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August 10 - November 1, 2023
I used to go through my textbook page by page. I was trying to make sure I understood all the ideas before I turned the page. Sounds sensible, right? Don’t do this! It was a big mistake. Instead, when you start a new chapter, go on a “picture walk”* through it. Scan it. Look briefly at all the pictures, captions, and diagrams, but also at the section headings, bold words, and summary, and even questions at the end of the chapter, if the book has them.
I used to go through my textbook page by page. I was trying to make sure I understood all the ideas before I turned the page. Sounds sensible, right? Don’t do this! It was a big mistake. Instead, when you start a new chapter, go on a “picture walk”* through it. Scan it. Look briefly at all the pictures, captions, and diagrams, but also at the section headings, bold words, and summary, and even questions at the end of the chapter, if the book has them.
It’s a little like watching a preview of a movie, or checking a map before you set off on a journey.
It’s a little like watching a preview of a movie, or checking a map before you set off on a journey.
as you read the next chapter, take notes, answer questions, and make doodles
as you read the next chapter, take notes, answer questions, and make doodles
with key insights. This will help you avoid mindless reading and help glue the new ideas into your brain.
with key insights. This will help you avoid mindless reading and help glue the new ideas into your brain.
Sometimes we need to lose concentration so we can think more clearly.
Sometimes we need to lose concentration so we can think more clearly.
When you are trying to learn something new, you must first focus intently on it in order to “turn on” those parts of the brain and get the learning process started.
When you are trying to learn something new, you must first focus intently on it in order to “turn on” those parts of the brain and get the learning process started.
It turns out that your brain has to go back and forth between focused and diffuse modes in order to learn effectively.
It turns out that your brain has to go back and forth between focused and diffuse modes in order to learn effectively.
That’s like your focused mode—you make trails in your brain when you’re focused. These trails are laid when you first learn something and begin to practice using it.
That’s like your focused mode—you make trails in your brain when you’re focused. These trails are laid when you first learn something and begin to practice using it.
If we want to shift from thinking about the details to thinking freely about the bigger picture, we have to shift from focused to diffuse mode.
If we want to shift from thinking about the details to thinking freely about the bigger picture, we have to shift from focused to diffuse mode.
This is why, when you’re stuck on a math problem, you can instead switch your focus to studying geography for a while. Then you can make a breakthrough when you return to the math. But it seems that the best ways to give your diffuse mode a chance to work out a difficult problem are through activities like sleeping, exercising, or going for a ride in a vehicle.
When you take a break, how long should it be? This depends on you and how much material you need to cover that day. Five or ten minutes is a good break time. Try not to make your breaks too long. You want to finish so you’ll have part of the evening to relax!
Don’t try switching just once between focused and diffuse modes while you’re studying and then decide that it doesn’t work for you. Sometimes you have to go back and forth several times between focused and diffuse to figure something out.
How long should you focus? As a rough guideline, if you find yourself stuck after at least ten to fifteen minutes of trying
Don’t just dive into problem solving without studying the explanations first. You need to lay some basic trails on the focused pinball table.
This is because when you think about opening that book, or cleaning up, it actually hurts—researchers can see an area of the brain that experiences pain, the insular cortex, begin to light up.
The insular cortex calms down when you start the task you were avoiding. It’s happy that you’re finally getting on with the job.
Shut off all distractions—your phone, the TV, your music, your brother. Anything that gets in the way of your ability to focus. Find a quiet place to work where you won’t be interrupted. If you can afford them, consider noise-canceling earphones or cheaper but just-as-effective earmuffs or earplugs. Set the timer for 25 minutes.* Get going, and focus on the task as well as you can. Twenty-five minutes is not long. You can do it! Now for the best part. After 25 minutes, reward yourself.
If I find my thoughts wandering to
other tasks I want to do, or websites I want to check, I make a note on a piece of paper so I won’t forget, and then I continue with the Pomodoro.
Pulling the key idea from your own mind, instead of just reading or rereading it on the page, is the critical idea behind active recall.
When you put something off, it’s hurting your brain. Just getting going stops the suffering.
Learning something new means creating new or stronger links in your brain. A new set of brain-links!4
When you first learn something new, the brain-links are weak. There may be only a few neurons linked together. Each neuron may have only a small dendritic spine and a small synapse. The spark between the neurons isn’t very big. As you practice a new idea, more neurons join in.5 And the synaptic links between the neurons get stronger. This means the sparks get bigger.
Metaphors allow you to connect what you already know to the new concept you’re learning. This helps you learn faster.
Metaphors help you to get it faster. (All this relates to something called the “neural reuse theory.”8 You are reusing ideas you have already learned to assist you in learning new ideas.)
If you don’t take the time to work problems and read more slowly and carefully, you will not be able to grow new neural connections—which is the only way you learn.
You want to keep that childish imagination and build on it by using your imagination to help you learn.
new learning helps keep us in mental shape.
Metaphors are powerful learning tools. They help us reuse neuron trails we have already developed so that we can learn more quickly.
You strengthen your brain-links (or mouse paths) by practicing.
the catalyst for melting aluminum is cryolite
Get up and take a little break—get a glass of water or snack, or pretend you’re an electron and orbit a nearby table.
neurons do change. And the big change happens after we learn something and then go to sleep.
brain-links solidify when you are sleeping!
The working memory system is largely in your prefrontal cortex.
the year that the silicon chip was invented, 1959.* Or the fact that the word for “duck” in Portuguese is pato.
the “memory palace” technique, which uses a place you are familiar with as a memory tool. The technique has been around for 2,500 years. A famous Roman writer named Cicero used it to recall his speeches.
But just understanding a concept does not create a set of brain-links. You must practice a new concept to create the set of brain-links.
cognitive load.7 Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. It’s harder to move more stuff into working memory if you already have a lot going on there.) When you’re learning anything new, your working memory can only hold so much in mind at once. This is why it’s so important to make strong, well-practiced sets of brain-links.
Like Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Carl Anderson had won a Nobel Prize. (He discovered the positron.*)
Each neuron is a tiny “computer.”
