in a few places of the brain, new neurons are born everyday
hippocampus
important area for learning new things
new neurons help in improved pattern recognition
they die if they are not used
exercise helps the new neurons survive
better than any drugs on the market
also benefits all body organs
practice makes permanent
only when the brain is prepared
critical period of learning specific skills
first language acquisition - extends up to puberty
past the critical period, process takes much longer
the prefrontal cortex separates humans and zombies
patients turn into zombies when their prefrontal cortex is damaged
there is a certain amount of zombie is humans until the pre-frontal cortex is fully developed
although IQ can still be high,
bad financial decisions and
bad social decisions happen through a damaged pre frontal cortex
good judgement takes experience with learning to acquire
as a result learning is too important to be left behind in the classroom
learning to learn may be applied for improved learning in all parts of life
when learning new things, things that made sense before might make no sense
restructuring to existing learning occurs when learning new things
there may be temporary periods of frustration due to restructuring existing understanding with the new materials learnt
a good night’s sleep and spaced repetition usually fixes this
visual metaphors and analogies to understand new concepts
they can be made more sophisticated as the concept is learned more deeply
they help glue new ideas into the mind as they link new concepts to existing patterns
impostor syndrome
stems from genius envy
chunking and interleaving along with spaced repetition helps learn a new skill
once a pattern has been understood and memorized
there is no need to explain it over and over again to yourself
if someone is forcing you to do this beyond a certain point
they are trying to scam you
sometimes it is a honest attempt at recollecting a concept
but be wary, this quickly turns into malice
be aware of where einstellung is blocking you from learning new concepts
it hard to identify old zombies
using a smaller working memory helps
as other ideas can come in more
it helps to write down existing thoughts to clear up working memory
keep your chin up and eye on the open door
it takes time to find the open door with existing zombies crowding mental space
social response to learning
there will always be a set of people dedicated to criticize or attempt to undermine your learning
keep in mind that those who are dedicated to self development will not have the time to do this
this happens to everyone including nobel prize winners
like how in school, people are threatened by you when you do well
focus on the phenomenon of insecurity that is caused by your actions
only in people who choose to be threatened instead of being inspired
the greater your achievement, the more people attack
there will also be attempt to demean you and shame you for other aspects
anything to bring you down
look up crab mentality
they will even paint it as looking out for you and ‘testing’ you
to stay in your good books
essentially jealously has a myriad of forms
this gets amplified when you are learning something new and fail at an attempt
a lot of people throw barbs are criticize you for your failures
when they would be watching silently without cheering you when you succeed
they are stuck in lower levels of consciousness
simple stick to your path, keeping in mind that they do not offer value to your learning and growth as a human being
and they actively sabotage their own learning when they throw barbs at other’s growth
there is a statement that says empathy is universally beneficial
this is false propaganda
benefits only the people who want to stay stuck in their ways and throw barbs in other’s growth
a healthy disconnect from empathy for such people is a requirement for growth
no need for malice to these people
but there needs to be a healthy disregard for them, considering how they bring no value to the table of growth and learning
it is normal to believe that everyone believes in the cause of self growth and learning
it is is easy to believe that everyone is good hearted towards us
in the real world, people are assholes
sometimes just to prove that other people can be assholes
and claim to be ‘teaching’ you about the real world
work achieved inspite of such deterrents leads to a sense of pride
prejudices from others do not add value to your world
disconnect and tarry on self development
teamwork
stroke of the right hemisphere causes broad-perspective perceptual disorder
big picture inconsistencies don’t stand out to people with this disorder
‘right-brained’ and ‘left-brained’ thinking is a pop-culture myth
while left and right hemispheres have some dedicated functions
thinking type is reserved to one hemisphere alone
people with damages to right hemisphere are unable to stitch together details
cannot have aha moments
global-thinking, context-dependent thinking and figural processes are hindered
reality checks system is affected
cannot play devil’s advocate to check global inconsistencies
people with left hemisphere damages have trouble with language processing
cannot hold on to things of status quo
revisit the same material with a bigger picture in mind
in the second spaced repetition
in the focussed mode of thinking, it is easy to make minor mistakes
if a mistake is made early on, then even if the rest of the work is right, the learned material might be completely wrong
practice makes permanent, not perfect
due to years of malconditioning, certain types of thinking have been attributed to left brain style and some other to the right brain style
left style is extreme focus without caring for the right brain style of globally consistent answers
focussed mode type thinking
i.e. calculating the circumference of the earth and finding the result to be 3.5 meters
damaged right brain and over active left brain style would lead to the person not being bothered by this answer at all
rigidity, dogmatic, analytic, egocentricity
right style thinking is diffuse and big picture oriented
diffuse mode type thinking
i.e. the methodology of finding the circumference and what the circumference means in the big picture will be explained by them till the cows come home
but they are incapable of actual step by step problem solving to arrive at the answer
it is easy to fool oneself with pride of either kind of thinking
some dead fucker: “the first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool”
example: when a student gets the answer right because of rigid ways of problems solving methods taught in class
example: when student figures out tests all by themselves without the help of formal training
overconfidence in results results in using only one mode of thinking
pride caused by either kind of thinking results in fooling oneself into thinking you understand the subject more than you actually do
blinking and breathing helps to catch the brain fooling itself into thinking it has been productive or learned something
to help catch blind-spots in thinking and perspective, brain storming in a team of people who are SIMILARLY aligned in terms of the interest and knowledge in the topic being learned about proves valuable
the rationale is everyone has blind spots but when working together, they can null out each others blindspots
this is counter-productive if the study sessions turn into socializing hangouts or impromptu orgies
testing
powerful learning experience
includes at the recall mini tests
more gets retained during time spent testing that generic reading and memorization
tests are emotionally fueled as there is a certain amount of validation involved
so different focus systems in the nervous system gets activated
preparing for proficiency in a subject
make sincere attempts to understand what is being conveyed by the test
work with peers to solve problems
outline the steps of the problems solved
actively participate in group discussions
consult with a person who is more knowledgeable
understand all problems you spend time solving
ask the more knowledgeable person or peers when some concept used to solve a problem is not clearly understood
use guides to pick up normalized knowledge about the subject
outline the solutions to a lot of different types of problems quickly
get sleep to actually assimilate learning from all these steps
test taking
approach #1:
solve the simple problems first to build confidence to solve tougher problems
for many people this counter productive
difficult longer length problems need the power of diffuse power thinking
however, to access diffuse mode thinking, focus on what needs to solving has to be turned down
approach #2:
start with hard problem, get stuck
consolidate clearly what you do not know that is keeping your from solving the problem
loads the problem in mind
then jump to easy problem
the diffuse mode keeps working on the hard problem subconsciously
stress
cortisol - stress hormone
the self-narrative used under stressful conditions can potentially improve outcome of stressful situation
the response to stress hormones have to be engineered to steer oneself towards positive outcomes
conscious abdominal deep-breathing calms down the cortisol induced fight-or-flight response
helps with better self-narratives
practice this technique to make the pattern auto-trigger in response to stress hormones
oxygen surplus is great to deal with a great influx of cortisol
“good worry” vs “bad worry”
worry provides a bit of drive
in toxic amounts, drains energy to do anything tangible with the drive
worry can get self-defeating very quickly
especially if this is the habitualizied source of drive
sleep is underrated in terms of learning and taking tests
clears out toxins from the CSF
consolidates learning from outer memory to core memory
consistent sleep supplemented learning leads to faster permanence of thing learned
closing
care must be taken to learn the right thing
when practising as practice doesn’t make perfect, ito nly makes permanent
if the right thing it practiced, it gets more refined due to short term and long term reconsolidation
allowing it to be perceived as permanent
you have truly learned something only when you can teach it to others in simple words
by boiling down the core ideas into easily digestible chunks
and being able to explain it concisely and in an easily understandable way