A Dozen Study Principles to Raise Performance

Coach and author Kevin Eastman has a saying, "You own your paycheck." Take responsibility for the quantity and quality of your study. Eastman, former Celtics' Assistant Coach (2008 NBA Champions) and author of Why the Best Are the Best, reads at least two hours daily.

Here are some study tips:

1. Have a plan. If you don't, make one now and write it down. When you have an excellent plan, stick with it. 

2. Focus. Computers don't multitask...they rapidly switch between one task and another. 

3. Have a study place free from distractions. Turn off the phone, the television, or any other distractions. 

4. Written notes "stick" better than typed ones.

5. Use the "Pomodoro Technique" for study, 25 minutes on and five minutes off. Focus, rest, reset. 

6. Practice "spaced repetition." Repeated review of a subject (school or sports) defeats "cramming." 

7. Self-test. Ask what is the message of this lesson, this chapter, this book? 

8. Learn 'critical thinking'. Textbooks are written to sell in Texas. Is the truth in Texas the same as the truth in Massachusetts? The availability of original documents on the Internet allows a "granular" (detailed) look at complex subjects. If you wanted to study the origins of the Civil War, find the Declaration of Secession by the first state to secede (South Carolina). Students don't have to speculate; read the document.  

9. Ask better questions. During early 2020, debate and disagree existed about the significance of COVID. As a doctor, I asked a rhetorical question, "What is the downstream consequence of epidemic deaths?" I Googled "what are the five most popular models of coffins?" One was sold out. Casket makers literally couldn't keep up with demand. The answer was self-evident. 

10.Learn to use analogy. I shared this post on analogy and volleyball.

11.Become familiar with Mental Models and Cognitive Biases. Here's an AI 'hallucination' to a prompt asking about volleyball, mental models, and confirmation bias. 

An excellent review article linking these topics is "How cognitive biases affect winning probability perception in beach volleyball experts" (Ittlinger et al., 2025), published in Scientific Reports.  This study combines sport psychology and informatics to analyze how optimism and confirmation bias distort elite players' perception of set-winning probabilities, leading to systematic overestimation when trailing and underestimation when leading. 

Key findings include:

• Confirmation Bias: In trailing scenarios, this bias amplified overestimation, causing players to underestimate their disadvantage; in leading scenarios, it improved accuracy by focusing on victory likelihood. 

• Strategic Implications: Biases can delay critical tactical adjustments, such as increasing serve pressure or changing defensive formations, because players perceive the game as more even than empirical data suggests. 

• Expert Perception: Elite beach volleyball players frequently recall rare comeback situations, reinforcing the "never give up" mentality despite statistical probabilities indicating a high likelihood of loss when significantly behind. 

"Sample size" is an important mental model. "One swallow doesn't make a summer." Watching volleyball tryouts, try not to evaluate a player based on a small number of observations. "Recency bias" is a cognitive bias where recent player or performance sticks with us, good or bad. 

12.Expand your learning toolbox (analogy!). Don't write papers with AI, but use AI as a study tool. Here's an example from Threads: 

View on Threads