What I learned from Jim Kwik’s free E-Book

1K Blog Marathon: Day 56

It happens.

I click on an advertisement in YouTube about how a “boy with the broken brain” turn out to be a mind master.

Jim Kwik, CEO of Kwik Learning, memory and Speed-Reading Expert, International Speaker and Social Entrepreneur, shed a silver lining in my goldfish memory ^_^

During college, I noticed that my memory degrades due to constant lack of sleep – a life of a college computer student.

So in this blog, I will use my memory to write down the things that I learned from a simple e-book by Jim Kwik. Enjoy!

Disclaimer:
Kwik Learning, and the E-Book featured in this blog is owned and copyrighted by Jim Kwik.
I did not own any credits from this book.

Pomodoro Technique is owned and copyrighted by Francesco Cirillo.
I did not own any credits from his technique.

Primacy and Recency

Our brain is only capable of memorizing the first and last thing on a certain topic. The more time you give on a topic, the more in between idea you can loose. So, in order to memorize all of it, cut in chunks your topics, then have a break. With this approach, you can clearly remember the first, last, and some of the in betweens.

Pomodoro

Named after a tomato, proposed by Francesco Cirillo that states that our brain retains only the first 10 to 40 minutes of a topic, so in order to remember it, you should take a quick 5 minute break in between every 25 minutes. This one cycle is called one pomodoro. You can also eat Pomodoro tomato while taking a break!

Forgetting Curve

This is the pattern by which our brain retains information, and loose it. Our brain can forget approximately 50% of a topic after an hour. All throughout the day, 70% of the topic will be forgotten after 24 hours.

F.A.S.T.E.R.

Quick note: In order to memorize the meaning of this acronym, I create a mnemonics in my mind.

“I Forget, so I will Act that my Status is okay. I will Teach this stuff when I Enter the Review center.”

Easy right?

F – FORGET

Forget 3 things (well, temporarily)

Past learning (unlearn)
Children’s mind absorbs almost everything because they know that they don’t know, thus their mind is open to absorb all new knowledge. Your past learning can hinder your new learning. Also, you biases can enlarge you ego – when you think that you already know this stuff, you brain blocked all the new information that may come in.
Non-urgent tasks (keep a focused mind)
Try to focus on a topic and avoid distractions from entering your mind. If your mind wanders, you will find it hard to focus. But on the side note, try not to fight the urge of a certain idea that pops into your mind. The more you resist this idea, the more it persist into your mind – thus distracting you more. As a solution, always keep a note and pen on your side, so when you are focusing on a certain topic then this idea pops, write it down. Get back to it once you get the time.
Limitations (don’t give yourself a learning cap)
Don’t think that your brain is broken. Even if you have a learning problem, memory retention problem, keep in mind that you can overcome it by doing your best. Let go of your doubts, for it will manifest in your actions.

A – ACT

When learning something new, its better to take a more active action while doing it. For example, instead of listening to a speaker, you can throw in curious questions, just try not to be an interruption! Also, you can expand your knowledge by experimenting more on the subject.

In my experience in programming, once I learned the syntax of the programming language, I spent a whole day practicing it and deriving different approaches just to learn the ins and outs of the code.

S – State

This is the physical and psychological state of your body and mind.

There is the idea that “events with greater emotions – joy, fear, anger – will retain more in your memory than the dull ones”. That’s why we always remember how it feels when we fell in love with our partner, we can’t forget how a mean people made us feel uncomfortable, or how it feels being embarrassed. When we tie an emotion to something that we learn, it sticks to our long term memory.

Physical condition, on the other hand, is the state of your body that helps in retaining or losing a memory. Posture, breathing, environment and even your mood can affect your learning capabilities.

T – Teach

Its nice to remember that “When you can teach it to someone else, you can double your learning on the matter”. Remember when your teacher assigned you a topic to report or present on the class? Definitely you will focus more on the topic, and by doing this you are paying closer attention to the matter. Detailed notes will be imprinted on your brain. Also, learning with other people can help – you can discuss topics and exchange information, expanding your knowledge.

E – Enter

This means that you should ‘Enter’ this techniques to your life. You should prioritize your learning habit, and push yourself to learning and personal development. Just like your daily routine, you will master memorization if you added it in your daily schedule, being part of your daily routine.

R – Review

When you are learning something, its better to take a break for absorption of the knowledge. Just like in Pomodoro Technique, when you cut in chunks the topic and learn it one by one and taking intervals of break, you can internalize it more, thus promoting better memory retention.

Learning is a fulfilling task, and we can beat any learning hindrances in our brain. Just keep practicing, apply the techniques found here, and always keep learning!

“And that’s one blog, stay hungry!”