The English word Earl used to mean 'a man' but later came to refer to 'a nobleman of high rank and status.' We call this kind of semantic change:

Rick is a student at capstone college. he developed a schedule that he thought would let him spend the minimum amount of time studying while still getting good grades. rick is following his schedule, but he’s not getting the grades he hoped he would get. what is the best way to describe rick’s approach to studying?