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Monday, July 20, 2009

Six Ways to Improve Learning Skills

While most of us grew up thinking that we can only learn as much as our genes would let us, there are actually countless of ways you can adapt that can help you improve your learning skills, increase your IQ and improve your memory. I have already mentioned several approaches on how to boost your brain power in my previous blog posts and there are still more! It’s up to you which ones you would like to adapt for yourself. Perhaps you want to try everything and see which ones will suit you best and help you cope better with the increasing supply of today’s accumulated knowledge.

Let’s define learning, shall we?


In the very busy world of business, commerce and technology, what matters most is not how much you know but how much you can deliver at the most effective and efficient way possible. This is where having an increase in IQ helps. Having more IQ is not necessarily equal to having a lot of stored knowledge. Of course it helps that you know a lot of things. But if you don’t know how to process them, work with them and apply them in your business or life in general, then your knowledge would be of no use. This entails having specialized knowledge, skills and a huge amount of self-confidence to carry you through the toughest of ordeals. What you can do to attain a specialized set of knowledge is to choose a specific problem to solve in your line of work for instance and do well in solving it. This will then help you attract other opportunities of the same nature but with more challenging problems. This way of tackling things will then define your destiny in this field. It doesn’t matter what title you hold in your company. What matters is how good you are in learning how to tackle the problems in your company. This will determine your success in this ever changing world of business, commerce and technology.

An example of first stage of learning

There will always be times when we will come across new materials for learning purposes. It could be for business, for personal gain, a part of school project, etc. The first moment we lay our eyes on these materials, we are likely to become overwhelmed. Some may feel insecure, incompetent or fearful of the tasks at hand. But don’t fret. The moment we expose our mind to new things, no matter how confusing it may seem at first, we are already learning. The subconscious part of our brain is already assimilating and processing this new information. This is your first stage of learning. The sooner we get to this stage and overcome it, the easier learning gets. However, it also crucial to do this with an open & embracing mind, a mind that is curious and anticipating. This will help boost your brain power and maximize your learning potential.

The importance of breaks

This approach does not only apply to students but to anyone who is involved in accumulating a huge amount of data over an extended period of time. It is a must to schedule a 10-15 minute recess every two hours and a 3-5 minute break every 40 minutes. Studies have been undertaken which showed that when we study, we remember more those things that we have studied at the beginning and towards the end. Therefore, having a 3-5 minute break every 40 minutes will increase those first and last things we learned and thus increase our memory in the process. This approach will also give your mind some downtime to relax and recuperate so the next time you tackle new knowledge, your grasp of things will be sharper and your extent of productivity will be at an exponential level.

Intelligence all throughout your body

There are many kinds of intelligences. It does not only pertain to the academic kind. There are linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal kinds. Notice how your fingers adapt to learning new music when you’re playing with your keyboard or guitar for instance? It’s as if your fingers have a mind of their own. You don’t even have to think about it anymore. However, when you are learning something new and you notice that you are resisting, it may be your body’s way of telling you that you are not ready and that there are more important needs that your body has to meet. Perhaps, you’re hungry, Thursday, have errands to run, etc.? Stay attuned to what your body is telling you. When you feel that you are ready and are in that position of acute curiosity and anticipation, then that is when your mind will be more receptive to learning.

Paradigm shift

When the going gets tough..the tough changes paradigms! When learning new material gets to be so overwhelming, you may look at it from the perspective of a teacher. Just imagine that you will be teaching these things to your students so that you will be more receptive of the new information. Another way is by thinking of a particular person who could benefit well from the information you are learning. This way, your learning will have more value because it will have a seemingly desired application.

Kinesthetic Activity

I’ve mentioned above about the different kinds of intelligences. It is important to spend time in developing each one of them in order to become a very well-rounded person. One of these intelligences is the kinesthetic kind. By engaging yourself in activities of this nature, the more your brain develops more connections in the form of dendrites. The more connections there are, the more efficient and effective your thinking will be, the easier it is for you to learn. This is one sure way of boosting your IQ and memory power. So while you are also enhancing your other intelligences, take time to do some physical work to increase your brain power:

• Playing with your musical instrument
• Any sports • Painting
• Going on trips and experiencing other heritage and cultures

These things will also give your brain a much needed downtime or rest like I’ve mentioned a while ago. Isn’t it that when you are sleeping, you brain is still working and processing all those millions of data it has accumulated all throughout the day? Then you wake up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed? It’s the same thing when you are engaged in physical things that you love to do. Time flies by, your attention to the activity is at 100% and it therefore encourages you to use the other parts of your brain. When you get back to your usual work load, your mind will feel rested and you will work more efficiently and effectively.

Moreover, if you already have high IQ, your learning skills will definitely sky rocket! Take a look at this IQ site for more information where people really gave good feedback about it.

These are just some things you can do to improve your learning processes, help increase your IQ and boost your memory. Try them out and let me know what you think. You may email me at email Karen@samuelprime.com. for any comments and suggestions you may have. Or you may comment here. :-)

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