Smarter, faster, better – how to up your reading game according to science @ Tech Open Air 2016

Smarter, Faster, Better: How to Up Your Learning Game

According to Science

@jansenniklas

“If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

“Being able to read superfast.”

The ability to read and learn things quickly is a superpower.

Need for lifelong learning

Ability & motivation to learn

Every one of us can learn to read faster, and there are a few simple hacks that can help us.

Big ideas in small packages.

We have a booth at the startup alley.

We summarized 1,500 books in the last three years with a carefully selected crowd of experts and writers.

We discovered a formula that helps you to learn smarter, faster and better regardless of your background.

6 science-backed steps for smarter, faster, and better reading (and learning).

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

4. Create your own structure aka SELECT

6. Review your notes aka REPETITION

5. Record key insights aka SEQUENCE

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

For our brains to truly learn something, that something needs to have meaning.

Relevance evokes emotions.

Use the science:

• Get motivated and ask yourself: 1. What do you want to learn from this

piece of content? 2. How might it change you life for the

better? 3. What kind of people should read it in

general, and why are you one of them?

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

Presenting information in fragments doesn’t actually make learning more manageable.

However, getting the basic outline of a concept or skill makes reading more manageable.

The brain can’t assemble the disembodied parts that make up a concept.

Your brain needs a lay of the land from 1,000 feet to correctly place and interrelate all of the hills and meandering rivers of new insight and knowledge.

Use the science:

• Spend 20 minutes skimming the book or reading online summaries with the goal of finding out 1) what the book is about and 2) the main takeaway. You’ll read more efficiently and retain knowledge better with this broad view.

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

“There’s this basic circuit in the brain that energizes people to go out and get things that are intrinsically rewarding. This circuit lights up when we get money, or candy. It also lights

up when we’re curious.“

– Charan Raganath

When the circuit is activated, our brains release dopamine, which gives us a high.

Curiosity is very powerful.

The essence of curiosity is that gap between what you want to know and what you already know.

Use the science:

• Before you begin to read, craft a few good curiosity gap questions. Check out the back of the book or a few reviews online for help: this content is made to get you interested in the book, so it’ll lead you in the right direction.

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

4. Create your own structure aka SELECT

Your brain will have a much easier time remembering a new concept or learn a skill if you devise your own structure to give it personal meaning.

Organize information based on how you attributed relevance.

Use the science:

• Identify the key points, separate them into elemental chunks and write them down, making sure to leave plenty of space between each for your own notes.

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

4. Create your own structure aka SELECT

5. Record key insights aka SEQUENCE

Effective reading requires to create and enforce original neural pathways.

Your brain will contextualize new information when place in your structure.

The Pyramid Principle: the gold standard for information organization

Source: Handbook of Awesome

Use the science:

• In your own words, make brief notes about your main takeaways from the reading and find the best place for these insights in the structure you’ve crafted. You’ll end up with a summary of the book in your own words, made in a way your brain best understands.

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

4. Create your own structure aka SELECT

5. Record key insights aka SEQUENCE

6. Review your notes aka REPETITION

Neurons are linked by synapses to create a unique pathway describing what you’ve learned.

The more often you recall a certain piece of information or skill, the stronger and deeper you’re impressing its unique “footpath” in your memory.

If you want to keep something you’ve learned, you’ve got to dredge it up and look at it.

Often. Often. Often.

Use the science:

• Reviewing material within ten minutes of learning it, then again 48 hours later, and again in seven days. The shakier your memory, the more you’ll benefit from repeated activation of the pathway.

1. Find a personal angle aka RELEVANCE

2. Get a bird's eye view aka DECONSTRUCT

3. Drum up curiosity

4. Create your own structure aka SELECT

6. Review your notes aka REPETITION

5. Record key insights aka SEQUENCE

6 science-backed steps to faster and better learning

@jansenniklas

Ask Me Anything at 15.30