Limitless

While you are sitting in a chair, slump over, look down, take short breaths, and put a frown on your face. Do this now. How motivated do you feel to achieve success? How productive do you think you are in this state? This is the posture a lot of students take while studying. Is it any wonder they dislike studying and have to work hard to achieve bare minimum results? Now sit up straight and smile. How much better do you feel?

The scent of rosemary has been shown to improve memory. Peppermint and lemon promotes concentration.

If you’re studying for a big test, put a bit of a particular essential oil on your wrist while you’re studying and then make sure you do the same thing before you take the test.

music can put us in conditions that improve our ability to learn.

“Baroque music, such as that composed by Bach, Handel or Telemann that is 50 to 80 beats per minute creates an atmosphere of focus that leads students into deep concentration in the alpha brain wave state. Learning vocabulary, memorizing facts, or reading to this music is highly effective.”

Listening is critical to learning, and we spend a large percentage of our waking time listening. But most of us are not particularly good at it.

Do everything you can to tune all of this out and to be completely present with whomever you’re listening to.

listening involves more than just the words a person is saying; vocal inflection, body language, facial expressions, and more create additional context and provide additional information.

Your enthusiasm for what you're hearing will greatly increase your potential of truly hearing it.

Ask clarifying questions or maybe even for a point to be repeated. If you’re in the position to take notes, do so.

imagine yourself teaching it to someone else. Doing so will solidify it in your mind.

At their best, notes allow you to organize and process information in a way that makes it most likely that you can use this information afterward.

be sure that you understand the purpose for taking these notes.

if you take notes with a goal in mind, every note you take will have relevance.

take an active approach to note-taking. Listen with the intention of getting exactly what you need, and write your notes in ways that will benefit your recall later.

use your own words wherever possible.

If you’re copying what someone is saying verbatim, you’re probably not processing any of it. That means that, at the most essential moment of learning, you’re utilizing most of your brain to the task of taking dictation. When you use your own words in your notes, you begin to process the information, and that greatly enhances learning.

Take note of what’s being emphasized. Make sure you’re understanding the points the speaker is making and, if the opportunity is available, ask questions.

After your note-taking session is over, review your notes immediately.

Before you begin any session where you’re going to be taking notes, think about what you’re hoping to retain most from this session.