• procrastination and memory are related
  • building solid long-term memory that are easily accessible by short term memory takes time
  • doesnt work if put off to last minute
• learning is about fending off procrastination to learn with consistency
  • a little every day (assuming a sleep cycle between sessions)
  • after establishing the big picture - scanning
  • consciously using retrieval to create chunks
  • interleaving between techniques after scanning the big picture
• pomodoro technique is the tool to combat procrastination
  • use recall to build healthy chunks
  • use interleaving to solidify chunks
• there are ways to
  • tackle procrastination which take low amounts of will power
  • access brain’s long term memory system

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inner zombies

• inner zombies prevent taking action for bit-by-bit learning
• they provide narratives to put off that little bit that makes the differnce
  • they throw a wet blanket on the consistenct efforts required for the spaced repetition learning
  • it is not about how much repetetion is done in one sessson i.e. cramming
  • it is about spaced repetitions in between sleep cycles
• this calls for starting earlier

• fighting procrastination with willpower is inefficient and uses a lot of natural resources

• procrastination is associated with pain
  • it is because the thing we are trying to learn makes us uncomfortable
  • it activates pain centers in the brain
  • this causes the brain to focus attention on something less displeasurable
• when procrastination is not countered with wisdom, it leads to habitual avoidance
  • this leads to long term ill-effects of running away from difficult things
  • instead of conquering them
• making procrastination a monumental keystone bad habit
  • overtime, the brain weaves narratives to keep you away from the thing to be conquered
  • the narratives are superficially sound and fool your thinking
  • but in the long run they are irrational and cause loss of development

• tests choke you when there is no strong neural foundation for the test material

• the strategies for dealing with inner zombies aren’t intuitive
  • in fact it is more intuitive to give in to inner zombies

• the habitual avoidance can be explained with the story of the arsenic eaters

• arsenic is a poison, however it is not harmful in small doses
  • so a couple of eaters built up resiliency to arsenic but consuming small amounts of arsenic periodically,
  • graudally increasing the amounts they took as their body developed more immunity
  • one fine day, they presented their ability at a medical conference by consuming whole bottles of arsenic
  • and showed up happy and normal the next day
• while certain pain centers are activated when things make us uncomfortable, it helps knowing that the body develops resiliency and pains can be overcome by normalization
  • the opposite it true as well, if avoidance is practised, the avoidance narratives get more sophisticated
  • only pain avoidance is focussed on
  • while pain avoidance is fine and dandy and helps reduce hospital bills, it is counter to being able to learn new things

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habits

• habits are built in energy savers
  • it helps automate tasks so newer or more relevant taks can be focussed on
  • habits also create zombies
• it is useful to be aware of the purpose of the habitual zombies created in the brain
  • at any given point in time, there is a superpositon of serveral zombies active with in you
  • this is very useful for saving energy

• however, since this system is a subconsious system, it often gets abused

• habit can be god or bad depending on who is coloring it

anatomy of an inner zombie

1. cue
2. routine
3. reward
4. belief

cue

• the trigger that launches the zombie mode
• can be various event
  • subtle to drastic
  • ties into body language mechanisms

routine

• the actual zombie mode
• the same zombie in different circumstances
  • can be exretmely useful
  • or extremely harmful
  • or anything in between

reward

• the very nature of habits is such that there is a reward associated with it
• the reward solidifies the habit
• reward in the physical world can be doing somehting pleasureable
  • in the brain, it translates to some appropriate chemical being released
  • dopamine for instance when an addictive behavior is catered to
• the reward system needs to be addressed while forming and solidifying good habits
  • procrastination, for instance, has a built in reward mechanism
  • to combat this, the external reard system has to be addressed

beliefs

• this is a more abstract topic and needs more research to be understood better
• in short, beliefs and habits enforce each other
• a habit formation can change a previously held belief
• a changed belief can change a habit
• a bad habit that is left untended to can reinforce a self-defeating belief
• a healthy habit can strengthen positive beliefs

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process vs product

• it is expected behavior to start with negative vibes when learning something new
  • it helps to addressing these direcctly with a rant session of some sort
  • with the intention of completely acknowledging it in its enitrity to move past it

• the law of serendipity is one of the available tools to get going in the face of these negative vibes and feelings

• another technique to mix in while learning a new thing is differentiating the process from the product
  • the process has to developed while using the product as a indicator to asses how to process can be made better, not as the end goal

process

• process is the flow of time + ( the habits and actions ) in the flow of time
• in the pomodoro technique for instance, the 25 min session is the process

product

• this is outcome of the process time

procrastination

• a disproportionate amount of focus on the final product with
  • too much weight assigned to achieving a perfect product
  • works in favor of prcrastination
• if the product in the first attmept is expected to be perfect,
  • it triggers pain centers in a pronounced way
  • deterring further focussed action
  • triggering procrastination
• focussing on creating a perfect product when learning
  • deters formation of healthy chunks
  • inefficient and incoherent chunks are formed
  • leading to a useless foundation
  • further discouraging the learner from the learning process
  • setting up negative narratives about learning,
  • strengthening procrastination patterns
• focus on the process to get better at learning and creating the product
  • this deters procrastination as a by-product
  • increases speed of learning, by forming healthy and coherent chunks
• this is illustrated in a situation where a homework is just five questions
  • but the answers take hours of focussed work and involved reasoning to obtain
  • it is easy to begin with saying it’s just five questions and getting into it focussing on getting five answers
  • however this is product focussed action
    • and encourages procrastination
  • even if efforts are put in
    • considering there are ‘just’ five answers to be obtained,
    • it leads to poor learning and misdirected effort
    • since focus in answer generation and not healthy and coherent chunk creation
• it would be healthier for the learning system to consider the task as coming up with five processes instead of the five final answers
  • the point is to not expect oneself to finish in one session to begin with
  • this ensures a massively shitty product
  • with a ‘thrown together at the last moment’ vibes
• the goal is to distribute the process over several sessions
  • so usefully-challenged chunks are not formed
  • calm focus has to be spent in short pieces of time to create potent chunks
• the zombie brain (para-symapthetic) likes to march mindlessly along process
  • it is beneficial to empower this zombie with coherent and solid chunks
  • since the zombie is a energy saver, the better the zombie gets at mindlessly executing the chuck pattern, the lesser it resists
• so in a pomodoro session, finishing a set percent of the task is not the goal
  • it is about focussing on the process associated with that time span
  • process means the habit forming and actions assocaited with the considered time span

• focussing on the process helps reduce the negative vibes of the self-judgement for not being able to produce a perfecrt final product in the first go

• to combat distractions, it is helpful to let it flow and not encouraging it
  • also setting up oneself for lesser distraction is great
  • learning in a coffee shop looks great in a stock picture
    • to be used on a corporate website
  • but does not work so well in forming useful chunks
    • handicapped chunks are the result of working amidst distractions
• poor attempt at humor:
  • drink alcohol to kill those handicapped chunks in your brain

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harnessing inner zombies

• zombies are inner beings formed by habits
  • they make an action they get associated with consume less energy
• inner zombies just are
  • good and bad depends on the outcome of the habit they are associated with
• a lot of previous habits were formed to serve a purspose in an older context
• as contexts change, to stay relevant, it is of paramount importance to modify habits
• a full rehaul of old habits are seldom necessary
  • usually, rewiring parts of exisitng ones
  • erasing and learning a few new ones to replace them
  • or a combination of this does the job

rewiring a habit

• since there are four parts to a habit, to modify a habit:
  • the reaction to the cue has to be consciously modified wih repetition

cue

• so it is important to identify the cue before changing the reaction to it
• cue can be of four broad kinds
  1. location
  2. time
  3. how you feel
  4. reactions
     • other people’s behavior or judgement
     • your own reactions to some external or internal event
• procrastination in itself is an energy saving zombie
• distractons are cues to trigger this zombie
• by default, the mind procrastinates
  • i.e. finds action path of least pain
  • it is important to note that this doesnt necessarily mean maximizing pleasure
  • the zombie of procrastination only works to avoid pain

routine

• to get a new routine wired over the older one,
  • instead of getting into a less painful pathway
  • whatever the path being taken as an alternative
• all aspects of the routine cannot be coherently changed in one sitting
  • a plan is necessary
  • developing a new ritual is helpful
• but the new response has to be registered with the zombie at the identified cue
  • untill this is fully absorbed by the zombie
• the pomodoro technique can be helpful while changing routine associated with a cue

reward

• pride and emotional satisfaction typically work in synergy when there is progress associated with the process
• it may also include other tangible rewards
• this needs to be explored on a case by case basis
• usually the path of less pain choosen by the procrastination zombie can be used as rewards
• so the procrastination zombie is an indicator of what can be used as a reward
• OCD tendencies can be used as a reward in some scenarios

• lunch breaks, dinner breaks, snack breaks, coffee, tea breaks all work as rewards to reinforce habits

• the better you become at something,
  • the lesser the procrastination zombie fights back,
  • since the pain centers dont trigger
  • the activity becomes much more enjoyable due to flow

belief

• it helps to obtain a clear visualization of the present habit and the target habit
• once these are figured out, and the parts that need rewiring have been identified
  • the simple act of trying to change the exisitng pattern reinforces the belief
    • the belief of being able to change
    • the belief of being able to create a replacement habit
• positive social reinforcement is also immensely helps in accelerating new habit formation
  • the same is true for dysfunctional and malicious habits formation
• belief plays an important role in sticking to the plan devices to rewire a habit
  • when the going gets stressful and challenging
• reinforcing beliefs can aid the new response to the cue, while negative beliefs can hinder it

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juggling life and learning

• learning involves a complex balance of many different tasks

keeping perspective

• to keep perspective,
  • write once a week a brief weekly list of key tasks
  • the each day on another page, write a list of tasks that can be reasonably worked on or accomplished
  • do the daily task the evening before

recon

• doing the evening before helps subconscious grapple with the tasks list
• if tasks are not written down, they take up mental real estate and eat up short terrm memory space

entry kinds

• some entries are process oriented
  • long term projects that need to consistently worked on
  • writing a book or preparing for a conference
• others are product oriented
  • this is because they are doable only within a limited amount of time
• mixing other tasks with learning can make the process more fun
  • but ensure you don’t get carried away

quitting time

• planning quitting time is as important as planning working time
• estimating how much time the task takes makes you better at estimating the time need for the task
• time after time, those who dedicated a healthy amount of leisure time outperformed those without
• eat those frogs first thing in the morning
  • work on the most difficult tasks first
  • atleast one pomodoro when you start

roadblocks

• planning well is a part of trying
• there are occasional road blocks
• law of serendipity
  • lady luck favors the one who keeps trying
• use the pomodoro time blocks to realign with goals

closing

• it is important to gain trust in the new system
• work with a plan
• enjoy leisure times without guilt to reap benifits of the work put in

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memory

• visual-spatial systems to form memories

• one key item in the vision used to form the memory

• spaced repetition is key to improve memory
  • sporadically over several days
• the hippocampus helps learn new facts and events
  • and appends it to existing memory
  • to enable recall

reconsolidation

• memories take a long time to be consolidated into the cortex
  • whenever a memory is processed, it undergoes a process called reconsolidation
• this makes it possible to implant false memories
  • with suggestions and vivid imaginations
• reconsolidation takes memory form the short term memory and stores it in the long term memory
  • by modifying dendrites of the neurons
    • so the old memory gets modified
    • new and old memories get intertwined with each other
  • this is the inactive state

• memories are physical things

• because of how consolidation works during sleep and how reconsolidation works over larger periods of time
  • it is better to learn with spaced repetition instead of cramming in one session

glial cells

• in addition to neurons, the brain has other cells called glial cells
• astrocytes are the moist abundant glial cell in the human brain
  • they provide nutrients to neurons
  • aid in repair of brain cells
• astrocytes play an important role in learning
• einstein’s brain had a pronouncedly more number of astrocytes than the average human

creating meaningful memory groups

• use mnemonics
  • they can be useful sometimes
  • mostly irritating and annoying once the test is done
• use visualizations
  • can be meaningful
  • can be absurdly hilarious
  • can be extremely dark
  • what ever helps you remember the thing you need to remember
• oddball memorization gimmicks
  • they speed up the acquisition of data into the brain
  • be wary of how they inadverently resurface at inappropriate times

closing

• space out memorization sessions
• start early and memorize in spaced sessions

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