Hey Quiz-Journeyers! I'm super sorry this post is a day late, I had a crazy day yesterday :P. But anyways, I've got some pretty cool content planned for you, so let's hop right in to the introduction! In this post, as you can see by the title, I'll be talking a little about having a "knack for bouncing back". And what I mean by that, is building and perfecting (through quizzing, mostly) the skill of bouncing back from set backs. Now, you may be thinking that I'm just going to repeat everything I said in my "Pulling Off a Killer Comeback" post back in September. Wrong! The difference between that post and this post, is that I was mostly talking about the benefits to "coming back", while in this post, I'll be sharing with you the Biblical view on it, and I hope it blesses you! (By the way, I also have a detailed, interactive, and entertaining workbook to walk you through the entire process; You can check that out right here, or through the link in the post I just mentioned!) So first off, why is bouncing back important? Why is it an imperative skill to learn? Bouncing back is a necessary thing to be able to do (and do well), because it's what separates mistakes from failure. You only really fail when you don't get back up. I've failed (and still fail) a lot - pretty much every other hour - so you can see why I've had to start learning this lesson for myself. I guess I've always had a problem with failure, just like most people... But the key to not letting failure discourage you, is remembering that it doesn't define who you are, who you will be, or what you will be able to accomplish in the future. It's separating your identity from your ability. You may think that what we do is the only way to know who someone is, but that's not how our Heavenly Father sees it at all. He doesn't change how He sees us, or how He acts towards us based on anything we do, or based on His obligation - He only acts out of love for His kids. Out of His love for us. Bouncing back is a very Biblical skill. Take Philippians 3:13-14 for example. Paul says to "forget what is behind," (what we've done in the past) "and strain towards what is ahead", so that we can keep focused on getting better and better every single day, and not waste any more time looking backwards. You can't move forward very well if you're all turned around like that. I've never met anyone who can run better backwards than forwards - if you try to do that, you'll trip and fall down a lot more. God knows this, so He tells us, "It's okay, My grace is sufficient for you! Don't worry about anything that you've done badly, or haven't done. Focus - set your thoughts and energy and passion - towards what I've set before you, right now, to accomplish. I haven't given you a spirit of fear, so don't fear failure. Rather, look to your marvelous future with an expectation, and imagination, of the good success that I have already promised you, and given you the ability to achieve." Thank you God, thank you Daddy, for blessing us with this! How is bouncing back a skill? And how can I learn it? Obviously (I hope :P), bouncing back is definitely a skill that has to be learned; we don't have this ability programed into us right when, or before, we're born. Bouncing back has a lot to do with diligence and persistence, because it takes guts - courage - to get back up right after you've fallen down to try again; to risk falling down again. Persistence is a highly valued trait by God, because it's only when we're persistent that we will achieve real (and sweet) success: "nothing worth while ever comes easy, and nothing that comes easy is ever worth while" (that's just a quote, not a verse :P). Let me ask you this: how did you learn how to read? Someone probably taught you, for starters. You began with easy things, right? And then as you got better at it, you advanced on to harder things. You went from reading little board books to novels. But you see, it never got easier - you just got better. And this is true with everything in the Kingdom. You get better at believing for things, at casting down thoughts that don't align with the guidelines in Philippians 4, at talking with the Lord, at speaking out what you're believing, and the list goes on, and on, and on. But the difficulty of the things themselves never changed; you did. It's the same with bouncing back from set backs. When you make a mistake, you have to learn how to catch yourself right there, not let yourself get discouraged, and choose to strain towards what is ahead - with an expectation of good success. It takes a little while to change your habits. Apparently, from what I've read, it takes 30 days to make a habit, and 90 days to make a lifestyle. 30-90 days to change your behavior for the rest of your life. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. However, those 30-90 days are the hardest you'll ever have to work! Changing something about yourself isn't usually an easy thing to do. BUT, it's a lot easier when you have God right there by your side, holding your hand, helping you along, and giving you pep talks and incredible love EVERY STEP of the way. He wants you to live life to the absolute fullest. That means that He is going to mentor you, help you along, answer your questions, be insanely gracious and patient, and give you the strength you need (and even more)! Whenever I'm feeling discouraged, or feeling like I don't know how to "do life", God always reminds me of this verse: Psalms 16:11, "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Do you want to learn how to make bouncing back from set backs a habit, and learn how to not get discouraged from any mistakes you may make? God is on board to help you with it, and He will not ever put a time limit on you, or run out of patience, or pressure you in any way. Because He's got you, you've got this. Don't forget: I have a totally free, fun, interactive, and entertaining (with stories of my personal experience in quizzing) workbook that will take you step by step through the process of bouncing back (or pulling off a killer comeback).
So go ahead and do yourself a favor and download yourself a copy ;D. Haha I'm just kidding. But seriously, I think it'll really help you out if you're struggling with anything like this. BUT ANYWAY guys, I hope that you enjoyed this post, and that you will join me again on Sunday for our biweekly newsletter, and again next Monday, as we continue our wonderful quizzing journey together. Remember, Quiz-Journeyers, WE quiz, and we live, VICTORIOUSLY! Have an incredible week! I love you guys! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory
0 Comments
Hey guys! How are y'all doing? Corinthians treating you alright so far this year? I don't know about you, but even this early into the season, I'm already impressed and encouraged by all of the progress I'm seeing in the quizzers around me - both in the competition, and in Godly character. Today I've got something pretty awesome for you... a Q&A with a (very) experienced according to quizzer, Nathan Bizeau! After the Q&A, I'm going to come back in and wrap up the post with the three top things that I've learned, in my (much less impressive :P) according to experience. So lets do it! Question #1: Why have you chosen to specialize in According To's in the past? A: "Three reasons: (1) doing them makes me more helpful to my team, (2) they are a tremendous asset to me in high-level competition, and (3) According To's are AWESOME, and great fun to do!" Question #2: Can you describe the most effective review strategy you've found for According To's? A: "After memorizing a chapter, quoting it backwards, verse by verse (beginning with the last verse in a chapter and working back towards the first) is the review method that I most often use. This helps me to be able to identify each verse individually, without depending on the verses preceding it." Question #3: What is a good answering strategy for beginners in According To's? A: "Go through the verse in your head, phrase by phrase, and ask questions so as to cover all the information in the verse. Then go through it again, giving complete answers to your questions. That's the general idea, but you can always experiment with it to find a good answering process that works for you specifically." Question #4: What is the number one thing that has helped you compete well in According To's? A: "Jumping on them... at practices, at quiz meets, basically anywhere I can. That way, when it comes time for the end of the quiz season and the highest levels of competition, I don't have to do much differently than I've been doing all season long." Bonus Question (#5): What is your number one tip for being a captain? A: "Remember that you're not there to make sure the round goes your way; you're there to help keep the round fair (for your team especially)." Woah, guys... that's what a ton of great value looks like! Thank you again, to Nathan, for taking the time to write out all these answers, and for being more than willing to share some of your insight into your question specialty with us! And I know I have no chance at topping the previous section, but since I already promised, here are the three top things that I learned about doing according to's, in my quizzing career:
Memorizing for according to's is a big job - you're memorizing whole books of the Bible, after all - so do your best to stick to your schedule, but remember that it's okay to allow some healthy deviation from the plan. Because, let's be honest, rigidly keeping your schedule isn't the funnest thing ever :P.
Exactly like in an actual round, practicing quoting the verses in a completely random order causes your brain to make the jumps between all the different passages and chapters. I've found that this teaches me how to quickly perform the process of (since I'm a visual person) envisioning the chapter, and finding the page, section, passage, and verse that I'm looking for. When I have practiced like this a good amount before a quiz, I usually always see an improvement in my recall time and accuracy in the actual tournament.
According to's are probably (at least in my opinion) the question type that employs "multiple-ing" the most. Because of that, it's good to know how you can multiple the best. This can include anything from learning how to talk quickly and enunciate well, to having a strategy of how you will cover the entire verse (like Nathan talked about), to remembering the questions you asked so that you can correctly match them with your answers. So there you have it! I hope that you enjoyed this post, and that you feel more confident if you are pursuing a question specialty in according to's. Well, I just got word that my family will be coming to the Olathe invitational next month! I'm looking forward to seeing you all there, and I will be making an effort to speed up my studying between now and then, so that I can compete with all the great quizzers! Next Monday we will be returning to our new series, "Question Specialty", with part two, and I can't wait. Until then, quiz and live victoriously like the royal son/daughter of the King you are. I love you guys! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Related Posts:Hey guys! This is the first post in our new 3-part series about question specialty! In this new post series, we're going to be talking about pretty much everything that goes into this topic, including...
So I really hope that you guys enjoy this series, and that you get a lot of value from it. By the end of this series, here are my hopes for you:
Are you ready to get into this today? Yeah you are :P Lets do it! What is "question specialty"? Question specialty is basically when a quizzer picks a type of question to focus on, and becomes really good at that type. They study for that question, practice jumping on that question, practice answering for that question - and reap huge benefits because of it. When you commit yourself to spending your quizzing efforts on just one category, it's like condensing energy into a small, laser-like point - it's a lot more powerful. That's why the majority of the quizzing community participates in it. Question specialty is a HUGE part of team strategy in quizzing. If you're a memory verse technician, and you've advanced in them, then you're giving your team 60 almost guaranteed points per round. 60 points is more than enough to win over even a tough round (most of the time). For all of the other question types (besides context, situation, and book & chapter, of course) you can even get 80-90 nearly-guaranteed points per round for your team. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Okay, let's go ahead and move on to the next section, which is why you should have a question specialty, or some of the benefits of having an established question specialty. The benefits of having a question specialty:
This happens when you have a question specialty, because (like I said earlier) you make a transformation from a flashlight into a laser. If you don't have one, and you're not "moving beyond specialty" but rather just starting out, then you'll have a much harder time advancing in placements.
Since you're now a laser, suddenly your studying sessions are producing a ton more results. Now, just to be clear, there ARE hugely different ways to study for each question type - and we're going to be talking specifically about that in a future post here pretty soon. But as you spend time in your question type, you'll even discover and develop new ways that you can study and practice for them.
This might seem like the same thing as the last one, but it's really not. What I mean when I say "practice", is your jumping, lipreading, and answering (for the most part). Just like with studying for a specific type of question, all different specialists jump, answer, and employ lipreading differently - whether that be just a little, or polar opposite. For example, memory quizzers employ lipreading probably more than any other type. But they can't multiple, like all the other question types. General quizzers usually give fewer multiples than according to quizzers, but according to quizzers have to be really careful not to say anything outside the verse, while general quizzers can expand into the surrounding passage. There are a lot of variables, but each question specialty group has (in my opinion) very nicely tuned the competition to where we are today. Not to say that I don't think that we've arrived at the best it can be ;).
If you focus on one question type, then you'll (eventually) know all of the ins and outs to it. This means that you will have advice and pointers to give other quizzers, so that they can do them better too. I don't know about you, but I tend to lean towards learning from other people's mistakes, rather than go through the hassle of learning from my own :P. Let other quizzers do that! Try to be generous with the things that you've learned, and sow into the next generation of quizzers - that way, we can ensure that the quizzing world won't disappear in the future.
Think about this: what do all the very best teams have in common? Probably a lot of really committed individuals. Probably a really great coach. Probably a lot of friendship among the members. But what is the really big thing that they all share? It's the fact that all - or almost all - of their members have a question specialty. That way, the round's questions are already split up among the four-five team members, and each one has practiced, prepared, and perfected their questions. They know what their job is for the team, and they perform it to the best of their ability. This is such a huge benefit, and I don't have a ton of room to continue talking about and explaining it. I'd really like to show you some ways that you can practically and purposefully benefit your team through your question specialty anyway, so I made you guys a simple freebie just on this: This is a cheatsheet you can download (for free) of six easy and practical ways that you can start to put this stuff into action and see some results! I hope you guys like it! But that is the post for today. Don't forget, this is just the beginning of this series - we're going to be having posts on lots of other awesome stuff, and I can't wait!
Remember guys; you are God's favorite. He is so proud of you. Not because of what you've done, necessarily, but because of who you are. You are highly favored in the Lord, and He loves you so much. Can't wait to see you guys next week, and this Saturday for the TBQJ Vlog #5! Have an amazing week, overflowing with joy and success! Love you guys. Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory 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 Hey guys! Today we're going to do a follow-up post to my previous "How To: Next Level Quizzing" post! A few things I will be talking about, I'm going to try and make full posts out of in the future, so that's why I'm not going to go into super deep detail with them. So let's get right into it! Studying - Priority and Persistence If we want to really get to our next level of quizzing, we have to make studying for it a priority - something I obviously still have trouble with :P. But in general, the things that you prioritize the highest, have the best chance at getting accomplished. Once we make quizzing a priority, and we finish the hardest part of actually starting to study, we come to the point where we have to employ a good dish of persistence. To reach our studying goals (and ultimately our competition goals), we have to strengthen our persistence and focusing muscles. This means sticking to our plans - whether that be long-term studying schedules, or just what we planned to do that one day. I can't tell you how many plans I've made that I haven't followed through with (quizzing or otherwise :P), but when I do manage to muscle through and finish it (or nearly finish it) the results are SO rewarding. Jumping - Ideal Jump, Practicing it, and Training your Brain Once you find your question specialty, you should find what the "ideal jump" is for that question type. Whether that be memory, generals, or any other type, find the best quizzers who specialize in them, and copy what they do. (Here's an extra post on memory and according to's, and generals part 1 and part 2). Once you figure out what that ideal jumping point is for your question specialty, the next step is to start practicing jumping at that point. Believe me, it's not a good idea to start jumping at that point at a tournament - start doing it at practices, and if you can, at home too. That leads me to the next one... Train your brain to start answering the question at the "ideal jump" point. This comes naturally when you're practicing it, as we just discussed, but you have to remember to go into the jump with the mind set that you are going to answer it, and answer it correctly. Question Specialty - Picking one, and Focusing on it If you haven't already picked a question type to "specialize" in, I'm going to be doing a post about that very soon - so stay tuned! But for now, you can refer back to the predecessor of this post, for a little more information on that: "How To: Next Level Quizzing". Of course, after you've decided on a question specialty, it's a good idea to just focus on that one type. Now, I'm kind of doing according to's (again) this year, for my team, but I still enjoy doing generals the best. But, when you focus all of your quizzing energy (haha is that a thing? :P) on one question type, you become a far more formidable opponent. Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times" and that can apply to business, quizzing, anything! That's all I have for y'all today - I hope you got something out of this week's post! Have an absolutely awesome week, you guys, and I will see you next time. Until then, keep quizzing and living victoriously!
Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory |
Looking for something specific? Try here!
Subscribed to my
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
Archives:
November 2019
Categories:
All
|