They say the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. Well, I think there’s a third…STUDYING! This inescapable fact applies to all of us at some point or another. And even after that final bell has rung or we’ve been awarded a degree, the need to keep learning throughout our lives is a reality we cannot elude.

Not many schools actually teach us how to study. All we’re told is to organise our notes, create a prioritised study plan, take regular breaks, and not to panic. Is that really all there is to it? Um, no. Fact is, we’re all different and generic advice like that simply won’t do. What we need is something that works for us as individuals. Fortunately, that something exists.

Switch On Your Brain (also available in South Africa) is a book I highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn better and faster than they ever have before. In it, Dr Caroline Leaf outlines seven different intelligences. Each of these has implications for the way we think and learn. Briefly, they are as follows:

Logical / Mathematical – These people think by reasoning and love experimenting, questioning, and figuring out puzzles. The intelligence can be enhanced by playing mental calculation games and practising how to remember statistics (e.g. in sports).

Visual / Spatial – These people think in images and pictures and love designing, drawing, and visualising. The intelligence can be enhanced by working with flowcharts and doodling when thinking.

Linguistic – These people think in words and love reading, writing, and telling stories. The intelligence can be enhanced by reading broadly and doing crossword puzzles.

Kinaesthetic – These people think through movement and senses and love dancing, running, and gesturing. The intelligence can be enhanced by role-play situations as well as creative movement routines.

Intrapersonal – These people think deeply inside themselves and love planning, dreaming, and setting goals. The intelligence can be enhanced by spending quiet time alone as well as by developing greater self-awareness.

Interpersonal – These people think by bouncing ideas off other people and love leading, relating and, er, partying. The intelligence can be enhanced by retelling stories as well as engaging in group work.

Musical – These people think through rhythms and melodies, and love whistling, singing, and tapping. The intelligence can be enhanced by listening to classical music and humming while you work.

Of course, these descriptions are by no means exhaustive. After providing a thorough questionnaire to determine which profiles you most fit into (there can be more than one), the book goes into much more detail and includes suggestions on keeping your brain healthy with good nutrition, planning a career that would work best given your intellectual “proclivities”, as well as how to study appropriately in school, university, and beyond. It just makes sense.

(For more resources and tips, download your free copy of “Work in Progress” exclusively from www.varsityblah.com/about and check this out too)

“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.” – Albert Einstein

Is it just me, or has life become really boring lately? This year’s seen Hollywood spew out remakes, adaptations, and trilogies by the bucket load. It’s also seen even more songs bent on getting us to “shake what our mammas gave us” and/or spell out words like D-E- L-I-C-I-O-U-S and B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Why is everything and everyone the same? When did unoriginality become the benchmark? What ever happened to fresh new ideas?

This tendency to “follow the crowd” was recently made quite clear in a quote I came across while reading Liar’s Poker (also available in South Africa), a fascinating look into the darker side of investment banking. It reads:

“Everyone wants to be [a contrarian investor], but no one is, for the sad reason that most investors are scared of looking foolish. Investors do not fear losing money as much as they fear solitude, by which I mean taking risks that others avoid. When they are losing money alone, they have no excuse for their mistake; and most investors, like most people, need excuses. They are, strangely enough, happy to stand on the edge of precipice as long as they are joined by a few thousand others.”

Fact is, we’re all different and nobody fits in with all people all the time. If anything, it seems like we’re constantly forced to adapt our mannerisms and accents depending on who it is we’re with. But why should we? Being different is nothing to be ashamed of or apologise for. And it’s definitely nothing we need to change just to make other people comfortable or happy. In my life I’ve been told that I’m a health freak, that I’m too organised, that I read too much, and even that I think too much. Paying attention to crap like that would be asking for trouble.

One of the values society needs most these days is independence. We shouldn’t be the type of people who believe certain beliefs just because we always have or live certain lives just because everyone else does. We shouldn’t be the type of people who hop on whatever bandwagon happens to be pulling into town without every taking the time to think for ourselves. We need to come up with our own ideas and be our own people.

The hardest thing about being independent is not about finding a sense of originality; it’s about keeping it. It’s so easy to feel as though there’s something wrong with us or that we need to change when everyone is doing their best to convince us that’s the case. But basing your entire sense of worth on what other people think is a dangerous thing to do. I say, screw them! Who needs to fit in, anyway? If people call you boring for preferring vanilla ice-cream above all others, it doesn’t matter. And if people call you selfish for enjoying time spent alone, you shouldn’t care. Be different. It’s your life.

 We need to stand up for ourselves and the things we believe in most, even if it means being unpopular. We need to stop accepting things at face value and start questioning the status quo, even if it means being criticised. We need to be comfortable enough with who we are so that we can constantly push our boundaries and challenge old ways of thinking. It’s the only way we can set our own standards, make our own mistakes, and live our own lives. It’s the only our lives will be worth living in the first place. It’s the only way we can make a real difference. Know what I’m sayin’?

(Eugene Yiga is the editor of Varsity Blah and his latest book is available free, exclusively from www.varsityblah.com/about)