Z3D Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 All right, I might be "insane" from thinking this way, but just hear my side out as I present the following scenario. For those of you who don't know, I'm in uOttawa, finished first year in Biopharmaceutical Sciences, blah blah. Anyhow, I have this friend of mine who's finished his 1st year of Biomed at the same time. He's probably one of the most "radically different" people I've ever met in my life time. He "jogs" from 2 - 4 AM, saying that it's his peak time. He'll get an hour of sleep before exams, and usually skips class, relying on all textbook/podcasts to get his notes (save for math, because the textbook only covers 1/4 of the class). Anyhow, he's a bit smarter than I am, with his GPA JUST higher than mine. Not by a drastic lot, IMO (i.e. I'm at 3.90, he might be in the mid 90s of 3.9). Usually, I like to vent whenever I get a mark that doesn't follow my standards. His response is almost always "Well, you tried your best", or "All you can do is your best" before an exam. Maybe I'm not seeing something here, but I absolutely cringe when I hear those statements. For some reason, I feel like I'm being demotivated as in "Oh, you only have a certain best, and you won't be able to go beyond said 'best'". I hate it when people attempt to impose limits on me because it frustrates me and motivates me to push further. Sadly this is how I usually get higher grades or eventually succeed someone in something. I mean, why get in the idea that you have a "best"? Isn't the point of human improvement to keep achieving a new "best"? What do you think? It's something that's been bugging me for a while. O__O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Be full of win. If you are not winning hard enough, you aren't winning and in fact losing. Or you couldn't (and shouldn't) care less. 3.9 is MORE than enough for med schools.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3D Posted May 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Don't get me wrong, I know that 3.9 is more than solid as my first year mark, and all the other things, and so on. #1) How does one "be full of win"? It's always hard for me to get a "boost start", and hearing things like that always makes me re-evaluate my "true" best and all, if you get my drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hking03 Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 All right, I might be "insane" from thinking this way, but just hear my side out as I present the following scenario. For those of you who don't know, I'm in uOttawa, finished first year in Biopharmaceutical Sciences, blah blah. Anyhow, I have this friend of mine who's finished his 1st year of Biomed at the same time. He's probably one of the most "radically different" people I've ever met in my life time. He "jogs" from 2 - 4 AM, saying that it's his peak time. He'll get an hour of sleep before exams, and usually skips class, relying on all textbook/podcasts to get his notes (save for math, because the textbook only covers 1/4 of the class). Anyhow, he's a bit smarter than I am, with his GPA JUST higher than mine. Not by a drastic lot, IMO (i.e. I'm at 3.90, he might be in the mid 90s of 3.9). Usually, I like to vent whenever I get a mark that doesn't follow my standards. His response is almost always "Well, you tried your best", or "All you can do is your best" before an exam. Maybe I'm not seeing something here, but I absolutely cringe when I hear those statements. For some reason, I feel like I'm being demotivated as in "Oh, you only have a certain best, and you won't be able to go beyond said 'best'". I hate it when people attempt to impose limits on me because it frustrates me and motivates me to push further. Sadly this is how I usually get higher grades or eventually succeed someone in something. I mean, why get in the idea that you have a "best"? Isn't the point of human improvement to keep achieving a new "best"? What do you think? It's something that's been bugging me for a while. O__O you're projecting your world view onto your friends statements... perhaps your friend is saying you did your best because he doesn't want to see you fall apart... everybody should be motivated to do their best... i would say that people do have a certain limit to what they can achieve. some people will never be able to run a sub 3 hour marathon either because they don't want to or because their body, for whatever reason cannot take them to that level. some people will never be able to understand quantum mechanics, others may be able to understand it, but won't be able to contribute something meaningful to the body of knowledge. it's not a slight against your potential, or lack thereof, or whatever... it is what it is. i couldn't go out and beat usain bolt in a 100m dash... i'm not bummed about that because some people were just meant to do things that others can't even comprehend. i'm not destined to be the next math prodigy... no big deal. i'll just do my best and forget the rest (thanks tony horton). we try and insulate ourselves from perceived failures... it's a coping mechanism. perhaps your friend is just trying to help you develop that coping mechanism. you might find that chilling out and not getting so down about being beaten on an exam might make your life more enjoyable... that's my take on it at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3D Posted May 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 True, but when said person keeps beating you on most things (not all of them), it's kind of hard to take said person seriously in the way they want you too. <.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hking03 Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 True, but when said person keeps beating you on most things (not all of them), it's kind of hard to take said person seriously in the way they want you too. <.< How do you think this person wants you to take him? If he is saying you did your best and is genuine... it's pretty straight forward. He probably feels bad for you because you appear to take this to heart... If he isn't being genuine than it's lip service and you shouldn't pay any attention to it anyways. But honestly, why would he waste his time placating you. He probably is genuine. At the end of the day, a lot of it comes from our own perception of others actions... just like on this forum. I could read a post by another member and think that he/she is trying to troll, or I could think that person is genuinely curious about something... it's all about our perception and how we handle it. Your friend is just trying to be your friend in the only way he knows how. If you've got a problem with it you need to decide if you talk to him about it or not... I'd suggest just relaxing and realizing that it could be a lot worse. Your friend could beat the crap out of you on every test and rub it in your face... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3D Posted May 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 I guess so. I've tried talking to him about it, but he's just too damn optimistic to argue with. =P As for the people who like to brag about how awesome they did, I usually beat said people so I don't worry about those types too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3D Posted May 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 I don't consider it irony because I posted my mark, I just did it so people could get an idea of where me and my friend stand objectively, and relatively to each other. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think that posting your grades that are high necessarily constitutes bragging. =\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixFlare500 Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Haha it's irony not because you posted your mark but because it seems like you're bragging about beating the people who brag about their marks which you made out to be a bad thing. Anyways, if he's really your friend then he just means well. Quite honestly I think there is a "best" that you can do. As previously mentioned, some people are better athletes than others. Some people have the ability to think in ways other people can't and go on to come up with new scientific theories and invent crazy things. In the same way, someone might be able to get a 95% really easily on some test, while some other person might only be able to an 80% really easily on that test, just due to differences in prior knowledge, ability to take in information, etc. An 80's nothing to be ashamed of, and that person should be happy that they tried. Now that 80% person could try to learn new study habits or methods and bump their marks up and become a 90% person, which I'm sure is totally doable, they just had a harder time doing it. Now eventually, no matter what you say, you're going to hit some limit. You can only take in some amount of information at one time and remember it all. In the same way, you can only run at a certain maximum speed. You could train day and night to run faster and faster, but eventually you'll reach some kind of peak no matter how hard you try, because you were just built a certain way. If you got a 6'7" dude with huge legs and a 5'4" guy, same muscle to fat to mass ratio, the tall one's gonna win. To me it just follows that you have some kind of mental capacity limit as well. Maybe you haven't reached it yet, and maybe you can start to beat your friend regularly, but it might not be worth it. To continue on with the running example, in order to get up to and maintain your maximum running speed, you really have to focus on that one thing and let it take over your life. Or, you could just settle for a bit under your maximum running speed and have more of a life outside of that. Same thing with the mental capacity or information capacity or w/e. You could study and read all day and night, which I'm sure some people do, and ace every single one of your tests. And then you might not have a lot of friends, or extracurricular activities (for your own well-being, not just to pad your med school applications, ). Or you could go socialize a bit more and "settle" for 90s. Which aren't terrible marks. It depends on your priorities. To go along with that, you have to learn to be happy with those not-so-terrible marks. You have to learn to be happy to let someone else achieve more than you and to be happy with who you are as a person with whatever abilities you may or may not have. Otherwise you're going to go through life always wanting to be the best, always wanting to be on top, but there's always going to be someone just ahead of you. Unless you happen to be that one special person that's gonna cure cancer in which case good for you. For the rest of us we just have to live with who we are without being jealous of the people around us. This wasn't meant to attack the OP or anything btw, just some thoughts that apply to the general reader, and I'm sure some people will disagree with me, which you are totally free to express. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharmingHedgehog Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 wanting to be "the best" is a good attitude in general. But there is not only a limit on what you can do, there is also a limit on what you are will to do, how long you are willing to try to be "the best" (aka give a damn). For example, throughout grade school, high school and first year undergrad, I tried to be the best in all my courses, and I did really well. When I got into pharmacy, I was completely demotivated by my lecturers and the faculty, and I decided, you know what, screw this. I don't need to be the best whatever the crap they are teaching me here (for the record, it was physical chemistry and social sciences), i'd rather sleep. I'm pretty sure at that moment, I hit my limit of "trying to be the best". In terms of "trying your best"... I think there is a limit to what is the most you can do. Like many people mentioned before, everyone has limits. For example, I hate biology with a passion, and try as I may, I cannot make myself remember, or care, enough to get 100%. So I have accepted that my best is an 83 I think I turned into the classic underachiever in pharmacy. Hopefully my keenerdom will return in med =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 i'm not sure you understand what the phrase means, best doesn't necessarily refer to your abilities at all, it can, but it doesn't have too. basically, no matter how hard you try, an outcome isn't solely determined by factors you can control, there are always outside factors which contribute to an outcome. when people say you can only try your best they're not saying that there is necessarily an implicit internal limitation to what you can contribute to something or achieve, but there are external factors, too, and that when you don't get the result you want you have to realize that sometime those internal factors may have been inhibited or interfered with by external factors. you might be annoying your friend, because your friend sounds exactly like me, i'd skip class, borrow notes, stay up all nite and all that other stuff and still end up with good marks... but a big thing with me is when i don't get what i want, i tend to externalize the reason (i stayed up to late and that's why i did bad) rather than internalize it, if i internalized everything i failed at i'd be a wreck since i've failed at a lot more things than i've succeeded at, so i just say i put my best effort forth and didn't get the result i wanted, but that's one day and that's it, tomorrows a new day, no need to ***** and complain all day, won't do me any good... it's also way funner to go through life without having a life crises every time something doesn't meet your expectations, because you're going to fail a lot, no matter how hard you try! you'd be surprised at how many of the "highest achieving" people in history didn't care and even held in contempt the notion of continually being the "best", whatever that is anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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