video. Thank you so
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