50 Tricks to Study Better, Faster and with Less Stress

Studying isnt one task, its many. You may need to memorize facts or just understand the basics. You might need a broad conceptual base, or just skills. To add even more variety, each person has different learning styles and preferences. No one tool is the right one. But with fifty here, youre bound to find something that might help. **Authors Note: I realize this article is fairly long, so you may want to bookmark it to finish it later** 1) Visualization The idea here is that you want to put abstract information into a picture. If you are struggling to understand a concept, visualization is a good technique to start with. 2) Rote Memorization Im not a huge fan of this method, but sometimes brute force is required. Rote memorization involves pounding information into your brain by repeating it continually. Works best when the information is arbitrary and fact-based, so applications wont go beyond simple memory. 3) Interlinking Take two ideas and ask yourself how they relate. They can be ideas within a specific field (short roads) or between two completely different fields (freeways). By doing this you create a roadmap for traveling between information in your brain. I suggest reading my article on holistic learning if you want to find out more. 4) Metaphor Take a more complex idea and compare it to a simpler one. When learning computer programming, I found it helpful to look at a function like a pencil sharpener. A parameter was a dull pencil, inside processes sharpened and returned a sharp pencil. Some metaphors have limited applications while others can be used for deep understanding. 5) Diagram Draw it out. I love using diagrams for sorting large pieces of information. When I used to write computer programs fairly heavily, my desktop would have pieces of paper with hastily scratched diagrams. I consider creating a diagram to be the upgraded version of visualization. 6) Fluid Notes Most people take notes in a linear fashion, writing one statement after the next. Fluid notes may look less organized, but involves you drawing connections between ideas and writing in all directions across the page. Remember the point of note taking is to encourage learning, not just record what was said.

7) Acronyms A bit more efficient than rote memorization is to use mnemonics. Acronyms simplifying memorized information are a great way to do this. When I used to lifeguard, I had memorized all sorts of acronyms for various procedures such as RED or ABC. Make up your own acronyms to store arbitrary info. 8) Link Method This is an advanced memory technique. Ive found it works surprisingly well, but it takes longer to set up and requires practice if you want to do it quickly. The basic idea is that you link two ideas together by forming a bizarre picture that involves both of them. If I wanted to memorize a grocery list that had apples, milk and beans, my goal would be to create two images that linked apples to milk and milk to beans. The first could be a picture of a giant apple milking a cow. The second could be a milk container that poured baked beans. 9) Peg Method A variation of the link method, this one helps you memorize numbers. Instead of linking two pictures together, you use a system of phonetics to remember all the digits. From that you create short words and sentences to encode numbers. This article isnt enough to fully explain the technique, but a Google search should give more depth if youre interested. 10) Retracing Another technique that works well with holistic learning is retracing. Basically this involves you starting with one concept in your class. From that you find a relationship between that idea and another idea. You continue doing this path until you get back where you started or reach a dead end. 11) Zoom and Check Skim through any material you have to learn. Your goal isnt to learn the information but to notice what you dont already know. If more than one or two ideas pop out in a chapter, you should probably stop and go back. 12) Self-Test Give yourself a test. Testing is a good way to see if you know what your doing, so try it out. 13) Anthropomorphize Sounds complicated but isnt. Anthropomorphizing is the process of taking non-human things and giving them human characteristics. Describing a rock as being lonely would be an example. You can use this tool by giving abstract ideas human qualities so they become easier to remember. A great example was given by my psychology professor. He showed how signals are conducted along a neuron by describing it as people running down the hallway of a hotel, as doors opened and closed.
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14) Visceralize Similar to visualization except you use all your senses. This one is harder to explain, but you can create a feeling, sound or sense that corresponds with an idea. I remembered how to do basic matrix determinants by linking the feeling of my hand moving through a box. 15) Leverage Previous Understandings What do you already know that could be useful? Make use of the information you already have. Many times the specifics between subjects are different, but founding principles are similar. Look for connections. 16) Gap Avoidance Ive made use of this technique to pass tests I didnt study for. Although I always recommend actually learning information first, this can be a booster to help in a crisis. The basic idea of gap avoidance is that you become aware of what you dont know and collect everything that you do. I once won an inter-province chemistry test where one question was to write an essay on soap. I know very little about soap, so my first step was to collect anything I knew that could be remotely related to soap. Next I made note of what I did not know, so I could consciously avoid displaying my ignorance when writing the essay. Id like to point out that this technique isnt magical. If you dont know something, youll still probably fail. But it can help if you are missing pieces of information and cant go back to study. 17) Brainstorming Get a couple people in a room and think it out. I find one or two other people to be ideal, although some experts recommend up to six. 18) Mindstorming Consider this individual brainstorming. Write down all the ideas, thoughts and information you can think of. A brain dump to get it all out on paper. 19) Relationship Diagrams Diagrams that focus on the relationship between information are a great tool. Instead of just displaying information, show how it links together. Combined with fluid note taking, this is a great way to piece all the information together. 20) Give it a Hand Use your fingers and thumbs as a memory tool. Link different words or names to specific fingers and memorize which go where. There are limits to this application, but it can be useful if a good acronym doesnt come immediately. 21) Imaginary Room Method
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A reader sent me this one and it builds on the link technique. Imagine a room you are familiar with. Now visualize all the major objects in this room. The next step is to individually link specific information or details to each object in your room. Another variation on this technique uses your body instead of a room. I suppose it depends on whether you are more visual or visceral in your learning style. 22) Make it Interesting Sounds obvious, doesnt it? Youll remember information you find more satisfying to know. Find ways you can use the information beyond just getting a grade and it will become more real to you. 23) Teach It Find someone and explain it to them. Nothing forces you to learn better than teaching. 24) The Kindergarten Rule Similar to teaching, the kindergarten rule proclaims that you should be able to explain your subject to a six year old. While this isnt going to work for your advanced level calculus or biochemical courses, the idea is that you should dumb down the information so it becomes obvious. 25) Song or Story Another memorizing technique, this one links information together by placing it in a sequence of a song or a story. You could list all the bones in your hand by creating a story in which you meet each of them in sequence. 26) Chunking Learn for fifteen minutes at a time. Take frequent breaks and let your mind absorb what was learned. I never do creative or learning work for more than an hour or two without a change in pace. 27) Watch the Recorder Are you learning or just reading sentences off the page? Be conscious of when your mind has slipped but your eyes are still gazing down. When the recorder stops, go back and restart. 28) Learn it Once What would you do if you could only look through your textbook once? The learn-it-once philosophy basically states that studying is a waste of time. You should learn things immediately as they come to you rather than delegating them to future study sessions. It may be slower, but it forces you to learn instead of just skim. 29) Define Quality Information What information is important? Define your goals for learning and the expectations of any examiners. By doing this you can figure out what information is critical to memorize and what can be skimmed.
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30) Cram I hate cramming, but it seems popular enough for me to include it anyways. Put on another pot of coffee and expect little sleep. 31) Immersion This involves learning way more than you need to. The equivalent of diving into the deep end of a pool full of sharks it can be one of the fastest ways to learn (if you dont get eaten alive). I know many people who have used this method when trying to learn new languages. Basically you become obsessed with the subject and hope that if only a small fraction of it sticks, that will still be more than you could have learned by any other method. 32) Learn as You Need It Opposite to the immersion method is the learn-as-you-go method. This works great when the learning is for a field where mastery isnt important. I used this approach when learning the technical matters of blogging. 33) Pop Quiz My grandfather used this to teach my multiplication table when I was little. At random points during the day he would say something like, Quick! Whats 812?. This method might require an understanding friend or a complex computer program, but it can force you to remember information in any situation. 34) Give it Form Dont let an idea sit as an abstraction in your head. Give it a shape, form, color and meaning. Use your hands to describe it as a potter would sculpt a bowl on a potters wheel. 35) Sleep on It Sleep has been shown to impact memory. Take time to rest yourself and get enough sleep so that you can remember what you have learned. 36) Complete Focus Occasionally Ill see people studying while listening to music or watching television. Although they may have a gift in multitasking I wasnt born with, I think it is more likely that they are fooling themselves. Turn off all the distractions and focus completely or dont focus at all. 37) Ask Why Ever sat next to one of those annoying kids that asked Why? to everything you said? Maybe its time you became that annoying kid and started asking why to more of the information you are supposed to learn. When information forms a logical pattern it becomes far easier to remember. 38) Find Your Peak Mental Hours
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Everyone has different creative peaks. Mine tend to be early afternoon and late morning. When I try to work late in the evening Im restless. When I try to work early in the morning my mind is usually too fuzzy to think. Find your peak mental hours so studying works for you. 39) Exercise Cal Newport, mentioned these next two on his blog. This first is exercising. Healthy body, healthy mind. Ive found the stereotype of the dumb jock to be fairly inaccurate. Usually the people who keep fit are able to stay sharper mentally. 40) Burn Off Stress Party, mediate, socialize, whatever you need to do to relax. Being in a depressed state wont help your studies, so have fun and find a balance. Then again, hangovers arent the best way to write an exam so know where to draw the line. 41) Create Learning and creating are, in essence, the same activity. Dont let learning become a passive activity where you try to absorb information. Instead create information. Form your own relationships, descriptions and examples. 42) Get a Tutor Get personalized instructions that match up with your learning style. Dont force a square peg into a circular hole if you dont have to. 43) Know Thy Weaknesses Did you get a bad mark on that last test. Why? Was it just a lack of preparation. Did you not remember the information, or did you have trouble applying it? Figure out your weaknesses so you can develop tools (or use these) to work around them. 44) Post Its Place Post Its all over your room with information from subjects. Mix them up every few days so that you will notice them as you walk around. 45) Organize I must admit that organization has always been a struggle for me. Im far more inclined towards total environmental chaos and lost files than robotic storage. But I have found that working on my organizational skills allows me more mental room to learn. Ordered environment, ordered mind. 46) Create a Learning Ritual I cant think of article ideas if Im not sitting in my chair. If I try going for a walk or sitting somewhere else, my mind doesnt focus. Ive developed a ritual for writing posts that makes it difficult to do anything else. The advantage is that when I go through this ritual, I can think of ideas fairly quickly. Creating a learning ritual where you study or read in the same place can create a
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similar advantage. 47) Performance Flow Im incredibly relaxed when Im about to write tests. Im rarely nervous, but I have a degree of tension that keeps me focused. If you get too nervous during performance situations, try breathing and meditation exercises to slow yourself down. 48) Eat Light Digestion uses a large amount of energy in your body. By eating light before studying or a test you can ensure you dont feel groggy. 49) Write it Down Writing is one of the best ways to learn. I use it for problem solving, brainstorming and working out ideas. Thinking is a rather inefficient process where distractions easily push you onto a tangent. By writing things down you can record your position and think more clearly. 50) Grades are Just Letters My final suggestion is to stop thinking about classes in terms of grades and degrees. Think of school as just one facet of the larger self-education in your life. Find reasons to learn information for its own sake, instead of just to pass the class. While this may sound obvious, I believe it is the most important tip on this list and the one few people actually use. Study to learn, not just to pass.

A Brief Guide to Learning Faster (and Better)

Note: This is a long article (4000+ words), I suggest bookmarking it for later if you dont have time to read it all right now. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to learn faster. The biggest reason I do this is because its important. With so much knowledge out there, the answers to most of our biggest problems are out there, but theyre useless if we dont understand them. People who can grok hard subjects and big ideas will earn more money, live better and have a bigger impact on the world. Learning mattersa lot. The second, and admittedly more selfish reason, is that most of my income now comes from working with students. Through the programs I run, students get strategies for learning better. In return, I get paid to field test my ideas, to see what works and what doesnt. Not a bad deal. Today Id like to share with you some of what works. Whether youre a student trying to ace tough classes, or just someone who wants to learn better, I hope you find it useful. Ive split this rather long article into three sections to make things a bit easier, feel free to jump to particular sections:
1. How to Learn Faster The basics of learning better 2. How to Learn Anything Rules of thumb to master hard subjects 3. Tactics for Learning Better Specific methods to learn faster

How to Learn Faster

The simple observation that resulted in the most popular topic every to appear on this website was this: Smart people dont memorize things. Its a simple idea, but a rather strange one, especially if you spent most of your school years pouring endless hours into the textbooks. After all, smart people seem to have all the answers at their fingertips, how could they not be memorizing information? What else could they be doing? My answer was equally simple: Smart people dont need to memorize, because they connect ideas together. People are bad at memorizing. It only takes one look at a computer to see this is true. I spent months of my elementary school education trying to memorize the multiplication tables up to 1212=144. A computer can be programmed to do that in less than a second. However, people are really good at forming patterns and connections. Supercomputers which can perform calculations at rates of millions per seconds, still have difficulty recognizing objects that a human 3 year-old does effortlessly.

Because we can form connections and recognize patterns far more effectively than we can memorize information, why not use that to learn? Learning by Connections It turns out that learning by connections is not only faster, its also a much better way to learn. Consider two students trying to learn calculus: The first student diligently memorizes all the rules for differentiation. He memorizes the power rule and the chain rule. He knows what to do for exponents and logarithms. He spends hours with flashcards to drill those ideas into his brain. The second student takes a different approach. She doesnt try to memorize at all. Instead, she uses analogies to try to relate calculus to her everyday life. She starts with simple metaphors, like the odometer and speedometer on a car, but as the calculus gets more abstract, she simplifies and tries to walk through what the formulas are saying and the problems they are trying to solve. Now after all this, which student do you think understands calculus better? The first student may perform well on basic quizzes and tests that dont ask creative problems. But he doesnt really understand calculus. He just has a memorized set of rules. A computer could easily replace him. The second student may need a bit of practice to be able to answer the questions quickly, but Id guess shes more likely to actually understand calculus. Later in her life when faced with a novel problem, shes more likely to think about calculus as a potential solution instead of some useless course she took all those years ago. Im using math deliberately because Im often accused of writing about something that is impractical for the hard sciences. As if engineering or physics were only solvable by rote memorization and that thinking creatively was reserved for soft subjects. The truth is, learning via connections can make learning almost any conceptual subject easier. Every time I think theres a subject that cant be learned holistically, Im corrected by a reader who claims it helped them a lot in law, history or even wrestling. How to Make Connections Between Ideas This basic method of relating ideas to things we already understand is something people do automatically, every day. Like creativity, however, it is easy to witness and more difficult to replicate. We may be able to find past examples of times we learned holistically, but its trickier to foster that approach for future subjects. Slicing up what happens mentally when people learn successfully and effortlessly is probably a good place to start looking for clues as to how to trigger this process more often. In my experience, Ive found the process usually goes like this:
1. Confusion 2. First insights 3. Expand on insights 9

4. Trim back connections 5. Repeat

Stage One Confusion Whenever youre learning anything difficult, the first stage is always confusion. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of people give up and decide memorization is the only option. I actually think confusion is a step forward. When youre confused by something, your brain is automatically searching for a pattern. The worst thing you can do is declare something is impossible to learn, or that it there is no pattern and you need to memorize. I cant tell you how often I get emails from students who claim there are too many things they need to memorize even when the subject has, in fact, an obvious pattern that makes it easy to learn holistically. The goal for this stage should be to seek out the first insights to get the ball rolling. Stage Two First Insights Unfortunately, I dont think its possible to come up with the first insights just with a method alone. Ive tried repeatedly and failed to come up with something to create those first seeds of understanding. The only method that works here is exposure. Exposure yourself to as many high quality explanations as possible until you find something that causes a mental click. Luckily, with the internet, this shouldnt be too difficult for most topics. Not getting the first insight usually means you arent trying, not that youre too stupid. Once you have enough where you feel you sort of get a subject, you can start rapidly building on those insights. Its like a snowflake: it needs seed particles to begin, but once crystallization starts, it can grow rapidly. Stage Three Expand on Insights This is where most of the methods Ill discuss in Part 3 come in. Once you have a very general understanding, you can leverage that to come up with analogies, visualizations, metaphors, simplifications and make an idea more concrete for you. The problem for most people, in most subjects, in my opinion, isnt that they dont reach those first insights. Its that they reach them but fail to build on them substantially. If you dont expand on those first insights, they are easily forgotten and relatively useless when you need to use them. Stage Four Trim Back Connections Skepticism is a trend amongst smart people (or is it that skepticism makes people look smarter?). I think part of the reason is that smart people are both good at creating connections, and culling them back where they dont apply. Smart people see all the possibilities of an argument, but can also point out the counterarguments along the way. This step, which is broadly referred to as critical thinking, is basically playing devils advocate with your ideas. You question some of your analogies to ask yourself where they dont connect. This
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process of connection and destruction is something I do all the time when writing an article. I begin with a main idea, explore the major implications and then try to ask myself all the places my idea may have limits or flaws. Skepticism without knowledge is just ignorance, however. In order to trim back connections you first have to make a lot of them. This stage tends to come later, when youre already comfortable with an idea. Stage Five Repeat Learning well moves in a loop, not a line. You constantly go back to confusion, insights, expansion and refinement so that you learn ideas deeper. If youre like me, you might have felt that algebra made you understand arithmetic a lot better. Once you expand beyond, the core foundation is always being tested and strengthened. Thats the idea in this last stage, that as you go further, the earlier ideas seem more and more obvious. Learning Faster Means Learning with Connections Most of the tactics Ill outline in the third section of this guide are tools to jump-start this process that happens automatically when most people learn something deeply. Therefore, learning faster isnt a magic process for doing something incredibly different, rather its a process of figuring out what you do when you learn well, and trying to repeat that more often. More, its about avoiding the trap of memorization which is pushed on students in standardized testing, but does little to actually create a deep understanding. In the next section, Ill go from the basics of learning faster to cover a more methodical approach to tackling difficult subjects.

How to Learn Anything

After running a monthly coaching program for over a year, and responding to student emails for nearly four years, Ive had the advantage of getting to see a lot of students from different backgrounds. Also, because Im not an educator of the topics they are studying, Im restricted from providing the right answer or explanation for a particular subject. Instead, I have to approach all problems from the learners perspective, giving meta-advice for how to break down hairy problems into concrete strategies to learn different topics. Doing this hundreds of times with students from many different fields has given me some rules of thumb that work to create a general strategy for learning anything. In this section, Ill share what some of those rules of thumb are. How Should I Study for ________?

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This is a common question I get. Its interesting, because there isnt a universal answer. It depends on a lot: what the subject is, what your goal is for learning, how it is being tested (if your goal is to pass an exam). From a general perspective, however, there are a few good ways to start thinking about how to learn a subject. These broader rules help split the topic so you can start devising a battle plan. Rule #1: Practice for Skills, Connections for Concepts Anything that can be learned falls broadly into two categories: things you need to understand intellectually, and skills you need to be able to perform. Most things you want to learn involve a mix of the two. Programming is both theory and practice. Math involves an understanding of the ideas, but requires rigorous dedication to method. There is business theory and business savvy. The list goes on. While the first section I discussed an approach that tends to work well with learning concepts, its rather lousy for learning skills. Otherwise, we wouldnt have the popular distinction between book smarts and street smarts. The first, an academic or intellectual understanding, is useful, but it doesnt provide the unconscious mastery. A good programmer can feel patterns in an algorithm, such that a particular solution feels ineffective, even if she would have to take hours to write the proof. To only focus on concepts is definitely a mistake in life, and often a mistake even in an academic setting, where tests often emphasize quick solutions to routine problems. However, if you start to see the distinction between skills and concepts, you can devise two separate learning strategies for each. You spend time practising for skills, following some of the tenets of deliberate practice to maximize your results for your effort. On the concepts, you learn by connections so you can understand things faster. Is your subject mostly skill or mostly intellectual understanding? Once you see the difference, you can spare yourself a lot of time on methods that wont deliver results. Rule #2: Concepts before Facts (95% of the time) Some things are best learned by memorization tricks and not by connections. For example, if I gave you a list of 30 arbitrary items and asked you to remember them, trying to devise an overarching pattern will probably be a waste of time. However, the vast majority of things that can be learned do have a pattern, however hidden. If they didnt, they probably wouldnt be very useful subjects to learn. Patterns make concepts useful, patternless concepts tend to have a very limited use, so they arent studied that much. This means that if youre learning something that consists of both (a) big ideas and (b) little details which need to be remembered, always start with the big ideas. The first reason is that many little details appear random, but in fact fit neatly within the big idea. Often you can forgo much memorization because the concepts explain the facts. The second reason is that facts are less important than most students think. I frequently get emails about how some unfair teacher is forcing them to memorize all these useless facts. But its generally
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not true. Most of the time educators want students to have a deep understanding of the fundamentals, if those same students cant recite details they usually still do well on the tests. There are, of course, exceptions. But as a rule of thumb, this one works pretty well. Rule #3: Never Cram Inevitably there will be a test that you have 24 hours to study for and dont understand anything. Im not going to win any awards for originality in claiming that cramming is unproductive. But the reason cramming is bad isnt because it forces all your learning into a short period of time, but because it forces you to memorize. Learning by connections doesnt happen under cramming conditions. It doesnt usually take an enormous time investment (in my experience, far less time than memorization). But it needs more time to mature in the back of your head while you do other things. Worse, it utterly fails when put under intense stress or time constraints. When I previously made the claim about acing exams with no studying, I was called a fraud. Although today I usually do some review, I spent more time watching movies last exam period than I did studying. But I think the reason I got away with no studying is because I actually learned the material through the semester. There was no need for cramming because I attended all the classes, did the readings and work and spent time trying to generate connections throughout the term. You may need more work. You may need to study. I would never claim that natural ability has nothing to do with it, nor that its possible for anyone taking any course to pass without studying. But I still think you can save yourself a lot of time by learning via connections throughout the term instead of at the end. Rule #4: Concept Checklists are Useful A piece of advice Ive been giving a lot recently to the students in my program is to create a concept checklist. A concept checklist is a good way to handle those scary, I dont understand anything! moments that many learners face. It allows you to dissolve the frightening implications of total ignorance into a step-by-step guide that can allow you to slowly conquer any subject. The basics of a concept checklist are simple: Write out (I suggest on a word document, since it allows multiple levels of bullets) all of the major concepts covered in your course. If your truly stuck you can start with the course outline, which should give a rough idea of everything you need to know. Then create a second-order list under each of the larger bullet points with sub-concepts. So for a finance class that might be:

Present value calculations Bonds and stocks 13

Portfolio Theory o Calculating 2-stock portfolios o Global minimum variance portfolio o CAPM

Once youve built up this list, you then need to make a checkmark beside everything you feel you get. For everything else you need to go back and repeat the 5-stage process on the first section until you feel you do get it. This may look like an immense amount of work (and it is, if you arent up-to-date) but each item has a cascading effect. Once you understand the first concept well, adding a second usually doesnt take too much effort. Its trying to add them all at once that kills most people. Heuristics for Learning Better This is just a starting point, but you can go into a lot more depth. The point is that if you have some broader strategy for learning, you can enter into any subject (especially self-education without a teacher to guide you) and dissolve it into manageable components. In the next section, Im going to share a few of the easier tactics I teach in my programs for learning faster and better.

Tactics for Learning Better

In the first section I posed a problem: we know, intuitively, what it looks like to learn something easily and deeply. Most of us have past experiences of really getting an idea. The challenge, is replicating that process in all our future learning. Thats been my goal in designing tactics over the last 3 years. I wanted to find ways that can make the spontaneous process of rapid learning into something more deliberate. As I mentioned before, its not an easy problem to overcome. People who have only read a few of my articles and free ebook on holistic learning are often frustrated because they see the power of the ideas, but they cant apply them. But how do you make connections? Learning by connections is a lot like creativity. You cant entirely replace it with a formal method. However, there are tricks you can use to put your mind in the right reference frame so that connections come more naturally. You can also push yourself to create more connections. I chose the title Learning on Steroids for my monthly program (before I learned about the unfortunate real instances of students using performance-enhancing drugs). The idea was to give tactics that would take the normal amount of connections learners make, and amplify that. Ive found deliberately trying to form more analogies is akin to weight-lifting for your mind, with bigger mental muscles than you would otherwise possess. Ive explained my reasoning behind learning faster, so now here are some starting points for actual doing it:
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Tactic #1: The 5-Year Old Method With this tactic you want to explain a concept to yourself using ideas that a 5-year old could understand. Make sure you speak out-loud or write it on paper, as just thinking about the idea in your head doesnt help. The goal here isnt to actually explain quantum physics to a kindergartener. Instead, the goal is to simplify ideas until they are easier than you need them to be. The reason this method works is that we often dont realize that an idea confuses us until we actually have to start explaining it. Often it isnt until you actually start using this method that your weak points are revealed and can be strengthened. This may sound like a silly technique, but it works. In one of the case studies I put together for my course, R.J. Weiss used it extensively in preparing for his financial professional designation, which has a high failure rate and he aced with a month less preparation than is typically required. Tactic #2: Metaphors People who have followed me for awhile have probably heard me discuss this tactic before. But for the people who are new to the blog, metaphors and analogies are key in the approach I use to learning faster. Although metaphors come from literature, the irony is that they actually work better with technical subjects like math, chemistry, physics and finance. This is because those subjects tend to be very abstract, so the primary difficulty is truly understanding the concepts. However, once you do understand them, there isnt a lot of material to learn. Calculus is difficult, but it has way less information than say, an anatomy class. I recommend brainstorming for metaphors. Start with open-ended questions like:

This idea reminds me of? This idea is used in real-life situations, such as? What phenomenon mimics this idea? If I wanted to tell a story about this idea, it would go like?

There are more specific ways to generate metaphors in different subjects. Ive spoken with Kalid Azad of the great blog BetterExplained.com, and he likes to look for the historical context of an idea in order to generate analogies in math. Knowing that e was originally used in the context of interest payments gives clues as to a metaphor you can create. Tactic #3: Visceralization This is another one of my favorite tactics for understanding difficult ideas. The word itself is a portmanteau between visceral and visualization, which describes my preference for trying to combine smell, feeling and motion into an image, not just a picture.

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The premise behind this ideas is that many concepts need to be seen (or felt, or heard) in order to be intuitively understood. Some professors understand this, and the best lectures Ive had, the professor made use of a visual aid, diagram or even a demonstration to teach the underlying idea. Unfortunately, visual aids are expensive and take more preparation time, and many professors are lazy, so they stick with dry textbook analogies rather than truly vivid and memorable discussions of a concept. However, that doesnt mean you cant imagine mental scenes that represent the ideas. I can still vividly remember calculating the determinant of a 22 matrix as moving my hands diagonally through the planes, scooping them up and putting them down. I can visualize a present value calculation in finance as being a perspective drawing flattened and linked lists in computer science as being briefcases with laser pointers attached. This method takes more practice than others, and it may be completely foreign to some people. But it is useful because visceralizing an idea, particularly an abstract one, allows you to understand it more deeply. Tactic #4: Deep Linking Coming up with creative pictures and analogies is only one way to learn via connections. Another approach is simply to link ideas into their context. Deep linking is basically a practice of doing deeper research on an idea to discover more connections. Often in a classroom environment, students try not to learn anything that isnt on the assigned readings. After all, why do more work? However, if you know you dont actually have to deeply learn the material, going deeper into a subject can actually make the original idea easier to understand. This is extremely easy now with Wikipedia. I frequently will do Wikipedia searches on any concept that I dont understand, that allows me to see the context of the idea. Wikipedia isnt great for explanations. They are written with the obtuse language of an encyclopedia, not the imaginative language of a good teacher. However, just because some of the definitions can be unenlightening, doesnt mean you cant glean something from the added context. I remember using this when learning about 2-3 trees in computer science. Some of the concepts were a bit tricky to remember, but once I understood the broader context, as well as alternatives (such as red/black trees which were never taught) then it was easier to get 2-3 trees. How to Learn Faster and Better Unfortunately, learning by connections and practicing the tactics Ive described above is a skill, not just an idea. You actually have to practice it for it to be successful. Thats one of the reasons I built my course, which allows you to get monthly coaching and updates. Because its not enough to just read about ideas once and expect them to integrate perfectly into your life. If there is a sixth stage to the 5-stage process I listed above it would be application. Only by applying ideas to you actually benefit from them.

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If you liked the ideas in this guide, check out my course (video + book), which is a more detailed look at the ideas Ive tried to briefly cover here. Even if you arent going to enroll, I hope that you find these ideas useful whenever you have to learn anything in the future. Part of the reason I wrote this guide was because, after spending a few years working privately with students, I wanted to give some updated ideas for the people who are just passing by and dont have the time to invest in a larger program. If youve used any of these ideas successfully, or have a question about holistic learning, feel free to write in the comments. Ill try to answer as many questions as I can, so that this post can serve as a reference in the future.

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Handbook for Life: 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity

This is something Ive been wanting to write for some time a Handbook for Life. Now, is there any handbook that can be a guide to every single person? Of course not. This is just a list of tips that I think will help many people in life some of them common-sense tips that we often forget about. Consider this guide a reminder. Itll also become apparent from the links in this handbook that Ive written about this stuff before. In essence, this site is a bigger version of this handbook. But I wanted to put them all in one place, as a handy little guide. I hope you find it useful.
How to use this handbook

This handbook is not meant to be a step-by-step guide, nor should you adopt all the tips below. Certainly not all at once. That would be overwhelming. Here are a couple tips for adopting the tips:

Pick and choose the tips that will be most useful to you. There are 52 tips here not every single one will be useful to every person. I hope youll find 10 that are useful, or that are reminders of something youve been wanting to do. Dont do them all at once. Choose one tip to do first, and then do them one at a time. Focus on one first, and then the next. Its too hard to try to adopt a bunch of changes at once. Experiment. Try out a tip, and if it doesnt work, try another. Life is an experiment, after all. None are guaranteed. But many are very likely to bring happiness. Also, these are not in any order. Some of the most important are buried below.

52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity 1. Try rising early. Its not for everyone, Ill admit. It may not be for you. But Ive found it to be an amazing change in my life. It has made the start of my days much more positive, and I now have time for writing, exercise, and silent contemplation. I talked about this recently in my post 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It. 2. Do less. This is both a happiness and productivity tip. Doing less will make you happier, because your life wont be so hectic and filled with stress. You will have time for things that give you pleasure, for the loved ones in your life, for life itself. Its also a productivity tip: if you focus on the essential tasks, the big ones, the ones that will give you the most return for your time, and eliminate the rest, you will actually be more productive. Youll get fewer tasks done, but you will be more effective. See How to Pare Your To-do List Down to the Essentials. 3. Slow down. Many new readers to this site have read my productivity articles and think that Im all about being hyper-productive. Im not. Long-time readers know that I am about a simpler way of life. Unfortunately, in my free-lance blogging, other websites usually ask me to write about productivity, so the preponderance of my productivity writing has given the impression, I think, that I think people should be churning out work at an amazing rate, to the exclusion of all else. Actually, I feel that life is much more enjoyable if you slow down. By doing less, you can actually get more done, even if you work more slowly. And when youre not working, you should definitely try switching to slow mode. Drive slower (it is so much more relaxing), walk slower, eat slower. See Slow Down to Enjoy Life for more. 4. Practice patience. Ive talked about how Im trying to develop patience in my parenting article, How to Become a Patient Parent, but these tips really apply to everyone. If you easily lose your temper, you can become more patient with these tips. Once youve developed this skill (and its a skill, like

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everything else, not an unchangeable inborn trait), your life will become much saner and you will be much happier. Practice compassion. This may be the most important tip of all, in my opinion. If you were to choose any of these, I would choose this one. The first part of compassion is empathy and this ability to understand how others feel can be developed through practice. Start by imagining the suffering of a loved one. Understand their pain, the emotions they go through, and why they would react the way they would. By doing this exercise a number of times, you are developing a skill that can be applied to others for every person you see, try to understand what they are going through. Try to learn and understand more about their background, and why they react the way they do. Once youve developed this invaluable skill, learn the other half of compassion acting on your understanding, and helping others, alleviating their suffering, acting with kindness. This one thing can bring true happiness to your life, and the lives of those around you. Find your passion. Another indispensable tip. This might be the second on my list of priorities. Find something you love to do, and your life will become immensely improved. You will love your work, the thing that you spend 40 hours (or more) a week doing. You will become more productive, procrastinate less, be less stressed. You will produce something you are proud of, and happy about. Read this article for some practical tips. Lose weight. This only applies, of course, if you are overweight. But losing your extra fat (and when I say lose weight, I mean lose fat), decreases your health risks (obviously), makes you look better, and in general is very likely to increase your happiness about yourself. I actually recommend that you learn to be comfortable and happy with how you look now, and not feel negative about yourself even if you are overweight. However, Ive found that losing weight (at least for me) is a great way to feel better about your body. Do not make this an unhealthy obsession, however lose weight gradually, and enjoy the process. See the next two tips for the best methods for doing this. Exercise. Make this a daily habit. Exercise not only helps you lose weight, but for me, its made me feel so much better. I actually enjoy exercise now. Its a time of contemplation for me, and I feel so much better about myself afterwards. See Top 42 Exercise Hacks and How to Make Exercise a Daily Habit and 7 Ways to Build the Exercise Habit. Eat healthy. I dont recommend dieting. Its too restrictive and you usually fall off it at some point. I do recommend changes to your diet, however ones you make gradually, and that can be sustained for life. It not only helps lose weight, but really, once you start eating healthier, it is actually much more enjoyable. See my Top 15 Diet Hacks for more. Meditate. OK, you might be like me not into New-Age stuff. But meditation can actually be a very simple method for relaxing, for bringing calm, for returning yourself to sanity, for contemplation. My friend Scott Young wrote a good post about doing that here. Get organized. This ones not necessary. You could go through life wonderfully messy, searching for stuff, enjoying the search. But Ive tried disorganized, and Ive tried organized. The second is much more enjoyable to me. Read How to Never Lose Anything Again for a start on the subject, as well as how I keep my family organized. Think positive. Another one of the most important tips on this list, thinking positive as cliche as it might sound is one of the single best changes you can make in your life that will lead to so many more positive tips. As I wrote about here, learning to think positive was the skill that turned my life around. It makes everything else on this list possible. Read more about it here. Simplify your finances. Cut down on the number of accounts you have, cut down on your credit cards, spend less, reduce your bills. Make your finances automagical. Simplifying your finances greatly reduces your stress. Also see 10 Habits to Develop For Financial Stability and Success. Simplify your life. Another of my top tips. Ive greatly simplified my life, in many ways, and I can say that having less stuff in my life, and less to do, has greatly increased my enjoyment of life. De-clutter, simplify your commitments, simplify your work space, simplify your wardrobe, simplify your rooms. Accept what you have. The problem with many of us is that we always think that well be happy when we reach a certain destination when we get a certain job, or retire, or get our dream house. 19

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Unfortunately, it takes awhile before you get there, and when you get there, you might have a new destination in mind. Instead, try being happy with where you are, with who you are, and what you have. To do that, instead of comparing what you have with other people, or with what you want, compare yourself those who have less, with those who are going through tragedy, with those who are struggling. You will see that you actually are extremely blessed. And this can lead to more happiness with your current situation. Envision your ultimate life. What would your ultimate life be like? Where would you live, what would you do, what would you do with your days? Come up with a clear picture of this, and write it down. Now, one step at a time, make it come true. Some ways of doing that follow. Set long-term goals. Your vision of your ultimate life will help you come up with long-term goals. Of those goals, pick one to accomplish within the next year, and really focus on that. Now, pick one medium-term goal to achieve in the next few months that will get you further toward your longerterm goal. Now decide what you can do this week, and today, to get you to your medium-term goal. Just choose one thing at a time, focus on it, make it happen, and then choose the next thing to focus on. See Think About Your Life Goals. Review goals. Setting goals is important, but the key to making them a reality is actually reviewing them (at least monthly, but weekly is better) and taking action steps to make them come true. Again, focus on one at a time, and really focus on them. Read Review Your Goals Weekly. Life mission. Related to envisioning your ultimate life, but different its important that you think about how you would like to be remembered when you die so you can start living the life that leads to that now. Live with purpose in life, and wake up every day with that purpose in mind. Read the Key to Dying Happy for more concrete steps. Plan your big tasks for week and day. Give purpose to your day by determining the three most important things you can do with your day, and making those a priority. Do the same thing with your week to increase your productivity: pick out the big tasks youd like to accomplish this week, and schedule those first. See Purpose Your Day and Plan Your Big Rocks First. Maintain focus. One important key to achieving your goals is to maintain focus on them. To do this, again, its important that you select one goal at a time. This will prevent your focus from spreading too thin. Its also important that you give yourself constant reminders of your goal, so you dont lose that focus. Put up a poster of your current goal, or print it out and put it out somewhere visible, and send yourself emailed reminders. However you do it, find a way to maintain a laser-sharp focus, and the goal will come true. Enjoy the journey. Goals are important, but not at the expense of happiness now. Its important to maintain a balance between going where you want to go, and being happy as you go there. Its easy to forget that, so be sure to remind yourself of this little, but important, tip as you make your journey. Create a morning and evening routine. These are two great ways to add structure to your day, make sure you review your goals and log your progress, and get your day off to a great start. An evening routine, for example, could be a great way not only to wind down from a long day and review how your day went, but to prepare yourself for your next day so the morning isnt so hectic. Your morning routine is great way to greet the day, to get some exercise or meditation or quiet contemplation, or to get some writing or other work done. Develop intimate relationships. Its great to have a special someone, of course, but intimate relationships could be found with anyone around you. If you have a significant other, be sure to spend time each day and each week with that person, to work on your relationship and communicate and continue to bond. But if you dont, theres no need to despair (if in fact you are) intimate relationships can be developed with friends, other family members, kids, roommates, classmate, co-workers. Every single person we meet is a fellow human being, with the same desires for happiness, for food and shelter, for an intimate connection. Find that common thread, be open and sincere, find out more about each other, understand each other, and give love. This can be one of the most important things you do. 20

25. Eliminate debt. Financially, this is a huge way to relieve stress and make you feel much more secure. I suggest that you get rid of your credit cards (if you have a problem with credit card debt or impulse spending) and create a snowball plan for yourself. It may take a couple of years, but you can get out of debt. 26. Enjoy the simple pleasures. You can find these everywhere. Food (I love berries!), sunsets, sand between your toes, fresh-cut grass, playing with your child, a good book and a warm bed, dancing in the rain, your favorite music. You could probably make a list of 20 simple pleasures right now, things you enjoy that you could find every day. Sprinkle those little pleasures throughout your day. It makes the journey much more enjoyable. 27. Empty your inbox and clear your desk. This might take a little while to do at first, but once youve emptied your inbox and cleared off your desk, it doesnt take long to keep them clear from then on. Its a simple habit thats vastly rewarding. I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from having a clean desk. I recommend you give it a try. 28. Build an emergency fund. This is standard-issue financial advice, I know and yet it is extremely important. I cannot stress how important it is to have at least a tiny emergency fund in the bank. You often hear that you should have six months saved up. Dont be intimidated by that. Start out with just a hundred dollars if you can. Cut back on a few things. Then build it up, every payday. Once you have, lets say, $1,000, it will make a huge difference in your life. Its not much, and you should still add to it every paycheck, but at least now youre not living paycheck-to-paycheck, and if an unexpected emergency comes up you can pay for it, rather than not paying other bills and falling behind. Its a simple step, but it will mean a lot. 29. Keep a journal. This is not one of the more important tips, but I can attest that its rewarding. I, for one, have a bad long-term memory, and by writing things down, I can look back and remember what happened a month ago. I just started this a couple months ago, actually, but tis been awesome. I started an online journal, something I call the one-sentence journal, and my goal is to just write one sentence a day. Sometimes I write two or three, but the idea is the same just get one or two things down that happened that day, so I can always look back on it later. 30. Use the power of others. Achieving your goals can be difficult, but using the power of others makes it much more likely to happen. For example, put positive public pressure on yourself by announcing your goal on your blog. Or join an online forum, or a group in your neighborhood, that you can count on for support. I have a mailing list for the May Challenge here on Zen Habits, for example, and our group has helped me stick to my goal of daily exercise even when I started to falter and the rest of the group can tell you theyve experienced similar success because of the positive power of the group. 31. Read, and read to your kids. I read all the time its one of my favorite things to do in the world. I love to curl up with a good novel (or even a trashy one) and I can waste away an afternoon with a book. And Im passing on my love of reading to my kids, by reading to them every day. I love spending time with them this way, and we all enjoy the stories we share together through books. See Best All-time Childrens Books. 32. Limit your information intake. In our lives today, we get a tremendous amount of information through email, blog feeds, reading websites, paperwork, memos, newspapers, magazines, television, DVDs, radio, mobile phones and Blackberries. Not only can this be overwhelming, but it can be distracting and can fill up your life until you have no time for more important things. Go on a media fast to get control over your information intake, and to simplify your life 33. Create simple systems. Once youve simplified your life, the way to keep it simple is by creating systems for everything you do regularly. Create an efficient system for laundry, mail and paperwork, errands, your workflow. Anything, really. See ways to Streamline Your Life and to make your mail and paperwork painless. 34. Take time to decompress after stress. There will inevitably be times in your life when you go through high stress. Perhaps several times a week. To maintain your sanity, you need to find ways to decompress. Here are some great ways to do that. 21

35. Be present. Time can go by extremely quickly. Before you know it, your life has passed you by. Your kids are grown and your youth is gone. Dont let your life slip by enjoy it while its here. Instead of dwelling in the past or thinking about the future, practice being in the here and now. Here are some practical tips for being present. 36. Develop equanimity. Keep your sanity through all the challenges that life throws at you. Rude drivers, irritating co-workers, mean commenters on your blog, inconsiderate family members. This takes a bit of practice, but you can let these things slide off you like youre Teflon. Try these practical tips. 37. Spend time with family and loved ones. One of the things that can lead to the greatest happiness, make this a priority every week, every day. Clear off as much time as possible to spend with those you love, and truly enjoy those times. Be present as you do it dont think about work or your blog or what you need to do. Read this for more. 38. Pick yourself up when youre down. There will always be times in our lives when we get a little down, even depressed. Take action to get yourself out of your slump. Here are some great ways to do that. 39. Dont compare yourself to others. This is hard to do, but it can be a great way to accept who you are and what you have. Whenever you find yourself comparing yourself to a co-worker, a friend, or someone famous (those models on magazines with amazing abs), stop. And realize that you are different, with different strengths. Take a minute to appreciate all the good things about yourself, and to be grateful for all the blessings in your life. 40. Focus on benefits, not difficulties. If you find yourself struggling to do something, or procrastinating, stop thinking about how hard something is, or why you dont want to do it. Focus instead on what benefits it will have for you, what opportunities it will create the good things about it. By changing the way you see things, you can change how you feel about them and make it easier to get things done. 41. Be romantic. If you have that special someone, find little ways to be romantic. It can do wonders to keep your relationship alive and fresh. It doesnt take tons of money, either. See these ideas to get you started. 42. Lose arguments. I know someone who just celebrated his 50th anniversary, and I asked him for his secret to a long and happy marriage. He told me, that if I ever get into an argument with my wife, to just shut up. What he meant, I think, is that I shouldnt try to be right in every argument. I think this is a reminder many of us need, not just the married ones. But instead of just giving up the argument, instead of trying to be right, instead seek to understand. Really try to understand the other persons position, to see it from their point of view. This little tip can lead to much happiness. 43. Get into the flow. This is both a happiness and productivity tip. Flow is the term for the state we enter when we are completely focused on the work or task before us. We are so immersed in our task that we lose track of time. Having work and leisure that gets you in this state of flow will almost undoubtedly lead to happiness. People find greatest enjoyment not when theyre passively mindless, but when theyre absorbed in a mindful challenge. Get into that flow by first doing something you are passionate about, and second by eliminating all distractions and really focusing on the task before you. 44. Single-task. I dont believe in multi-tasking, at least not on a day-to-day basis. Instead, focus on one task at a time. This leads to greater productivity and less stress. You cant go wrong with that kind of combination. See these tips for more. 45. Be frugal. This is a habit, rather than a goal. It is a way of living, a different mindset, and the best way to live within your means. It doesnt mean being cheap or forsaking pleasure, but it does mean finding less expensive ways to do things, learning to live with less (and be happier in the process), and controlling impulse spending. I dont have a single article to give you as reference, but frugality is a recurring theme on Zen Habits. 46. Start small and slow. Regular Zen Habits readers know that I advocate starting slow with any goal or habit change, and starting with a small goal rather than a big one. Why small? Because its 22

47.

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something you are sure to achieve and once you do achieve it, you can use that success to push you to further success. Its a simple technique, but it really works. Start slow when you start exercise, or other similar activities theres no need to rush it in the beginning, to overdo it. You have the rest of your life! Learn to deal with detractors. We all face detractors in our lives. They are the naysayers who, even if they are well-intentioned, will make us feel unworthy, or that you cannot achieve a goal. They will tease or be negative. In order to achieve your goals, you need to learn how to deal with these detractors and overcome this common obstacle. Read these tips for some ideas. Go outdoors. These days, too many of us spend so much of our time indoors, especially if our jobs and our ways of having fun are all online. Our kids are often just as bad or worse, with so many ways to watch TV, surf the internet or play video games. Get them and yourself outdoors, appreciate nature, the beauty of the world around us, and the fun of physical activity. See this article for more ideas (to do with or without kids). Retire early. This isnt a sure way to become happy you can retire and be bored out of your mind and unhappy but its surely a cool goal. And if you do something meaningful with your life, such as volunteer and help others, it can be a way to be really happy. Its not an easy goal, either, but you can retire early by cutting back on your living expenses, increasing your income, and investing the difference. The more you can do of all three, the fast youll retire. And thats a truly liberating idea. Savor the little things. Sure, the big things can bring big pleasure, but there are so many more little things in our lives. Savor them when they come up. Its a way of practicing being present stop and notice what youre doing right now, whats around you. And take time to enjoy it. Read this article for more. Be lazy. Theres a time to be productive, and theres a time to be plain ol lazy. I like the latter, and do it every chance I get. Does that make me a lazy person? Probably not, but even if it does, I dont care. It makes me happy, and the kids love being lazy with me. Help others. While finding pleasure in life is one way to be happy, doing something that is more than you, that helps others to be happy or to suffer less, is even more rewarding. I suggest you find a good cause or two and volunteer some of your time. You dont have to commit to big chunks of your life, but just volunteer for a couple of hours. All of us can find a couple of hours in a week or a month. If you do this, you will find out how tremendously happy this will make you. You might even become addicted.

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REMEMBERING WHAT YOU READ

"I just can't seem to remember well enough to pass the test." "Names give me trouble. I can't seem to remember them." "There are so many different items that I can't remember the prices." Have any of these thoughts ever applied to you? At final exam time, for instance, you may have difficulty remembering important information. Why is this so? Why are some things more difficult to remember than others? You can remember facts if you need to remember them and if you want to remember them. In other words, your purpose and your motivation make it possible for you to recall facts. You may not be able to remember your teacher's name, but it is easy to remember the name of the girl you met at the dance last week--or remember certain information, your purpose for remembering stands out sharply. You can't seem to remember facts about the geography of a country that doesn't interest you, but facts about the country you are all excited about visiting next summer are easy to remember. Why? Because you have a special reason (purpose) for remembering about the country. You are motivated and that helps you to concentrate harder. Increased concentration, in turn, make the information easier to remember. Your purpose helps you to decide which information to remember, because purpose directs your attention to what you want to know. Read the following paragraph only once. Assume that your purpose in reading is to remember as many of the advantages of physical fitness as you can: Physical fitness increases the efficiency of your lungs and your heart. It helps you to control your weight and it is an aid to you in controlling emotional tension and anxiety. It also helps you to withstand physical fatigue for a longer time. How many advantages do you remember? Do you think that you will remember information longer when you know what you are looking for? Do you think that you will remember the advantages of physical fitness longer if you are personally concerned about it? Now that you see how purpose and motivation help you to remember, let us consider the processes that increase your ability to remember.

ASSOCIATION: When you associate, you make the things you want to remember relate to each other in some way. Once you know what your purpose in reading--that is, once you know the information you are looking for--you can try to remember this information by fitting it into some general category. VISUALIZATION: Visualization helps you to create a strong, vivid memory. Try to picture in your mind what you wish to remember. Try to remember a man's name for example, by seeing his face in your mind and associating his name with it. You can remember an important date in history (perhaps a battle or a peace meeting or an inaugurating) by picturing the scene in your mind with the date in big letters in front of this visualization. CONCENTRATION: What is concentration? People often say that they can't concentrate or that they will never be able to learn to concentrate better. Quite often it is our way of life that takes away our former ability in this area. Small children are well skilled in concentration. Have you ever seen a youngster so absorbed in playing a game or in reading or in just daydreaming, or visualizing, that he 24

doesn't hear when his parents call? He is punished for this and soon learns that he shouldn't concentrate as hard on what he is doing, but that he should gear some of his attention to listening for his parent's (or teacher's) call.

Concentration can be defined as focusing attention on one thing and to one thing only. When you do an exercise which provides an opportunity for you to do this, it is basically an exercise in concentration. How can you learn to concentrate better? Visualizing will help. Visualizing forces attention to one thing only. If you try to see specific pictures as you read, it will help you to concentrate. Not looking back will also help you to concentrate. When you do not allow yourself to look back, you force yourself to concentrate in order to get the meaning the first time. Making sure of your purpose in a third way to force concentration. When you read for a particular purpose, you will concentrate on what you read because, as you read, you ask yourself, "Does this satisfy my purpose?"

REPETITION: When you have difficulty remembering textbook information, you should repeat the procedures for associating, visualizing, and concentration. The first step in remembering a list, for example, is to categorize it (association) and visualize it (thus forcing concentration). Do this once and then repeat the same task frequently. The repetition will help burn the information into your memory.

Now, how do you apply association, visualization, concentration, and repetition to remembering information in textbook chapters?
1. Try to understand the general outline of the chapter. Understanding how the chapter is put together provides a skeleton to which you can associate specific information. 2. Visualize as you read. Try to see pictures. 3. Concentrate as you read. Try to read information one time and then without looking back tell yourself what was said. 4. Repeat where necessary to burn details into your memory. Remembering what you read

Purpose --Have a specific purpose when you read. This will help you to:
1. 2. 3. 4. ASSOCIATE: Relate ideas to each other. VISUALIZE: Try to see pictures in your mind as you read. CONCENTRATE: Have a specific purpose, associating, and visualizing will help you to do this. REPEAT: Keep telling yourself important points and associate details to these points.

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11 Empowering Ways to Strengthen Your Brain

1. Volunteer Stimulates: The prefrontal cortex, which analyzes, plans, and problem-solves Why: A Johns Hopkins study found that older women who tutored kids for six months developed sharper cognitive skills. The social and mental activity required for teaching sends blood rushing to this part of the brain. 2. Work out Stimulates: The hippocampus, which forms memories Why: Arthur Kramer, PhD, a researcher at the University of Illinois, used MRIs to show that exercise actually makes your hippocampus bigger. Physical activity may increase the number of capillaries in the region, which in turn helps new cells grow. Kramer prescribes one-hour sweat sessions three times a week. 3. Learn a skill Stimulates: The intraparietal sulcus, which directs hand-eye coordination Why: At Oxford University, researchers taught 24 people to juggle and found that after six weeks this region had a higher density of white matter (the fibers that let neurons communicate). Any novel activity that is practiced intently, such as tennis or guitar playing, will likely have this effect, says study author Heidi Johansen-Berg. 4. Keep the weight off As the number on the scale creeps upward, it's hard to imagine that anything's getting smaller, but extra pounds can actually shrink your brain. In a 2009 study, brain scans of older adults revealed that overweight individuals had an average of 4 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight folks. And in obese people the loss of tissue was so significant that their brains appeared 16 years older than those of thinner people. "By eating more calories, you're also consuming more fat," says study author Paul Thompson, PhD, a neurology professor at UCLA School of Medicine. "The fat clogs arteries that feed the brain, which in turn causes brain cells to wither." That loss can impair memory, mood, movement, speech, and more. Though the first priority is getting down to a healthier weight, you can also focus on strengthening the brain cells you've got. Aerobic activity will not only help you shed pounds but increase the amount of blood, oxygen, and nutrients flowing north to your neurons. And more nourishment means a faster processor. 5. Wiggle your eyes Can't remember where you stashed your glasses? Try looking from side to side. Rapid horizontal eye movements cause the brain's two hemispheres to interact with each other more efficiently, explains memory researcher Andrew Parker, PhD. In moments of temporary amnesia, that action may help you pull up information. 6. Take a snooze
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In a University of California, Berkeley, study, participants improved their scores on a memory test by 10 percent when they repeated the test after catching some z's. (Nonnappers saw a 10 percent decline in their scores the second time they took the quiz.) Here's why: New facts enter your brain like e-mails arriving in your in-box. And as your in-box can overflow over the course of a day, so can your brain. During sleep, your brain shuffles recently received data into storage, creating space for fresh info. 7. Eat brain foodsrich in B12, antioxidants, or essential fatty acid

Bananas (Get the recipe for Banana Cinnamon Smoothies) Kale (Get the recipe for Spicy Parmesan Green Beans and Kale) Tomatoes (Get the recipe for Grilled Pizza with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Thyme) Blueberries (Get 8 blueberry recipes) Swiss cheese (Get the recipe for a classic Muffuletta sandwich) Chocolate (Get the recipe for double chocolate loaf and more decadent retro desserts) Salmon (Get the recipe for healthy Lemon Salmon with Garlic Spinach) Brussels sprouts (Get the recipe for Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Bread Crumbs) Apples (Get the recipe for Maine Crab, Green Apple and Avocado Salad with Parmesan Tuiles) Olive oil (Get the recipe for Olive Oil Vinaigrette) Coffee beans (Get 8 caffeine infused coffee recipes) Oranges (Get 8 citrus recipes, from entres to dessert)

8. Thief: Chronic Stress The Damage: Prolonged exposure to the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol and other brain chemicals can actually kill neurons by exciting them to death. The Fix: Stay connected. A six-year Harvard University study of 16,638 people found that those with the largest social networks had the slowest rate of memory decline. Family and friends can mute the intensity of stressand the brain's chemical response. 9. Thief: Cholesterol The Damage: If plaque gets lodged inside one of the tiny blood vessels in your brain, it can cause a "silent" stroke (the kind you don't even know you've had). The harm this can do to your brain tissue could slow the speed at which you absorb new information. The Fix: In addition to eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise, go nuts for nuts. Eating about 2.4 ounces a day can lower bad cholesterol by ten points. The type of nut doesn't seem to matter, though raw nuts are healthiest. 10. Thief: Sleep Apnea The Damage: In this disorder (marked by loud snoring and exhaustion upon waking), your airway spontaneously closes or becomes blocked for several seconds at a time. The resulta dip in the oxygen level in your blood, which can cause brain cells to starve. The Fix: Studies show that losing 10 percent of your body weight is enough to improve symptoms. And your doctor may recommend using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine while you sleep. It fits over your nose and mouth and generates a steady flow of air to keep the airway open.

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11. Thief: Hypothyroidism The Damage: An underactive thyroid slows metabolism, which leads to fatigue, which leads to a foggy brain. One of the symptoms of this disorder, affecting about 17 percent of women 60 and over, is difficulty committing new info to long-term memory. The Fix: A common cause of the problem is insufficient levels of iodine, which the body needs in order to produce thyroid hormones, so seek out lots of iodine-rich foods, such as seafood and dairy products.

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Smarts: It's Not How Much You Learn That Matters. It's How Much You Remember
Half a dozen things to remember about memory.

Review in an hour; then in a day Forgetting follows a pattern. There are steep drop offs in retention after 60 minutes and after 24 hours. Immediately after learning something, you will be able to retrieve a great deal of information. But then you will forget the information rapidly if you do not review it - first within an hour and then within a day. The best times to review information are right before you go to sleep and right when you wake up. This is so for three reasons. First, in sleep the brain secretes chemicals that cement memories. Second, forgetting happens because information we learn later knocks out information that is already in our heads. Third, most forgetting happens because our heads are already full of information and have trouble packing more in. Work on what you want to remember Working on what you want to remember is one of the ways you beat the forgetting curves. For example, "Hi," she said, "I'm Marion Brown. "Darn," I said to myself, "I am lousy with names." But then I recalled that you remember things that you work on so I thought: This Brown is a blonde. Maybe she went to Brown University. She wears a wedding ring so Marion is the marrying-type. But she's a one r-marrying type. Marion has only one r. The best way to make information memorable is to use the keyword method, because it links our verbal memory with our spatial memory. Suppose you were learning Japanese. The word , pronounced no,' works like the possessive (apostrophe s) does in English. Remember it by saying to yourself, "It looks like a Pac Man. Do I want to be eaten by (be possessed by) a Pac Man? Why, the answer is No." Repeating improves recall If you seem never to be able to remember your doctor's phone number when you need it most, consider using the phone number as part of a password on your computer, for example, Dr5551212Jones. Your recall of the phone number will greatly improve by incorporating it into a procedure you repeat very often. Doing a task over and over can improve your memory of the task details considerably. Make a conscious effort to incorporate important facts into tasks you practice often. Don't go beyond seven The average short-term memory capacity is 7 plus or minus 2 pieces of information. That is 5 to 9 pieces. This is why phone numbers are seven digits long. "Ten digits," you say? Yes and no. You are supposed to have the area code stored in long-term memory so that you say, "New York is 212." Then you hold in short-term memory the other seven digits that somebody is rattling off until you successfully dial the number. So if you don't already know the area code, you'd better get a pen. Short term memory is only what you hold in your mind at the moment. If you don't elaborate on it find some way to make it stick - then as soon as you stop repeating the information to yourself, it will be gone.

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To remember, focus not on sound, but on meaning In addition to the 7 plus or minus 2 limit, short-term memory last for only about 20 seconds. When it comes to language, short-term memory generally encodes information by sound, while long-term memory encodes information by meaning. If you give somebody as list of words with the word labor in it and distract them so they can't work on the information to transfer it to long-term memory, they are likely to make the sort of mistake represented by reporting that the word later was on the list. If you give them time to memorize the list, but not enough time so that that they can memorize it perfectly, then they are likely to make not sound-mistakes, but meaning mistakes, such as reporting the word work. Therefore, when you want to remember something, don't rely on catchy rhymes or other auditory tricks, aim for meaning. Similarly, to make your words more memorable, try to make it meaningful and to help people make connections between what you are saying and things they already know. Make it memorable by using first and last Items at the beginning and end of a list are more easily recalled than items in the middle. So too with the first and last topics in a speech or in a text so put the important points in the introduction and conclusion. Within paragraphs, put the ideas you want remembered in the first or last sentences. So too with conversations, begin and end with what you want remembered. The reverse of this principle works too. Bury the bad news in the middle of your report or presentation to decrease its impact and increase the chance that people will forget it. By consciously arranging how you present information you can increase the effectiveness of your communication. Get Smarter: 12 Hacks That Will Amp Up Your Brainpower 1: Distract Yourself 2: Caffeinate With Care 3: Choose Impressive Information 4: Think Positive 5: Do the Right Drugs 6: Juice Your IQ Score 7: Know Your Brain 8: Don't Panic 9: Embrace Chaos 10: Get Visual 11: Exercise Wisely 12: Slow Down Plus: 6 Intelligence Myths Exposed

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