The longest night this year is December 21st. This is a good time to think about the way we passed and the way ahead of us. This year I have definitely made my share of mistakes, yet I learned a couple of valuable lessons. It is probably impossible to tell what makes people successful in life, …
Brainy habits
There are many ways to study in life. Some ways are more conventional than others. There is an intricate connection between what we do and what we know. Some habits may have a surprising effect on our brain. This post was inspired by this, this, this and this articles. Conventional education It is pretty safe …
Physical switches in our brain
Our brain is a physical object, and its reactions are physical. We may attribute our memories and experiences to some spiritual and intellectual domain, which is perfectly fine. Sometimes, however, it is best to attribute our experiences to misinterpreted physical experiences. For example, if you have a bad gut feeling, it is probably a heartburn …
Dealing with emotional texts
Reading is a sort of conversation, and like any conversation, it can be stressful. If you disagree with the author and his arguments, will you be able to consider them openly? If reading the text strikes some old wound in your soul, will you focus on the text or your own pain? If you are …
Noticing your progress vs measuring it
To which extent can we notice our progress and to which extent do we need to monitor it? Our mind is full of biases and not to be trusted, however if we focus entirely on measurements we may loose something precious that forgot to measure. I will tell tales of two students and then we …
Six types of socratic questions
We ask similar questions after each time we preread or read the text. The questions can be divided into questions building our curiosity so we can focus on the text and questions we asked in order to ensure we understood the text properly. This post mainly deals with questions of the second kind. If we …
Creative training vs grit
When we discuss superlearning training we emphasize two elements: creativity and determination. Both are necessary and supplement each other quite nicely. Our students are expected to do some computer training ~30 min per day and some reading for at least 60 min a day. After finishing the course the computer training is no longer required, …
Accepting myself
We often proclaim that our students need to find their own way. What do we mean and what is the main obstacle? People are different. This is what makes us more interesting and valuable. Jewish wisdom proclaims “He who saves one soul it’s as if he saved the entire world”. Yet we are continuously conditioned …
Dreaming and memory
Long term memory is closely related to sleep. When we sleep our short term memory is basically copied into our long term memory. If somebody is not sleeping enough trying to prepare for exam, this a huge mistake. After several days everything will be forgotten and days of practice lost. There are ways of improving …
How to do “life”
Quite often our students ask me for advice regarding juggling various tasks. Recently I read this article on psychologytoday and it made me think.To which extent can we gamify our lives and “win” as a result? Life is hard for everybody. Each of us gets a different bucket of skills and challenges, as we get …