Two sorts of markers

While there are many ways to create markers and a large body of text about it in this blog, I wanted to focus on two major types of markers I expect each of you to use.

Logical markers

This is the default sort of markers you should use. In fact, they are so trivial that until recently we were forgetting to talk about them. The idea is very simple: if you understand the text can learn from it something significant, the information you learned is a marker. To verify that the marker is strong please check:
1. What is your opinion regarding this new find? Is it expected or surprising? Is it well-proven or controversial?
2. Is the subject of interest? Neurons work in clusters. Do you have enough related information stored in your brain?
3. Does it create further links? Do you have action items based on this find? Can you actively use it in your life?
A higher level of logical marker is a logical template or scheme, which can be applied in all situations like mindmap or programming UML.
1. How do different markers relate to each other? Causation, contradiction, generalization, corollaries etc work great.
2. If you were to put the relevant markers in space which data structure would it be? If tree/mindmap, can you imagine each branch of the tree?
3. How do the markers relate to other ideas we have?
Still more complex logic is mentioned in this blog under title of “hyperlinking”.

Creative markers

We cannot always analyse what we read. Foreign languages, medical and biological details, names and dates- this sort of information avoids direct analysis. To remember these markers you need to be creative. In our Udemy course Jonathan teaches to imagine each of this markers in very clear almost tangible detail, add senses etc. This works great for 80% of our students, for the other 20% of student we recommend to focus not on the objects but to the way they interact with each other. We create fast speed animations where objects morph into each other or break each other and so on. Animations are like fast speed stories: since they are visual they are potentially x10 faster than stories. To see that the markers are strong we can ask the following questions:
1. To which extent each object leads to another? Notice that good linking here is as important than good markers…
2. How unique is resulting animation? If we reuse the same animation too many times we risk mixing up details from various fields. If we have something too unique we may have trouble recreating it.
3. How does in make us feel? Basically creative animations should make us experience strong feelings: laughter, disgust, fear, greed, joy.
A higher level of creative markers needs a common setup. Memory palaces can be used to create such setup.Alternatively I occasionally mention my own “comics” method. Common questions:
1. What is the common theme? Is it past/present/future? Is is heroic/comic/childish? What colours prevail?
2. How do different story lines interact with each other? Notice you will have some animations ending up and other animations starting as you progress in the article.
3. How this creative marker is built into larger logical setup? You may want to have dedicated “anchor” markers that connect to the common ideas. If you have story, you may want to have the first and the last frame of the story to have some logical connection. If it is a memory palace, you need to know how and why you opened the door.
Still more complex creative objects are mentioned in this blog under “high level visualization” keywords.