10 Ways to Learn Faster - Speed Learning
By Jim Estill
I spend a good portion of my time learning and I wish I could learn at a tremendously greater rate because I believe knowledge can be a competitive advantage. Knowledge is power; knowledge allows me to continue to thrive. As a result I have studied how I can learn faster. I blogged about learning faster a while ago.
Some tips are:
1) Repeat: Sometimes some of the things I need to learn are a little bit boring and I found the best way to learn them is through repetition. Space it over a bit of time for even better retention.
2) Use multiple senses: I learn when I listen to an audio program. I learn better when I listen to an audio program and make notes.
3) Take a speed-reading course: I have found that the greatest source of knowledge is through reading so it only makes sense to use the tool of speed-reading. Some people say they don't want to speed-read because they enjoy reading. Trust me, speed-reading does not take out the enjoyment of reading. If anything, it enhances it because you can read more. Others do not want to speed-read because they feel their comprehension will decrease; however, it won't. Trust me your comprehension will actually increase if you speed-read.
Consider speed-reading to be one of the best long-term investments that you can make.
4) Practise learning: I have a belief that we have multiple areas and facets of our mind and we tend to not exercise many parts of it. As a result I tend to do exercises for my mind outside of the area that I normally study. For example, I am not naturally a musical person so if I would try to do something musical, that stretches my mind. For some people, it might be learning a foreign language.
5) Exercise: I have read a lot on how to make a brain better and one of the repeated themes is to be healthy. The simplest of things is to create movement and exercise. This is everything from small passive movements to active engaged exercise. This is something I practise well.
6) Eat right: Eat nutritious food so that it will fuel your brain.
7) Sleep right -- yes, I finally said it. In my earlier time management seminars I often preached that sleep was for wimps. I have now changed my mind and believe that a lack of sleep causes a lack of learning, lack of memory, lack of retention and it just is not healthy. Because I want to be so involved in the world, it often bothers me that I have to sleep and I am afraid that I will miss things. I am not purposing that people over-sleep and I think seven hours is adequate for most people; but I do believe cutting sleep to less than five or six hours on a consistent basis is a bad idea.
8) Change: I find that learning for me tends to max out after I have been absorbed in something for a period of time. The easiest way for me to get around this is to change something else. It doesn't mean that I can't start learning something different but I tend to lose my focus, lose my learning energy after about 20 or 30 minutes. (I might be ADD.)
9) Have a learning plan: Like everything I do in life, having a plan helps me to move forward on things. There is no reason not to have a learning plan. What are the things that you want to learn, what are some tricks that will help you learn them?
10) Copy: One of the easiest ways to learn is to copy what others do and how other people learn. Simply copying how other people do things is often enough to get things done.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
High Altitude Leadership
Busy weekend with taking Directors College Friday and Saturday then rushing to a Christmas Party Saturday night. And then today, trying to get caught up on everything.
I had 2 articles "printed" this week. One in Profit Magazine about how to thrive in turbulent times. And the other one on CopyBlogger on the virtues of keeping things short. I am impressed with the readership copyblogger gets with 13 trackbacks and 62 comments already (and I did not think my topic was that controversial).
I recently read an outstanding book called, "High Altitude Leadership What the World's Most Forbidden Peaks Teach Us About Success" by Chris Warren and Don Schmincke.
The book has two story lines. One is about mountain climbing in the Himilayas interspersed with business lessons that can be learned from these mountain climbing expeditions.
Usually I am a business junky; however, I found the mountain climbing stories to be the page turner.
Mountain climbing has a lot to do with fear so there is a lot of discussion on fear and how you tame it in leadership.
Arrogance can also be death on a mountain climbing expedition and the infection of arrogance in leadership can also be death to leadership.
One of the concepts that I really liked was skilled based luck. This is essentially preparing for what might eventually happens and by being properly prepared (having the skill), it creates luck when things do happen.
I found the book to be a highly compelling and exciting page turner.
I had 2 articles "printed" this week. One in Profit Magazine about how to thrive in turbulent times. And the other one on CopyBlogger on the virtues of keeping things short. I am impressed with the readership copyblogger gets with 13 trackbacks and 62 comments already (and I did not think my topic was that controversial).
I recently read an outstanding book called, "High Altitude Leadership What the World's Most Forbidden Peaks Teach Us About Success" by Chris Warren and Don Schmincke.
The book has two story lines. One is about mountain climbing in the Himilayas interspersed with business lessons that can be learned from these mountain climbing expeditions.
Usually I am a business junky; however, I found the mountain climbing stories to be the page turner.
Mountain climbing has a lot to do with fear so there is a lot of discussion on fear and how you tame it in leadership.
Arrogance can also be death on a mountain climbing expedition and the infection of arrogance in leadership can also be death to leadership.
One of the concepts that I really liked was skilled based luck. This is essentially preparing for what might eventually happens and by being properly prepared (having the skill), it creates luck when things do happen.
I found the book to be a highly compelling and exciting page turner.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Know Thy Time by Peter Drucker
I received an email from a friend that included a section from the classic Peter Drucker book, "The Effective Executive" which has a chapter called, "Know Thy Time".
Time is also a unique resource. Of the other major resources, money is actually quite plentiful. We long ago should have learned that it is the demand for capital, rather than the supply thereof, which sets the limit to economic growth and activity. People -- the third limiting resources -- one can hire, though one can rarely hire enough good people. But one cannot rent, hire, buy, or otherwise obtain more time.
The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it and no marginal utility curve for it. Moreover, time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday's time is gone forever and will never come back. Time is, therefore always in exceedingly short supply.
Time is totally irreplaceable. Within limits we can substitute one resource for another, copper for aluminum, for instance. We can substitute capital for human labor. We can use more knowledge or more brawn. But there is no substitute for time.
Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.
Man is ill-equipped to manage his time.
And another friend emailed me a great link at Economist's view on the need for reliable information and how that is partly what is causing the current economic uncertainty.
Time is also a unique resource. Of the other major resources, money is actually quite plentiful. We long ago should have learned that it is the demand for capital, rather than the supply thereof, which sets the limit to economic growth and activity. People -- the third limiting resources -- one can hire, though one can rarely hire enough good people. But one cannot rent, hire, buy, or otherwise obtain more time.
The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it and no marginal utility curve for it. Moreover, time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday's time is gone forever and will never come back. Time is, therefore always in exceedingly short supply.
Time is totally irreplaceable. Within limits we can substitute one resource for another, copper for aluminum, for instance. We can substitute capital for human labor. We can use more knowledge or more brawn. But there is no substitute for time.
Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.
Man is ill-equipped to manage his time.
And another friend emailed me a great link at Economist's view on the need for reliable information and how that is partly what is causing the current economic uncertainty.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Time to Vote Again
My blog made the first cut on the Canadian Blog awards. Now there is a final selection round. If you have a minute, please click here and vote. The website appears as if you have not voted but you have if you click. I figure if my own blog readers won't vote for me, who will (my mom is one of my blog readers so can't ask her).
And the Channel Choice Awards are also open for voting. Click here to vote for your favourite distributor and other products.
And while I have you clicking, feel free to click here to sponsor me in the Canada's Fittest CEO Contest. I figure if I can't win, I might as well raise lots of $ for a good cause (Sick Kids Hospital).
So now I should give you the value you want from subscribing to this blog. Time Management Tip of the Day:
A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST.
I work hard and long hours. One way that I am able to keep productive is to switch tasks often.
For example, I do quite a bit of writing; however, I can't write for three hours at a time so I write for twenty minutes and then switch to a completely different task which is work related.
A change is as good as a rest.
And the Channel Choice Awards are also open for voting. Click here to vote for your favourite distributor and other products.
And while I have you clicking, feel free to click here to sponsor me in the Canada's Fittest CEO Contest. I figure if I can't win, I might as well raise lots of $ for a good cause (Sick Kids Hospital).
So now I should give you the value you want from subscribing to this blog. Time Management Tip of the Day:
A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST.
I work hard and long hours. One way that I am able to keep productive is to switch tasks often.
For example, I do quite a bit of writing; however, I can't write for three hours at a time so I write for twenty minutes and then switch to a completely different task which is work related.
A change is as good as a rest.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
8K race and Black Friday.
My outlook on the economy brightened some from the good sales on "Black Friday" in the US. Typically this is a huge day for retail. Sales were up 3% over last year. Much of the talk is that this is bad. It is not. Any growth is great.
I view the economy as a "condition". Something to be worked around. There are always opportunities regardless of external "conditions". Tough conditions can bring out the best in people and companies.
Speaking of conditions. I ran an 8 K (5 miles) trail race yesterday. The conditions were about the freezing mark. Most of the snow was tramped into slippery almost ice. There were sections of loose snow also. The route consisted of 4 loops. The better runners all had spikes. I am not going to get spikes for one trail race per year but I might try Yak Trax next year.
My plan was simple. 1/2 K slow to get a feel for it then speed up at every 500M mark. Of course that was foiled by the time I got to the first marker. There were too many people. And then I hit some hills. The downhills, I was worried about slipping and the uphills were hills (I knew I should have trained more). My time was 43:05 or about 5:23 per K. I can easily run 8 K in under 40 on a treadmill and on a good day in under 37:30. But the conditions...
Overall, it was a great day for a race. Despite what I consider to be a slow time, I am sore today.
I view the economy as a "condition". Something to be worked around. There are always opportunities regardless of external "conditions". Tough conditions can bring out the best in people and companies.
Speaking of conditions. I ran an 8 K (5 miles) trail race yesterday. The conditions were about the freezing mark. Most of the snow was tramped into slippery almost ice. There were sections of loose snow also. The route consisted of 4 loops. The better runners all had spikes. I am not going to get spikes for one trail race per year but I might try Yak Trax next year.
My plan was simple. 1/2 K slow to get a feel for it then speed up at every 500M mark. Of course that was foiled by the time I got to the first marker. There were too many people. And then I hit some hills. The downhills, I was worried about slipping and the uphills were hills (I knew I should have trained more). My time was 43:05 or about 5:23 per K. I can easily run 8 K in under 40 on a treadmill and on a good day in under 37:30. But the conditions...
Overall, it was a great day for a race. Despite what I consider to be a slow time, I am sore today.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Delayed Gratification and the Economy
I am trying to figure out how to deal with the current turbulent times. Today is a key day in US retail - Black Friday. Hopefully we will see strong sales.
Overall, I am a business optimist. We recover from all down cycles eventually. I actually find this an inspirational time to be in business. I wrote about this at the Create Business Growth Blog.
Books can have opposite views on what is going to happen with the economy. I think that sums up where everyone stands and that uncertainty adds to the crisis itself.
One book, "The Sub-prime Solution" by Robert J. Shiller talks about what got us into the problem.
It boils down to a failure by people to delay gratification which I have blogged about. We have great respect for people who delay their gratification. There has even been the famous marshmallow study. Children were given a marshmallow and told if they did not eat it when they were in the room alone that they would be given another marshmallow so they would have two. The study showed that those who did not eat the first marshmallow were more successful in life than those who ate the one in front of them rather than waiting for second one.
Unfortunately I see this in my business life where people who can't delay gratification tend not to be very successful. Instant gratification is the same challenge we sometimes have with people who get paid on Thursdays (they go out and get drunk) and miss work on Fridays.
The thesis of the book was the current meltdown in the financial market was equivalent to the repatriation crisis in Germany after the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. The repayments that Germany was asked to provide were so onerous that ultimately WWII happened.
The author makes a parallel between that and the real-estate bubble particularly in the U.S. In the United States everyone was promised the right to own homes. Now that trust has been broken.
If you are feeling too cheerful, this is a great book to read.
The other book that had a more depressing name, "The Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman examined what happened in the 1930s and made comparisons to today. The gist of it is that the crisis now will not be a depression because the current economy and countries are much stronger.
The investor panic that has hit is just that - it is panic and over reaction and in the medium term everything will return to "normal".
Read this one if the current economy has you depressed.
The titles of the books are opposite to their message.
Overall, I am a business optimist. We recover from all down cycles eventually. I actually find this an inspirational time to be in business. I wrote about this at the Create Business Growth Blog.
Books can have opposite views on what is going to happen with the economy. I think that sums up where everyone stands and that uncertainty adds to the crisis itself.
One book, "The Sub-prime Solution" by Robert J. Shiller talks about what got us into the problem.
It boils down to a failure by people to delay gratification which I have blogged about. We have great respect for people who delay their gratification. There has even been the famous marshmallow study. Children were given a marshmallow and told if they did not eat it when they were in the room alone that they would be given another marshmallow so they would have two. The study showed that those who did not eat the first marshmallow were more successful in life than those who ate the one in front of them rather than waiting for second one.
Unfortunately I see this in my business life where people who can't delay gratification tend not to be very successful. Instant gratification is the same challenge we sometimes have with people who get paid on Thursdays (they go out and get drunk) and miss work on Fridays.
The thesis of the book was the current meltdown in the financial market was equivalent to the repatriation crisis in Germany after the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. The repayments that Germany was asked to provide were so onerous that ultimately WWII happened.
The author makes a parallel between that and the real-estate bubble particularly in the U.S. In the United States everyone was promised the right to own homes. Now that trust has been broken.
If you are feeling too cheerful, this is a great book to read.
The other book that had a more depressing name, "The Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman examined what happened in the 1930s and made comparisons to today. The gist of it is that the crisis now will not be a depression because the current economy and countries are much stronger.
The investor panic that has hit is just that - it is panic and over reaction and in the medium term everything will return to "normal".
Read this one if the current economy has you depressed.
The titles of the books are opposite to their message.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Successful People Do Tough Things
My CEO Blog was nominated to the Canadian Blog Awards. Blatant plug - please vote for it here.
Successful People Do Tough Things
We respect people who do tough things and every job has some tough things that need to be done.
If we think about who we respect, it tends to be people who are great like athletes, or people who are highly educated like doctors, etc. Most of this involves a great deal of discipline and perseverance. We respect these people because they have been successful at doing tough things.
One of my mantras that I repeat often is, "Successful people do tough things." Simply saying this helps me to push myself to do the tough things that need to be done to succeed.
Saturday I ran an 8K trail run. This is quite different than the running I usually do so I am sore. It was snowy, icy, windy and cold. Good time to use "Successful People do Tough Things". There is the wintercross race next Saturday morning which I am entered in so I figure running the trail once might be a good idea.
I am entered in Canada's fittest CEO challenge to raise money for sick kids. No illusions of winning that one with only 2 months to go. But I am a bit competitive so will kick into gear.
Successful People Do Tough Things
We respect people who do tough things and every job has some tough things that need to be done.
If we think about who we respect, it tends to be people who are great like athletes, or people who are highly educated like doctors, etc. Most of this involves a great deal of discipline and perseverance. We respect these people because they have been successful at doing tough things.
One of my mantras that I repeat often is, "Successful people do tough things." Simply saying this helps me to push myself to do the tough things that need to be done to succeed.
Saturday I ran an 8K trail run. This is quite different than the running I usually do so I am sore. It was snowy, icy, windy and cold. Good time to use "Successful People do Tough Things". There is the wintercross race next Saturday morning which I am entered in so I figure running the trail once might be a good idea.
I am entered in Canada's fittest CEO challenge to raise money for sick kids. No illusions of winning that one with only 2 months to go. But I am a bit competitive so will kick into gear.
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