how I studied for 12 hours a day for over a year

Summary

In his video, James Scholz shares his journey of studying 12 hours a day for over a year, detailing the mindset shifts and habits that allowed for such dedication. He attributes his success to adopting a growth mindset, differentiating between drive and motivation, building sustainable habits, and prioritizing deep, focused study sessions over mere duration. Scholz emphasizes the importance of maintaining physical health and balancing one's ambitions with personal well-being, guiding viewers through the intricacies of his rigorous study routine. He offers recommendations of books that influenced his approach and discusses the potential pitfalls of burnout.

Highlights

• James credits discovering the 'growth mindset' through a TED Talk as a pivotal point. 🌱
• He differentiates between volatile motivation and sustainable drive. 🌟
• Drive, according to James, stems from personal aspirations, not external motivations. 🚴
• He recommends books like 'Can't Hurt Me' by David Goggins, 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, and 'Deep Work' by Cal Newport. 📚
• James stresses the importance of focusing on how deep you can study rather than how long. 🤓
• Prioritizing physical health is crucial; he runs regularly and maintains good posture. 🏃‍♂️
• James shares that starting his YouTube channel was part of his personal growth journey. 🎥

Key Takeaways

• Embrace a growth mindset to push past personal limitations and embrace challenges. 🤔
• Rely on drive, not motivation, to achieve long-term goals. 🚀
• Build strong, sustainable habits that support your goals. 📈
• Focus on deep work rather than just the length of study time. 📚
• Balance intense study routines with physical health and personal well-being. 🏋️‍♂️
• Overcome burnout by understanding and respecting personal limits. ☕
• Not everyone needs or should adopt such intense study habits; tailor your approach to your personal goals and well-being. 🎯

Overview

In an engaging and insightful video, James Scholz dives into the rigorous routine that led him to study 12 hours daily for more than a year. His video caters to his numerous subscribers who are curious about his methods and mindset. From the get-go, he emphasizes the shift from a fixed to a growth mindset—a turning point inspired by a TED talk he watched in college. This change laid the foundation for his tireless dedication to personal growth and academic excellence.

James further explains the distinction between being motivated and being driven. For him, drive goes beyond just a fleeting feeling; it’s a deep-seated determination to achieve long-term goals despite obstacles. He shares how his drive was fueled by personal aspirations, readings from influential books, and life experiences that shaped his perspective on success. Building and maintaining effective study habits, as well as focusing on the quality of study rather than the quantity, are vital aspects of his approach.

Physical health and mental resilience are equally important in James's routine of extreme studying. He details the importance of balancing hard work with physical exercise and good posture to prevent burnout and stay mentally sharp. Throughout the video, he encourages viewers to consider whether this intense path is right for them, stressing that personal growth and success depend on individual priorities and ambitions.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:00: Introduction and Motivation The chapter titled 'Introduction and Motivation' covers the speaker's personal journey and approach in addressing the most frequently asked question they receive: how they managed to study for 12 hours a day for over a year. The speaker emphasizes motivation, discipline, drive, and mindset as key factors in their success. They share their personal experience and what strategies worked for them in maintaining such a rigorous study schedule.
• 02:00 - 05:00: Mindset Shift: Fixed vs Growth Mindset The chapter 'Mindset Shift: Fixed vs Growth Mindset' begins with the narrator reflecting on a significant change in their perspective and life direction. This shift is attributed to an introduction to the concept of the growth mindset, introduced during a physics course through a Ted Talk assignment. The video outlined two types of mindsets: the fixed mindset, which believes abilities and intelligence are static, and the growth mindset, which believes they can be developed. This foundational understanding prompted the narrator to start changing their approach toward learning and personal development.
• 05:00 - 14:00: Drive vs Motivation This chapter explores the concept of fixed mindset versus a growth mindset, focusing on personal limitations and the reluctance to go beyond perceived ceilings. The speaker reflects on a past mentality of believing in innate limitations, illustrated by not wanting to push beyond a comfort zone due to self-doubt and relying on others for success. The narrative is personal, recounting experiences up until high school where the fixed mindset was prevalent.
• 14:00 - 18:00: Building Strong Habits The chapter discusses the misconceptions people have about natural talent versus hard work and habits. It begins with the narrator's personal story of succeeding in school without much studying, leading to a false belief that they did not need to study to excel. However, upon reaching college, where the coursework was more challenging, they realized that their lack of study was the actual issue, not their intelligence. The chapter delves into how such mindsets, fostered during formative years, can impact future performance and the importance of recognizing and building strong habits instead of relying solely on perceived innate talent.
• 18:00 - 23:00: Measuring Study Progress and Depth In the chapter titled 'Measuring Study Progress and Depth', the transcript discusses the importance of having a growth mindset, particularly in the context of doing well in university and life. It emphasizes taking on challenges, pushing oneself, and building resilience. The concept of breaking oneself down to come back stronger is highlighted as a vital part of personal and academic growth. The narrative promotes perseverance and resilience when facing adversity, marking a significant paradigm shift towards a more positive and proactive approach to challenges.
• 23:00 - 28:00: Burnout and Staying Committed The chapter titled 'Burnout and Staying Committed' discusses the initial steps in combating burnout, beginning with the adoption and understanding of the growth mindset. The speaker highlights the importance of this mindset as a foundation for overcoming challenges related to burnout. Additionally, the chapter introduces the heavy topic of drive, motivation, and the desire to succeed, suggesting these elements are crucial for maintaining commitment.
• 28:00 - 31:00: Physical Health and Posture The chapter emphasizes the importance of not relying solely on motivation for accomplishing tasks related to physical health and posture. Motivation is described as volatile and ever-changing, suggesting that a more stable approach, beyond temporary motivation, is necessary for consistent progress and success in maintaining physical health.
• 31:00 - 40:00: Is This Lifestyle for You? The chapter discusses the concept of motivation versus being driven. It begins with an example of how relying on fleeting motivation, like a decision not to train for a marathon because of rain, is insufficient for long-term commitments. The key distinction is made between temporary motivation and the enduring drive, highlighting how being driven rather than motivated is crucial for consistency and success in achieving goals.

how I studied for 12 hours a day for over a year Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey what's up you guys today we have an important video probably the most important one i'm ever gonna make uh my most asked question how did you do it what was your mindset how did you study for 12 hours a day for over a year so yeah let's just go ahead and talk motivation discipline drive mindset what causes a person to do what i did so yeah this is just what uh worked for me um how i did it
• 00:30 - 01:00 and kind of where i came from and yeah let's just go ahead and get right into it so what finally caused that 180 to the point where you're here now and the definitely the first step that i took was in physics um our professor assigned us a ted talk to watch and it's about this thing called the growth mindset and in the video they introduced two mindsets the first one is the fixed mindset and the second one is the growth mindset
• 01:00 - 01:30 and in the fixed mindset it's kind of like all right here is my ceiling and anything outside of that ceiling i'm just not gonna do i'm born with the limit and i don't want to push myself i'm not smart enough to do this assignment and my boy greg has got me and that's definitely the mindset that i had up until that point in my life was the fixed mindset you know in high school
• 01:30 - 02:00 i did really well without studying why would i study when i can get a's just fine but you see when college finally rolled around and it was actually difficult i didn't think that it was my studying that was a problem right i just thought i wasn't smart enough and that was just kind of how i was raised you know that kid's a priority over there so he's probably not very hard working and he just is born with all that talent you can just do it out of the bat i really thought that my mindset was the issue
• 02:00 - 02:30 and i knew that i had like wanted to do well in university and in life in general so the other mindset they introduce is the growth mindset it's all about taking on your challenges and pushing yourself and breaking yourself down so that you can come back stronger it's about resilience it's about not waning in the face of aversion you know and it's not it's definitely a paradigm
• 02:30 - 03:00 shift to what i had before and it's the very first step that i took was adopting and understanding the mindset in its entirety so if you're not familiar with the growth mindset i highly recommend you check it out and yep that was the first step that i took all right second topic that i want to talk about which is drive motivation and the desire to succeed all right so it's a pretty heavy topic uh i don't
• 03:00 - 03:30 know how quickly i could summarize my entire life's experience in these short two minutes or so but motivation and drive the key part that i want you to take out of this following segment is that i don't rely on motivation to do the things that i do i think that if you just rely on motivation um you're just setting yourself up for failure right because motivation is volatile it's bound to change you know what it's
• 03:30 - 04:00 raining outside i don't feel like running i'm just not gonna go train for the marathon today that's what motivation will get you uh nowhere no it might get you there for like two weeks but in the long run no motivation does not work at all so i think when people ask me all the time how are you so motivated why can you do this every day like what motivates you the thing is i'm not motivated to do any of this i'm driven to do this and that's a very big
• 04:00 - 04:30 difference right drive versus motivation the fundamental change between the two is that drive continues drive can get you from point a to point b without stopping and it doesn't care about the rain outside when you're trying to go running it doesn't care about how cold the water is when you go shower you know and that sounds pretty intense but you ought to understand that motivation is volatile you know it's easy to be motivated
• 04:30 - 05:00 to do hard things when you're comfortable in life when everything is going just a-okay but when you finally face challenges that actually push your buttons motivation is not going to work and that's why i rely on my drive so what is drive i have a difficult time defining it in words but my desire to succeed it kind of does and fans of flame inside my heart to get me driven to do the things that i want
• 05:00 - 05:30 to achieve my goals my aspirations those are your drive and if you rely on motivation to get them it won't work so how did you finally find your drive i think like i hadn't met truly driven people in my life before you know i've met people who are brilliant but also driven they wanted to get life's full experience that's actually why i started this channel was
• 05:30 - 06:00 to share my drive online so how did you get it um i don't want to say i read a book but the book can't hurt me by david goggins was really important in understanding why i wanted to do the things that i did i had this really massive chip on my shoulders all in high school because i was always like the weird kid who wasn't socially successful wasn't particularly liked
• 06:00 - 06:30 by other people and i just really remember like hating that feeling people just looking down on me you know like i'm just another person that they're gonna meet but i just remember being like i'm just gonna be so driven that you won't forget me yeah i just always had that chip on my shoulder because i was always just like the weird kid and i just always wanted to do better i also will say about the whole um drive thing that it's not about
• 06:30 - 07:00 showing off how driven you are or anything it's not about doing it for other people i would say that it was definitely for me like if you watch videos from when i was a little kid or in high school middle school you could see how unconfident i was you know i couldn't stand up straight anything that knocked me down i'll just kind of roll over and lay there and understanding why i wanted to do better really took me a long time to
• 07:00 - 07:30 figure out and i think the book can't hurt me explains the reason for his drive and i could see a lot of myself in that person and i also wanted to share that with you guys so that's why i started this channel i wouldn't say that i did it for other people you know i did it for me because i wanted to become the best person that i could be i got things i want my life i want to buy my mom a big house i want to be a great father
• 07:30 - 08:00 i want to help people and things like sitting there on instagram all day watching pointless youtube videos all day running away don't get me there it took me 19 years to figure that out i want to be present with my friends and i really want to connect with people and i just wasn't putting the two and two together i didn't know what i really wanted until i just been pushed so hard because in school my family
• 08:00 - 08:30 no family not having a family and i knew what i finally wanted and i realized that i couldn't stop and care about small things together i didn't really wait i didn't want to wane no matter what and that's drive and that's why my my youtube channel you know starting off it took me
• 08:30 - 09:00 like five months to reach 1000 subscribers when i started making these videos i lost subscribers because i had like 100 when i started but i didn't care about that motivation would have stopped me right there five months no growth why would i continue but no drive drive got me through that plateau because you know what after that five months i got 1 000 subs and then another month i got 10 000 subs and then three months after that i got
• 09:00 - 09:30 50 000 subs and that's what drive will get you you've got to figure out what you truly want and you have to figure out why you want it and those things have to be really clear all right because when you're out there and you're fighting you're gonna forget a lot about why you're there you know you're gonna ask why am i even doing this you have to remember why you're doing it so figure out what drives you why you want to be a
• 09:30 - 10:00 better person and you have to remember all right drive after you figure out drive the first thing i did after that was build strong habits there's a lot of systems that i use to do that the first thing that comes to mind was definitely streaking like creating journals where you track how much you do something and every time you do it you just cross it off and i built a streak
• 10:00 - 10:30 that's how i did it in the book atomic habits by james clare he talks a lot about how to build habits and i highly recommend the book if you haven't read it basically the habits are what keep you consistent it's what stops procrastination because when you're doing something persistently you don't think about twice about doing it right you don't think about man should i brush my teeth this morning no you just do it and i've managed to
• 10:30 - 11:00 turn a lot of things in my life into habits including studying i would say before i study for so and so every day i don't think about whether or not i'm going to do it you know it's more like my body knows that it's that time of day again it's time to study it's time to go work out it's time to go do the dishes or something i can't summarize the entire book about how to build habits into this short video
• 11:00 - 11:30 but i highly recommend you check out the book atomic habits by james clare if you want to learn how to do it but after drive figure out your habits so that's the next step all right and then another thing that i had wanted to talk about in this video was measuring your studying and how you're progressing in your studying and i think on youtube especially it's definitely too easy to get obsessed with how long you study
• 11:30 - 12:00 but that's the wrong way to do it you need to become concerned about how deep you can get there's another book about this that i also recommend so in this video i'll recommend three books the third one is deep work by count newport and it's about studying deeply how focused can you get in this noisy world and that's how you should be measuring your studying because we do things to make us study longer
• 12:00 - 12:30 when we know we're going to study for a long time you know if you're going to go on an 18-hour plane trip versus a two hour plane trip there's different things that you're gonna do i think that when you don't care about how deep you get you're not gonna make good use of your time you know there's better things to be doing than shallow work that you could be doing that actually makes you a better person in the book he introduces a formula high quality work is equal to the time spent times the
• 12:30 - 13:00 quality of focus all right and if that second variable is low you're not going to get a lot of work done regardless of how much studying you do quantifying how well you can or how deep you can go isn't easy but i do recommend the book because he does give ways to measure that factor and how to get into the zone but that's my ultimate goal honestly is to get extremely deep for the entire study duration what i recommend you do is figure out
• 13:00 - 13:30 where you're comfortable studying right now whether that's two or three hours you know or even longer than that and then during that span don't change it for a while but try to get as deep as possible during your study because that formula like i mentioned earlier there's an upper bar on how long you should be studying every day it doesn't really make sense to me to be studying you know the moment you wake up to when you go to bed because there's just no balance in that
• 13:30 - 14:00 you know you have to have a life and you have to have friends and perhaps a bit hypocritical when i say this but i've managed to get good enough that i can study for you know a certain amount of time every day regardless of where you are you should always be prioritizing how deep you can get it took me a long time to be able to get where i am now a few years ago i could barely study for like two hours without getting a headache but it took a lot of deliberate effort to
• 14:00 - 14:30 be able to push myself both in terms of depth and in terms of length that formula before high quality work is equal to work done times by the depth you need to make sure that you're aware that the depth is the more important one because that one has a lot more room for growth you know the other one is fixed it doesn't make sense to study more than 12 hours a day at least for me because i need to be getting like eight hours of sleep in order to get focused enough that i can study it for that long and
• 14:30 - 15:00 certain amount of focus you know i'm just rambling but the point of this section of this video is that you need to understand that the depth to which you study is far more important than how long you study and i want you to remember that whenever you study so i also wanted to talk about burnout and staying committed to this lifestyle i wish i knew all the answers but i'm not sure what to tell people when they're burned out other than i think you just need to be patient with yourself
• 15:00 - 15:30 and that you have to accept that it's always up there's also downs staying committed to this lifestyle it's not easy you know if it was easy everyone would do it but it's hard work there's a bounce between pushing yourself to the extreme and pushing yourself too hard and for a lot of people that balance is different and for me i can push myself pretty dang hard i think if i went even harder i would get burned out to be honest with you and i'm not sure
• 15:30 - 16:00 what i'd do with myself then but at the start i did get burned out and really all that i was able to do during that time was just wait until things got better and i know that's not like a great thing to say but we have to accept that things do come with both positives and negatives and that pushing yourself so hard ain't easy you know and it's not desirable always i wish i could tell you how to get out of a burnout but i can't all i can tell you is that you have to be really careful about not getting into a burnout and if you do
• 16:00 - 16:30 get into a burnout understand what happens and don't do it again i also want to talk about like your physical health and how i remains healthy you know even while sitting for 12 hours a day and the answer was i was always active outside of the studying outside of my live stream mainly running um i was training for a marathon before it was cancelled by running a 10k every few days around it three
• 16:30 - 17:00 days a week there was like a two to three week period there where i lost track of things and i wasn't exercising and man that was physically horrible i like muffin tops almost immediately i think my mental health is just down in the drains then yeah going outside and routinely getting an exercise definitely was crucial in me being able to sit down all day and another thing that was really
• 17:00 - 17:30 important was my posture if you like look at those earlier videos you can see that i have just horrible posture and that took a toll on my back after you know a few months of that and i wish i had taken it more seriously at the start but now i do take it very seriously um you can see me i use like a little angled writing stand i have an ergonomic chair in this position in a way that's very supportive of my back my lower back
• 17:30 - 18:00 my legs i wish i had made an investment in those things earlier on because while i never had to go to like the chiropractor or anything i think that i wasn't pushing people to be more posturally correct as i should have been if you're going to do something like this you need to make sure that you're physically sound you know you're eating the correct foods and the types of foods that you're eating are all healthy for you and that you're sitting correctly you're
• 18:00 - 18:30 getting enough physical exercise because that also impacts your mental health as well so yeah that was my physical health which also plays a big role in your mental health the last thing that i wanted to talk about in this video was whether or not this is for you um and i wish i could tell you whether or not it was for you but i know it's for me mainly because i really have strong aspirations i'm ambitious i want to become a better person i'm
• 18:30 - 19:00 interested in helping other people i'm interested in becoming the best version of me so those are the reasons that i think i really wanted to study a lot but maybe those things aren't priorities for you so this isn't easy by any means in fact it's very difficult and if it was easy i'm sure that plenty of people would do it right because there's a lot of benefits to pushing yourself
• 19:00 - 19:30 hard i mean i've learned so much just in the span of this pandemic i think as i grow older i'll also have to learn much more just by living in this lifestyle that i do i'm very happy and i'm present and i'm focused so i can tell you whether or not this is for you that's for you to answer but if you do decide to embark on this lifestyle i hope you do well you know i wish you the best
• 19:30 - 20:00 of luck i really do hope that um you become a greater person so yeah thank you so much for watching i hope this video was a beneficial to you but have a nice rest of your day