Everything is a lie

We’ve all been there.

You find a new system. You're convinced this is the one: the perfect Notion template, the ultimate Anki deck, a revolutionary way of learning passed down from a senior. You pour hours into setting it up, believing in the technique, and trusting the process. You execute it perfectly.

And then, the results come in.

It’s a failure. You not only missed the target; you're not even close. The very system that promised success has led you straight into a wall.

That's the moment the doubt kicks in. It’s a cold, hollow feeling that whispers, "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this." Whether it’s medicine, art, or any other challenge, this specific kind of failure—failure despite a "perfect" system—is devastating. It feels personal.

We get stuck in these roadblocks, and it's not just in our studies. It's in every part of our lives.

I was giving a talk to junior students once, and I remembered a piece of advice I had personally forgotten: Everything is a lie.

That's a bit harsh, but the core of it is true. You don’t need the Anki deck to succeed. You don’t need the best Notion template. You don’t need that one senior’s "holy grail" notes.

These things are just tools, and our obsession with them has become a new, sophisticated form of procrastination. We get so lost in building the system that we forget to do the actual work. We fall in love with the idea of the technique, believing the method itself will save us.

It won’t.

The most important skill you can have—the only skill that matters—is the ability to look at failure in the face and have the courage to analyze it.

Take that failed exam. You need to perform an autopsy on it. Be honest. How much did you not manage to cover? How many questions did you read where you recognized the topic but had no idea how to apply the concept? When you were studying, were you really learning, or just passively reading and hoping for memorization?

Maybe your method was all about memorizing facts. You read, you memorized, you made the flashcards. But when you faced the twisted, complex nature of the exam questions, the facts weren't enough. You couldn't see the pattern.

That's when you realize your "perfect" method was flawed. Memorizing isn't the same as understanding.

There’s a famous quote a surgery lecturer told us time and time again: "The eyes sees what the mind knows."

Learning is that simple. It’s the key. If you don't truly understand the concept, you are blind to the answer even when it's right in front of you. You know something, you see it. You don't know it, you are completely blind.

This is the moment to accept the truth: You don't know enough. Your current method is insufficient.

So, change it.

It's time to begin turning things around. If you are a quick-notes reader, maybe it's time to pick up that thick textbook you’ve been hating. There's a reason it's thick. It’s full of the context and depth that your notes completely miss. You will gain more insight than you realize.

Maybe you need to study for a longer period. Maybe you need to study daily. Maybe you need to stop reading and start explaining the concepts out loud to an empty room.

The "perfect" system doesn't exist. The only thing that's real is the process: Try. Fail. Analyze. Adapt. Repeat.

That's the real system. That is the only method that will ever lead you to success in anything you want to do.