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July 11 - August 24, 2021
Focused-mode thinking is essential for studying math and science. It involves a direct approach to solving problems using rational, sequential, analytical approaches. The focused mode is associated with the concentrating abilities of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, located right behind your forehead.
Diffuse-mode thinking is also essential for learning math and science. It allows us to suddenly gain a new insight on a problem we’ve been struggling with and is associated with “big-picture” perspectives. Diffuse-mode thinking is what happens when you relax your attention and just let your mind wander.
If you are trying to understand or figure out something new, your best bet is to turn off your precision-focused thinking and turn on your “big picture” diffuse mode,
The key is to do something else until your brain is consciously free of any thought of the problem.
Creativity expert Howard Gruber has suggested that one of the three B’s usually seems to do the trick: the bed, the bath, or the bus.
Once you are distracted from the problem at hand, the diffuse mode has access and can begin pinging about in its big-picture way to settle on a solution.
Every time you relax and think of nothing in particular, your brain enters into a natural default mode that’s a form of diffuse thinking. Everybody does this.
Figuring out a difficult problem or learning a new concept almost always requires one or more periods when you aren’t consciously working on the problem.
A good rule of thumb, when you are first learning new concepts, is not to let things go untouched for longer than a day.
Next time you find yourself becoming frustrated at something or someone, try taking a mental step back and observing your reaction.
Rising frustration is usually a good time-out signal for you, signaling that you need to shift to diffuse mode.
Speaking of talking to other people, when you’re genuinely stuck, nothing is more helpful than getting insight from classmates, peers, or the instructor.
(Too little sleep is affiliated with conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s to depression—prolonged sleeplessness is lethal.)
Attempting to recall the material you are trying to learn—retrieval practice—is far more effective than simply rereading the material.
Merely glancing at the solution to a problem and thinking you truly know it yourself is one of the most common illusions of competence in learning.
This is where the Law of Serendipity comes to play: Lady Luck favors the one who tries.
There are two ways to solve problems—first, through sequential, step-by-step reasoning, and second, through more holistic intuition.
I suggest that they insert a step between the smile and going on to the next problem—asking themselves this question: How would I know how to do the problem this way if I saw it on a test mixed together with other problems and I didn’t know it was from this section of the text? Students need to think of every homework problem in terms of test preparation and not as part of a task they are trying to complete.”
My objective is a good career that will support my family—these
Procrastination expert Rita Emmett explains: “The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.”
It’s easy to feel distaste for something you’re not good at. But the better you get at something, the more you’ll find you enjoy it.
Procrastination is like addiction. It offers temporary excitement and relief from boring reality.
Over time, your habitual, zombielike response in obtaining those temporary dollops of pleasure can gradually lower your self-confidence, leaving you with even less of a desire to learn how to work effectively. Procrastinators report higher stress, worse health, and lower grades.10 As time goes on, the habit can become entrenched. At that point, fixing it can feel hopeless.11
As procrastination expert Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation, points out, “If you protect your routine, eventually it will protect you.”
A powerful approach is mental contrasting.6 In this technique, you think about where you are now and contrast it with what you want to achieve.
In mental contrasting, it’s the contrast of where you want to be with where you are now, or where you have been, that makes the difference.
Get into the Flow by Focusing on Process, Not Product
Your challenge here is to avoid focusing on the product—the solved homework problems. The product is what triggers the pain that causes you to procrastinate. Instead, you need to focus on the process, the small chunks of time you need over days or weeks, to solve the homework problems or prepare for tests. Who cares whether you finished the homework or grasped key concepts in any one session? The whole point instead is that you calmly put forth your best effort for a short period—the process.
Ignorance Is Bliss Next time you feel the urge to check your messages, pause and examine the feeling. Acknowledge it. Then ignore it. Practice ignoring distractions. It is a far more powerful technique than trying to will yourself to not feel those distractions in the first place.
Focus on the process (the way you spend your time) instead of the product (what you want to accomplish).
Mental contrasting is a powerful motivating technique—think about the worst aspects of your present or past experiences and contrast these with the upbeat vision of your future.
We all have a failure rate. You will fail. So control your failures. That is why we do homework—to exhaust our failure rate.
The biggest lie ever is that practice makes perfect. Not true—practice makes you better. Practice is where you are supposed to fail. Practice at home, in class, anytime and anywhere—except on the TEST!
Even zombies get up and try again!
Here’s a key idea: Learning fundamental concepts of math and science can be a lot easier than learning subjects that require a lot of rote memorization.
This is not to trivialize the difficulty or importance of memorization. Ask any medical school student preparing for board exams!
THE LAW OF SERENDIPITY Remember, Lady Luck favors the one who tries. So don’t feel overwhelmed with everything you need to learn about a new subject. Instead, focus on nailing down a few key ideas. You’ll be surprised at how much that simple framework can help.
Remember, retrieval practice is one of the most powerful forms of learning. It is far more productive than simply rereading material.
Testing in itself is a powerful learning experience. It changes and adds to what you know, also making dramatic improvements in your ability to retain the material.
A short, helpful guide to getting started with meditation is Buddha in Blue Jeans by Tai Sheridan.
A last important trick is to reframe your focus. One student, for example, is able to get himself up at four thirty each weekday morning, not by thinking about how tired he is when he wakes but about how good breakfast will be.
It’s normal to sit down with a few negative feelings about beginning your work. It’s how you handle those feelings that matters.
Researchers have found that the difference between slow and fast starters is that the nonprocrastinating fast starters put their negative thinking aside, saying things to themselves like, “Quit wasting time and just get on with it. Once you get it going, you’ll feel better about it.”
The best way for you to gain control of your habits is simple: Once a week, write a brief weekly list of key tasks. Then, each day, write a list of the tasks that you can reasonably work on or accomplish. Try to write this daily task list the evening before.
As writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant recommends to her writing clients: “Eat your frogs first thing in the morning.” Do the most important and most disliked jobs first, as soon as you wake up. This is incredibly effective.
Planning your quitting time is as important as planning your working time.
Time after time, those who are committed to maintaining healthy leisure time along with their hard work outperform those who doggedly pursue an endless treadmill.
Planning your life for “playtime” is one of the most important things you can do to prevent procrastination, and one of the most important reasons to avoid procrastination.
Remember, part of your mission is to finish your daily tasks by a reasonable time so that you have some guilt-free leisure time for yourself. You are developing a new set of habits that will make your life much more enjoyable!
People who make a habit of getting their work done in binges are much less productive overall than those who generally do their work in reasonable, limited stints.2 Staying in the zone too long will send you toward burnout.3
