Hey guys! Today I'm going to be talking a little bit about something that a lot of quizzers have trouble with, and that I've had trouble with, too! It's a very common issue, something that stunts a quizzer's progress, and/or their motivation to keep working hard - and it's especially common around this time of the season. So what is this thing we'll be talking about? Well I guess you can see from the title, that it is none other than... REVIEWING! :P Yeah, yeah, big surprise, I know. But it is actually one of the most (if not the most) important things to learn how to do, if you want to be the best quizzer that you possibly can. But before we hop right into that, I just wanted to mention really briefly, about something that happened this past weekend, that has never happened before, in the history of TBQJ.... I posted THREE SEPARATE YOUTUBE VIDEOS in two days! These three videos were, in order, "Vlog #12 - The Aspects of God", "My Testimony, Part 1", and finally, "My Testimony, Part 2". And I'm so excited for you guys to see them! If you haven't seen them yet, you can check out my YouTube Channel ("Mallory Leake"), scroll down to the previous two posts, or click/tap on the "Vlogs (Season 1)" category, in the sidebar. I really hope that you enjoyed them if you have already seen them, and that you will enjoy them, when you watch them after reading this post :P LOL BUT ANYWAYS, lets get into the awesome topic, of REVIEWING..... First of all, if you didn't know, reviewing is really important. Often, it's the single stepping stone between 20th place, and placing in the top ten, or even the top five (or higher ;)). Also, it saves you a TON of time, especially if you're memorizing any amount of the material. Why? Because you won't have to go through the process of re-memorizing a bunch of stuff. And that's usually not much fun :P. And for something that important, and something that vital to your success as a quizzer, it's actually pretty darn simple, and easy! So I'm going to be showing you a few different ways that you can learn how to review like a pro in no time. Kinds of review: Basically, a quizzer learns the material in one of two ways; memorized, or learned-in-essence. This generally depends both on how competitive the quizzer is, and what question type(s) they specialize in (and sometimes, even what kind of studying they've done in past years, and what kind of studying they learned to do first, when they first started quizzing). Here are a few of the main ways that you can actually go about reviewing the material, for each of these ways: Memorized:
Learned-in-essence:
Three extra tips about reviewing:
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I think it was 10 Result-Focused Study Hacks, a super fun post by the way (:P), doing recall/review FIRST is extremely effective - probably a lot more than you think. It's like doing cardio first thing in the morning, before breakfast - it's really hard and it sucks, but you'll be surprised by how big, and rewarding, the results will be. Doing review, especially recall practice, when you haven't seen/thought about the material since the previous day (or a few days ago :P), then your brain will have to think a lot harder, and eventually, your recall speed and accuracy will be really, really good!
Learning it in your spirit, and learning it in regard to how it actually pertains to you and your life, and the people around you, is the absolute best way that you can go about really remembering something. Why? Because it will mean something to you on a whole different level. If we study our quiz material, whatever it might be, like a textbook in school, then it will only penetrate our intellectual side. But, if we look at it, study it, and quiz over it like it's supposed to be (as the Word of God), then it will penetrate into our spirit. And only then, will God be able to teach us about something that's in our quiz material - and only then, will quizzing begin to have an affect on the rest of our lives.
There's no need to have a whole, elaborate reviewing plan - that just gets confusing and discouraging, most of the time :P. Instead, we can go about it in a super simple, straight forward way, and still reap a ton of great results from it! Here's a way that you can do that: Take the material that you're studying right now, and count how many chapters you have in total. Next, take the total number of days THIS WEEK that you'll be able to study (be real, too - don't set unrealistic expectations or goals, if you have a super busy week! :)). Next, figure out how many chapters you'll be able to, and want to, work on really reviewing this week (remember to take into consideration any quizzes/tournaments you may have coming up!). And finally, separate that many chapters into each of your studying days this week, and WRITE IT DOWN! You don't want to forget your plan, after all of the hard work you just did, to figure it out ;). But of course, a plan is always just a plan, unless you put in the dirty work, and get it done during the week. You can do it!!! Well, my friends, that is the post for today. I hope that this helps you in your quizzing journey, and that you are now better equipped to study and review more effectively, this week, this season, and in the seasons yet to be! :P
Don't forget to check out those new YouTube videos I just posted a few days ago, if you haven't seen them yet, and I will see you guys in our TBQJ Newsletter this Sunday, and then back again next Monday, for another exciting "God-centered, quizzing-oriented" blog post! Keep quizzing and living victoriously, because it is your birthright that no one can take away. You're a beautiful, beloved and treasured, perfect, holy, strong, and courageous child of the Most High King of Glory, today!! I love you guys, but God loves you so much incredibly more <3. Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory
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Heyo Quiz-Journeyers! I hope you've all had a fantastic week, leading a victorious life in our wonderful Lord Jesus! Before we get into the topic for today, I just want to tell you about my little testimony from this week. If you don't want to/don't feel like reading it, you can go ahead and scroll down to the next section :P. I hit a few bumps this week that caught me off guard, but when I hit my lowest point, yesterday afternoon/evening, a friend reminded me that I was in a prime situation to make the devil really, really mad. So I put on my headphones, turned on some worship music and started reading some small passages - from John, Psalms, Ephesians, and especially First John. I remembered, when I got to chapter 4 of First John, that verses 18-19 had been our "Verse of The Week" the week before, and that I had even mentioned it in my vlog. It was a funny moment though, because when I was getting a download from God about there being no reason to fear anything, the chorus of "No Longer Slaves" was blasting in my ears. It was saying, "I'm no longer a slave to fear - I am a child of God!". I realized that I was having SUCH a hard heart (through focusing on everything that I had opportunity to worry about) that I wasn't hearing what God was practically yelling for me to hear. I'm so glad that my Jesus doesn't give up on me - even after I fail to (and even sometimes refuse to) hear what He's trying to get across to me. But anyway... I just wanted to share that with you guys, in case you were having a harder week like I was. I think it's awesome too, that whenever we (force ourselves to) sit down and have a coffee date with the Lord, that He never fails to communicate to us how much He really loves us personally. But that's enough testimony for today - let's go ahead and skip to the part where I get to give you some quizzing-oriented value in this post! :P Like the title of this post says, we are going to be hitting on the subject of "Going Full Throttle" - I'm super excited! What I mean by that title, though, is about starting to live with 10 times the amount of energy and passion that other people have, and 10 times the size of other people's goals and aspirations - and through doing those things, get 10 TIMES the results that those people get. You might be already shrinking back, thinking, "Mallory, I don't have time to do that", or "Mallory, there's no way I can keep up a lifestyle like that". But I'm going to show you how you can live by this philosophy, and get these kinds of results, and NOT become a recluse who's always in their home just working on things and who doesn't have a life. In addition, I'm going to show you how you can do this AND avoid any kind of burn out along the way. SO LETS DO IT! First off, if you're not totally sold on WHY you should go "full throttle", here are just a few of the awesome reasons...
This is a pretty common saying in the business (and education) world, but that doesn't make it any less true :P. If you want to end up being above average, then you're going to have to put in above average actions - that means reminding yourself to have above average thoughts, goals, and habits.
I know this might sound kind of weird, but how awesome would it be to be so good that you're not only competing against everyone else, but completely dominating the quiz round? It's not pride or obsessive to try and accomplish this - it's Biblical principle to be "above and not beneath" and have everything that you put your hand to, to prosper (Psalms 1).
Again, this is obviously a very common phrase :P, but we all know it's accurate. Set your goals so high, that even if you miss your mark, you're still ending up in a better place than everyone (or most everyone) else. For example, one of my goals for this year is to get in the top five at Q2017 (specifically, 1st place :P), and I'm happy with that goal, and excited to work towards it! Why? Because even if I don't make first place, I'll still have a good shot at being in the top ten (the ones who get awards). The mindset of going full throttle, is based on determination to achieve greatness, and to be the very best. All you have to do to start implementing this way of thinking/living, is to decide that you want it the most. Once you want success as badly as you want to breathe, then you will be successful. Now, I still hold that quizzing should never actually be that important to you, and more important that everything in your life - because that's not the kind of obsession that God deems acceptable - but it's a helpful thought at times. Here are just a few practical ways that you can start to try out this mindset/lifestyle:
But anything that you can think of, that might seem a little crazy at first, would most likely result in a great "full throttle" aspiration. That's the post for today, guys - I hope you enjoyed it! Once again, remember to keep quizzing and living victoriously, like the incredible child of God that you are!
Love y'all, have an awesome week! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hello there, Quiz-Journeyers! How are ya doing today? How has your week been? I missed you guys! :P In this post, we're going to be doing something a little different, but super cool... A "roundup" of my favorite four things (studying styles, planning techniques, tools, etc.) from my fourth year in Bible quizzing. So lets jump into it! Number One: The "reference" tool on Quiz Master (you can purchase this software here: QuizMaster). Since I focused more on According To's last year than I had in previous seasons, I was kind of at a loss on how to study for them effectively. I tried writing out my own flashcards for the verses in Luke, because I know some people who do that and it works really well for them (shoutout to you guys)! But it just wasn't for me. I didn't like having to actually handle them, and having to shuffle them, and not being able to study specific chapters without spending a lot of time re-organizing the cards. Maybe I'm just impatient, I don't know :P. But in the reference tool, you can easily choose which verses, sections or chapters you'd like to study, and you can even use it to study in different ways (I'll probably write a post just on what I learned about According To's later on ;)). I really benefitted from this tool! Number Two: Printed daily schedules/to-do lists VS. Written out. I found that on the days when I went to all of the trouble to type and print out my quizzing tasks (especially when I did it the night before), instead of just scribbling it down in the morning with everything else, I'm more compelled to do it. It like, since I put in all the effort, and I don't want to waste any paper or ink, I might as well just do what I had planned, and make it worth while. Does that make sense? Number Three: On busy days, make it a kind of one-person-party, late-night study session. I had a lot of busy days this past school year, and I wasn't always able to get to my quizzing preparation during the day (because near the end of the season I had a bunch to catch up on), so I had to do it pretty late at night after I had finished everything else. I would get my PJs on (after everyone else had gone to bed), with slippers, pour myself a glass of chocolate milk or hot cocoa, and figure out what I needed to accomplish before I went to bed. Then I would write it down, to keep track of it, get out my portion, and pace back and forth across the kitchen and dining room... for a long time :P. BUT I ended up getting a LOT done in those late-night study sessions! I was behind in memorizing basically all of Luke, so a little while after I had started the crazy memorizing schedule (25 verses/day, 6 days/week), I had to start this nightly routine to make sure I got it done, at least fairly consistently. And it worked! Number Four: Month-before-tournament quizzing review/evaluation & planning. I've found that about a month before an important tournament (or just a regular quiz) is a good time to take a step back from your work, and evaluate what you've done, what you want, and what you still need to do in order to achieve it - they're typically called "reviews". A lot of people do weekly/monthly/annual reviews over life in general. It's a specific time you set aside to revisit your goals and resolutions, gauge how you've done, and make necessary adjustments to your life system - whether that be physically, financially, relationally, or even spiritually. When I started to do these reviews, I was better able to outline what I needed and wanted to do in the following month, so that I could perform how I wanted (or close to how I wanted) at the tournament. That being said, I obviously did not always meet all of the points on that outline that I drew out, but it did set me up for better success than I would otherwise - I definitely recommend this system to any quizzer! So there are my top four favorites from my fourth quiz season - I can't wait to see what new things this season brings!
I would really encourage you today, to be on the watch for what your favorites are throughout this season! Find out what you like, what works best for you, and what might have even saved you from crashing and burning ;). I want to mention too, that my "favorites" have not been alike through my different years in quizzing, and yours don't have to look exactly like mine. Growth is a good thing, and sometimes that comes with difficult change and maybe even letting go of some old stuff. But as long as you're moving towards a better place, no change or "loss" is necessarily a bad thing. You might feel like you're taking a step backwards, but you're taking ten steps forwards! I hope you guys have an awesome week, and always remember that our Father loves you and so do I! Quiz-Journeyers, keep on quizzing and living VICTORIOUSLY! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hello again! Today is the last post in the "Takeoff" series (for now), and we're going to be talking about the part of the takeoff where most of the real power is packed - implementation. Clear vision + detailed goals + hard work (implementation) = SUCCESS! So lets get right into this today! What do I mean by, "tool belt"? A quiz tool belt, to me, is a collection of the following things, that all work together to help you get to where you want to be...
The tool belt is often a key factor in how a quizzer performs - for example, a quizzer who has an established memorizing strategy (not only for how many verses to memorize per day, but when to memorize them, and in what way), will probably end up learning more and learning it better than someone who doesn't. So here are three things you can arm your tool belt with this year... 1. Keeping your vision statement and goals (checkpoints) in an easy-to-see place, and reviewing them daily/weekly I know, it sounds super cliché, but keeping your "eye on the prize" helps you to work towards what you want most, instead of what you may want in the moment. For instance, whenever I need to get some serious studying done (usually in preparation for a quiz event), one of the most effective ways to get results is by remembering why I am working - I may want to quiz out in a round at this tournament, or I may want to beat a certain person, or place high individually (you get the picture) - whatever it may be, it's why I'm now going to work my tail off to achieve it. Does that make sense? So throughout the entire season, after you've hung up your vision statement and/or checkpoints to get you there, take the time to really review them every once in a while, in order to keep your motivation levels high. 2. Focus on just one thing - don't become overwhelmed by the dream (no matter how big) Use the KISS principle: Keep It Stupid Simple. And the reason? It can be really easy, no matter what time of the year it is, to look at all of your high aspirations and think "I'm never going to get there from here. There's no way." However, keeping everything in quizzing (and in life) crazy simple, brings it into a proper perspective, and thereby helps us to get the best results from our time (and not waste any by stressing over it :P). Hear me when I say (type) this... Think of the best thing that you could possibly achieve in quizzing (first place, top team in the region, etc.), and then keep dreaming that! Nothing you want from quizzing, and nothing you want from this life is out of reach for you. You know why? Jesus! Philippians 4:13, a popular but powerful scripture, says that you can do all things through Him - ALL THINGS. I'm saying this to myself as much as (or even more than) I'm saying it to you. Recently, I've been focusing on seeking the Lord about my future (career stuff), and I've been talking to some of the spiritual leaders in my life about it too. And the small pieces that I'm seeing, of what I believe my life is going to be like, have the potential to overwhelm me - but in Jesus' name, they won't. But you know, this brings up a larger problem. Whenever we get intimidated by a dream or aspiration or whatever it may be, it opens the door wide open for a very common (but very damaging) lie of the devil to creep in and make a home in our hearts: "I'm not good enough." I wrote another post entirely about contradicting these lies (and who they come from) so I won't say much about it here. But for now, until you go read that (:P), remember that it's simply not true, and that you have the ability to refute it and reject it and throw it out of your mind and heart (with the help of our Father). 3. Take small and steady steps if you want to be effective Consistency is something that I think probably everyone has trouble with, but I think that the biggest way to help with it, is to remind yourself that you don't have to get everything done in one day - it's okay to take small steps. Every day, no matter how far you go, as long as you're moving forward, is a productive day in my mind. Setting awesomely high goals is important, and really healthy for that matter, but you don't have to achieve those goals within 24 hours. As long as you're taking a step in the right direction, no matter if it's the tiniest movement in history, you can be proud, because you're not one of the people who took steps backwards today. So there you go! Having a fully stocked (and functional) tool belt that you can use to help you along your quizzing journey is, again, often a key factor in the results that quizzers end up with - I would encourage you to keep building it this season, and to not neglect it ;).
I was hoping to have a full set of awesome printables ready for this finale today, and I do have some of them completed and ready to go (they are pretty much FIRE! :P) but some things came up this weekend and today and I wasn't able to get them perfect for you guys today :(. But just know, that we have some pretty awesome new stuff (I know, more new stuff, it's crazy right?!) coming out very soon, and it does have to do with printables to go along with the posts that I make for you guys. Anyways, I hope that you all have absolutely phenomenal weeks, and that your quizzing hits a success peak higher than ever before, this year! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey guys! Today we are following up last week's post, which was about how you can create your vision for this season - so if you haven't read that, you definitely should :P. But the focus today will be on planning your success, or planning how you are going to achieve that vision. Like I said in that post, this system is a great thing to design and put into action at the beginning of the season, because it gives you motivation to work your hardest, and also the ability to be focused in that work. So lets get into it! First off - What is planning your success, and why should you? "Planning your success" is making specific, tangible, and periodic goals (you can think of these like checkpoints) that support, and take you to your overall dream. This technique, just like creating a vision statement, is something that a lot of successful business people put into action. Why is that? Because it works! The benefits of creating and following this kind of goal/checkpoint progression are extensive, but here's the three main ones...
And that leads me to the next point, which is... How can you incorporate "checkpoints" into your vision, and make them compatible? For one, you need to have written (and revised) your vision first :P, but once you have done that, there are a few things to consider.
Like I said in my post about How To Make a Regional Team, it's best to simply OVERESTIMATE the work/effort, so that you can set yourself up for the best results possible! Aim for the moon, and if you fail, you'll still be hitting the stars ;P. Here's a (very drastic) example of how to do this: "My vision is to make FIRST at Q2018, after making the Regional A team in my region. I will memorize and perfect my knowledge of First and Second Corinthians, and improve my jumping/answering with the following elements - 1) learning how to lip read, 2) knowing the memory verses in alphabetical order, and 3) be able to finish general questions from the third syllable." An example of what some overall goals (stepping stones, checkpoints, etc..) would be for this veru drastic vision statement, would be...
And so on, and so on, going throughout the end of the season and ending with you accomplishing the things that you mentioned in your vision statement. But in general, if you hit the major points that you will need, in order to reach your vision THIS season, you'll be golden. That being said, there are several different ways that you can compose this list of checkpoints, and that's what we'll be discussing next... Different types of plans to choose from, that outline your goals: The main difference between these following options are the time windows within they will be completed - basically, they define how specific you want/need your plan for success to be. I am going to quickly list these different options, and then we will dig a little into each of them and talk about their biggest pros and cons.
For me, either the weekly or biweekly formats usually work the best with how I operate, and how I plan out the rest of the activities/responsibilities in my life - and you can easily change the format later on, if the one you choose doesn't end up working very well. The seasonal/monthly goals: These can easily be vague, so you have to be careful with them (because the point of planning out your success is to be specific and show you the exact next steps to take). However, the upside to having these kind of goals, is that you can break them down into smaller steps, that you can accomplish within the larger timeline. If you're looking for a planning system that is pretty laid-back, then this is the one for you! The biweekly/weekly goals: These are a good balance (in my experience) between the possible vagueness of the seasonal/monthly format, and the very specific (and sometimes stressful) format of the every-other day/daily one. They are specific enough that you can easily track your progress and performance, but vague enough that you still have some wiggle room in the event that "life happens" :P and it inevitably does, so it's no reason to get discouraged! I like this format because it gives me the closely-dictated direction that I require in busy, everyday life, but it also gives me a good amount of breathing room, so that I can remember to focus on the things that are higher than quizzing on my priority list. The every-other day/daily goals: This format can (unfortunately) end up being a source of completely unnecessary stress - all stress is unnecessary :P. That is because if you get behind just a few days, it can become a race against discouragement, especially if you haven't already settled within yourself the issue of Christ-confidence and who you are/who God says you are. However, the benefits of this format can be incredibly explosive! Why? Because you're more focused on getting specific things done, and taking steps forward and towards your end-of-season vision EVERY SINGLE DAY. "Success is the simple accumulation of good habits, repeated day after day." -Unknown I would (more-so) promote this format to quizzers who have already been in the sport for a few years, because they already have a good understanding of everything it entails, but as long as the quizzer knows how to use it in a healthy manner, it would be very beneficial. In conclusion: Pick and start out with whichever format you think will work best for you, but don't hesitate at any point this season to...
In the end, it's not the plan that's going to take you to your dream; its you! So take care of, and pay more attention to yourself, than you do to the plan. Guess what? I made a special workbook that will help you do what I've been talking about! Click the button below to snag it! What happens after you have your checkpoints in order? We will be finishing up this series in an awesome finale next Monday - you won't want to miss this one!
We will be focusing on what to do with you vision, and with this new plan for success. It's all well and good if you work for, and buy a car, but it won't do anything for you and you won't reap any of it's benefits until you actually learn how to drive it! I hope that this post has been very helpful and insightful for you guys, and that this week proves to be exciting, fulfilling, full of joy and revealing of the amazing love that our Father has for you! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory P.s. Don't forget: we have just come out with a BRAND NEW feature, TBQJ Biweekly Newsletter! If you'd like to receive tons of valuable and entirely exclusive content, or simply learn more about it, hop on over to our new page, "Newsletter"! |
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Trending Posts:Author:Mallory is a graduated Teen Bible Quizzer originally from the Southern region, moved to the Northwest, coaching quizzing over the book of Matthew. Check out our
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