What you need to learn from a book Avoid Boring People - Lessons from a Life in Science by James D. Watson
If you have read a book “Avoid Boring People - Lessons from a Life in Science by James D. Watson,” you probably agree that the book gave you so much valuable advice and lessons from a well-known scientist James D. Watson. If you haven’t, you probably should. You can buy the book from Amazon or borrow it from a public library in your area. The book is worth reading.
Here are a few things you will learn from a book Avoid Boring People - Lessons from a Life in Science by James D. Watson
1. “Pursue courses where you get top grades”
“If your grades in classes you like are not largely A’s, you have likely not yet found your intellectual calling.” The courses where you get A’s most likely interest you. I tend to obtain high grades in courses that I enjoy although in other times it is not always the case. So put more your energy into pursuing courses you are passionate about, but also not neglect the courses you deem important in your major.
2. “If you do take courses that prove to be no fun, don’t get upset by less than stellar grade”
Don’t just follow what other people say or do. Taking courses that interest you the most will make you put forth all of your energy and effort into your chosen courses compared to taking random courses that you have no idea about. For example, taking a creative writing course as an elective but you don’t like writing a story or poetry. It can bring down your GPA if you have no interest in it, and you are not serious learning it. If you take the courses that you love, you won’t feel the pressure studying them and will enjoy learning them. As a result, you will get high grades. It is possible that you don’t do well on exams in courses that you like. Again, it may happen because it is not your true intellectual calling.
3. “Narrow down your career objectives while still in college”
Whether you like it or not, you need to start thinking about your career prospects once you step into the college life. If you choose biology major, you may start thinking career possibilities in the biology major and whether or not you must continue to master or doctorate to get a better employment opportunity. If you are not planning to continue to master, you may consider choosing a major that will get you a job quickly after graduation. Even one major can create multiple career path possibilities for you.
4. “Seek out bright as opposed to popular friends”
Your purpose in college is to succeed. Seeking out bright friends will help you channel your intellectual interests. It does not mean popular friends are not good but popular friends can sometimes make you feel exhausted from keeping up with them or anything around them.
5. “Success is gratifying and failure is not, but failure is a necessary feature of the work, if your experiments work all the time or your ideas never stop coming, you likely are aiming at goals not worth pursuing.”
There is no glory in success without experiencing some failures. It is normal to fail and face difficulties in college, career or even in life. But it should not stop you from pursuing what you believe. I once failed exam tests two times and got a grade below 50%. I thought I couldn’t be able to pass the course. So I changed the way I study and used a different strategy to understand the materials. I pushed my self to study harder than before. My hard works paid off. I was able to pass the course with B+. Failure makes a new reason why you should work harder than before.
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Marni is a web developer living in Mississauga, Canada. She loves to travel, write, code and take photos. iBlogger.ca is her personal blog where she shares her passion, experience and knowledge about anything worth sharing.
