At timestamp 52:00 the phenomenon Marshal is referring to is studied in economics. It's called the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

This particular episode has incredible value even outside the arts. I'm currently 23, but in 2018 I've enrolled in Biology as a college student. I believe you would be depressed with the mentality that students had there, it was like watching a speed-run. After each unit most students either forgot or simply had retained no knowledge of what they had been studying during that time period. Most graduated burned out and had to take one to two years of before heading to their masters degree, and a great percentage just didn't know where to go after graduation. By the second year I had an amazing physiology teacher, he was 66 at the time and in a class turned to us and said the same thing marshal said about grades as play money and encouraged us to take the course and savor it. I stayed there for 5 years, tried all laboratories that I had the chance to, and finally dropped out after understanding that my passion was in the arts and game development and am now going after a career in the field. But I would never have had the chance to find that if I didn't understand how to take my time and explore thoroughly what was available to me at the time! That being said whether in the arts, sciences or whatever course people are going through this podcast has really useful advice.

Hi Guys! I’m a huge fan of theDraftsmen Podcast – and like the new YT channel for it! I’ve learned SO MUCH from you already, and am very much looking forward to what you create in the future. Composition episode – YES!!!!! I’ve done everything actionable from what I’ve heard on previous podcasts, picked up actionable items from Marshall’s website, too. Waiting with baited breath for his online accessible Composition Course to appear here on Proko 2.0 or his website. I’d now like to play devil’s advocate for a moment on two points that you mentioned here and in earlier episodes. I haven’t been commenting on YT because it’s so huge and you’re usually inundated with comments – but this seems like a good chance. Thank you for indulging me. 1.     Taking a large number of units in college isn’t always bad. I wasn’t an art student in uni, but I was a music student, and I think it shares enough commonality to be relevant. I was so thrilled when I received my first uni course catalog! I wanted to take at least half of the courses offered, and the catalog was the size of a small phone book back in the day.  Also, I had very little formal training in music, and made it into the department, and the top performance group by the skin of my teeth. (Seriously, I tied with another student for the fifth chair of five. We were conditionally accepted on probation, and we had to perform difficult passages in front of the entire ensemble at every single rehearsal twice a week, for an entire school year.) In order to acquire the knowledge I was missing, I took on extra classes to fill in the gaps as rapidly as possible. Most semesters I took 18 units (once I did 19, but you have to get the dean’s permission, and that involved paperwork), and I worked 20+ hours a week doing freelance teaching and performing. @Marshall, you’re a fantastic teacher, and I have enormous respect for your work and approach to teaching and art – and you’ve been a wonderful influence on me in my teaching in the short time I’ve been part of the Proko community.  For some students, and maybe even the majority, I’m sure going slower and really savoring classes is great advice. I was (who am I kidding, I still am) wired a bit differently, and really need that additional stimulation and information that the extra classes gave me. There may be some among the listeners who share this trait? 2.     About learning as an older student…apologizes in advance – this may sound a bit preachy. Your podcasts may have initially been intended mainly for young adults, but your listenership demographic is probably a bit different I would imagine, especially considering your global reach? Regardless of what is or isn’t scientifically proven thus far, it’s not resourceful to believe that we don’t learn as well as we get older; and that whole thing about one’s ability to produce as much myelin diminishes after age 50 as discussed in the book The Talent Code that you all recommended just gives us older folks reasons not to believe in ourselves. It’s not helpful. It’s not resourceful. It’s not inspiring. Let’s stop that 🙏 - we’re hopefully going to be seeing that shifting in the not so distant future anyway, so it’s better to ignore it or chose not to believe. Believing you have limitations on your ability to learn can too easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and train people into learned helplessness. I’m sure that’s the last thing you intend. So, reasons not to believe in yourself including aging brain, NG. Reasons to believe and information on how to grow your brain, increase myelin, etc. VERY GOOD. As a reminder, some advantages you might have as an older student who loves learning are: -        a broader base of info and neural connections to help you more rapidly learn and assimilate new info -        more thorough knowledge of yourself, including strengths and weaknesses  -        better strategies for learning -        better strategies for managing, or better yet releasing unwanted emotions -        being able to benefit from constructive criticism -        a lifetime of practical experience on developing new skills No matter what age, we all need reasons to believe in ourselves when tackling new challenges. If you made it this far, thank you! Big love and gratitude to you both!!!