- Via Amazon
I am reading a book called
Getting Organized in the Google Era by Douglas Merrill, former C.I.O. of Google. I highly recommend it. He approaches this multi-million dollar topic of organizing your life in a totally unique and different approach.
One of the segments of the book that is very relevant is when he talks about our brains and their short-term and long-term memory.
Short-term memory
Your brain is only able to hold between 5 and 9 things in its short-term memory. But, these items need to be related to each other in some way. If you then shift contexts quickly, the new pieces of information entering your short-term memory will push some of those previous memories out before you have been able to put them into long-term memory.
Multi-tasking?
So, in essence, the concept of multi-tasking in many contexts is going to make you less effective. That's why the good writers and bloggers will create chunks of information in their writing. Then they will tell a story about it. Then they will re-iterate it in different words, then again a third time from a different angle.
Multitasking by stoneystainer (www.flickr.com/photos/stoneysteiner/)
Yes, good writers will chunk the information, paint some pictures of it, then re-iterate it in different terms.
Then they will link those 5 to 9 items to a further 5 to 9 items, hoping that you have had time to transfer those first 5 to 9 items into long-term memory.
Good Studiers?
This is absolutely essential for learners. You learn in chunks of 5 to 9 items at a time. Insert them into long-term memory by linking them to things you already know, and by applying study techniques that work for
you. Don't let someone tell you that there is only one way to learn.
S4L
That is one of the big reasons I am developing the S4L (Schooled For Life) program. My big plans for it are to release a curriculum based on those seven principles. Don't let anyone tell you
how you must learn.
You decide that for yourself. The S4L program will empower you to do that.
Now, where has that novel I was reading whilst writing this post gone?
