Avoid the Top 5 Mistakes College Students Make
November 30, 2009
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How to Retain & Recall Information For Increased Memory
August 14, 2009
Only four hours after studying you will forget over 40% of what you learn. Over 40%!
As the worlds fastest reader, I have learned the importance of accelerated memory skills for retaining information. The same memory skills that enable me to retain details at even 80 pages per minute, will also help you retain essential school information. Let us see what makes things more memorable.
Centuries ago the Greeks discovered one of the major secrets of memory. They found that powerful emotions glue information into the permanent memory. Just how do powerful emotions glue information into permanent memory? Information already stored in your permanent memory is similar to hangers in a closet. In the same way that hangers enable the storage of clothing in a closet, mental hangers in your permanent memory empower your brain to store new information. An emotional glue instantly links your new information with stored information already in your brain. Your ability to remember is directly proportional to the powerful emotional responses the image elicits. In short, effective linking requires you to create a unique image that produces extremely powerful emotions. Let us see exactly how this works with the following simple drill.
Using your traditional memory technique, memorize the following 5 items in less than one minute: (1) screw, (2) two by four, (3) sneakers, (4) tomato soup, and (5) window cleaner.
In less than a minute, using your traditional memory tool this list can be difficult to permanently remember. Using the emotional anchors discovered by the Greeks you will remember this list in a flash. Furthermore, you will be able to remember it backwards, forwards, or perfectly in any other sequence. Additionally, you will effortlessly be able to accomplish this more difficult task. Hard to believe? Let’s do it together.
The first step is to use a list of objects already familiar to you. Objects previously stored in your permanent memory. These objects will become your memory hangers.
The parts of your body meet all the necessary criteria. Your body parts are highly familiar to you, and are already stored in your permanent memory. Let us use the feet, shin, knees, thighs, and stomach which are in a convenient order for remembering new information.
Our next step is to create a highly emotional image that links the objects in your list to your familiar body parts. The first object is a screw, and the first body part is your feet. Imagine a sharp, rusty screw, going through your foot and out the top. Ouch! This is certainly a powerful emotional image. When you think of your feet what object immediately is recalled? The screw. Congratulations, you have just memorized the first object on your list.
A two by four is the second object on your list, and it must be linked to your shins. Picture your shins being shattered by a two by four. Thinking about your shins, instantly makes you remember the two by four.
Next you need to link sneakers to your knees. To create this emotional image requires a bit of imagination. Picture Dirty Harry wearing a pair of sneakers, kicking and shattering your knees. Imagining your knees instantly helps you remember a pair of sneakers.
The fourth object in your list is tomato soup, and your next familiar object is your lap. This is an easy image. Think about a boiling pot of tomato soup spilling onto your lap. Contemplating your lap you instantly remember tomato soup.
Your last object is window cleaner, and it must be linked to your stomach. Think about drinking a bottle of window cleaner and having it drain into your stomach. Pondering your stomach immediately makes you think about window cleaner.
Now you are ready to instantly remember the five objects on your list by recalling the emotional images linking them to your five body parts. I will give you the name of a body part and you picture the object linked to it. Ready? Begin:
(1) feet, (2) shins, (3) knees, (4) lap, and (5) stomach. See how easy it is to remember items when using emotional anchors. You can use this same technique for memorizing information for school?
Incidentally, I used painful images because every agrees on what is painful, while our concept of pleasure can vary. Nevertheless strong positive emotions are also effective in anchoring information into memory.
“Excellent & potentially life-changing information and tools” – Bill, a coach in Covington on Maximum Power Reading
Asking Good Questions To Get Better Grades
August 13, 2009
The questions you ask strongly influence your brain. If you ask, “Why am I a loser, and why does no one like me,” what will you learn? Nothing useful. Yet a simple rephrasing of the question to, “How can I become more successful and loveable,” produces very useful information. Your brain is a like a simple computer, and the questions you ask determine what solutions it seeks. It becomes critical for learning success to ask better questions.
Many learners sabotage their success by asking poor questions during studying. A question like, “why am I so stupid, and why do I not I understand this,” will not provide useful information. “What does this mean,” would be a far more useful question to posit. One of the most useful questions you can ask while under stress is, “what is the next best step I can take.” It immediately forces your brain to realistically view your problem, while seeking a positive solution. This question works not only for studying, but during any other life crisis as well.
The importance of questions can not be understated. Just a little over a century ago, the question being asked was, “can man fly?” The answer was an emphatic, “no!” This was an excellent answer given the failure to solving this problem by some of the greatest minds who ever lived including Leonard da Vinci. Yet, two men who built bikes, Orville and Wilbur Wright, did not realize they could not succeed. Their first successful flight lasted only a brief amount of time, and went a very short distance. However, their flight proved that man could fly. After thousands of years of failing to fly, mankind was able to fly to the Moon, and Mars only a little over a hundred years after their short flight. Planes, rockets, and other flight enabling devices of every shape and size have been created. What changed? The questions changed. The questions now being asked were about how to fly higher, faster, longer, and heavier. Questions lead to new insights and significances. They are the secret to supercharging your understanding.
These techniques are part of our College Central and Teen Advantage series. They will help you learn faster and achieve better results whether your a student or professional.
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