Limitless

the 4–7–8 Method. It works like this: Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 7. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8. This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

things weighing on our minds are going to continue weighing on our minds until we deal with them.

there’s something that you need to do that you’ve been avoiding doing. If that’s the case, do a little 4–7–8 breathing, deal with the stressful task, and then you can get back to everything else you want to do with increased focus.

What is that one important thing that you’re avoiding that is affecting your focus?

set aside a specific time in your schedule to move these worries and obligations to the forefront of your mind? Simply saying, “I’ll worry about that later” isn’t likely to keep that worry from creeping back 20 minutes from now. But saying, “I’ll worry about that at 4:15” very well might.

Take a good look at your to-do list and identify the thing (or things) on it that is likely to invade your thoughts until you get it done. Formulate a plan for dealing with that task using some of the antiprocrastination tools you now have. Do something right now that changes your productivity environment so you can do a better job of staying on task. Practice a technique for calming your busy mind. Does it work for you? If so, commit to using it regularly.

the key to get from conscious competence to unconscious competence is obvious. It’s practice. Practice makes progress.

THE FOUR LEVELS OF COMPETENCE

The most successful people in the world are lifelong students.

The most successful people in the world are lifelong students. That means they’re continuously learning new skills, keeping up with the latest in their chosen fields, and staying apprised of what other fields might be able to offer to them.

Habit 1: Employ Active Recall Active recall is a process through which you review material and then immediately check to determine how much of it you’ve remembered.

Make sure you have enough study time to allow yourself to go through this process multiple times.

if you space out your reviews of the material, focusing more heavily on information that you haven’t retained in the past, you’re using your brain to the best of its abilities.

Use this technique in concert with active recall. Review the material, test yourself on what you remember, then take a break before coming back to this particular material.

The more positive and resourceful your state, the greater the results you’ll produce. Studying is no different. Your posture also

The more positive and resourceful your state, the greater the results you’ll produce.

Your posture also controls the state of your mind.

When you sit straight, it also facilitates breathing and the circulation of necessary oxygen to your brain and the rest of your body.

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.