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Subjects to read about

Just like you have training schedule, you could have reading schedule. Below are some posts from this blog you could read…

Week Subject Suggested links
1 Superlearner Set your goals,
No excuses,
Get into “flow”,
Change your life,
Experience growth,
Superlearn with others,
Start visualizing
2 Visual markers Make markers fun,
Use markers everywhere,
Even for complex stuff,
And dates and numbers,
And medical stuff,
Look at these examples,
Especially when reading,
3 Linking and chunking Short prelude,
Link markers,
Chunk markers,
In complex structures
[more to come here soon]
Ultimate linking,
4 Speed up your reading Reading faster,
Getting harder,
Choose your markers,
Or let them choose you,
As you avoid vocalization,
5 Saccades Personal style?,
Use saccades!,
Limitless possibilites
Measure your progress
Be smart
6 Practice… Consider the future,
But not yet,
Read again,
Stay creative,
Practice daily
[And much more to come]
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How to Write an Essay Fast to Meet a Tough Deadline

This guest article is a little bit different and off-scheduled because it is sponsored. I think it addresses a real need: we should prioritize the things that truly contribute to our education vs courses we need to take.  It is a good practice to outsource the activities that are not at the core of our development. I wish I was able to do this, but I honestly write all of my texts…

College students are obliged to write all kinds of essays, research papers, case studies, and even such a complex read more

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Commitment and creativity

To be successful we need to be committed. Creativity may benefit from well-placed commitment, but it may also suffocate. When does commitment to goals become, and obsession and what happens next? Stay tuned, only in this blog … More reading materials here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Overreacting

All that is missing in the abstract: a sound track. OK, so maybe I oversold a bit to show a point. When we are excited and committed we talk differently, act decisively and convey focused energy. This read more

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Growing Through Play: 6 Tips for Playing with Young Children

Playing with children is crucial at any age.  Playing with small children is very different from playing with teenagers and requires a dedicated set of strategies. Women are usually much better with smaller children than men, yet everybody can learn and improve. In this guest article, Becky Holton shares her tips and strategies.

As the popular saying goes, Work without play makes Jack a dull boy. Play is crucial for the growth and development of children. Studies have shown that children who don’t read more

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A letter from a real 1:1 student after the first session with Anna

Recently we published testimonies of some students who completed the 1:1 course. Today I will publish a real letter of a real student between the first and the second sessions with Anna. I got his permission to use the full letter and the entire content of the message. =&0=& 2. More good news: I was able to read the article I have attached to this email and create some markers for it and I remembered them, and the topic. I surprised myself a little when I realized that I actually could remember the markers! They were FAR from perfect, and they need much work, but I was able to list them off! 3. I need more training with markers. I’m sure it will come with time. But I think this positive experience I had today while reading is more fuel in the tank to A. keep me practicing and B. move me towards my goals! 4. I am having a hard time assimilating practicing into my everyday life. it seems like a lot of work for me at this point in my development to use the skills at my work, in my life, etc. I hope that as I just consistently put in the work every day, the skills will become easier, and will automatically come into my life. This is my hope.

The first session

The first session of the 1:1 with Anna is critical for most of our students. Why?
  • Diagnostics. Anna can easily understand what is holding back most of our students and provide simple corrective actions.
  • Homework. After the first session, the student is asked to highlight the important words in the article read. Then we increase the complexity of the article. The submission is in writing and I personally try to help each and every student. There are multiple iterations.
  • Integration. Many students do not understand how the methods they learn can be applied to their specific needs. We could not make 100 courses for all the professions we work with. However, in 1:1 we can provide immediate guidance.
  • Style. What kind of markers and visualizations works for you? We try to brainstorm with our students and try different things. Quite often we settle on something very different from the default guidelines. Maybe even surprising.
  • Freedom. The students who work alone need to adhere to very specific guidelines. Otherwise, there is no way to check they are not making crucial mistakes. With our guidance, it is easy and safe to express yourself in a constructive way.
  • Training materials. By the end of the training, you should be able to apply the techniques with everything you read. This does not mean you should use the harder materials for the training itself. Quite possibly, they will be handy only after months of training with simpler stuff.
  • Organization. Many students have a hard time organizing their thoughts and tracking progress. We provide examples, ideas, and some basic tools. Often we review the results and suggest further improvements.
  • Confidence. With so many questions it is easy to lose confidence. We can compare the parameters of performance and improvement with other students and eliminate misplaced doubts.

The density of reading materials

During the initial months of training, we recommend controlling the kind of materials you read. Typically, we recommend articles of 500 to 3000 words with more information density than a fiction or motivational text, but less than wikipedia. Usually, this means reading contents of this blog, BusinessInsider, SeekingAlpha, PsychologyToday, ExtremeTech or similar.

At the same time, we ask our students not to waste their time reading the stuff they will never read. This is a contradiction, read more

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A unified framework of advanced courses

There are new advanced courses on Thinkific. These courses are a great investment for everybody in terms of time, money and return on investment. Since the courses span over multiple subjects and dozens of hours of video, I need to provide a framework unifying the ideas and coordinating the efforts. This is my first attempt to do so.

Timeframe

The original keytostudy exercises were developed by Anna around 2001 when she was only 19 years old, but only around 2010 the training was reduced from the extreme read more

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Top Benefits of eBooks in Learning Infographic

This is a guest post by Alex Merashi. I really love this particular inforgraphic and eBooks. Hope you will share my feelings.

Although there are different books in stores nowadays, e-books have gained a lot of fame currently. Most students view them as an affordable way of Learning.  Although physical books are associated with many benefits, there are various reasons why e-books are here to stay.

Check out some advantages of using e-books:

1. Availability

E-Books are always available and never go out of stock. read more

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Best mnemonics and memory training for medical students and nurses – Part 2

Many of my readers and students practice medicine. All memory methods we teach are perfectly suited for medicine. Moreover, in 1:1 Anna uses some exclusive methods SPECIFICALLY developed for the medical students.  Since memoization is any extremely important and time-consuming part of any medical practice, and since medical practice is so long and intense,  you have no excuse for skipping memory practice.

Here Chase goes into the methods he actually uses, ending up with the methods we actually read more

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Out of bucket lists

A strange and unexpected thing happened to me. I am running out of bucket lists. I will explain my situation and ask you to send me your ideas. Maybe this post will inspire you to write or modify your own bucket list.

Guess my surprise

I am sufficiently perplexed not to offer you further reading links today. At age 45 I am running of bucket lists. When I looked into my latest list, it was hundreds of lines long, yet no line in it was screaming to me “DO IT NOW!”. Instead, I could vividly visualize each read more

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Life skills everyone can learn

When we discuss learning, we usually refer to academic subjects. Life skills are somewhat different, easier to acquire and more fulfilling. Let us indulge in the discussion following suggestions here, here, here, here, here, here.

Bucket lists

People fill bucket lists with the things they want to do before they die. Acquiring yet another degree is rarely an item in such a list. What people really want are simple things that are easy to do or learn.

For example, most people want to travel to certain countries read more

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Some thoughts on a wonderful life

Today I would like to talk about life itself and the value of human life. It will not be scientific, and there will be no actionable tips, yet I think you will find your time well spent. A spoiler alert: the plot lines will eventually lead to learning. For further reading, I selected articles here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Goodbye my friend

This year two strange dates coincided. My eldest son started going to the high school which I finished. There was a 25th anniversary of the suicide of my best read more