Now that I am four years into the course, I can now scream from rooftops that I have made and lived through innumerable mistakes. A lot of them where unnecessary and cost me a good chunk of time to figure out that my latest new study method was actually an unwise ruse to make me feel like I was doing something with my life

I am not in favor of calling these as mistakes, I would rather use the term ‘Learning experience’. However I do believe that my readers can benefit from my learning experience and not go through what I like to call “a painful process of being wrong and in denial”

After all, life is too short to learn from your own mistakes. So, LETS GET IT ROLLING!

1. THE PERFECT NEAT NOTES
   • I am yet to come across one student in this online community who has not at some point believed in the existence of that beautiful, impeccable, ultra-neat, and ultimate notes.
   • But I took it a step too far by believing that I was capable of making such notes and that such notes in themselves would guarantee the top marks (Surprise, it doesn’t.)
   • Obviously I have still not been able to completely shake off this idea and while I am learning to make better notes, I have stopped relying on them as the only way that I will ever pass my exams.
   • Funny story: Once I tried to study without making notes and directly from the book, just before my exams. And I ended up severely ill and in just bare condition to give my exams. I passed them but this little experiment on myself took a heavy toll on my health. (Am I Dr. Frankeinstein yet?)
2. ONE RESOURCE/MATERIAL IS GOD
   • This perception followed me from my school days. 12 years of my life, I spent learning for all my exams through only one book. Mastery over one book and voila you topped your exams!
   • Unfortunately, university plays a different ball game. But no one told me that the rules had been changed so I stuck to my old method – Trying to find that one book, that one resource (whether online or offline) that will cover all of my study material in the best possible way for four years up until right before my exam nights when I was like Jon Snow – I knew nothing. (You can gasp now.)
   • So, take my advice child and for the love of God don’t waste time searching for material. Start working on what you have right now and trust me, all other subsequent reading will add up later on.
3. NOT READING ENOUGH LAW JOURNALS + DOING EXTENSIVE READING
   • Everyone knows that law school required copious amount of reading and that was one of the reasons why I joined law school – I had the required skill set to read and to comprehend faster than most of my classmates at school. But as soon as I entered law school I realized that the reading level was much infinitely more difficult than I had ever imagined. What earlier took me 1-2 minutes to read would now take 10-15 minutes to even faintly grasp.
   • And sadly, my brain was not ready for the workout and I was terribly put off. I stopped reading (for four years) these fantastic law journals, thrilling books, and excellent law resources that I had access to.
   • Now, though, I have regained my reading speed and find joy in reading one good legal article. It is exciting, exhilarating, and it feels like the wind from the open sea.
   • However, this change came only after rude awakening that I was not dumb, I was lazy and that was the sole and only reason why I was falling behind my peers. (Believe me, nothing will ever break you down and build you up than realizing that all the time that you have been moping around, you have had the power to change it all around.)
   • So, I hope dear reader that you don’t have to go through that sudden shock and read or learn even when your brain in not cooperating, even when it refuses to register a single word.
4. NOT ASKING ENOUGH QUESTIONS
   • This is something I started following only recently despite the fact that as a young student I was extremely curious and would nag my teacher with every possible question I could come up with. However, this changed (for some reason I am yet to figure out) when I went into the 3^rd year of my law school. I stopped asking questions and as a result I stopped learning too.
   • Finding about my lack of knowledge and opportunities due to this problem, I have sought to rectify it and have been pleasantly surprised.
   • It is to this curiosity that I give credit to for helping me bag quite a few fantastic online internships, excellent interviews, and have access to the most fantastic productivity book of all time even though it was not available in India (Amy wonders I am looking at you. Oh, and you can buy her book here.)
5. TRYING TO FIND THE ONE EPIC WAY TO STUDY
   • This is an actual problem I have dealt with for far too long (From the day I set foot in my law college.) and even now sometimes I catch myself procrastinating on studying because I am searching for that study method that will help me memorise all my material in the wave of a wand.
   • Spoiler alert – learning doesn’t happen that way. No matter how you study, it will require you to put in hard work, focus and shed some tears if you will.
   • So, get that brain grinding, sweetheart!

Stay tuned for part 2 the next week! Till then, HAPPY HUSTLIN’ HON