Intelligent Attitudes (Part 2)

This is the second of several parts on attitudes that will put more information in your brain and keep it there. These tips are meant to be applied in all areas of life, so that maximal learning happens on every front, not just the academic ones.

The first part of Intelligent Attitudes lists tips 1 and 2 and is well worth checking out. Feel free to read them in any order.

3) Find powerful reasons to learn

Simply, we should answer to ourselves: Why do I want to learn this? or Why is this worth remembering?

Tasks get accomplished faster and with more enjoyment when they have meaning or purpose. For the most part, I would hope that we could all have lofty and noble reasons for wanting to acquire information. Reasons such as learning purely for knowledge's sake, intrinsic interest, or the hope to teach/benefit others later; even finding calm in the present moment can motivate one to study.

While these reasons may motivate us in a grander sense, I find they they may not permeate the present moment. Goals are only valuable to the extent that they affect us now. If the idea of teaching another is not exciting or powerful enough to motivate us to learn, then this idea is not useful. Often, it is other types of goals that drive our quest for knowledge.

Grades:
Learning in order to improve your GPA or ensure your future success, in graduate studies for example, can be a powerful motivator. It is a very measurable factor, thus making it easier to analyze objectively and quickly. You can see if you are improving, and by how much. (Although grades and amount learned are not always directly correlated.) While some say that grades are not important, it is hard to deny their blunt efficiency as a tool to compare and rank people. From this (and for other reasons I won't get into), the grade point average can motivate.

Sex:
Sexual drive is an ancient desire that can elevate people to untold heights or bring the mighty to their knees. Leaders can are often made or broken because of sex. Some even argue that this one desire is responsible for all great societies. As a result, to have this as a motivator for learning is very effective.

Yet how can knowledge be sexy? Oh, in ways too numerous to count. Common interests can often spark a magical sort of first impression. Someone mentions their philosophy course, you ask about a philosopher they might have studied, and your friend is subtly impressed. One is perceived in a better light if they are knowledgeable about certain subjects; depending on the person such subjects can include fine arts, economics, neurobiology, Tupac's greatest hits, Tupac's underground stuff, literature, etc. Even flirting and sexual practices are varieties of knowledge. Of course, this is a bit of a simplification, but if you can find personal reasons why learning a fact will improve your sexual potential, in any way, that fact will be firmly entrenched in your mind.

Impress:
Related to the two above, there are cases in which specific knowledge can be impressive (or at least interesting). Cocktail parties were made so that people would have a place to talk about philosophy, among other things. People also love when you remember things about them, such as their favourite book, things about their family etc. Knowledge about a company or institution will come in useful during an interview to show that you are a thorough and intelligent person. Hell, even sports knowledge can impress your date's father in that awkward time by the front door. Remembering that all knowledge will be impressive in the future can help one to memorize even the most detailed facts.

Fuel for creativity:
Oh man, this is one of the greatest discoveries of my life. The reason I advocate creative outputs, such as writing, is that your vast pool of knowledge comes pouring out in ways that you may not have thought possible. Wit and humour are often simply the retelling of known things in a novel way. When you have more knowledge to draw upon, you can make connections between pieces of knowledge faster, these new connections are the basis of creativity. Creativity is not limited to writing; scientific discovery benefits greatly from the same fuel. Great scientist Louis Pasteur said that "chance favors the prepared mind." More knowledge about a subject will give one a larger platform from which to jump to creative solutions.

I'm always impressed with the crazy associations our minds can make. Try just going through a train of mental associations, just saying what pops into your mind after the word "coffee". If you tried it, you notice that you can get pretty far away from coffee. All knowledge is just more fuel for future creativity, helping those a-ha! moments come more and more frequently.


I would say that I use all of these desires/goals regularly in my learning. Some more than others, but I'll leave you to figure that out. One of the main factors that motivates all of my learning (from feminine hygiene products to philosophy of mind) is that I believe this knowledge will eventually have a use. I also believe that the process of learning is intrinsically valuable (a previous Intelligent Attitude [#2]).

Some may argue that we shouldn't have such "shallow" goals direct our learning and activities; however, I have two counter-points to this. Firstly, there is great energy in these desires that is often hard to embrace through other means. Ideas that can bring this energy are tremendously powerful and should not be ignored because of cultural biases. We should embrace the desires that motivate us, in order to learn and achieve more.

Secondly, to call the above categories shallow seems like a random categorization when we think about what results from them. (The ends justify the means?) Let me give you some examples. An Olympic athlete trains everyday for his/her whole life simply to qualify. The only things that motivate the athlete are the ideas that he/she will have the world record and that their place in history will be assured. After many hard years and one event, this athlete places first, giving hope and pride to their country. Is the accomplishment of the athlete less significant?

Songwriters write songs to soon women and men (often in sexual ways). Are these songs less beautiful and moving for their underlying motivations?

No, I would argue. Sometimes people, myself definitely included, get caught up in judgement of other or themselves based on the view that certain desires are wrong or bad. Yet they are quick to devour the fruits of the labour from these desires. Some dismiss those who experiment day and night to the chagrin of their families, but applaud the discoveries and prizes. People with far-out interests can be ignored, but adored for creative insight. This list goes on.

What I'm getting at here is that we shouldn't worry so much about what other people may think about our desires and goals. They should empower you, and it is you that will know if your underlying desires are "good" or not. So, remember to create goals and reasons that empower you to learn. Whatever your desires may be, if they motivate you, this makes them good.

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Intelligent Attitudes (Part 1)

This will be the first of three (or four) parts on attitudes that will help you learn more in all areas of your life. Not only are these tips are useful in an academic sense, they are even more useful for learning as a whole.

1) Be humble in knowledge

No matter how much you know in about a subject, there is still always more to learn. There are so many different ways to view current paradigms, and theories are constantly in flux. It is very difficult to be sure that one has heard it all. If you believe you know everything, there is no room for education. Making mistakes is one of the best and fastest ways to learn. Yet when our minds are closed off because we think our knowledge is fixed, when we find out what we "know" is wrong, we just freeze. As the study in the link shows, what we believe can shape our brains.

I'm sure you have experienced this: you are so sure about some fact; let's say that it's about the capital of Australia, which you believe to be Sydney. You've known this for so long. They even had the 2000 Olympics there!

But then your friend tells you that Canberra is the capital. You flatly deny it. "No way, Sydney has so many people." You even start to yell, "what are you talking about?!" After much flailing and harsh words, you will come to accept that Canberra is the true capital; only through the influence of the internet's second greatest resource. This information could have been more easily learned without arrogance surrounding our opinions. In the cases where there is no other direct proof, I have been known to simply dismiss someone's claim as completely erroneous, rather than check it out.

My father once told me that one of his most cherished lessons came in university. Initially, I didn't realize its importance, but now I am beginning to see its power. "Be slow to form your opinions, and slower to say them."

The amount of knowledge out there is frightening and thrilling. To say that you have enough information about a topic to warrent having a fixed opinion is quite reckless. I have been guilty of running my mouth on issues from abortion to the importance of pi. Yet with such limited knowledge, I was a fool for doing so.

What is it that can change one's perspective from smug inflexibility to maluble humble pie? Simply more information, an understanding of perspective, and an open mind.

2) All steps towards learning are important (even small ones)

This is an intelligent attitude for a few subtle reasons. Firstly, it gets you to start working. Even if it's only a little bit of work, a little bit is way better than none. Such a seemingly obvious statement becomes more practical when we consider how many times we've done the opposite. We hesitate to start studying because it is complicated. We don't read a philosophy book or art magazine because we worry that we won't get it.

However, if we read over the text and understand even a little bit more, we have gained a greater footing on the mountain that is knowledge. In skimming over that magazine, the ideas and vocabulary are subtly entering your brain. All of this information will be easier to recall if it comes up again, and it will give you a peg for new knowledge on this subject.

Similarly, one of the great writing tips out there to get your flow going is just to write anything. You can let yourself write the crappiest first draft ever, but just write. When you forget about perfection, you allow yourself to get into a rhythm; this is when your real creativity can shine. In a similar way, when you untangle yourself from perfectionism, you lose the essence of the knowledge

The last way of looking at it is somewhat like the paradox of the heap. While we can all agree that one grain of sand doesn't make a heap. A heap of sand is just made up of single grains of sand. So when do grains of sand become a heap? Or when do isolated facts become a network of knowledge? Although this analogy is a little funny, you can see that in order to build this amazing network of information, you need to start (and continue) with single facts and relations.

So read that one extra page, watch that video that is hard to understand, keep going for one more minute. In doing so you're preparing your mind for future planting and harvest. And anyways, learning that one extra fact is much better than feeling silly when that exact section is on your test.

I have found that one of the best ways to implement this is through timeboxing. Just give yourself a set amount of time (like 30 mins) to work on something, say an essay. You don't even have to finish anything specific. Just work for that amount of time, and even if you think it's the worst work ever, it's not so bad that you can't handle it for 30mins . This is a really powerful technique to just get you going. And the awesome thing is that once you are moving, often your momentum will carry you a lot farther than you expected.

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Getting yourself to commit

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. "

-- W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

As is the case with most posts, recently I have been noticing the theme of commitment coming up in my life. As such I wanted to share my views on it and hear some of yours.

Commitment is a driving force that can help us accomplish all the tasks before us. These tasks can include getting involved in extracurricularactivities, exercising, biochemistry labs or philosophy essays. Whatever they are, commitment will bring them to life.

What is so powerful about commitment? In one way, it leaves you with only the option to succeed. In burning your bridges, you know you must complete your duty, or perish. As much as one may not want to complete an essay, the alternative is a lot worse.

In committing, you give yourself a renewed energy. All of your energy becomes focused on your task rather than all the other possibilities.

I'm sure I don't need to go on about the importance of commitment. The better question is: How can we commit ourselves?

I have a couple methods that work for me.

Tell people what you are doing

Recently, I wanted to contribute an essay to the Philosopher's Cafe, a publication here at Queen's University. Yet, initially I wasn't sure if I was able to commit myself. I didn't know if I had enough time, enough creativity, enough content. What I did have a lot of was bullshit excuses. (Pardon my language.)

In this case my commitment had to be externalized. So I told almost everyone that would listen that I was writing an essay for the Philosopher's Cafe. I told my friends, my lab partners, my parents, even one professor. Sometimes I would find reasons to steer the conversation to this work, just so I could tell them about it.

It almost sounds a little crazy, but it works. Why?

It could be for many reasons: People will talk about it, and it will remind you to work on the essay. As well, since so many people know about it, you don't want to disappoint them. You have your pride to remember. The idea of having even a few people read the essay, and like it, was also pretty exciting, and made me want to wow them. I'm sure you will have your own reasons for wanting to tell people.

However, I must give you a small warning. There are certain goals that you shouldn't share with certain people. Some goals will make a certain person jealous, so don't tell them. They won't reflect the positivity that you are looking for, and may resent you for your efforts. As much as I'd like to see everyone as perfect, we aren't, so these things happen.

Luckily, there are often at least one or two (if not more) people that will be happy about your endeavours. Tell them!

Of course we cannot just rely on others to motivate us, we have a role too.

Break down barriers and distractions

I'm sure I've talked about this before, but if something is in your way, don't complain about it. Do something!

If you think you can't commit to studying for 3 hours because your roommates keep talking, you can try asking them to let you study for a while, threaten them if necessary. You could move to the library, a basement, anywhere.

Sometimes, we have internal barriers that we need to break down. I often worry that my writing will not be helpful or intelligent or gramatically correct... so on and so forth. These worries can disappear if you talk to your friends or rationalize with yourself. Even if I help a few people, or one person, my work is having an impact on the world. Sometimes though, my justifications can be harsh: Although my writing is not always Pulitzer-worthy, there is a lot of writing out there of a much lower quality that probably has too many readers.

Sometimes we have to do what it takes to get us past those barriers and get the job done; hopefully, while keeping good conscience in mind.


There is something to be said about the sort of energy surrounding those who commit and those who don't. Just go along with me for a bit. When one of your friends says that they are going to finish their lab report by 4PM, but you don't believe them, there is usually a good reason. You know they aren't committed to completing it. As a result, you will say that fake, "Oh, ok..." response, while thinking, "Yeah sure..." They are attracting negative energy from you and/or emitting it themselves. This sort of energy will prevent them from accomplishing their task.

In a less ethereal way of thinking, since you know that person is not committed, you are less likely to help them out, making them even less likely to complete their task. When your friend is committed though, you can sense that determination and you are willing to help them. In fact, many people may be willing to help them.

When you commit, you are more willing to complete your task, your friends and others are also more keen to help you. Sometimes even, seemingly random events will happen to help you accomplish this task. Whatever the mechanism, the first step is commitment, "... then Providence moves too."

So maybe now is the time to get yourself to commit to those goals you've been wanting to accomplish. Use the infinite creativity that I know you have, and find ways to commit yourself. Heck, I'll even help you out. If you want to tell me what you want to commit to, I'll remind you of it, or we can talk about it.

I'd like you to read the quote that started the piece one more time; I'll paste it here:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. "

-- W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Do what you must to get things done.

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Finding flow in your work

Yesturday, I had the pleasure of leading a discussion on 'how to live in the present moment' with some lovely ladies at a Goal-Oriented Living Club meeting (you will find this post on the club's website as well). This post covers the some salient points of the discussion (of those that I remembered or wrote down). And for your benefit has been slightly modified in order to make it more web- and reader-friendly.

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Happiness is one of those goals for which everyone seeks. I've never yet met the person who does not genuinely want to be happy. However how are we to attain it? Often, it is said that one of the keys to happiness is living in the present moment. In fact, this teaching has roots that spread throughout time and religions. Two examples that are readily forthcoming are Zen Buddhism and Christianity.

The essence of Zen is to gain an appreciation for living moment-to-moment, to understand the "infinite moment". Koans, such as "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", are invoked in order to have one reflect deeply on these questions; this reflection becomes so deep that the meditator becomes fully engrossed in the moment, hopefully to reach enlightenment. More on meditation and Buddhism later.

The Beatitudes from the book of Matthew reveal a similar message:

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [...] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Ideally, this sort of contentment would come as easily as breathing, would be as natural as growing; however, most of us are quickly distracted from the now by thoughts of the future and past. Yet surely there must be some way to tap into this power of the present moment.

This is where "flow" comes in.

(This term is not my own, reference available upon request, however it does describe what we will be dealing with for the next bit quite nicely.) Flow is what comes about when you are fully engaged in an activity: one that captures most, if not all, of your attention. Such examples include, playing/listening to music, exercising, doing crosswords, writing, cooking, dancing, meditating, the list goes on. Usually such an activity is enjoyable because it is challenging, while not being frustrating.

In engaging in activities that evoke flow, we hope to get in touch with the same awareness of now that monks engage in while meditating. Though it may not seem like it initially, there are concrete gains to be had from meditaion.

You may recall that there was scientific convention in 2003 where the Dalai Lama advocated (as he still does) the benefits of meditation and scientific inquiry into the same. Of course, research was done as well:

Last year Dr. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin and a conference presenter, used an fMRI machine to map the brain of monk Matthieu Ricard.

While Ricard, a monk with over 30 years' experience in contemplative practice, engaged in what Buddhists call compassion meditation, Davidson measured the activity in his brain. The pictures showed excessive activity in the left prefrontal cortex (just inside the forehead) of Ricard's brain.

Generally people with happy temperaments exhibit a high ratio of activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area associated with happiness, joy and enthusiasm. Those who are prone to anxiety, fear and depression exhibit a higher ratio of activity in the right prefrontal cortex.

But the degree to which the left side of Ricard's brain lit up far surpassed 150 other subjects Davidson had measured. No one knows whether Ricard might have exhibited the same results before he became a monk. But given that his readings were off the chart for happiness, Richardson believes that studying the minds of meditating monks can help us learn how meditation can mold our brains to develop happier and less-afflicted temperaments.

(Source: Wired)

What am I getting at here? Our "flow" is one form of meditation that will allow us to access this type of happiness. Flow may allow us to rewire our brains for a higher basal level of happiness.

Before I jump into how we may make use of flow, as a side note I'd like to ask: Do goals push people from this present moment happiness by striving for a non-existent future?

I would say no. Although goals are set for a future point in time, your goals should enrich your present moment. In thinking about them and in the process of accomplishing them, you can more easily practice that flow. In a way, the goals mediate your entry into these present-moment-enriching activities. Further, your thoughts regarding your goals should enrich you right now; goals are not valuable if they only fulfill you once they are accomplished.

As a personal example, one of my goals is to have a beautifully crafted essay to submit to a philosophy magazine here at Queen's University (by March 31). My pleasure will not only come about once I have completed this work, this essay engages me whenever I write or even think about it: this goal enriches my now.

It sounds so appealing for those activities that we do for recreation. Is there a way to get this flow into our work? To put a spin on that: Can we make our flow times more productive?

Definitely!

In the same way that we have found something within engaging activities to flow with, it is possible to find this type of attribute in our work. It is in the framing of the topic, or how we look at it.

Back to my philosophy essay example, some may view the essay as work, something to be dreaded over and to be procrastinated upon. However, the creativity that is allowed to me, the challenge that it brings, does not allow me to think of this essay in a negative light.

In a similar way, we may bring a fresh perspective to our work. It is possible to find something within your math project, history essay, biochemistry textbook, to engage you.

Ah, I can already hear the scoffing even across the vast expanse of the internet. Hold on for a second.

This comes a lot more smoothly once you open your mind to it. So you are asking: "how can I find flow in a subject as boring as biochemistry/history/whatever?" Maybe it will not come from the material itself, but from the process of reading and reviewing. In focusing purely on your text, you are bringing yourself to a different level of awareness. During a different activity, say playing music, try to notice how you feel while in that flow state then bring it to your work. It is something you have to experience to understand.

Another tip to help you get into this flow state (with work or with anything): Remember that all work you do is productive. Don't worry about doing a perfect job right away.

Initially, do what you want, when you can, how you can. Don't worry about not completing enough or every little thing. In thinking about all these other things you are detracting from the essence of what you are doing, you are losing the flow.

Just get in there. You can work about perfection later. If you have given yourself enough time you can tweak things afterwards: edit the introduction, review a section, practice measures 17-24, etc. And you will have enough time.

Why am I so confident that you will have enough time? Usually you don't have enough time because you delay on starting it. Why do you delay? Generally, because you are worried you will (a) not do a perfect job or (b) you hate it. If you start with small expectations and by doing the parts you like initially, you will start to get into it ("the appetite comes with eating"), and you will do much more than you thought possible, even while enjoying it!

So try it! Seriously. This mentality is tremendously productive and fulfilling. If you have some questions or comments about it, feel free to email me or comment below and we can jive.

(One of the comments that I received before this post was that I didn't elaborate on how one can integrate this flow theory into practice. I tried doing that in this post; yet if you feel that it is still lacking, email me and I'll see what I can do. I find in most posts like these - mine and other's - that showing it's practice is the part that always needs the most elaboration.)

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Life's a Business: Value-Added Proposition

One way to gain control of your own life and to empower yourself to achieve successful living is by treating your life and everything about it like a business. A lot of people, myself included, spend a large portion of their time on activities that yield no value. For example: Every time I watch TV, I’m really not learning anything and although I’m entertained, I’ve extracted zero long-term value out of that 2 hours of Jack Bauer ripping into necks and breaking heads. Businesses don’t make money when they spend their time on things that don’t add value.

All new businesses start off in a mess, with zero controls and poor management, but with great ideas. Similarly, people in general want to lose 20 lbs, they want to start running 5 km everyday and they want to be at the top of their class, but sadly most people don’t really know where to start or they simply lack the drive. Any business has four functions: operations, marketing, financials and human resources. Success in every element is crucial to the longevity and ultimately financial upside of any business.

Operations:
The fundamental element of any business as well as personal success.
· Think about time: A normal week has 168 hours. Assuming you sleep 8 hours a day. That leaves 112 awake hours. Now assume you need to eat and groom. Being extremely generous, lets say it takes 2 hours a day, which equals 14. Which leaves 98 awake hours. If you’re an arts student you’re in class 20 hours a week. That leaves 78 hours. If you’re an engineering student or working you’re doing that for 40 hours a week. That leaves 58 hours a week to do learn something new.

· The point is that you have so much free time you can work another job or go to another school. This is all money making time, single moms know it, so should you.

· Adding Value: If you’re not spending time making money, you should be spending time on activities that yield money or other returns (wink wink, nudge nudge). So you analyze your week and realize you spend 2 hours riding a bus everyday. Go to your library and take out some books and read for those two hours while riding it. You run everyday for 30 minutes or drive? Get some audio books.

Taking out the trash: Stop doing activities that don’t add value. Stop watching tv, stop playing video games and stop wasting time. Instead of watching tv learn to play an instrument, instead of playing video games, play some real games outside and get some exercise. Instead of wasting time use it.

Stay tuned for all other functional areas of business.

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You can remember everything

... Almost.

More and more, just from experience and from learning about cognitive psychology, I’ve found that we can remember much more that we thought. Even seemingly lost facts, places, faces, etc. can be found.

How can we perform such amazing feats? Through associative memory. (Those of you with some psychology background may not be too surprised.) In fact, this post is inspired by one cognitive neuroscientist who won $500,000 on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (A highly recommended read.)

The thing here is that while some people may have heard this before, it is something else completely to understand and apply this. Personally, I use 3 methods for extracting factoids from my head.

Think about:

1. Related words/ideas
2. the Situation you were in when you learned it
3. Insane, random ideas

So for related ideas, if you are trying to remember the name of a perfume, think about a bunch of other perfumes or people that advertise them. I was trying to remember the type of perfume that my mom likes: Hmm, what was it? Not Channel No. 5. What person? Jennifer Lopez? Hell no. Elizabeth Taylor. Got it, White Diamonds!

Maybe that example was too metrosexual for you, maybe these other ones will make more sense.

For situational memory (or episodic memory), sometimes smelling something like a musty basement can bring back a flood of memories about playing table tennis oh-so-many years ago. In the same way, sometimes remembering where you were in the hallway in front of a washroom, when your friend mentioned magic mushrooms, the chemical muscarine (one chemical in some “magic mushrooms”) and your over-excited/under-clothed friend, can bring back memories that will help you on a pharmacology exam.

Frankly, when I’m really stuck, I like thinking of really insane, random things. If you have extra time during a test or anytime in life, I recommend this; it gets your brain moving in on a totally new path, which can get you out of that mental rut.

I’m going to use one of my dreams as an example, because I know people are getting a little tired of my arcane life sciences examples.

I had a dream last night, but when I woke up I only had the “feeling of a dream” left. Since I wanted to remember the dream, I stayed positive (important for letting those thoughts come back) and started looking around my room for associations. I looked at my headphones, and thought about a memory program I was listening to. Then I thought about books: from this I got a strong feeling that a book or books were important. Then I looked at the books in my room and saw one about the Korean language—suddenly I remembered my whole dream. (If you’re that curious as to what it was, you can ask in the comments.)

To get some free associations (to start the brain cascade), I don’t just look around wherever I am; sometimes I use a preset A-Z list of items (a peg list), body parts, random songs. It doesn’t actually matter what you choose, as long as you create some associations, and you go along with those that pull at your intuition.

I’m not saying that you will remember everything with this sort of thinking. If you are confident in yourself and your brain, however, you will remember a lot more than you previously thought possible.

Try it! Seriously! Try to connect “string” to your past, and just go with it. Appreciate all the rich associations that you make, and you’ll begin to appreciate what sorts of connections you are capable of. Inside of those connections and associations is an insanely large amount of information.

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The Beginnings of Personal Growth

For the longest time, I was always fascinated in how things work and the little intricacies of life's puzzles. That fascination developed into a burning desire to learn and excel in my academic life. I'd read hundreds of books before I turned the age of 6. That continued into my adolescent life right up until the end of high school where my self-motivation and desire to do much of anything peaked and then came crashing down like 747. After that, it took me about 2 years to get back to where I once was, and here I am today.

My theory is that personal growth is rooted in two things: Accountability and Independence

If you want to start to get out of whatever rut you're in, you need to get those two things.

Accountability - what is it, and where can I get some?

What it is:

It is the simple concept of taking. Taking control of your life, taking what belongs to you and taking every and all opportunities available to you. It is taking responsibility for your actions and reaching a level of maturity that accepts and faces the consequences of said actions. A person who doesn't run from negative consequences is a person who is accountable. If you only take the positive and do not take the negative, then you are not accountable, you are a coward.

Gettin' Some:

• Make a conscious effort to be accountable. Think it. Believe it. Do it.
• Do not blame others, no matter what. Even if it appears to be some one else's problem and you are affected, you, in almost every circumstance, can do something about it.
• Ex: Roommate pissing you off? Leave. Talk to the person. Move out.
• Ex: Not liking school? Stop going. Change Programs. Find something you love.
  
• Internalize every aspect of your life. You and only you have the ultimate control on what direction your life heads into.
  
• Grow a pair. Face your fears. I believe someone said, there's nothing greater to fear but fear itself.
  

Independence -

What it is:
It is solitude. Being alone. Being NOT DEPENDENT. Yes, I realize you, me and everyone else understands the definition of independence, but few and far between experience it. True independence is when your reliance on others is minimal or nonexistent.

Gettin' Some:

• Lose some friends. Face it, some friends you have are useless. Cut them out.
  
• Rely on no one. Until you can satisfactory say, "I am happy. I can survive by myself." You should not be dependent on others, especially if you can't even depend on yourself.
• Do it yourself. Stop seeking help, do it yourself for a change, learn something.
  

Those are the things a person has to do to truly grow. Obviously, I'm no suggesting blaming yourself for everything, but you should definitely seek your own faults before you seek others. Since you're reading this website, I was presume you've probably experience to some degree accountability or independence, but I challenge you to push it to further boundaries and achieving greater goals.

Personal growth is not like Christianity, you can't pay lip service every Sunday and expect results. You gotta be like a Mormon, go out there, believe it, breathe it, be it, and convert some heathens.

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Your life's direction

Who cares the most about where you end up in life? Whose responsibility is it that you find your direction?

I hope you can see where this is going. Only you have responsibility to find and choose your direction in life. Without getting into philosophy, all the choices you make in life are yours.

So what are you going to do with your life? What's up with your undergraduate degree? It's ok if you don't know what you are going to do right now. Most people don't. Some people think they know, but have just been programmed by society, their parents, infomercials, etc.

It is your responsibility to actively search for what you are interested in. (Re)assess your path, find out if it reflects who you really are. If you can't tell, investigate.

I'll use myself as an example, because I'm always around me.

I am currently on a path to enter medical school. Frankly though, I do not know if this is the right profession for me. For a while, I just bitched to other people about how I didn't know what I was going to do. I was sort of complacent, and useless about it.

As a side note: My friends must be pretty tolerant, because this sort of stuff would annoy me after awhile.

Eventually, I started doing something about it.

The first stage was "soul-searching". I looked at my interests; looked at my beliefs about life; and I even bought a book called "Do what you are" - it assesses your personality type and shows jobs/fields that you may be suited for. If you know me, you can borrow it if you’d like.

That moved me somewhere. I gained a better understanding of myself, but I still wasn't getting what I was looking for. Inspired by Ian Yberra's blog, I found that I needed to find out more about my potential career in order to give it a fair assessment.

The next stage is what I am in now: Researching my options.

I started this by talking to one of the career services’ counselors at Queen's University. She gave me some inspiration to investigate the medical profession further. I've just looked through a book called "So You Want to Be a Brain Surgeon?" And soon I will start contacting some doctors to find out what the profession is truly like.

I'll update you as that progresses, I may even post some interviews.

Frankly, I'm going steal this quote straight from Ian Yberra: It is ok not to know what you want to do, it is not ok not to do anything about it.

If you are like me, which I assume you must be a little true because you are still reading this, you may be confused about your options. Go out there and investigate. I promise people will be nice to you, since you are taking an interest in their lives and treating them like an expert. If they aren't nice, I'll join you in TPing their house.

Get out there and investigate your options! This is your life we are talking about! Go!!

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Simplicity

Recently, I've been noticing that we have become obsessed with the complexity of life. In order to eat more healthily, we have to follow some fancy diet. In order to discuss an issue properly we must use confusing language and a pedantic structure. By the way, I do see the irony of choosing such a complicated word.

Yet, people used to – and continue to – use very simplistic guidelines to dictate their eating habits; these people have lived very healthy lives. The most effective discussions and arguments are those where both parties fully understand each other.

Furthermore, in trying to do perform a task, like running or golfing for instance, the best athletes of these worlds do not break down each aspect of their stride or swing into its components while performing. It would just ruin everything.

There's something very Zen about this way of thinking. "Be the golf ball. Be the shoe."

If you have to think about too many things at once, you aren't giving the overall task the attention it deserves.

In the same way, education -- or any type of learning for that matter -- does not need to be difficult or overly complicated. The methods that work are the ones that are the simplest.

Let me ask you a question: What does the ideal student do?

Seriously think about it. What does the ideal student do?

I can only speak for myself, but I'm going to assume you said something like:

• They study well before a test comes.
• They don't get drunk a day before their exam.
• They complete their assignments on time.
• They use their time effectively for studying.
• They attend class.
• They pay attention.
• They have opened their textbook for the purpose of reading it.

There is nothing complicated on this list. Yet you may or may not be surprised at how many people do not do these simple things. I'm not going to say that they are all easy to do, but they are definitely not hard to understand.

I was chatting with a friend of mine, whom I would say does extremely well in school - while still having an active social life and an attractive girlfriend. He was mentioning that he doesn't do anything crazy to study for his tests. He devotes a lot of time to his studies; takes notes; reviews them; and takes breaks when he needs to.

By the way, if you are thinking something like: "Oh he's probably really smart, but I can't do that." Let's consider two things:
1) If you are smart and you don't do anything for a test, will you do as well as you could have? Definitely not. It is possible for smart people to screw things up. I have seen it too many times. I'm guessing you've seen it too.
2) If you don't think yourself intelligent (which I disagree with, BTW), won't a concerted effort help to improve your grade? Definitely.

If you study more, you will do better than if you don't. That's it. Simple.

If a technique is not working for you, drop it. (Hint: Don't watch TV while studying.)

Before you concentrate on awkward techniques and quick & easy methods, remember simplicity. It works much better and doesn't clutter up your mind. When live seems to be really complicated, take a step back and reflect. It’s all gravy from the outside looking in.

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Experiments in learning that don’t explode

As people make the transition from high school to university they find that many aspects of their lives and mindsets change. A newly discovered freedom – or at least awareness – causes people to reassess what they know to be true or good.

Naturally, this leads to a lot of experimentation. In university such experiments may involve alcohol, drugs, sexuality, social interaction, physical activity and much, much more.

While I will neither condone nor oppose these types of experimentation, I think that people must come into their own perspective in their own way. Might I suggest one more – oft overlooked – area of experimentation? The way you learn.

This is the perfect time to experiment with your learning. Right now, we are still relatively young. Even if you are not, there is a comparatively small time investment needed in order to improve the way you learn. Think about it: if you spent one year trying out new learning techniques – honing in on what suits you the best – then even if you only live ten more years (definitely more though), you will have ten more years of improved learning. Relating this back to Monday’s post, it would be a very solid investment.

In finding out the nature of the way you gain knowledge you can increase the speed and ease of your learning. Taking in information will become less of a chore and more of an incidental process – or better yet, it will become fun.

I would recommend reflecting on all the areas and ways in which you learn. However, to get the ball rolling, I’ll give you some examples:

In-class note taking

How do you take notes in class? Do you write down everything? A lot of professors tell me not to, but then it seems like I’m missing something from my notes when I come back to them. There’s a line between expediency and deficiency. Work to find what works or what doesn’t work for you.

As well, have you ever tried previewing the material before class or reviewing afterwards? I must say it’s really helpful. Even if you don’t fully grasp the material at the time, you’ll find that even the mention of something vaguely familiar during the lecture will boost your confidence and increase your attention span.

I have already written a post describing Note Taking Tips (in class).

Listening to music
I’ve heard many arguments from both sides, so I’m hesitant to render a verdict for either. I’ll give you what I know, and what works for me.

Some people say that studying with music allows them to keep focused longer and keep a nice tempo going to their work. Some people say it energizes them. There was even a system, popular in the mid-1980s, called Super Learning [new window] that taught that people learned best while listening to 60 beat-per-minute Baroque music.

On the other hand, personally I’ve found music to be too distracting. I always want to start singing along, drumming things, etc. I’ve had a few teachers say that music can be distracting, but I usually take their advice with a grain of salt. A while ago, my friend mentioned a study done where participants learned some material with and without music. The variable was the level of musical competence of the subjects. Can you guess who learned better with or without music?

Well, I guessed wrong. Actually, the people with a higher level of musical competence actually learned more poorly when they listened to music. This makes sense, because their brain would become more active in the “musical areas” of the brain; taking focus away from the studied material. (I believe Jenna told me this, so if you are reading this and I have misquoted you or the study, go ahead and correct me.)

However, I have to mention that I have been listening to music on an off while writing this post…

Study Groups

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this already. Many people find that study groups help them by bringing people together to teach and learn the material. I find that teaching others helps to solidify the material in my mind. When you actually have to explain something, you have to have a higher and more complex level of knowledge about the subject. Personally, I don’t like study groups because I’ve found that we get too easily distracted and start talking about the Nintendo Wii or shoes. Try it out for yourself!

And more!

I have written other posts regarding the following things you should try experimenting with:

• Memorization techniques – This is probably one of the most valuable techniques you will learn.
• Environment – You may want to incorporate things that help you learn, calm you or provide motivation.

By the way, you should also try to expand this philosophy to other aspects of your life. A change in diet can change your energy levels and even the way you think. An occasional reassessment of your personal beliefs can also bring about lasting positive change in your life.

Keep your experimentation positive and you can’t go wrong. Without change there cannot be growth; growth is the key to life. So get growing!

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The Best Investment Ever

* Little warning: This is a pretty long post, but it’s some really solid stuff. Sorry for the tardiness again. I am getting better though. Oh, and all external links (ones not to my site) open in a new window.

Being a site about education, I think you can guess where this is going. The best investment you can make is not in stocks or bonds; it is in your education. This isn’t just random home-crafted cheesiness though; this analogy holds a lot of credence.

The return you get on your investment (ROI), 0% to 10,000% or more depending on how you live your life. You are in control of how much money you make. You dictate how this “stock” of You Co. fluctuates. "How can I do this?" you may be asking. Well…

Invest capital (money) on yourself

Not only will investing in your education make you smarter and better it will also increase your assets or net worth.

I mentioned earlier that I was studying for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) during my hiatus. A very high score can be very hard to get. So if someone has a high score, they stand a better chance of being accepted into medical schools. A high score, in this case, is quite valuable. It pays to invest in resources that might give you a higher score.

Knowing this, I would estimate I spent roughly $1700 on resources to help me learn for the MCAT. I probably could have spent much less. In fact, I would say I spent the most of all my friends taking it. However, even if $500 translated into one extra point, I would say it’s worth it. I have to mention that my family and I aren’t rich or anything like that, this is just a matter of priorities and investing for the long-term. Ask some people around October 19 how much they would pay for 4 extra points on the MCAT; it may surprise you.

However, I don’t just mean that you should only invest in formal education. Anything from a documentary about the struggle over oil to a book about eating habits can be beneficial. All sorts of tools can improve your stock’s value.

Invest your time in fields you want to improve in

Or: Don’t invest your time in fields you do not care about. Most companies heed this warning: Stick to your product/customer base. Do not spread yourself too thin.

I’ve never seen Pepsi selling lingerie, and Victoria’s Secret does not sell drinks. They focus their effort on the niche markets they are already a part of. I’m not saying you should just stick to one small field and never budge. Moving around a bit is ok. Expand your horizons. Diversify your portfolio. By the way, do you know who owns Tropicana?

What I am saying is that you should not spend your time doing things that aren’t bringing you towards something greater. Your time is valuable; you should treat it as such.

Let me elaborate. Many times I go shopping and the workers are pretty… how shall I put this delicately… pissy. What they seem to forget is: A job worth doing is worth doing well. Conversely, a job that you wouldn’t bother to do well is not worth doing at all.

For the sake of discussion, I’m going to assume (since you have access to a computer and the internet) that you are not seriously impoverished. If you are, some of these points may not stand, but it’s still solid stuff.

If you have the choice of doing something that may give you more money or safety versus one that advance you in any other way – academically, physically, emotionally, mentally, even spiritually – it is better in the long run to go for the one that improves your value. This is investing for the long haul.

Many of my friends, are caught in a dilemma for the upcoming year or the following summer. They must choose between a non-prosperous research position (maybe volunteering), or a more lucrative non-academic job. Well, actually this is a false dilemma, because you could just choose neither, but I digress.

In choosing between the two jobs, you have to consider which is the better long-term investment. If the research position causes you to be a little poorer, while allowing more doors to be opened up later on because you now have a "Research Experience" section on your resume, then it seems like research is the better investment.

Yet this is not to say that any non-whatever-you-study jobs are not good investments. If that other job improved your speaking abilities, bolstered your confidence and so on, then you should consider this option as well. What I’m saying here is that you have to think about the long-term here.

If you only stick with seemingly good short-term gains, you might end up like Enron. If you focus on investing for the long-term you can end up like Hershey or Berkshire Hathaway.

Remember: You are worth investing a lot of time and money in. Invest in that company, do whatever you can to make its net worth grow in the long-term, and watch that baby grow! Once you are paying out crazy dividends and your cash flow is a flood, remember ol’ Josh at The Gravy Way: I accept all donations. ;)

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Getting the most out of your time

In talking to some of my friends, I’ve found that many of them want to manage their time more effectively. But some may ask: Why would you want to get the most out of your time? Well…

• It makes you feel more productive (You’ll lose that blah/useless feeling.)
• You can get more done in a day than you thought possible. This is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.
• It will make you rich! Let me explain: In a study of millionaires to see what differentiated them from other people, they found something interesting. It wasn’t what they did from 9-5 that united them, but from 5 onwards… In their own time. If you use this time effectively, then you will have one more characteristic in common with millionaires.

The number one most effective tool is goal setting. I will be writing a post describing this in even more detail, but I have already written one describing the benefits and a course of action: Setting Goals to Achieve More. With a goal, your tasks tend to gravitate towards accomplishing those goals: using your time more effectively.

However, once you get into the intricacies of goal achievement, some tips regarding time management can go a long way.

Time management techniques

To Do Lists & Agendas
You have to allocate your time and priorities in order to maximize your efficiency. In making a list you can easily see what you need to accomplish and what you have already accomplished. By prioritizing your tasks, you can ensure that you are focusing your effort and time on the most important things in your life. I would recommend a numbering/lettering system: ABC or 123. You know those times when you have to start a paper, but you decide to rearrange your pencils then dust your origami collection? Or something along those lines… The point is that these tasks are not necessary. Stick to your most important tasks. Remember not to confuse movement with accomplishment.

Timeboxing
Give yourself a limited (but realistic) amount of time to perform a task, and only work during that period. You may have noticed that you work harder once there is a sense of immediacy with your task. For example: You have an essay due in 8 hours and you don’t even have a title. Necessity and fear drive you to complete the task. Timeboxing works in a similar way, but hopefully more than hours before an assignment is due.

Triage (said like “tree-age” -- ‘age’ as in massage)
In emergency medical care this refers to treating the most urgent patients while limiting resources away from those in better condition. In this context, it means you should spend your time on necessary actions and not on silly, useless garbage. Is there stuff in your life that is just sucking away your time without real benefit? Drop it like it’s hot.

• Magazines you aren’t reading: Garbage.
• Games you aren’t don’t actually like, but just play because you are bored: Window.
• MSN / AOL Messenger: Log-off.
• Food lying around your desk: Refrigerate or put in cupboard.

* By the way, food lying around your desk is not a good idea for two reasons. It is a huge distraction and it will make you fat. It will enable you to eat more frequently, and you may begin to associate boredom with food. Uh oh.

No more useless time
Waiting for the bus? Have time before class? Read something useful. Or listen to something to something motivational or educational. There are a lot of podcasts out there (Podcast Directory [new window]). By the way, if you don’t have an MP3 player, I would recommend getting one. They are getting pretty dirty cheap, or you could just ask around for an even cheaper option.

Moderation
Don’t get too crazy with this time-management, remember the learning/working curve. While it depends on the person, if you work for too long, eventually you will reach a point where you are not learning/working that effectively. It is then that you should take a break. A real break, not just a washroom break. For example, you can:

• Go for a walk
• I like walking after or even during studying because it seems to help solidify facts in my brain. I’ve heard from a few sources that by engaging other parts of your brain while or right after studying it enhances your learning. While I don’t know how true this is, everyone could always use a nice relaxing walk.
• Eat some fruit.
• Vitamins, sweetness and attractive packaging: Much like a great woman, fruit will keep you energized and satisfied. May I recommend peaches and some raspberries?
  

With all these tips I must leave a caveat: It is all well and good to read these tips and feel empowered by them, but only by putting them into practice, will you begin to see the real benefits of managing your time more effectively. So remember, your time is as precious as you are. Treat it with the respect it deserves and you will be well rewarded.

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Finding and Keeping your Motivation

I have to start by apologizing for my long hiatus. Frankly, I have not been placing this site very high on my priorities list for many reasons: MCAT preparation, going to the gym, learning guitar, chillin', etc. From now on, my posting will be much more frequent and regular as I am placing it much higher on my "to do" list.

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What is the number one quality you can improve in order to perform better? Well, if you read the title you’ll know what I’m going to say: Motivation.

I find – and I know many of you are the same – that continuing to work can be very difficult. However, once you are working, you can get into a flow that feels fantastic. Ay, here’s the rub: If we can’t get started in the first place, how can we get into that flow?

The trick is to find out how you think and use that knowledge to find what will drive you.
Allow me to clarify with a little question. Assuming that you don’t adore cleaning your room, which of the following would motivate you to clean it:
a) The fear that I will come over to your house and kick your gonads (testicles/ovaries) into oblivion.
b) The incentive of 100 dollars for your efforts.

While you may prefer one to another (which you should keep in mind), I will assume both will put a spark in you. We can use this to our advantage.

These basically fall in two categories: toward and away from. (This is an idea from Neurolinguistic Programming, NLP.) While I am a big proponent of positive thinking, ignoring your specific idiosyncrasies (tendencies) and problems is not realistic.

Acknowledging this, in motivating yourself you can start with an away from motivator, then quickly follow it with a toward motivator.

I will use myself and studying for the MCAT (basically, a medical college entrance test) as an example. I find the idea of my not being accepted into any medical school to be quite frightening. As well, the idea that my peers will decisively out score me also makes me uncomfortable (as petty as that is). Since I want to move away from these outcomes, I am motivated to study.

The idea of getting a freakishly high score is very gratifying and will give me a tremendous sense of accomplishment afterwards. This outcome pulls me towards studying hard for this test.

So when I talk to myself to get/keep myself going (as I frequently do), I say something like, "It is time to study. I will not stand for rejection from any medical schools. I can see myself reaching astronomical new heights in MCAT scores."

While this may be a little much (which is good), you get the point.

Once you have sufficiently motivated yourself, it is important to start working right away while you have the energy. Constantly engage in this kinetic self-talk, it will work wonders.

So get to it! Find which one works better for you (toward or away from motivators) and then use both to their fullest. Block off that time to work hard. No interruptions! (Move if you have to) And work, work, work! Once you reach the end, you’ll be glad your newly found motivation kicked in at the perfect time.

Happy studying!

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Take advantage of all available resources

In studying or test-preparation you should see what options you have to get an upper hand in performing better. Most of these choices are little shortcuts that will make your studying go a lot more smoothly.

Old tests
At a higher level of education, the format of the test and phrasing of questions becomes increasingly difficult and can be a barrier to performing . I don’t mean that the content is not important, it always is; however, if you aren’t used to a particular way a professor phrases questions or a radically different testing format, then it can throw you off.

Furthermore, as I have mentioned earlier, I love the idea of testing yourself in order to perform better. The idea of using old tests in order to quiz yourself seems perfect.

As a word of caution though, there are two things to be aware of: 1) The material taught from year to year can change, so the focus of the test can change. This means that you might not be tested on the proper material for some sections. 2) The idea of obtaining previous years’ exams may seem like cheating to some – if they aren’t already offered by the university. Frankly, I see no problem with obtaining previous years exams if you can, it is just another method of studying. However, if you’d like to discuss it, comment below or email me (the address is on the right sidebar).

Discussion Boards
Many universities offer course websites with associated discussion boards where students can exchange information, questions and answers regarding the course content. Take full advantage of this service. You can read other people’s questions, because maybe you haven’t thought of a problem in a certain way. If you have a question that you don’t want to ask the professor directly, try this – sometimes the professor or teacher’s assistants will reply. This reminds me that you should try asking your professor some questions after a lecture or during their office hours. I will say that most of them in my experience are willing to help out any student as along as they are eager to learn and have tried to answer the question beforehand.

Once again, another word of caution: With peer responses, take them with a grain of salt. Sometimes people like saying answers that sound good, but aren’t correct – not necessarily through any ill will, they just don’t know better.

Internet searches
Maybe you were wondering why I chose that picture to start this entry off. It’s from . I am very big on independent learning. I have found that the internet has a wealth of knowledge for anyone who wants it. And by the picture you can see that Google is my search engine of choice.

If you want to learn to play the guitar: Search for "guitar lessons".
If you want to know about Fermat’s Last Theorem, just search for "Fermat’s Last Theorem".

Wikipedia deserves a mention, simply because it is so amazing. There are entries on very widely varying topics. May I recommend a look at the entry for Snowclone, because I think it’s interesting (it doesn’t relate to this at all though).

Friends
Hopefully, your friends will be willing to help you out occasionally if you need some help with academics and you should be willing to do the same. Don’t be too shy about it, just ask. You’ll be able to judge by their reaction whether you will be asking again. :P

I’d like you guys to remember something though: If someone helps you out, you should try to repay them. Teaching/helping someone can take a lot of effort or time – as many of you, and myself, know. Anything is fine, coconut cream pies, drinks, etc. Taking without giving doesn’t really work out in the end.

Textbooks and associated learning tools
Queerly enough, people are willing to shell out 50-200 dollars for a textbook and be perfectly content using it as a paperweight. There is probably a reason that it is required reading for your course. Try using it once in a while. It will help further clarify lessons and usually the diagrams really make things easier to grasp.

These days, many textbooks come with CDs or additional books, etc. You should see what help these supplements can provide, you may be surprised.

And if I know one thing about professors, it’s that they are a tricky bunch. If they don’t mention the textbook, there will still definitely be questions directly from the book on it. Unless they specifically say that you don’t need to read the textbook, there will be questions from it. A little sneaky, I know; that average isn’t pushing itself down though…


There are many other resources that I’m sure I’ve omitted – feel free to add them to the comments below – but I hope you get the point. Use all the resources you have around you to get a little more of an edge in learning – every little bit will help.

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Concentrating, The Gravy Way

I was wondering to myself: Why don’t you have more titles that go "Verb-ing (Gerund), The Gravy Way"? Not only is that creative, but it is hilarious. Hence, the title.

Back to good stuff...

I find that concentrating is one of the biggest barriers to learning. Given that the course has a learnable amount of content, we should be able to handle it. So we sit down, get out those mechanical pencils and multi-coloured pens (only the finest will do) and we start working.

But first we’ll just check our email. Oh, we’ll leave MSN Messenger on. And a little music will be nice. Hey, someone added some pictures of us on Facebook! How much money do we have left in our bank account? Time to check.

You know the drill. Four hours later, you’ve only managed to open your book, and it’s not even on the right page.

I’ll start out with some fundamental tips to keep you focused, then I’ll move on to some specific techniques that have worked for me over the years.

Concentration Basics

Eliminate all distractions.
People don’t seen to like this one, but it is the most important thing. Turn off your instant messaging program, set that cell phone to silent and let the voice mail take it. Either no or light music. If your roommates are loud, kill them or leave. Pee, etc. before you start working. You know what distracts you, and I know you can figure out how to stop it.

Outline what you will accomplish.
We all need goals, even for the short term. Let say you are reading some history text. Set a goal to read two chapters before you move. Don’t get up unless you finish. Seriously.

Take small breaks.
I have to emphasize small here. We all need to cool off after studying for a while, but when this rages on for 4 hours, there’s a problem. Try to do something that’s relaxing, but not too enthralling. And if you know something usually pulls you in for the long haul, avoid it like a Chinatown garbage bin. Yesterday, I thought I was going to watch TV for 15 minutes, it turned into 3 hours (Lord of the Rings). Today, I didn’t turn on the TV.

Switch it up.
Sometimes if I get sick of a subject, but I still have a good groove going, I like to switch to other subjects or sometimes just other aspects of the same subject. Sometimes I move from reading lectures to answering problems or even making cue cards (depending on the subject). There are a lot of differing views on this though. Well, just two I guess: a) Some people think it’s best to switch it up, while others think b) We should stick to one subject and just plow through it. You should experiment to see what’s best for you. It seems that the second option is better for assignments, while the first is better for studying.

Specific Concentration Techniques

Make a worry list.
If you are anything like me, then you remember silly things that you have to do only when you are studying. Instead of breaking your flow, quickly jot these things to do on a piece of paper, then go back to working. I do this with my sticky notes, and when I take a break in studying I try to do them as quickly as possible. I think it took me 15 minutes to email four people, call someone, transfer some money, and message 2 people about some random stuff. This is probably faster than the cumulative time it would have taken me if I had interspersed it with my studies. And best of all, I kept my flow.

Be conscious of where your focus lies.
There are many variations on this. One I’ve heard is trying the Buddhist koan “Be here now.” Just tell yourself where you need to be. Steve Pavlina tells us to tell ourselves “Do it now!” (BTW, Steve Pavlina is an insane genius.) An idea that I got from 43 Folders [via LifeHacker.com] is to simply relax and focus on your work, when you feel your attention slipping, take note and gently turn yourself back on track. I really recommend you take a peek at it, I’ve been trying it and it has worked nicely so far.

Create a role that forces you to study.
I’ve taken this from Steve Pavlina as well, I don’t know which section though. You can create a study group where you have to teach one section of the course. Since you don’t want to disappoint people with shoddy work, you’ll study very hard. As well, you can simply pretend that you have to teach this to some others. This only works if you can trick yourself well. But give it a shot!

Give yourself some incentive.
Often times it is easier to continue running if you dangle a carrot in front of your nose. So reward yourself if you complete a set of tasks. If you finish 3 lecture sets, you can watch a movie or maybe go for a nice walk. Try not to make it anything too destructive like binge-drinking or a pie-eating contest. You might just end up in a world of hurt.

Those are the tips I have for you guys so far. If I think of any more, I’ll be sure to post them. So, good luck studying and focusing. Remember: like most things, concentrating becomes easier with practice; so start today!

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Taking back control

More and more, I’ve been noticing that people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. People aren’t willing to admit when a mistake is their fault. People don’t like the idea that we are the only ones in control of our future.

Someone might be performing poorly in school, so they might say:

• "My parents didn’t push me hard enough."
• "This professor sucks."
• "My friends won’t help me."
• "My underwear is too tight."

Well, I don’t really know what to say about that last one, other than ‘buy another pair’. For the other excuses though, while they can be true, they are usually just ways of shifting the blame away from themselves.

If we continuously externalize the burden of learning – pushing the onus on our parents, friends or even inanimate objects – then self-development is impossible. We won’t feel compelled to grow because the factors controlling personal growth are always out of our hands.

Well after all this negative talk, does this mean there is no hope? Of course not.

The solution: Take back control of your life.

Once we realize that we are in charge of our lives, we become empowered to create sweeping changes. This is a pretty important point, so I’m going to elaborate a bit, just to drive it home.

Your success or failure in anything really only hinges on one factor: You. Your drive and dedication, your attitudes, your knowledge – all of it, stems from you.

It doesn’t really matter what your dad says, or what your friend thinks or what your grade 3 teacher wrote in the comments box. When it comes down to it, it is just you and your thoughts before you go to sleep. Well, there may be someone else with you, but that’s none of my business.

Once again, when we take back control of our lives and take responsibility for shaping our future, we can break free from limited thinking and affect drastic changes.

For example: You are hesitant to begin reading your text. You cite a number of people who have distracted you, causing you to lose focus, leaving you with little time to read the text. How dare those people force you to talk to them?

Aaah! This is garbage. You start to realize that you are allowing yourself to be distracted. Once you realize only you can change this, you move to the library (without your computer, come on) and finish your readings in record time.

This sort of process can only happen went accountability lies with a specific person. Can you guess with whom? Yes, you. *gives a cookie*

I have to point out, that this sort of responsibility-shifting is actually quite insidious, because most of the time, people don’t even realize that they are doing it. I’m not one to name names or point fingers, so I recommend we all do a little introspection to see if we can catch ourselves doing it.

While shifting responsibility away from ourselves may make things easier in the short term, in the long run, it only robs you of your potential. So take your life back!

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Quiz Yourself First

So you read that chapter from your textbook a few times. You seemed to have a strong grasp on the material. Then the test rolls around and… that whole chapter is a blur. You remember some major concepts, that picture at the beginning of the chapter (yet another molecule – real creative…) and maybe you remember question 17.3 – but it wasn’t even that hard.

This is not what you were expecting. Sucks doesn’t it?

How can we prevent such disasters from occurring?

Preparation. And lots of it.

It isn’t enough to merely read the text a few times, and expect to do well. How will you know if you are absorbing the material? This is where problem-based learning comes in. In this case, problem-based learning encompasses asking yourself some questions about the material.

In questioning yourself on the material, you are forcing your brain to go into the retrieval mode that is oh-so-necessary for any test.

Problem-based learning can help you in another way. One of the keys to learning is to have multiple mental pathways that can lead you to the same set of facts.

For example: Let’s say that you are trying to remember how Hamlet’s father was killed.

1. The first thing you remember is that he was murdered while sleeping; because you know that Claudius is a rank man-whore. Oh, he was killed in some weird way, no knives or anything like that… something with poison… poison in the ear! Claudius poured poison into Hamlet’s father’s ear!
2. Or, you could have only remembered ‘ears’ and eventually reached ‘poison in the ear’ through another pathway.

Where am I going with this? Questioning yourself (especially from different tacks/approaches) helps to create these mental pathways. The more you create, the greater chance you have of landing on at least one of them on a test.

So to get on the problem-based learning train, you will have to get some questions to ask yourself, or have others quiz you. Ask around, usually people would like this opportunity as well.

Now when asking questions, you have to be real with yourself. Include all material that might show up, even if it is difficult. It is better to get a question wrong in your room seven times, than to lose those marks on a test.

I may have mentioned that I love giving myself questions to learn. If possible, I prefer to incorporate them into broad concepts. It is easier to learn one large idea and its subtopics rather than a bunch of disjointed concepts.

I’ll give you an example of a question I’ve asked myself to study for anatomy (apologies if it flies over your head, I’ll do my best to translate):
How do the epithelial cells (cells lining a space) change along the urethra as we move distally (from the bladder to the external opening)? And relate these changes to functional changes.

(That question sounds a lot harder than it is.) With that question, I am forcing myself to recall the varieties of epithelium along the urethra, while also relating that variation to the change in function.

I do this so that when I have to recall this information later, the potential for numerous mental pathways is large, because the remembered concept is itself large. This increases the likelihood that I will remember the information more readily on a test.

If you are wondering what process you should go through to learn in this manner, it is fairly simple:

• Quickly scan over a small section – i.e. a lecture or one chapter.
• Go through the lecture/chapter again and write questions that will extract the answers in the text from you.
• You may want to put the answers afterwards – it takes more time, but it is easier to retrieve the answer if you are stumped.
• Read the information again.
• Try to answer the questions.
• Find out what you don’t know.
• Do something else (e.g. the next lecture set, jump in some puddles, eat a 72oz. steak, etc.)
• Try answering the questions again.

Generally speaking, I try to ask myself the questions until I run out of time, or I know the information so well that I barely even need the question sheet. In this way, I ensure that I know pretty much everything for the test.

With this technique, you will find that you can recall information more readily by creating new mental pathways and putting your brain in retrieval mode. So go and ask yourself some questions! Seriously, ask!

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Priming yourself to be smarter

In my continuing fascination with how our brains work, I decided to pick up Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink (new window), after reading his earlier book, The Tipping Point (mentioned in the post: Knowledge and Relationships).

Once again I am highly recommending this book. This book is just as, perhaps more, fascinating than The Tipping Point.

To the point: Gladwell suggests that we can be prepared or primed to think in a particular way with some simple and subtle suggestion.

From Blink by Malcolm Gladwell:

[T]he effects of priming aren’t trivial. Two Dutch researchers did a study in which they had groups of students answer forty-two fairly demainding questions from the board game Trivial Pursuit. Half were asked to take five minutes beforehand to think about what it would mean to be a professor and write down everything that came to mind. Those students got 55.6 percent of the questions right. The other half of the students were asked to first sit and think about soccer hooligans. They ended up getting 42.6 percent of the Trivial Pursuit questions right. The “professor” group didn’t know more than the “soccer hooligan” group. They weren’t smarter or more focused or more serious. They were simply in a “smart” frame of mind, and clearly, associating themselves with the idea of something smart, like a professor, made it a lot easier – in that stressful instant after a trivia question was asked – to blurt out the right answer. The difference between 55.6 and 42.6 percent, it should be pointed out, is enormous. That can be the difference between passing and failing.

The implications here are wild! To me, it seems that before any sort of testing situation, it is possible for us to prime ourselves to think in that “smart” frame of mind.

Rather than thinking about hooking up with that cute guy/girl right before the exam, our thoughts should be of greatness and intelligence. It may help to think of someone you think of as smart, or what it means to be smart.

And hey, even if it improves your mark by only 1%, it’s a free percent that takes only minutes before an exam. Two minutes for one percent? I’ll take that any day.

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Open your mind

This is probably the greatest tip I will ever give – not just regarding learning but life in general.

In everything that you do, try to keep an open mind. Do not be so quick to judge.



Some of you may be wondering how this can relate to education at all. Have you found that you have a professor that you just don’t take a liking to, for whatever reason? And from then on, everything that professor says doesn’t even count. Your attention span falls and suddenly shiny things become a lot more interesting. This isn’t hurting them, it’s hurting you. We have to open our minds to different possibilities. We have to realize that maybe this person wasn’t birthed from Satan’s loins. They could have had a very hard life

If you are anything like me, you find that a certain subject (or several) have become anathema to you. Sometimes you find that you hate this subject so much that it is actually causing you to develop a twitch. Upon further reflection, we have to consider the possibility that this material is not that bad. Maybe there is a reason that you are learning it. There is always some interesting material to be found within the course. However, this can only happen if you allow yourself to find it.

Once we are mired in our negative preconceptions about a professor or course, how can we hope to learn anything effectively? So we are basically giving away a huge portion of our marks. For what? Our silly pride and rash decision-making. All that time and effort is being used inefficiently because of our petty conflicts. This is really not worth it.

So then, the question is: How can we resolve this problem? How can we get over our seemingly unwavering contempt, and start learning again?

The answer, like many things in life, lies within us. First we must establish what it is that is preventing us from being receptive. Do you dislike the professor? Why? Do you actually find the material uninteresting, or is just the way it is being presented? In some cases (mine), it is simply that the material is being taught in an unfamiliar way – making it much more difficult to absorb. Even in the case of identifying problems, we must open our minds to all possibilities.

As a side note, I find that I become very quickly agitated when I don’t understand what is being taught at all or if the person is presenting it in a queer way. I thing that you know the feeling I’m talking about.

It is these sorts of feelings that can distract from the real origin of the “barrier”. Initially it may seem that the professor’s beard is too long and distracting or their accent is too thick. These might be small problems but they are not the true sources of the barrier. Thus, we must be careful when assessing the problem, and once again: Keep our minds open.

Once we have identified the problem, we have to work towards a realistic solution. If the material is being taught in a weird way, then something must be done to improve comprehension. Possibly previewing the material will help, maybe more time needs to be spent on this subject.

After that all you can do is continue to work dedicatedly. A lot of people won’t like hearing that, but this is the way things are.

As well, I wanted to mention that there are many more applications of this to learning and life in general, without making this a 2000 word post, I’ll briefly address them.

Even in the knowledge we have already acquired, we have to remember that we are not always right. It is possible that we haven’t learned a concept completely, or that we learned it improperly. So if someone comes along and challenges your knowledge, do not simply ignore this person because “they must be wrong”. Instead, investigate further to see if there is some merit to their point. Then change your brain accordingly.

After reading that paragraph again, I see how that can apply quite nicely to learning and life.

Further, we must keep our minds open to new ideas. Maybe the way we perceive the world could use a tune-up. Maybe we don’t know the best learning technique. Maybe we don’t know everything.

Maybe if we keep our minds open and stay receptive, we can learn more about the world and ourselves.

On a more interpersonal level, please do not be so quick to judge people. I find that people (including myself, even 5 minutes ago) are too quick to assume the worst about others. This can only result in trouble.

Once we have a negative image of a person in our mind’s eye, we react to that image accordingly. We start treating that person poorly; they react to that as expected. This begins to breed poor relationships with those around us.

Maybe if we were to assume better of everyone, or at the very least reserve judgement for much later, then all of our relations would be good ones. And that sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

So think about it, look how much we can get just from keeping an open mind: elimination of silly learning barriers, a new understanding of ourselves and the world, better relationships with others… and that’s just what I could fit into this post (which is already way too long).

All of this, for the low, low price of 3 payments of $14.99 $0.00. What an amazing bargain!

Call now, operators are standing by.

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