The ‘secret devil’ shooting you in the GAMSAT foot

That filthy devil is…

Perfectionism.

It’s the worst.

WORST.

People see it as some kind of secret virtue…

“Well, I guess I’m just too much of a perfectionist”

Blahhh.

No mate, not really.

You’re actually just scared.

Scared to get it wrong.

Scared to look like a fool. (Or even to just feel like one)

Scared to put yourself out there.

And it’s not a good thing, at all. Ever.

For example,

As you probably already know…

Microsoft is the world’s largest software company and made its founder, Bill Gates, the richest man in the world for many years.

But what you might not know is that they had – and maybe even still have – an internal policy about new releases of their software that encourages imperfection.

They don’t try to get their software perfect before releasing it.

Microsoft release the best product they can, and then improve it based on feedback once it’s live.

If they tried to get it perfect, it would never be released.

Plus they would never know what ‘perfect’ was until they see what people like, don’t like, what works and what doesn’t.

It would be the height of arrogance for them to assume they knew what people would like before getting it to them.

Hence,

They start it, get it out, and improve as they go.

And ended up changing the world with the results.

In the same way,

If you try to be perfect with your GAMSAT preparation, you’re going to be stressed as hell.

Worrying about all the questions you’re getting wrong, fussing about all the stuff you don’t know, feeling like time is slipping away, and you’re never quite ‘perfect’ enough.

As a result,

People end up avoiding getting started – what if I get it wrong? What if I waste time?

They’re filled with self doubt when they get questions wrong – if I don’t get them all correct does that mean I’m going to fail?

They half-ass their study doing dumb things like sitting it as a ‘trial’ – what if I put in lots of effort and still mess it up?

They do the easy study rather than the things that actually make a difference – if I do the stuff I know and like then it’ll get it right and feel good.

Some even have a stop-start-stop-start again approach to their study – I don’t want to think about or do the study because it stresses me out… oh crap! Time’s running out so I better study… oh no! I’m getting stuff wrong and still don’t know everything, I don’t want to think about study.

Is this sounding familiar?

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.

Right?

Well, guess what!

.

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There’s a better way.

James Cameron, the legendary movie director of The Terminator, Titanic, Avatar, Aliens and more has a great approach to this.

He doesn’t go in for perfectionism.

When people ask about his work ethic and the idea of perfectionism he says, “No, I’m a greatist.”

Meaning,

He focuses on being great. Not perfect.

Be a ‘GAMSAT Greatist’.

How?

Well, after helping people with the GAMSAT for almost 15 years now and having over 50,000 people use our stuff in that time, we’ve seen it all.

A ‘GAMSAT Greatist’ is someone who:

• Gets started with their study even if they don’t know exactly how to do it. They just start. (You can start by doing a set of practice questions)
• Sees the practice questions and practice tests as feedback on what to study next, rather than a judgement on their self-worth or abilities. (Hence, that first set of practice questions will show you what your problem areas are and what to start working on).
• Continues to chip away at their weaknesses despite their doubts
• Sees the study process as the most important thing, rather than trying to control the outcome
• Gets help to overcome their weaknesses rather than stewing and struggling and getting nowhere.
• Finds out and works on what’s actually being tested in this exam rather than just the science topics.
• Focuses on progress rather than perfection.

And if you’d like to know how to do this then you can chat with Emily.

Emily is our GAMSAT Study Strategy Specialist Extraordinaire.

(That’s a mouthful!)

Essentially,

She will help you to go from being a borderline perfectionist, or a full-on raving one, to a GAMSAT Greatist…

She will show you how to change your thinking around this exam so that you’re making forward progress in your study,

She will find out what your GAMSAT hidden problem areas are,

Show you how to address them far more effectively and easily than you ever thought possible,

Work with you to put together a study plan that work with your schedule,

And give you the steps to take in order to be a GAMSAT Greatist right up until your exam.

(The worst part is she’s very lovely to talk to. Much nicer than Yours Grumpy, for now. We’re working on her.)

And she won’t charging you for it.

It’s our way of helping our beloved GAMSAT community in these crazy times.

To have this tutoring session with her, click here and enter your details.

She’ll give you a call when she has a spare minute.

Cheers,

Dr “GAMSAT Greatist” Tom