Hey,<\/p>\n
How do geniuses learn?<\/p>\n
Do they learn the same way, just with neurons firing faster? Or do
\nthey learn differently, using some shortcut normal people miss?<\/p>\n
It’s hard to say for sure, but people like Daniel Tammet make me
\nsuspect the latter.<\/p>\n
Daniel is a savant. However, unlike many savants with highly-focused
\nareas of ability, Daniel’s skills range from hyper-rapid language
\nacquisition to supercomputer mathematical ability.<\/p>\n
What makes Daniel most interesting, however, is that he is often
\ndescribed as the “Rosetta Stone” of savants, because not only are
\nhis abilities impressive (he knows \u03c0 to over twenty thousand digits)
\nbut he can describe how he achieves them.<\/p>\n
Part of Daniel’s secret may lie in his ability to take abstract
\nnumbers and calculations and represent them as visual images. For
\nexample, he states that, “289 is ugly” and “333 is attractive”.<\/p>\n
While Daniel’s mastery of visualizations may be difficult to
\nreplicate, using imagery as a learning tactic is one of the holistic
\ntactics I teach in Learning on Steroids.<\/p>\n
Today I’ll show how you can replicate a bit of savant-like genius.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
How to Use Visualizations to Learn Better<\/p>\n
Here’s an actual sample guide from Learning on Steroids, which
\nexplains how you can do exactly that–use visualizations to remember
\nand learn better:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/bit.ly\/6Atecp (PDF Link)<\/p>\n
In the guide I walk through step-by-step how you can create images
\nto make abstract concepts both more memorable and easier to
\nunderstand.<\/p>\n
If you were having trouble with the metaphors tactic, this one can
\nactually be easier to start, since you don’t need to be particularly
\ncreative all at once. You just need to start with a random sketch
\nthen move up to better images.<\/p>\n
This guide also forms the basis of more specialized tactics I teach
\nin Learning on Steroids for remembering vocabulary or formulas.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Creating Brilliant Metaphors to Make Learning Faster<\/p>\n
Ask and you shall receive. I spent a good chunk of this morning
\nreading over the many replies I got to my request for metaphors.<\/p>\n
The most important step is getting started, here’s what one student
\nwrote back to me after coming up with a metaphor:<\/p>\n
“The last part of your message made me do this. I really didn’t
\nthink I could do this.”<\/p>\n
We’ve been labelled and told for so much of our lives whether we’re
\n“creative”, “math-people”, “visual” or “smart” that sometimes the
\nhardest step to learning faster is to break those labels and begin
\nthinking in a new way.<\/p>\n
I really appreciate all the people who replied and took the first
\nstep. If you haven’t yet, watch the video ( http:\/\/bit.ly\/bNBc6e )
\nand then hit REPLY with your response.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Now that many of you have taken your first steps, I’m going to show
\nyou how you can make your metaphors even more powerful.<\/p>\n
First: It’s important to remember QUANTITY over QUALITY. Once you
\nstart thinking in metaphors, you’ll naturally get better and faster
\nat them, so the first chasm to cross is inaction.<\/p>\n
Going beyond that, however, there’s a big range in the power of
\ndifferent metaphors to help learning. When I gave my spontaneous
\nchallenge, the majority of answers were fairly weak metaphors or
\nwhat I’ll call “memory aids”.<\/p>\n
Memory aids relate the words or arbitrary facts of an idea, but they
\ndon’t connect the underlying concept. For example, with Pythagoras’
\nTheorem, many people gave metaphors such as:<\/p>\n
“If you take a square and add a square of bees, surely the result
\nwould be a square of the Sea.”<\/p>\n
For the person who came up with this, you’re not alone and it’s not
\na problem using this as a starting point. I can’t repeat enough that
\nquantity matters first.<\/p>\n
However the reason this is a less powerful metaphor is that it tells
\nyou nothing about the underlying concept. It’s simply a mnemonic
\ndevice which allows you to remember a formula without understanding
\nit better.<\/p>\n
In the program, I try to offer deeper advice for making more useful
\nmetaphors that are not only memorable, but greatly increase your
\nunderstanding.<\/p>\n
Let’s look at a few ways to do that.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Dissecting the Mental Process of Great Analogies<\/p>\n
The way to make stronger metaphors, and avoid just creating memory
\naids, is to try to relate the underlying concept of an idea, not
\nsimply the words or outer facts. (A notable exception is vocabulary,
\nwhere the word IS the underlying idea)<\/p>\n
One way to do that is to ask yourself “what’s going on?” within an
\nidea, and from there try to relate it to other concepts.<\/p>\n
Using my example from yesterday (the earth’s tilt creating seasons)
\nI started by asking myself what the concept was that underlies this
\nidea. I came up with two things:<\/p>\n
1. Light is spread over a larger surface area closer to the poles.
\n2. The changing *relative* tilt of the earth changes the angle to
\nthe sun and thus the level of energy as per #1.<\/p>\n
Now that I’ve gotten at the underlying concept, I can make more
\nuseful metaphors. I start by using the SIMILARITY approach and
\nasking what #1 reminds me of.<\/p>\n
The only thing that comes to mind is a circle of silly putty being
\nspread over a dome. In the center, the putty doesn’t need to stretch
\nmuch to cover it, but in the edges it has to become thinner and
\nthinner to cover the same area.<\/p>\n
Is it a bulky, less elegant metaphor? Certainly. But it’s a good
\nstarting point for building a more powerful metaphor.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Let’s take the third example, that the English-speaking countries
\nuse a common-law system and Latin countries use the civil system.<\/p>\n
Again, most people started by creating memory aids, which linked
\nthe systems by their words, not their underlying concepts. A good
\nstart, but let’s see if we can do better.<\/p>\n
Using the HISTORICAL method, I could do a quick Wikipedia search of
\nthe two systems, and after a minute or two, I would discover that
\nthe civil system stems from the Romans while the common law is based
\non tradition.<\/p>\n
This forms the basis of many possible metaphors. Since one is based
\non tradition, and the other a unified code, it reminds me of how
\nFrench and Spanish have formal institutes officiating over their
\nusage, where there is no official English institution and it is
\ngoverned by tradition.<\/p>\n
I could go for a slightly less relevant metaphor of comparing the
\nhighly organized civil system in France and more organic system in
\nEngland to the difference between French and English gardens.<\/p>\n
Would you necessarily have thought of these two possible metaphors?<\/p>\n
Probably not. But that’s not the point. Just because I think of
\nthe mathematical precision of French gardens and the codified
\nbureaucracy of the Acad\u00e9mie Fran\u00e7aise, doesn’t mean you have to.<\/p>\n
What makes these metaphors more useful is that they link to the
\nconcepts (what IS the civil vs. common law systems?) rather than
\njust the words “civil” and “common”.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Mastering Images and Metaphors to Learn Faster<\/p>\n
Both in Daniel Tammet’s genius mathematical displays and perfect
\nanalogies, there’s a tendency to view the final product and feel
\nlike it’s impossible to replicate their abilities.<\/p>\n
The reality is that creating metaphors and visceralizations which
\nallow you to rapidly understand ideas takes a bit of practice and
\nthe mental process has a few rough drafts.<\/p>\n
For creating strong metaphors, a good step-by-step approach would
\nlook something like:<\/p>\n
1. Ask what the underlying concept is to an idea.
\n2. Use HISTORY, SIMILARITY or STORY to come up with a rough start.
\n3. Try expanding the metaphor to see where it fits and where it’s
\nweak. My silly-putty metaphor for seasons works for the first
\nunderlying concept, but it doesn’t work as well for the second.<\/p>\n
If this all seems too complicated and difficult, remember to start
\nwith simple metaphors. As you get more practice, it will be easier
\nto automatically think of metaphors when you encounter new subjects.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
There’s still a few hours left to submit your metaphor for the
\ncontest to get a copy of my book, Learn More, Study Less. I’ll be
\nannouncing the winner in tomorrow’s email.<\/p>\n
If you’ve read this far and haven’t taken action, please hit REPLY
\nand give it your best shot!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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