Title The Only Skill That Matters
Author Jonathan Levy
Year Published 2019
Kind of Book How-To/Learning
How strongly I recommend it 8/10
My Impressions A great little crash course into the field of accelerated learning. It covers mnemonic techniques as well as best practices for learning anything and everything. A great place to start. Full of practical takeaways
Date Read March 2020
Practical Takeaways
Compare and contrast the things you are learning to the information you already know
Before learning something, ask yourself "why do I need to learn this?"
Immediately start using the thing you're learning
Give learners the responsibility to go at their own pace, choose what they study, and make decisions regarding their learning process
Structure out your study sessions methodically
Take a 25minute nap after a particularly challenging study session or learning something new
Don't deprive yourself of occasional study breaks
Have a specific plan ready for when you inevitably fall off track
Questions to Ask before learning any new subject
Why: Why am I learning this information, and how and when will I actually use it?
Depth: What level of understanding or knowledge do I need?
Breakdown: How can this information be broken down into small parts and recombined into broader categories or themes? (eg. Verses of poem or words in lexicon)
80/20: What are the most important things to learn based on my goals?
Order: What is the right order in which to learn this information?
Organize: How will I organize the information?
Study Schedule plan: What will your study schedule look like? How can you compress timelines?
Track: How will I measure and track my progress? S.M.A.R.T. goals
Backup plan for if I fail: What will I do if things don't go to plan?
Spend 30 minutes a day practicing mnemonic techniques
Creating Markers
Make your mnemonic markers highly detailed
Make your mnemonic markers absurd, bizarre, violent, or sexual
draw from your own memories to Make your mnemonic markers
Make sure your mnemonic markers are connected in some way to the thing you're trying to remember
Picture a person you know who has the same name as the person you're trying to remember making out with them or fighting them to the death (not just holding hands. Make it vivid)
Break the word down into its syllables until you can find visualizations (eg. Caber = cab bear)
When you learn an interesting fact, stop for a moment and create a marker
Make your markers in action, not just lying there (eg. A knife stabbing into the couch cushion not just a knife sitting there)
Memory Palace
Before putting things into your memory palace, take a moment to create a linear journey along the perimeter of each room . This can be done clockwise or counterclockwise. Make sure your path never crosses itself.
In your memory palace anchor your visualizations to specific areas of the room (eg. On the bed, on the table, in the right far corner, in the oven)
Avoid placing multiple markers in the same part of the room
For memorizing a speech: assign each paragraph or key idea to a specific room and memorize the important transitions in the walkways between rooms
Space Repetition
Review book notes one month after finishing the book
Include the mnemonic marker on the back of your flashcards
Pre-Reading
Preread everything you read except for novels/short stories A: Prereading helps prime the brain for better retention
Big Ideas
Learning anything helps you learn everything
The words "learning", knowing" and "understanding" greatly oversimplify what is going on when we learn
To teach is to learn twice over- Joseph Joubert
Surprising Facts
Adults must know Why they are learning something
Young children never ask the question "why do I need to learn this?" only people after puberty
Unknown Terms
Subscription Library (Membership library or Independent Library): a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments. Unlike a public library, access is often restricted to members, but access rights can also be given to non-members, such as students.
What-the-hell-effect: when one little slip up derails a person causing them to give up completely. eg. “I ate one cookie during my diet, so I might as well eat the rest of the box”
Markers: novel visualizations for everything you wish to remember
The Lag Effect: a cognitive phenomenon in which long-term retention of information improves when there are gaps between when the information is presented. (eg. It is better for long term retention to only see the flash card once a week vs. every day)
Overlearning: continued review or practice after one has initial learned a piece of information in order to further strengthen memory and performance.
SQ3R: a pre-reading acronym which stands for
Survey
Question
Read
Recall
Review
Prereading (Previewing or surveying): the process of skimming a text to locate key ideas before carefully reading a text (or a chapter of a text) from start to finish 2)the reader is both surveying and questioning the text
Subvocalization (auditory reassurance): involves saying the words one is reading in one's head 2) it helps the mind to access meanings to comprehend and remember what is read, potentially reducing cognitive load 3) it is impossible to eradicate it, but one can minimize it
Eye Fixations (Visual fixation): the maintaining of the visual gaze on a single location
Saccades (pronounced suh cod ): a rapid movement of the eye between fixation points.
Saccadic Blindness (pronounced suh cod ic): when our brains actually "shut off" our vision while our eyes are in motion. Then, unbeknownst to us, they stitch the pictures back together when we settle on a new fixation.
Brute-Force Learning: to try to learn something from as many different perspectives as possible in order to gain complete understanding
Cognitive Reframing: a psychological technique that consists of identifying and then disputing irrational or maladaptive thoughts. Reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives. 2) it can be done either consciously or automatically
Bloom's Taxonomy: a hierarchical model used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. 2) The amount of competency and mastery of the material or subject increases as one progresses up the pyramid. *note application is only the 3rd level meaning there is much more one can do than just apply the information