There is a (very possibly apocryphal) story about Albert Einstein referring to compound interest as the 8th wonder of the world. It could be true. Compound interest is frickin’ amazing. Money making money and then that money making more money. It’s bananas. Whether it’s working for you or against you, it’s very powerful. We’ll be getting to money and PA student issues early in 2021. I think the January 2021 issue of PAES is going to cover ways to earn significant money while in PA school and fit it in around your busy schedule, but I digress.
The point today isn’t to talk about money. The point today is talk about the effects of compounding. Money is just an easy analogy because money is easy to track and measure. Today I’m talking about compounding knowledge. Compounding knowledge – learning something that makes learning other things easier – is perhaps even more powerful than compound interest.
I’m talking about skills. Skills that you learn and then get to keep forever. Skills that help you with other challenges.
Typing is another good analogy. I have often said that the arguably the greatest gift my parents ever gave me was in my freshman year of high school, they forced me to take a typing class. I fought and kicked and pleaded, but there was no getting around it.
It’s at least reasonable to say that without that silly class, I would not be writing this very email to you today. The course of my life was altered by learning that one skill. Because I can type, I can write faster. I can write an email every day and still write a 6,000-word newsletter every month. I was able to learn to write because I could type.
What I’m getting at here is that there are key skills that unlock doors; and they unlock them forever. They aren’t one-off things.
You can learn the Krebs cycle, but did that take you anywhere else or did you just learn that one thing?
What if you could learn to learn faster? What if you could learn to study so that you remembered what you had covered? What if, with no more effort than you putting in now, you could get through and retain twice as much as you do now?
I assure you, you can. Learning and studying are skills, no different than learning to type or ride a bike. It’s assumed that you have these skills because you’re smart. Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re happy with how much you remember after you study. Maybe you’re happy with your test scores. Perfect!
But if not…. well, then you might want to take a peek at the Early-Black-Friday Special I’m running for a day or two more. This baby is packed with goodies to help you up your game. I’m not going to rehash it all here in this email.
Here’s the link if you’d like to take a look:
https://www.physicianassistantexamreview.com/2020preBF
Brian Wallace