Latest / Do You F*cking Mind? / 349. 9 Neuroscientific Ways To Increase your Focus for Study, Learn faster and Improve Retention

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349. 9 Neuroscientific Ways To Increase your Focus for Study, Learn faster and Improve Retention · Do You F*cking Mind?

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How low, my beautiful beans. Welcome to the episode of Today.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: So this episode is one of my most requested episodes,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and I the reason I probably haven't done this is
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: because I kind of thought, oh, I've kind of dabbled
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: in this, I've given advice on this topic in the past,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. But I thought, no, let's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: do a specific episode all about neuroscientific ways for you
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to increase your focus to study, to learn faster, and
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to improve retention.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Because really, it's all well and good to.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Have study hacks to stay on task when you're studying,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: But more importantly is how am I ensuring that I'm
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: retaining this information so I'm being more efficient in my
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: study time. Okay, now I'm talking about study, but this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: also goes for any learning in general. You don't have
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to be a student, you know, an official student somewhere.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: For this to apply.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: You could also use this for anything that you're learning,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and you can also use it for things with work
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as well. So I apply this to my podcast planning
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: for example, and there's certain topics that I want to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: talk about that I'll study for the podcast and do
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: my research, but I apply all of this. Okay, So
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: it's very, very very hopefully we are very what's the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: word I'm trying to think of, helpful is not whatever,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: but it's something that you can really take away.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: There'll be a lot that you.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Can take away from this episode and apply it straight
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: away and you'll see benefits immediately.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So I think if you're at UNI, you'd be on
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: your semess mid mid year break probably, but regardless, once
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: you start your semester again, you're going to dive in
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: head first.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Now, do I have a life update?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Is kind of I actually did have a pet hate
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: that I wanted to share with you guys, and I
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: can't for the life of me remember it. No, it's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: not coming to me. If it comes to me, I
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: will go gladly share it with you. Okay, So let's
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: just get straight into the brain factor of today. Now.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: This brain fact I find it really fascinating. Also, by
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the way, if you don't want to listen to the
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: brain facts, just fast forward maybe eight to ten minutes roughly.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: But this brain fact is on CTE, which is chronic
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: traumatic and cephalopathy. Now, in a nutshell, that is what
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: is kind of in the media more recently where at
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: least in Australia, it is about this degenerative disease that
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: occurs when people have repeated head trauma. So you're thinking boxing, rugby,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: anything where you are being dealt repeated blows to the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: head is something that might arise later on. Now, if
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: you've watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary on Netflix, that is,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he was an American football player who after he died,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: they found in his autopsy that he actually had this
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: CTE and it might have been the cause for his
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: psychological downfall okay um, and he then took his life unfortunately.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: So it's very very very good series on Netflix. Highly
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: recommend if you don't mind watching something that's quite fucking
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: deep and intense.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: But let's talk about it. So what is it?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: What is CTA chronic traumatic and obviously chronic traumatic as
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: ink it happens more than once encephalopathy, So it's a
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: progressive and fatal brain disease, and it is associated with
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: repeated traumatic brain injuries, so such as concussions and repeated
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: blows to the head. Now, when you think concussion, I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: want you to realize that concussion does not mean you
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: have to be knocked unconscious. You can have concussion and
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: be conscious conscious. I think there was this belief at
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: least a long time ago that that was yet to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: be knocked out. But now we're realizing that concussion can
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: happen and you don't even realize that you've been concussed.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: So that's why it can be quite dangerous. It is
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: also associated with the development of dementia. Now, what occurs
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: in CTA is the death of nerve cells or neurons
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: nerve cells neurons in the brain, and this is what
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: is known as degeneration. So I talk about degeneration all
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the fucking time. This is one of the forms of
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: degeneration and progressive, meaning that it gets worse over time. Okay,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: but the only way to definitively diagnose CTE is post
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: mortem in an autopsy. Okay, you cannot diagnose it when
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the person is alive, and that is due to the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: fact that the only way that you can actually probably
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: diagnose it is by dissecting the brain. Okay, you can't
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: see it through scans. You can only guess based on
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the symptoms and based on the person's history that they
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: have CTE or some form of dementia.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Because you're obviously seeing all these symptoms.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: No one has CTE and is perfectly fine and then
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: dies and you're like, oh, wow, they had it. It's
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: obvious that something's up, but it could be confused with
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: other degenerative diseases as well, so you can only confirm
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: it after death. Now it does not seem to be
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: related to one off head injury, but instead repeated head injury,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: so you're not seeing this happen with someone who's had
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: one big blow to the head. So we often see
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: it in contact sports or people involved in combat, and
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: it has been seen in people who are in abusive
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: relationships where they were being hit quite hard over the head. Okay,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: so basically it doesn't really matter where the blow is
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: coming from, but we are talking repeated blows to the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: head and it becomes noticeable years but for some people
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: decades after the head trauma has occurred. And this is
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: because it's got this progressive nature. So you could be
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: somebody like Aaron Hernandez, whil was relatively young.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: You know, you could have all these head traumas that
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: occur when.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: You're a teenage, teenager or an early adult, and then
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: it manifests this disease and the symptoms of the disease
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: manifest just a couple of years, and for a lot
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of players or like Boxes, you might see it manifest
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: twenty years.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: After they retire.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, and that is because, like I said, it's progressive,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So it is progressively getting worse, and you're not saying like, oh,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: it's a flare up, then it goes away, then it's
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: a flare up.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: No, it's like a sliding scale that's just going to
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: get worse with time.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: The symptoms include Wait before I go into the symptoms,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I want to say that we see an association of
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: CTE developing alongside something called second impact syndrome. This is
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: very important to pay attention to. Second impact syndrome is
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: a syndrome where you get a second head injury that
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: occurs before the first injury has resolved or the individual
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: has recovered from it. This is where it can be
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: really dangerous because you still have this head trauma, potential swelling,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: potential neurinal shearing, There's all this shit that goes down
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: in the brain when you get concussion or whiplash or
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: something like that. Then when the brain's trying to recover
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: and then if you get a second blow, we're talking
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: more swelling, more trauma on top of existing swelling and
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: trauma that could then cause may job problems in the
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: brain more so than just the initial head trauma. Okay,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So that is called second impact syndrome. If you are
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: somebody that plays a contact sport, you have to be
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: so fucking careful that you are not getting this second
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: impact syndrome. If you get a blow to the head,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: you've got to do everything in your power to make sure. Firstly,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you've got to avoid blows to the head at the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: best of times. If you have had the blow to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the head, you want to make sure you're fully recovered.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Nothing is more important than your brain health, No contract,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: no sport, nothing.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Okay. So just I mean, I love watching rugby, but
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: that it gives me anxiety when I see that the
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: blows to the head that these people get. It's full on.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: So the symptoms include emotional instability, trouble with thinking just
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: in general, memory loss, a lot of difficulty planning or organizing,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: difficulty carrying out tasks. Then it gets more serious. Then
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: we've got aggression. A lot of people become really aggressive.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: We've seen cases of people with ct that have turned
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: into murderers. But obviously this is not in every case.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: It's just one of the symptoms that some people may get. Impulsivity,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: suicidal thoughts, a really common one is depression and apathy,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: substance abuse. And then parkinsonism, which is shaking or slowed
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: movement that comes along with trouble with speech, trouble with
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: balance and walking. And also modeor neuron disease, which affects
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: cells that control breathing, speaking, swallowing, walking.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: So it's pretty serious this shit. Okay.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Now, not all symptoms have to be present for the
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: individual to have CTA. It might just be a combination
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of some of the ones that I just mentioned. And
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: experts think that it comes in two waves. So the
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: first one early on is close to the time of
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the injury. So often here you see the first wave
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: of symptoms is the mental health issues, the behavioral issues,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the aggression that happens a lot closer to the time
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: of the injury. Okay, And you might put all of
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that down, the irritability, all of that down to something else.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: But then you might realize, you know, in combination with
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: what you see later on in the future, that oh,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: that was actually CTE.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: It wasn't that they were just under stress. You know.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: The second wave occurs later in their life in their sixties,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and this is where you get the impact on memory.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Thinking this degenerative progression which kind of progresses to dementia,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: like you know symptoms. That's kind of what the what
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: it comes across as, Now, what is happening in the brain?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Why why is this happening.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: We're basically seeing.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: A build up of a protein called TAO around the
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: blood vessels.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: We also see this TOW that's.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Accumulation found in Alzheimer's disease and other kinds of dementia.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: However, this TAW.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Build up and how it occurs in CTE is different
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to how it occurs in dementia. That is how you
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: can differentiate the two in post mortem or in an autopsy.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Because of this and so other factors, the brain atrophies. Now,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: when you hear atrophy, it means it breaks down. And
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: because it's breaking down, it gets smaller. Basically, it's wasting
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: away because the cells when you get this atrophy, cells
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: can't carry the signal properly. And if cells can't carry
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: a signal properly, that cell is no longer being used.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And when something's not being used an you lose it. Okay,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: So when you if you don't use it, you lose it.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: It's not getting the nutrients, it's not being able to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: send off signals properly communicate with other cells. It gets
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: eaten up, broken down by the brain, among many other
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: things that are also happening in the brain. There is
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: no way to treat it. You cannot treat CTE, Okay.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: The only thing you can do is prevention, minimize head trauma,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and if you can also you know that second impact syndrome,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: be very careful around second impact syndrome.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: So I just want to dive in a little bit
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: deeper with TAO and what that is so you get
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a bit more of an understanding.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: But basically, TAO.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: This protein is an abbreviated or alternative term for something
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: called microtubule associated protein TAU or MAPPED or MAPT. But
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: we're just referring to it as TAO. Tau is how
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: it's spelled. Now, we've got something called microtubules, which are
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: needed for cellular nutrients and other things to travel down
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the axon of the cell.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: So in your cell, you got a neuron. The axon
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: is the.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Main highway that sends a signal to another cell. Now,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to strengthen the axon, you've got all these building blocks
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: that make that axon strong, and one of those things
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: is micro tubules.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, so we.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Need these tubules for the cell to be able to
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: propagate a signal. Basically, tao's role in all of this
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: is to stabilize these tubules.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Without it, it's not stable.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: So you want to think about it like a highway
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: where goods are being traveled along and tow is what
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: keeps that highway running smoothly.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Stable.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: It's not breaking apart now in these conditions, and it's
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: unclear why it is. But in these conditions, this towel,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: after trauma, swelling, inflammation, all of that TAWE becomes unstable.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: It becomes hyper phosphorylated. That means that they're getting too
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: much phosphate added to these protein groups, which you don't
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: need to know about the details of that. And when
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: this happens, they dissociate from the microtubule, as in, they
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: detach from the microtribule. So this TAWE protein is no
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: longer attached to the microatribule means that the microatribules gets weaker,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: it's shittier, its structure, its integrity has been fucking compromised,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and they float off. The towel floats off the microattubules
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: into the cell bodies of the neurons and also into
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the dendruts, which is other parts of the neurons, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: they clump together and form something called an NFT, which
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: is a neurofibrillary tangle. And this process is what causes
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: impaired function in the axon because you're having difficulty sending
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the message and then you're also having these clumps of
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: shit that's not supposed to be in certain parts of
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the brain. There these tangles of TAO. But the mechanism
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: behind all of this, when you get deeper and deeper
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: into the y is still not completely understood. Okay, Now,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: when you're looking at the brain in an autopsy, the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: damage from TAW across brain regions differs from that of
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: patients with Alzheimer's, so we see it spread through the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: neocortex first, then the medial temporal lobe, the basal ganglia brainstem.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: In Alzheimer's disease, we see these tangles develop in the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: brain stem first, but not in the neocortex, and it
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: kind of spreads from brain stem out, whereas it looks
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: like there's a different process of spreading and different locations
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: when you're talking about CTE. So basically, in a nutshell,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: look after your fucking heads. Do whatever you can to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: not get a concussion. If you have a concussion, your
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: number one and your only priority is to recover fully
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: from that concussion. And I feel like I want to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: do a whole another episode and my own rese search
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: on the concussion tests that they do in NRL. So
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: when someone gets hit sometimes I see the biggest blows
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: to the heads and then they get pulled off and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: they get this concussion test, and then ten minutes later.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: They're back on the field.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: I would love to know how extensive these concussion tests are,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: because if you've just been dealt a massive blow to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the head and you've passed this concussion test and then
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you're back on the field and you get another blow
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to the head, I'm not confident that that's a good idea. Basically,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: in a nutshell, without getting too passionate about it, I
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Anyway, take care of your heads.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: You've got one, You've got one fucking brain and yeah, yeah,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: ah it e scares me.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Beans. Just before we get into the topic of today, I.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Did want to speak about my audiobook which is coming
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: out very soon. It is called How to Chase Change
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Thirty Days to Master Your mindset. This audio book is
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited for you guys to do it. It's
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I think it's unreal. It goes for thirty days. You
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: listen to roughly ten minutes a day for thirty days,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and after every single session or module, you get either
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: a piece of homework and exercise to do, or further
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: resources for you to further your knowledge in that topic.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: But there is something, a task or a resource every
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: single day for those thirty.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Days you can be doing it.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: It can take you longer than the thirty days, but
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: it is designed for by the end of that thirty
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: day period, your life is absolutely transformed. You've got a
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: much better understanding of who you are and what you want.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: If you want to pre order the book, just check
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the link in the bio and you can click on
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: that link and pre order the book. It comes out
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: September tenth, so get your pre orders in I'm so
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: excited and I can't wait to hear from you guys
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: and hear what you think about the book. Okay, now
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: let's get into the topic of today, which is five.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Lol.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I wrote five. It is so much for than five.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: It's probably nine. Let's just say nine neuroscientific ways to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: increase your focus, learn faster.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: And improve retention. I'm so excited. I'm excited for you guys.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Number one.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Now, you can do all of these, or you can
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: do to some of these, but try all and then
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: say what works for you.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Number one.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Before you settle into studying, I want you to change
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: your state.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, you need to change your state.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Now, I am going to do a whole I do
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: have a podcast on brain webs, but I'm going to
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: do a brain fact on particular brain webs as well.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Come soon in the following episodes. But when you are
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: too relaxed, you become passive, you become mellow. Now, this
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: is really good for things like when you're under hypnosis,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: when you're trying to meditate, when you're trying to really
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: wind down and relax, when you're trying to be introspective,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: but when you're studying, when you're trying to engage.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: With the outside world.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: This is not a frequency we want to be in, Okay,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: So we want to be a bit more energetic and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: HiPE ourselves up. Now, for me personally, I have found
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: that either I might exercise or I might even just
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: put my headphones on and listen to a few good
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: songs while I run around quickly tiding up the house,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and I'm kind of primed and in the zone. So
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: when you can get yourself more primed, you've got a
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: bit more adrenaline pumping, not to be associated with chronic stress.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Adrenaline corso all of that.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You just feel kind of ready to perform. That is
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: going to heighten your focus.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, you're going to be a bit more.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Ready to perform, to pay attention. You're just primed. You've
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: primed yourself, okay. You don't want to be too relaxed.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: This is why I also don't think that when you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: study you should be you know, too warm and cozy,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: cuddled up in bed unless you're actually sick or on
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the couch. You want to be in a zone where
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: you're like, I'm here to perform, okay, and you want
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: to treat it that way and you want to create
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: a consistent habit of associating this kind of studying and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: information retention, as this is almost a performance. For me,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I'm in the zone number one, number two. Change up
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: your scenery and don't be too comfortable. I've spoken about
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: this in the past, if you haven't heard me say it,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: there's studies that show that when you change your location
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to especially to retain information, so especially to study, but
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: for me also anecdotally it works for me for creative purposes,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: as in planning podcasts, you are more likely to stay
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: on task and stay focused. So whether that be changing
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the location around your home or I prefer to actually
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: get completely out of my home, get out of the library,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: go somewhere else, go to a cafe. I think a
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: lot of people think, oh, but the background noise will
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: distract me, but the studies show otherwise, unless it's a
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: screaming child or a siren or something, just this low
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: key background noise can actually help you stay more focused
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: because your brain is trying to actively switch at these
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: external distractions, so you actually become more honed in on
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: what you are paying attention to.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Additionally, the fact that you're in a.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: New location you get this associative thing that when you're
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: studying something or learning something, you're in a brand new location,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and it helps you recall that information better because there's
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: more things entering your system. If you study in the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: exact same location every single time, there's not going to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: be a differentiation between what you studied on what day. So,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: for example, when I read a book when I was
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: in Paris, and I would change the location every day
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: where I would read, I would go to different parks,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: i'd walk around, i'd sit by the river, I'd sit
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: in this little cute plaza. And now when I think
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: about parts of the book that I read, I remember
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: exactly where I was. So that's what a lot of
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: memory athletes do, where they link location and physical settings
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: with what they're trying to retain and recall. So change
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: up your environment and change it up as often as
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you need to. And this has been found to be
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: very successful in particular with people with attention disorders or ADHD,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Okay, so definitely give.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: That a go.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Also, have you ever noticed if you do exams, why
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: they are slightly cool as well?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: They keep exam rooms slightly cool.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: They don't want you to be too cozy, because it
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: helps you stay alert and focus. Also, I don't want
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to freeze to death. It can't be distracting, but it
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: has to be something that's like, I'm not too cozy,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: because too cozy is not conducive to high focus. Okay,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: So just a little bit cooler. Number three, Now we're
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: getting into the actual thing that you're studying. I want
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you to break down the topics that you're trying to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: study or that you're trying to work on, and focus
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: on one aspect at a time, per session or per
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: block of time, okay. And I want you to have
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: a clear objective of what that session looks like before
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: you sit down. So for example, let's say I'm going
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: to study, and I'm going to dedicate three thirty minute
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: blocks to this study session. Okay, I'm writing an essay.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to use example of what I used
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to do when I was in my degree. I would
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: have smaller objectives for learning, and then I'd be less distracted.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: If I sat down and I looked at what I
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: have to do, and I looked at the criteria sheet
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: of what my paper would have to look like, I
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: would be bouncing around all these different things, and I'd
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: get not much done, and my stress levels would go
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: up because I'd feel very out of control and i'd
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: feel I'd start having that negative self talk.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: It's like, I'm never going to get it. I'm never
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: this is how, oh how am I supposed to pass
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: this thing?
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I've I don't think I understand this topic problem, And
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: before I know it, I've talked myself into this really
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: bad state, which is not conducive to obviously getting the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: work done. So instead, what I would do is I
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: would say I'm gonna said a thirty minute time, I
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: do forty five actually forty five minute timer, and all
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do in those forty five minutes is
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: look for references, look for references that would align.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: So I'd spend those forty five minutes going from reference
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: to reference.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't even read the studies in depth. I'd just
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: get a massive list of references and all the pub
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: pub med IDs like the ID that you need for
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: the reference or any ID for wherever reach of a
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: journal it was published in, and I would create the
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: longest list of references.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Then I would spend the.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Next forty five minutes going in and pulling apart the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: studies and figuring out this one, Actually, it does not
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: help me at all.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: This one does, this one doesn't. This one.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: So I could do an entire afternoon trying to work
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: on an essay. But really all I've done in those
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: three sessions is just trying to pull together a decent
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: reference list.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: But because I was really focusing on.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: One task at a time, and I wasn't thinking I've
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: got to start writing today, I'm thinking I'm pulling information
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: that's going to help me rite later, I would actually
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: walk away feeling very empowered, very in control, and that
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I know a lot more than what I did before
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the session started. So that's what I mean about that
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: having a clear objective of learning for that session. Another
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: thing could be, Okay, if I'm trying to learn anatomy,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: let's just do this section of anatomy, you know, the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: brainstem down, or if you're talking about you know, whatever
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it is. But don't overwhelm yourself, and don't try and
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: jump between tasks while you're in that study session. Dive
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: deep into one fucking task. And because when you do that,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: you've got less pressure on yourself thinking that you've got
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: to do everything in one it becomes more hyper focused
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: on the one thing, and I can guarantee you will
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: feel empowered. And when you feel empowered, you feel more
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: confident in your own abilities. And when you feel more
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: confident in your own abilities, you perform better, you focus better,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: you retain information better. It all comes down to feeling
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: good about it, and then that translates into your performance.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Even talking to yourself differently will translate into your performance.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: So it's really the brain is a very fine tuned machine,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: so use it properly.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Number four, get your brain associating study with positive emotions
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and positive feelings. And as you do this, the less
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: aversion you're going to have towards the task that you're doing. Okay,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: So for example, you could be speaking positively about the event,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: so you could be like, this is great, I've always
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: wanted to study this thing. Or I'm actually, while this
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: task is hard, this is actually.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: My dream job. So it's actually pretty fucking exciting.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Or for me, sometimes I get overwhelmed with shit to
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: do it that I not get excited about the podcast,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and then I just think back about when I first started,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I'm living my own dream Right.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Now, this is really fucking cool. So then I prime.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Myself to have positive associations when I sit down, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: then I'm really excited and happy about it again.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Another thing that you can be doing is you could
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: be linking what you do, like your study session, with
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: something really pleasant after. So say, for example, your favorite
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: sushi restaurant is down the road. You only let yourself
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: go down and have a piece of sushi from there
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: when you do a three hour block of study. So
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: then there's the positive association. It's the study. I get
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: to study at this cool cafe, then I get to
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: go down or for me, what I sometimes do is
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I'll go to a great cafe and I'll get to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: order a mutchub with something nice to eat, and that
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: is my positive association with studying. Then I study at
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: that cafe, or I plan my podcast at that cafe.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: If I wasn't going to plan my podcast, I wouldn't
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: be getting the latte and I wouldn't be getting whatever.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: So it's that positive association.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: So then I look forward to sitting down and studying
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and getting in my zone and having that thing that
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I really like to have. Okay, so how can you
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: positively associate it so it's a pleasant experience. So at
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: least a tiny part of you is looking forward to this. Okay,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: that's why it's kind of nice to get out as well,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: because you're not in this repetitive, mundane thing of always
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: being in the same location doing it. It shakes it
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: up a bit. Or you can give yourself little rewards
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: at the halfway mark. Okay, so you could, you know,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: my lecture in between lecture lectures. In the lecture, it
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: would be two hour lecture, and in between she'd let
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: us watch ten minutes of Modern Family.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: So then I started loving going to this.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Lecture which was statistics, which I hated, but I really
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: loved the lectures because she would make it really entertaining
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and fun, so you could do something like that.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: She really understood how the brain worked, obviously. Number five.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: This is crucial if you're trying to retain information, teach someone.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: If no one is available for you to teach them
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: what you're learning, record yourself with no notes in front
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: of you, with nothing, Just record an audio of yourself
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: trying to teach someone what you just learned. You will
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: never realize the gaps in your knowledge until you speak
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: it out loud, ever, it is one of the best things.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Teaching someone is not only the best way to consolidate information,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: but to understand the gaps in your own knowledge.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I used to.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I remember a few times when I was doing neuroanatomy
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: during COVID. I would call my dad be like, do
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: you have a spare hour and be like, yeah, yeah,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna teach you what I'm learning, just
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to see if I'm retaining it properly. The poor guy's like, fuck, okay,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: like I'll just have to like try and learn something.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: About it whatever.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: But and I would just go in and try and
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: explain things more so so I could really get a
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: really good understanding. It's like if I can't explain it,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I don't understand it.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we'll read something and think I've read it a
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: few times I understand, like I've got this repetition understanding
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of it, as in this route learning, but I don't
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: understand the concepts behind it. You're much better off understanding
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: concepts than understanding just like this thing by route repetition. Okay,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: So teach somebody or just record yourself.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: It is brilliant.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: You learn Another thing is that you're actually using another
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: part of the brain when you start to say it
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: out loud, when you talk about it when you teach
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: somebody else.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: And because you're using another part of the brain, you're
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: using more.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Resources in your brain on that topic, so you're even
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: more likely to retain it just by repeating.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: It out loud.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: It's amazing, okay, So this practice will skyrocket your retention, okay,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and your practical understanding of the topic.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: It is. This is why I started.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: The podcast, because I thought, well, I'm gonna fucking be
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: talking about this shit all the time. If I can
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: teach it, I will not only retain it, but I'll
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: understand the gaps in my knowledge. And it's been amazing.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: It's actually, you know, obviously turned into something more than
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: what it was. But that was the original idea of
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the podcast.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Was to do that. Number six.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: When you're using repetition with study, you're better off changing
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: it up in something called spaced repetition learning.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: Now I could go into.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: A whole episode specifically on spaced repetition learning, but you
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: are much better off doing five two hour blocks across
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: five days than one ten hour cramming session.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Okay. And this is because not just because you.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Get tired of fatigued and all, if that's separate to that,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: because that is going to happen too, but this is
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: due to how the brain stores and retrieves information. And
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: this is where this space repetition learning was kind of discovered.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: When you break up the study times and you revisit
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: those topics, your drop off rate of retention of information,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Actually the curve doesn't ever dip as far. If you
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: do one major study session and repeat it a thousand times,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: then after that study session you're going to get a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: significant drop off in retention. However, if you have one
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: study session, you get a little bit of a drop off,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: but you study again the same thing, you get less
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: of a drop off study and less less. So you're
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: still always going to get a drop off. The brain's
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: not going to retain everything you learned, but every time
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: you revisit that subject, the drop off rate is less. Okay,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: So you could spend the exact same amount of time
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: studying it in one block versus over five blocks the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: same time though, and you're going to get a much
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: lower drop off. And if you're interested in it, just
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: look up ermin, ebbing house and space repetition learning because
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: there's a lot that this person has done studying, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: it's been around for a very fucking long time. But
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: basically it's called the forgetting curve and it's got to
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: do with retention of information and how much you know
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: gets lost over time.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, and you can.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Curb that curve by reviewing information at spaced out intervals.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Okay. Interestingly, this method also works really well.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: With amnesia patients and other forms of memory impairment. Okay,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: So there, we need to allow time for a consolidation
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: process before we revisit it again. You can't expect your
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: brain to overnight consolidate ten hours worth of.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Studying not going to fucking happen.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: And if it does happen, it's going to happen quite
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: in an average way.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Space.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: It allow for consolidation time and consolidation time, I mean sleep, recovery,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: eat properly, exercise, have some balance in your life, and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: then revisit and revisit and revisit and revisit. So don't
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: be one of those people that's like, oh, just god
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: nuts on the week and studying. No, do like heaps
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of one hour blocks or heaps of two hour blocks instead.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: That is probably one of the most important parts in
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: everything I've just mentioned in all these points. If you
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: can take one takeaway, it is the spaced repetition learning
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: that you need to remember.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Number seven.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Test yourself like you would be tested in an exam. Okay,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I used to test myself all the time. The Beauty
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: of Me though, was a lot of my textbooks, at
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: least in neuroscience. I'm sure medicine in general has a
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: lot of these tests at the end of every chapter.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: So it primes you to teach yourself, especially in neuroscience,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: because they know that testing yourself is one of the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: best ways of learning. So obviously you're going to see
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: this in a neuroscience textbook. But there's at the end
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of every chapter there's a full extensive test. There's a
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: mix between what do you call it, multiple choice, there's
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: just straight up retrieval, there's problem solving this, all kinds
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: of questions. Test yourself, put yourself under those conditions and
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: see how you're going with your retention, see where the
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: gaps are, so then you can understand you can properly
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: plan out your next study session. You should have a
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: strategy behind the madness when it comes to learning and studying. Okay,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: number eight, this is kind of bunched into one. But technology,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: time blocks, food, and sleep. So obviously you want to
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: be sleeping properly. Obviously you should never give up sleep
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: to study more, never pull an all nighter. You are
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: always better off studying less and sleeping and then going
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to do the exam then pulling an all nighter, because
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: in order for that memory to go into your mid
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: to long term memory, sleep has to occur. You will
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: not retain all this information unless you've properly allowed your
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: brain to consolidate, and that happens through sleep. Now, when
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: I talk about time blocks, I've got a whole thing
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: on time blocks. You can look it up through the
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: catalog of the podcast. But when I talk about time blocks,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I'm saying focused time for thirty to forty five minutes.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Everyone's different. I like forty five minutes. That's my sweet spot.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Some people like an hour. But then you give yourself fifteen.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Minutes completely off the task.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: So whether that be to walk around, go downstairs and
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: grab a coffee, it could be cleaning, it could be
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: watching ten minutes of Modern Family, whatever, the fuck you
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: want to do in that fifteen minutes, But.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: It should be to really switch off social media.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Is I'm here and there when it comes to social media,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: because I also don't want you get a drop off
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: of dopamine after the fact. But if you're somebody that
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: has no issue going your social media, checking everything and
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: then putting your phone away after checking it once and
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: not reopening the app, then that might work for you. Okay, Now,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: when I talk about technology, when you are studying, your
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: phone should be not even not within arms reach. It
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: should be silent and on the other side of the room.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: There's studies now that have come out, neuroscientific, fucking studies
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: that show the level of folks drops just by having
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: your phone next to you, not open, not unlocked, next
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: to you, Your awareness of your fucking device chilling there,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: cock blocking you from actually learning. Just that awareness there
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: is enough for your focus to drop down, your attention
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: to drop down, for everything to be really go on
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and on and on about oh my god, you know
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: we've got such short attention spans, We've got such short attentions.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Your brain's fucking fine, We're just setting ourselves up to fail.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: We are resourceful as fuck. You implement a few little
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: tweaks here and there to your day, and watch your
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: attention skyrocket. We just set ourselves up to fucking fail
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: again and again and again based on our lifestyle. You
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: don't have an attention problem, You've got a lifestyle problem. Okay,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: So move your phone, learn to time block, give yourself
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: these rewards.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Do this interval learning, and you'll be like, I'm a
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: fucking unit. I'm a machine. I'm a fucking machine, and.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: You're a Your idea for what you are capable of
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: will transform. You will become someone that can actually study.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: When you thought, oh, I'm not good at study, I'm
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: not academic, You'll become academic. You'll become that person that
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: retains things. You become that person that enjoys studying, enjoys
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the mental challenge. You'll be amazed.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, but you.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Need to set yourself up for this success because if
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: you don't, then you're gonna be one of those people
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: that falls for like, oh, attention, it's shot to pieces
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and humans can only pay attention for three seconds.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: Bullshit, bullshit. You can sit and watch a movie. You've
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: got attention. You've just got to set yourself up for success. Okay.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Now the last one, and this is quite interesting, is
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the exam or the big thing
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: that you need high focus, whether you're presenting something or whatever.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Pay attention to what you eat beforehand.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Do not eat a massive heavy meal before an exam
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: before you need high focus. Okay, eat, yes, but think
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: about is this going to be a nightmare for my
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: body to digest. If the answer is yes, then the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: energy that your body requires to digest is being taken
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: away from the energy that your brain requires for intense focus.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: You need to give.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Your brain all the energy it can get when you're
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: in an exam environment. Some people prefer to fast before
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: an exam. I always fasted before an exam. I would
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: have caffeine at like thirty minutes before because for me,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: caffeine for most people actually, as I've spoken about in episodes,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: caffeine is a performance enhancer. So I would have caffeine,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: no food, and I'd go into the exam. Most of
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: my exams would be in the morning. If it was
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: an evening of the exam, I would make sure that
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I eat like four hours prior to the exam. Some
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: people are like, can't think of anything worse, I need something.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: So if you're going to do that, have something like
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: a banana, something that's going to be you know, going
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: to have some sugars, you know, some carbs. But I
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: don't want you to eat a fucking steak before your
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: exam heavy meals out, No.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: Big no, Okay, Really sugary foods out of.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: The question, because you don't want the spike of glucose
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and then the drop of glucose and then you're tired.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: And if you are going to eat, have some eggs
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: and have it maybe an hour before the exam, so
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: you want to give yourself that time or ninety minutes
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: before the exam, so then you're not.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Getting this digestion crash while you're trying to pay attention.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, if cafe makes you jitterary, don't do the caffeine.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: But if you're somebody that likes having caffeine, do it
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: about an hour or so roughly before, so then you
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: get that the caffeine's going to then kick in when
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: you're in the exam, or maybe thirty minutes before if
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: it's a long exam. Okay, So those are my nine points. Hello,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: I said five at the start for increasing your focus
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: for study, to learn faster and to improve retention.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: I'm going to quickly summarize them again.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: So you've got hype yourself up physically, get in the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: physical zone. Number two, change your scenery. Don't get too comfortable,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: change it up. That will help you retain information. Number three,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: break down the topics and have smaller learning objectives before
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: you sit down to study. Have a clear understanding of
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: what is my learning objective for this session?
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Is it just get the references?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Is it just work out the chunks of this essay
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: before I get into it. Is it just this portion
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: of anatomy and I'll leave the rest of anatomy for
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: the next session.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: What's it going to look like? Number four?
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Get your brain associating study with positive emotions, positive things,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: positive events or circumstances, okay, and positive feelings as well.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: Number five. Teach somebody and if no one.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Is available, record yourself and try and teach this arbitrary whatever,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: alien whatever that you're just teaching somebody. You're talking to
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: a wall, recording yourself, listen to it back. Where are
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the gaps in your knowledge? And that's what you need
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to revise. Number six that was number five. Number six,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: use repetition with study, but make sure you're doing the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: spaced repetition learning. Look it up very interesting. Number seven
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: test yourself like you would be tested.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: In an exam.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, and all kinds of things you want to do
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: multiple choice, you want to do problem solving kind of questions.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: You're going to do complete recall kind of questions as well.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: You can also look for online. There's so many resources online.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: You can say test or a quiz for in neur
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: anatomy or this I'm just using myself as an example,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: or accounting or anything whatever it is that you wanted
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: to learn. Number eight technology, time blocks, food and sleep.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Make sure you're across all of those so you have
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: a better chance at retaining information when you're studying. And
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: number nine, make sure that you are not having a
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: huge fucking meal and making your digestive system work over time.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Happy timmy, not a happy brain, not a happy student
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: when you walk out of the exam being like I
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: felt fuked. My energy was fucked because I couldn't pay attention.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: That is all guys.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, and then caffeine, if it works for you, then
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: time at kind of thirty to sixty minutes.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: Prior to the exam.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Guys, epic, I really, really, really really hope that this
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: is like a tool that you can revisit time and
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: time and time again and try one, five, nine.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: If you try nine, you'll be on like a roll.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: You'll be on a fucking sotof roll.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: You will hit all the markers that you want to
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: hit when it comes to studying.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: It is a game changer. So if you are doing this,
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: I would love for you.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Guys to take photos, tag me in it, share the episode,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: let me know that you've tried it, talk about it
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: on the group, talk about it on Instagram, TikTok, share it.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Because I really think that this is I mean, I
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: don't want to blow my fucking trumpet. If that's the saying.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I used to play the trumpet in high school. By
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the way, anyway, that's a whole nother fucking life update. No,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say brain fact, not a brain fact,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: it's a life fact. But I played the trumpet anyway,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: don't want to blow my own trumpet. But I honestly
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: think this is like an epic handbook to learn how
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: to retain information and study.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: So give it a go.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Love you guys so much, Thank you for tuning in,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: thank you for requesting this and I finally put it together.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: And good times.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I'll see you, will see you. I'm looking down the
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: barrel of the fucking camera. I will talk to you
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: guys next time. As always, remember be kind to yourself,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: be kind to your brain, don't take shit from anyone,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: and especially don't take shit from yourself.