No matter what we do in life, we are forever students. Whether we are in school or learning a new sport, skill, subject, job, or hobby, learning effectively will help us live effectively.

School should prepare us to achieve our goals in life. But confusing curriculums, overly competitive education systems, and stressful schedules create intimidating barriers to education.

As a result, many students are often just trying to survive in school and get caught being in a reactive state of learning – we refer to these as junior varsity (JV) students.

Junior varsity students see school as a place of stress and work. This is normal, and most of us start off as junior varsity students, especially when we enter a new environment.

However, there is another level – you guessed it – varsity students. Varsity students are in a proactive state of learning. They see school as a place of opportunity that works for them.