A special congratulations to Edouard Chambon, who last month broke the World Record for fastest single time on a 3×3x3 Rubik’s Cube with a time of 9.18 seconds and fastest average time of 11.48 seconds.
That’s right he SOLVED a cube in 9.18 seconds. My head hurt after watching him solve it, and my jaw was hanging for hours afterwards.
In this amazing segment from our favorite mentalists, Derren Brown, he demonstrates how he uses neurolingustic programming to beat 9 chess players SIMULTANEOUSLY!
He’ll even show you how it’s done!
Absolutely incredible!
Ever find that your life goes through a series of ups and downs? Well, some scientists believe that our physical, emotional, and intellectual selves are governed by cyclic patterns known as Biorhythms. Based on these predictions, you might be able to predict your body’s natural cycles by using Biorhythm software.
Did you know it’s possible to synthesise your own happiness?. Dan Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard, discusses modern man’s pursuit of happiness in this scintillating video. He first shares Sir Thomas Browne’s view written way back in 1642:
“I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me.” - Sir Thomas Browne 1642
We think happiness is something we find, BUT it’s something we synthesise for ourselves. Take the example of Pete Best - if you don’t remember who he is or was or could have been - he was the original drummer in the Beatles that got dropped on tour for Ringo Starr.
“I’m happier than I would have been with The Beatles” - Pete Best
Dan also shares the story of a guy who was falsely imprisoned for 37 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Moreese Bickham, 78 years old when when he was released Speaking of his experiences in prison the guy says . . .
“I don’t have one minutes regret, it was a GLORIOUS experience”
GLORIOUS, I repeat GLORIOUS! Dan goes on to back up these remarkable findings . . .
Daniel Gilbert is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. His research with Tim Wilson on “affective forecasting” investigates how and how well people can make predictions about the emotional impact of future events.
Dan has won numerous awards for his teaching and research—from the Guggenheim Fellowship to the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology. However, he says that his greatest accomplishment is that he appears just before Dizzie Gillespie on the list of Most Famous High School Dropouts.
Dan’s research has been covered by The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Money, CNN, U.S. News & World Report, The New Yorker, Scientific American, Oprah Magazine, Psychology Today, and many others.
He lives in Cambridge Massachusetts with his wife and a lack of pets.
- Stumbling Upon Happiness Named #1 on Amazon for category Mind, Body and Soul >>
In this highly entertaining TED talk Barry Schwarz talks about the paradox of choice in modern society.
He asks the question . . .
Is the massive amount of choice a good or a bad thing in modern society?
Apparently the answer is YES. This doesn’t make a lot of sense so it’s probably best that we let Barry explain:
Many women let their self esteem be affected by the stereotype that media created of a perfect woman.
Many of them become obsessed with becoming this idea created by business people that does not exist in the real world.
The real intention of media is to push women’s self esteem down so women can buy their products to push their self esteem back up again.
However, women do not realize that they are all beautiful because they are all real. Mothers, sisters, wives, etc with big hearts and love are the ones that we all should really admire. They are our real models that deserve to be followed.
Editor’s Note: The Capacity of our mind to learn new subject matter and subject matter which is extremely difficult to grasp is truly staggering. However, are we using the right methods to learn to our full potential?
I found an article on a very alternative approach to learning which after racking my brains for ages makes perfect sense. I’m sure after you read this article it will make sense to you as well. Just think about it - there are so many pitfalls we fall into if we can’t grasp a hard topic - for example, reading and reading and READING over the same material.
Let’s get the scientific aspect out the way:
Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience.
Thinking can be thought of as a network of neurons firing in a very specific pattern. As neurons are used, they become thicker and more permanent. It follows then, that the stronger the stimulation, and the more common the stimulation, the more likely the stimulus is to be remembered. More so, memory comes easier when multiple parts of the brain (such as hearing, seeing, smelling, motor skills, touch sense, and logical thinking lobes; informal names given) are stimulated.
There’s the technical side - let’s look at the alternative learning methods article:
Here’s a strategy I’ve found useful for learning dry and difficult material quickly. At various times, I’ve used it to build up my knowledge of subjects like economics, investing, writing and computer programming languages. Some people have been surprised at how fast I can learn these kinds of skills, but I think anyone can do it with the right plan. Of course, you can use this to teach yourself interesting things as well, but most people don’t have any problem learning stuff that’s fun.
Okay, here are the steps…
Many people try to slowly and methodically digest difficult material. They underline things and re-read paragraphs ten times to try and understand. This approach might eventually work, but most people get fed up with it and give up before finishing. Our brains hate this way of learning.
Instead, try to get through the material as quickly as possible. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything, just keep reading on. Push yourself to get the damn textbook finished, and don’t worry too much about how much you take in.
Skip any exercises or quizzes and just keep ploughing through.
Some people can read an entire textbook in a couple of sittings, but not me. I like to digest 10-20 page chunks, then go and do something else for a while to give my brain a rest. If you do this three or four times a day, you can finish a 600 page textbook in about two weeks.
The only time I stop to go back is if there’s some key concept that’s being repeated a lot and I don’t know what it means. Then, I might allow myself to read a key paragraph or two on that topic, but no more. Otherwise I just challenge myself to get through the book as quickly as possible.
Once you’ve finished the text, think about what the key concepts were. Don’t concentrate on the details at this stage, just identify the core ten or so ideas that form the basis of the subject. Look them up again and try to define them as simply as you can. Putting them in your own words, with an example, rather than learning by rote is important.
For example, The Economist defines the concept of Opportunity Cost as: “The true cost of something is what you give up to get it. This includes not only the money spent in buying (or doing) the something, but also the economic benefits that you did without because you bought (or did) that particular something and thus can no longer buy (or do) something else. “
So you could say to yourself: “Opportunity cost means not being able to spend your resources on one thing because you’ve already spent them on something else. I can spend my Saturday night doing homework, which means the opportunity cost is that I can’t spend that time going to the movies.”
Most facts and figures can be looked up. Don’t fill your mind with junk trivia that’s only a mouse-click away. Instead of the raw data, concentrate on understanding the ideas of a subject.
However, in any topic, there are some things that simply must be memorized. Cut the list of these down as much as possible, so you’re only remembering that which absolutely and definitely has to be remembered.
There are all sorts of memory tricks around, but the one I find most useful is pretty simple. I just repeat out loud the thing that has to be remembered ten times or so. Then, I wait until later in the day and try to remember it again. If I can’t, I look it up and repeat it out loud again. Then I wait for later and try to remember it again - and so on. Usually, you can burn a fact into your brain pretty quickly using this method.
Now that you’ve filled your head with stuff, it’s time to get some feedback on how well you’ve understood it. A good way is by doing some kind of mock-exam. You can find these for various subjects on-line, or you might want to try some of the exercises in the textbook.
Again, break this dull task up into chunks if necessary, doing a few different tests over a few days.
You’ll probably find that you did pretty badly when you mark yourself. After all, you raced your way through the text. But if you look up the questions that you got wrong, you should amaze yourself at how quickly you start getting a detailed knowledge of the material.
What you’re trying to do is build up a framework of the subject in your mind and then fill in the details. This will probably be pretty fuzzy at first, but clarity usually comes quickly as you teach your brain how the concepts are related.
The important thing is not getting the answers right, but looking up what you got wrong and learning it. Do this as quickly as possible. Try to avoid reading whole chapters unless you feel you absolutely need to.
Now is the time to get some information from other sources. Often, hearing something in a different way helps me to understand it better. It also gives some flexibility to my comprehension.
I’m not suggesting reading another whole textbook. Instead read a few short articles on the subject in magazines and on websites.
Now’s the time to get some real-world feedback. If you’ve learnt a language, try speaking to a native in it. If you’ve taught yourself anatomy, try having a discussion on the subject with a doctor.
The best real world feedback of all is if you attempt to use your knowledge for fame or fortune (on a small scale of course). Throw yourself in the deep end, in other words. Join a discussion board on the subject and pick an argument with one of the participants. Or try to get paid employment using your new knowledge.
So there they are, my six steps for learning a difficult subject quickly. Of course, the actual amount of time it takes depends on how much work you put in, but this is the most efficient method I’ve found in terms of understanding achieved compared to time and effort spent. Usually, I can get a good broad understanding of a topic in a month or two using this method.
This remarkable story is testament that anybody in life can achieve anything they set their mind to no matter what their circumstances are. This video will give you such a warm feeling - it’s not to be missed!
In this video an autistic high school basketball manager, who is used to feeling different his whole life, gets his shot in the limelight by coming off the bench for the last 5 minutes of a ballgame.
The events that unfold are nothing short of staggering as he stuns his high school friends by shooting 6 three pointers in the space of 4 minutes. Witness the jubilation of the whole hall as a kid with hardship and learning difficulties throughout his life reaches the top of the world!
In studying some of the world's most successful people Jose Silva found 2 reasons for their success. You probably know the first reason, the second is more surprising... Discover the Silva Mind System
Learn Remote Viewing Exercises at LearnRemoteViewing
.com
TheSecretNotes.com - a wonderful blog on The Law of Attraction and The Secret
Loved the movie "The Secret"? The Teachers featured in the movie are launching a new course. Have a look!
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