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I spent years experimenting with
different study strategies. I would spend hours and hours
experimenting with different study strategies and then test the
results. Some of those experiments were practical. For example, I
spent over a week experimenting with listening to music while
studying. (In case you're curious, it didn't work well.) Other of
those experiments would seem downright stupid.
For example, I spent a couple days
experimenting with hopping on one leg while attempting to study.
While it's a bit of a tangent from my
point, I feel I need to explain why I'd experiment with something so
ridiculous. I was including that experiment in a larger concept I was
working on. I wanted to know how the activation of different muscles
changed the effectiveness of studying. (It helps but that's a story
for another day.)
That's not the only crazy experiment
I've tried before though. (It's not even close to the only one.) I
even spent a day trying to study for my history class in a language I
barely understood. Again, this was part of a larger series of
experiments that I was working on.
While I did tons of crazy experiments
that seem completely unrelated to each other, there was one strange
fact that most of these had in common. The crazier the experiment
seemed, the better it's results seemed to be.
Interruption-Proof
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It can seem odd that doing things that
seem completely stupid can increase your ability to study but I have
a theory on it based on some solid science.
Imagine a person talking loudly in the
background while you're trying to study. You're just trying to get
ready for a test but some jerk feels the need to virtually yell
everything he or she says. This is the kind of noise that can drive
you nuts while you're trying to study. This is the kind of
interruption that I'm always hounding on getting rid of in this blog.
It can completely ruin every ounce of focus you invest.
Most of my crazy study experiments can
seem similar this person talking loudly. Hopping on one leg is an
interruption for your brain. Every time you go up into the air your
brain has to focus all of your stabilization muscles for the impact.
With my studying in another language, it would seem that having to
translate words from the language I barely knew, into the language I
knew would be another interruption. They are interruptions but
they're just a different kind.
Imagine listening to an air conditioner
while you're trying to study. In fact, imagine listening to a super
loud air conditioner. How much of a disruption from studying is that?
I could see you thinking either way on this one but the experiments
suggest a clear answer. White noise, like the kind you'll hear from
an air conditioner doesn't hurt your ability to study. (In some
cases, it's been shown to help because it blocks out non-white
noise.)
Your brain is designed to be distracted
by anything unusual. It's not designed to be distracted by something
repetitive and boring. The repetitive and odd can actually help you
focus even better.
Interruptions That Improve Focus
When you're studying, the hardest part
is getting your brain into your most efficient level of focus. The
brain is a fickle device when you're not utilizing it properly. To
truly understand this, you need to train yourself for year just to
achieve your highest levels of focus. That's where some of my odd
experiments come in.
Hopping on one leg while you're trying
to study forces your whole brain and body into the studying. Even if
I wanted to, I couldn't get distracted from studying. To maintain the
pace I used, I needed to keep my brain completely invested in
studying and not falling over. I couldn't suddenly think about the
show I watched last night or I'd fall on my... Moving on...
The language translation studying
forced my whole brain into the studying.
Of course, each of these individual
study methods had other mechanisms at work but fundamentally, they
could have helped just because they forced me to invest more of my
excess energy into the study time.
Should You Hop On One Leg To Study?
No.
There is one fundamental flaw with all
of these strange study strategies. Eventually, your brain and body
gets used to the unusual factors about studying. At that point,
you're brain doesn't need to focus quite as hard at it. That means
the focus advantage deteriorates. (Anyway, you look like an idiot
hopping on one leg to study.)
To make it even worse, your brain gets
used to the excess stimulation while you're using one of these
strange study methods. That will ultimately makes it more difficult
to study when you're just sitting in a chair trying to learn it.
(Your brain wants to be hopping while studying. That distracts you.)
Why Does This Matter?
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I personally gave up playing with silly
sounding study strategies. Ultimately, I realized most of them may
improve studying but they take a whole lot of management to
constantly cycle through. I would have to change my study session
nearly every week to keep studying at a high efficiency. And
honestly, the 5% boost I was averaging wasn't worth the stress.
Instead I figured it would be much better just to focus on improving
my brain's focus without the extra tricks.
Through all these personal experiments
I learned one important thing.
The human brain is awesome.
I'm serious.
While studying, it can sometimes feel
like we've got a brick bonking around in our skull where our brain
should be, but we still have the most complex machines around. The
human brain is designed to learn information pretty darn well. If you
feel like you're not learning something that you need to be learning
then trust your brain to tell you what to do.
If you don't feel like you're learning
something. You're probably not. If you're not learning with the
strategy you're trying then it's time to change strategies. Stand up.
Think. And do something new.
You may not understand exactly how the
cogs turn in the mill of your noggin but all you need to do is trust
that they're spinning in the right direction and let them turn.
Would you like to have the tricks your
teachers don't tell you about how to study faster? That's what this
blog is all about. Be sure to check out the archives. (And the books
if you're in a hurry to learn it all.)
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