You can’t beat a game you don’t understand. Read the rulebook of whatever you’re trying to win: school, jobs, money.

Every system has rules that are written down somewhere and rarely taught: how grades are actually calculated, how hiring decisions actually get made, how interest and taxes actually work. People who seem to move easily through these systems usually just read the terms while everyone else was guessing. The information is mostly free and boring, which is why it stays scarce.

Take one system you are currently inside and spend an hour finding out how it really works. Read the actual policy, the actual contract, the actual numbers. You will find at least one thing you have been doing the hard way for no reason.