General

There is a compromise between passion and directed studying that gets easier as one ages. I was, and still am, largely driven by my own creative passions and curiosities. However, there can be things you need to have a solid comprehension of that fall outside of your "passion drive." This is when self control becomes more important. There are times that doing the right thing is the harder thing to do. You need to be able to sit yourself down and learn a subject even though it feels more like work than play. This is all part of growing up, sure. Yet it is also part of becoming a master at what you do - building in supporting knowledge that is more peripheral to your central aim. So, whilst it is negative to let directed study suppress your innate passions and creativity - it is also a negative to let your creativity rule the roost and not inform it with study. Balance is key, as ever.

General

When I learned how to exercise hard, to do planks and use my body weight to get strong... suddenly I could study. It was taking the determination I'd learned watching those YouTube body-workout videos and applying it to my intellectual passions. They say everything you want is on the other side of consistency, but you need gritty determination too. You need to hang in there when it starts to hurt. But then, just the same as exercise, you need to take a break... a proper one to let that brain rest. Fun and play are essential to studying because if your routine isn't sustainable, you won't go far.

By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 12, 2019*.