What metacognition/metacognitive knowledge and skills can you share?
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Wat have you learned from Dr K?
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To help remember something, write it on the roof of your mouth with your tongue. My mother had me do this when I had to memorize states and capitols in fifth grade. I aced the test.
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That sounds like it would take a ton of time haha. Is it more for a one off kind of thing?
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Yeah, I suppose so. I only did it once in each instance. The act of thinking about it in such a way (involving motor coordination) did something to help embed the information. Sort of like how the act of writing is apparently more useful for memory than typing (something I have read but not verified).
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What fo you think about memory palaces?
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Your brain is inconsistent, use external tools to stay focused on your core thoughts better. Pick some thoughts that you want to stick with long term, I choose metacognition as my primary default thought topic, then if I need to redirect from something unpleasant I switch to that thought track.
Metacognition is a marathon, there isn't one clear better methodology to improve everything about your thinking process, stay open and curious!
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Thinking is attention directed at a thought, then at another thought, and so on. Thus a "train of thought".
This movement of attention is usually guided by habit, sometimes by reason, sometimes other ways.
Getting a better handle on your attention would naturally lead to getting a better handle on your thinking.
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Not to try and problem solve everything when people talk to me about their problems, and just share their emotions and be there with them.
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A few things come to mind.
- "Neurons that fire together wire together."
- Stimulating neurons will enhance its connectivity. The more it gets stimulated, the more readily available it will be. This goes for conscious actions and non-conscious actions (Example: focusing on mathematics and reacting to violence). Imagination can be used to simulate reality, hence stimulate target neurons.
- The most difficult neurons to target are those that expand your limits as it requires you to think about things you never knew you could think of, do things you never knew you could do, feel things you never knew you could feel, experience things that you never knew you could experience.
Source: My journey in attempts to recover from a brain injury.
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I think 3 is sort of engaged by when you're ready to hailmary and say "screw it, lets do it!"
About to use that in a few days to challenge a mild obstacle I've been otherwise reticent about or thats been influencing me unduly that I need to say so what and fuck it
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Well, today I learned the roof of my mouth is ticklish. I can’t even get through one letter!
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You can think without language, or senses. It's hard to perceive it, but when you talk inside your head, you are kinda "transcribing" that language-less thought.
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Can you explain further?
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For me spaced repetition and writing things down help.
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Getting a better handle on your attention
How would you recommend doing that?
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It's hard to express, but an example is the feeling that you suddenly know something, got an idea, an eureka moment.
I'm saying that all thought is like that, but less... intense. And we use language to "register" that as what we usually call "think"; but we don't need language to do that, it's just easier with it. -
Interesting thought! This feels very related to Zen. Love to find more on this.
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Learn how to meditate.
Here is a nice brief guide. http:/)fleen.org/fluffy_cloud
You might also read Ram Dass's "Journey of Awakening"
Also visit your local meditation weirdos group
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Perhaps an obvious one, but reading books and other types of long form content does wonders for your ability to concentrate and stimulates your reasoning ability.
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When during your life where you at peak learning rate?
Was it as school? Uni? If so, what did you do differently then? Can you still do it now?
I'll give few examples that honestly in retrospect are absolutely obvious and yet, few people seem to still do it :
- have a trusted teacher/mentor who can pinpoint your flaw
- do exercises that test your knowledge rather than read and assume you know
- repeat said exercises in with varying context and in increasing difficulty
- take notes (IMHO the biggest) that you gradually structure and index
- use said notes when exercises (which are safe spaces to challenge your understanding) gets tough
- have structured goals, namely you don't learn about a topic, move on randomly, but rather have 6 months over a topic
- learn regularly, e.g. weekly occurrence on a very specific topic, again and again for months on end
- last but not least, do it as a group, build, grow and sustain a network of helpful peer who you are learning from but also helping
So... yeah, none of that is secret nor even complex yet most adults seems to leave THE place to learn and somehow forget EVERYTHING they actually learned. It's nuts.
Also most of that is free. Getting a notepad or a wiki or using documents in a directory on your computer is practically cheaper than a coffee in most places. There is no excuse to note take notes then organize them. Same for regularity and exercises, get a calendar then drill, again.
FWIW that works for pretty much everything, from an abstract field of knowledge, e.g. math, to a physical skill, e.g. welding or ice skating.
