Train Your Brain For Success

by Roger Seip

  Your Next Filing System

  Earlier I promised that you'd come out of your experience reading Train Your Brain for Success with two filing systems. We've been doing all this work with the body files, so you may be wondering “What's the second one gonna be?” You already learned it. Remember what we said you can use as a filing system? Anything you can see with your eyes or with your mind's eye.

  Go back in your mind to the unicorn list we created in the last chapter. Can you see it in your mind? What was #1? How about #6? #18? What number is a candle? How about a spider? A truck? You can see it clearly now, can't you? The unicorn list itself makes an excellent filing system, plus it comes preloaded with numbers.

  Let's have some fun and try it out. Now that your brain is primed up with those unicorn list images, see the following images in your mind as vividly as possible. Seriously, go a little nuts with your visualizations here (nobody will know). Take the following scenarios and play them out mentally, maybe even using some of the images like animated cartoons. Take as much time as you need to see these images, then take the short quiz on page 39.

  1. A unicorn discovering that he has the words memory power spray painted on him in bright red printed letters.

  2. An electrical outlet, speaking a foreign language, from memory.

  3. Riding a tricycle into a huge filing cabinet, sending files flying everywhere.

  4. A classroom full of sixth-graders, reading in a truck.

  5. Your hand, holding a bunch of tools.

  6. Reading a can of beer, drinking it, and retaining all of it forever.

  7. A hockey stick shooting five different characters into a goal.

  8. A spider holding a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass is focusing on a key and a stone.

  9. An enormous baseball (like 100 feet tall), rolling over an obstacle course.

  10. A dime studying Greek mythology, then wondering what time his manager would be in?

  11. Using chopsticks for two hours. You're using them for the purpose of smashing record albums.

  12. A dozen roses, charging up Superman.

  13. A black cat eating an apple core. Not the whole apple, just the core.

  14. A massive gold coin riding on top of a porpoise (not a dolphin, a porpoise). This porpoise has excellent vision, and it's on a special mission.

  15. A huge statue of a dollar sign, glowing with a huge surplus of energy.

  16. An enormous red, white, and blue candle with five separate tools that you pull out of it. This candle then uses these tools to fix up a manger.

  17. A wizard holding an hourglass with the word “power” written all over it in neon pink.

  Quiz:

  1. What did the unicorn discover?

  2. What was the electrical outlet speaking?

  3. What did you smash into with your tricycle?

  4. What were those sixth-graders doing in that truck?

  5. What were you holding in your hand?

  6. What were the three things you did with that can of beer?

  7. What was the hockey stick shooting into the goal? How many were there?

  8. What was the spider holding? And what was it focusing on?

  9. What was the huge baseball rolling over?

  10. What was your dime studying? And what did it then wonder?

  11. How long did you use the chopsticks? And what were you using them for?

  12. The roses were charging up which hero?

  13. The black cat was eating which part of what fruit?

  14. What was the gold coin riding on? What sense did this creature have very strongly?

  15. Why was the dollar sign glowing?

  16. How many tools did the candle use? What was it fixing?

  17. What was that wizard holding in his hands? What word was written all over it?

  Have you figured out what that crazy little exercise just helped you remember in just a few minutes? Go back and look at the Contents right now. Notice the numbers of the chapters and the key words that name each one. That's right, you just memorized the titles of all 17 chapters in Train Your Brain for Success, in the exact right numerical sequence. Your memory optimized this book—Congratulations!

  The Key to Long-Term Recall: Spaced Repetition

  There are an awful lot of instances where you learn something and it's critical to be able to retain it for the long term—weeks, months, or even years. If you want to retain information for the long term, I've once again got bad news, good news, and really good news.

  The bad news is that you will need to review. Yes, there will be some effort required on your part. All of this ultimately is a skill, not a magic trick. So you will need to spend some time focusing and reviewing if you want information to stick long term.

  The good news here is that you don't need to review incessantly. Kids and adults alike usually make studying way more stressful and time-consuming than it should be. To lock information in long term, follow the spaced repetition protocol: one hour, one day, one week. Whenever you identify something you want your brain to hold onto for more than 24 hours, simply review it mentally within approximately:

  One hour, while it's still fresh in your mind.

  One day, after you've slept and had a significant time with a different focus.

  One week; if you revisit information five to seven days later, the neural pathway for long-term recall really starts to get cemented.

  For a little extra insurance feel free to spend a little time with information beyond a week; I usually recommend a review shortly before performing. For example, a quick mental review of the names of people in a meeting right before that meeting; reviewing a presentation you're about to give; or a student reviewing material before an exam. My point here is that you don't need to be constantly reviewing to retain information long term. Spaced repetition is the key.

  The really good news is that you can effectively review anything in a very short period of time. Throughout these chapters on memory training, I've actually quizzed you several times with a technique called random practice. By reviewing in random order (instead of sequentially), your brain does a ton of effective work in very little time. Let's just do it.

  Pop Quiz (just do this in your mind—no need to write the answers):

  On your unicorn list, what was:

  #8?

  #3?

  #16?

  A dime?

  An electrical outlet?

  A sauna?

  Pause for a moment—did you just review six of the 20 items? Yes, but in order to do it in random order your brain actually reviewed all 20 items six times, in a matter of seconds.

  Now onto your body files:

  What were your first, fourth, and eighth body files?

  On your grocery list, what was on your:

  Legs?

  Butt?

  Nose?

  On your to-do list, what was on your:

  Soles?

  Tummy?

  Extra credit:

  What is Chapter 9 in this book called?

  How about Chapter 3?

  If you need to look up the answers, feel free to do so. My guess though is that you don't need to. You're seeing this information in your mind, and are you noticing the speed at which your brain works? To review all that information, how long did it take? A few minutes? Maybe less than a minute? Your brain loves speed—harness that capability when you review.

  Remembering Names

  By far the most popular request that we get in terms of memory training applications is the issue of remembering the names of important people you meet. It's an important skill, because names are so personal. Dale Carnegie said, “The sweetest sound to anyone's ears is the sound of their own name.” So true—the simple ability or inability to remember a name can have a major impact on all kinds of relationships. In our live and online workshops we spend hours on this topic. In this format, you can massively improve your ability to remember names with just a few easy practices.

/>   Short Term

  There are two general categories of being unable to recall someone's name. The first is the short term. Have you ever met someone, shook their hand, got their name, and then five seconds later you couldn't recall their name? This is where the vast majority of names get dropped. Here's effectively the cure: When you're meeting someone for the first time,

  1. Stop, clear your mind, and listen. The reason you lose names in five seconds is not that you have a bad memory but that you're a bad listener! It happens because your brain thinks about seven times faster than people speak, so it's easy for it to wander to all kinds of thoughts while a new person is telling you their name. You only have about five seconds to make a first impression on someone, so consciously invest as much of those five seconds as possible in one and only one thing: listening to the name you're hearing.

  2. Repeat the person's name back to them, out loud, two or three times. Don't be ridiculous about it; if you met me and said “Roger, Roger, Roger,” I would never want to speak with you again. But if you met me and said “Roger, nice to meet you, Roger,” that would do a ton to help lock in my name quickly and be a natural part of the conversation.

  Long Term

  The other issue is long-term. Ever seen someone you knew (and you knew that you knew), but couldn't come up with their name? That's long term. To stay out of this scenario, train yourself to:

  Review the names of people you meet using spaced repetition. At the end of a conversation, use their name. “It's been a pleasure meeting you, Dave” does way more for your memory than just “Bye.” At the end of the day take a moment to refresh yourself on who you met that day. At the end of the week, take five minutes and review those names once more. This is exactly how our instructors can have 200 people they've met over a six-month period show up for a workshop and remember all of their names. A little review goes a long way.

  Visualize names: Turn them into images! Some names are already images—Rose, Crystal, Matt, Jim, Sandy—many names just require you to be aware of the visual component. Some names require a little more imagination and effort. An image for Bill could be a duck bill or a dollar bill.

  An image for Joe could be a cup of coffee, or G.I. Joe.

  An image for Tom could be a turkey or a cat.

  It takes a little time to really get automatic with turning names into images, but most of our clients are surprised at how easy and fun it can be.

  There are literally an infinite number of places to apply the mental file folder system and your brain's natural ability to visualize. Experiment with the techniques on your own, and feel free to reach out to us at Freedom Personal Development with specific questions.

  Let's get to work on your other learning foundation: your Smart Reading capability!

  Reinforcement and Bonuses: This chapter has been Memory Optimized™ for your benefit. For your brief lesson and some great bonuses, visit www.planetfreedom.com/trainyourbrain with the access code in the About the Author section. Enjoy!

  Learning Foundation #2

  Your Smart Reading Capacity

  * Special thanks in this section go to Abby Marks-Beale, author of 10 Days to Faster Reading, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Speed Reading, and the RevItUp Reading Online Course. As America's premier authority on adult reading effectiveness, our trainers at Freedom Personal Development and I are deeply grateful for the mentorship and training Abby has given us.

  Chapter 4

  Why You Read Like a Sixth-Grader and What to Do about It

  Your second learning foundation is your ability to read smarter. Remember RIF—Reading Is Fundamental? Reading is in fact a fundamental skill for life that is heavily emphasized throughout elementary school, with good reason. Everybody knows that kids who can't read well have a much higher likelihood of failure in school and in life.

  So how would you describe yourself as a reader? Seriously, fill in the blank below.

  I am a _____ reader.

  The most common answers are pretty subjective. In our workshops the most common answers sound like:

  Fast

  Slow

  Good

  Bad

  Average

  Casual

  Subjective terms. I want you to really think about your answer, because guess what? Right now, as a businessperson, a manager, a leader, a parent, or just as a grown-up, your ability to read effectively is actually more important for your success than it was back in elementary school. As a reader of this book, you likely are part of the information business. You generate your income with your mind more than with your hands. You're brains over brawn. That means that learning—not just keeping up but keeping ahead—is the fundamental competitive advantage that you have. Add to that the fact that the sheer volume of information that you, your competition, your customers, your colleagues, and your kids have access to and it becomes obvious that whatever your job is, a big part of that job is reading!

  Which is why my next statement is problematic for you:

  In all likelihood, you read like a sixth-grader.

  That's right, you heard me. If you're like 99 percent of our clients, you're reading this book right now the exact same way you read books when you were in sixth grade. You're using the same technique, going the same speed, and comprehending the same percentage of what you read as you did when you were 11 years old.

  This is not your fault. You aren't bad or lazy, you just haven't received any training in how to use your reading tools for a long time. Specifically, since about when? You got it—sixth grade. For nearly everyone, your formalized training in how to take words from a printed page (or computer screen) starts in about kindergarten and ends in about sixth grade. You may have had “reading class” for a few years after that, but mostly that was just reading books and discussing them. A terrific thing to do, no doubt, but you weren't being taught how to read. Let's find out where that's gotten you.

  Baseline Test

  Just like we did with your recall capacity, you're going to do a short exercise to evaluate your starting point. For this exercise you need a pen and something to time yourself with. Any kind of stopwatch will do. Set your stopwatch to zero, then go to the beginning of the article you see in the next section. It's called “The Very Best of All Time,” an article from my blog a few years ago. Start your timer, then read the article just like you would read anything else. Don't try to make it a race, just read it like you're currently reading these words.

  Ready, set, go.

  The Very Best of All Time

  I had the privilege of watching the most dominant team in recent sports memory—possibly the most dominant team ever—play for the national championship. Women's basketball may not be the gigantic draw that the men's tournament is, but it's the arena of the University of Connecticut women's basketball team. From 2008 to 2010, they were 78–0. That's right, 78 games in a row, including two national championships. Their smallest margin of victory over that stretch was 12 points. It's the second-longest winning streak ever in college basketball, outdone only by John Wooden's UCLA team, which won 88 games in a row. UConn only trailed at all in one game—they're totally dominant.

  When I have the chance to see that powerful a team in a championship scenario it's worth staying up. It was not disappointing.

  UConn was playing Stanford. Stanford was the lone team in the past two years to even hold a lead over the Huskies. The Huskies were heavily favored to win their second consecutive national championship. Lots of hype—history in the making, and so on. So in the first half, UConn lays an egg. They score 12 points, tying their school record for lowest point production in 130 years. They play terribly, miss nearly every shot; they stink. At halftime they trail by 15 and everyone is stunned. The first five minutes of the second half are more of the same—ugly to watch, embarrassing for UConn. But somewhere in there, they turn it around, outscore Stanford 41 to 20 in the second half, and go on to win the championship 53–47. Amazing game.

  Here are some lesson
s that I found helpful.

  #1. Even the Very Best of All Time Have Their Off Times

  UConn was definitively the best women's basketball team ever; it couldn't have been clearer. But the scoreboard doesn't lie. So how could the best team ever be so pathetic in their biggest game ever? Answer: It just happens sometimes. It just goes to show that even that level of excellence has to deal with adversity. I believe that you are among the best of all time. You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't. If you're having an off week, day, quarter, whatever—don't spazz, it happens occasionally. Do what you can to:

  #2. Remember Who You Are

  UConn clearly had forgotten who they were in the first half. They played like the least skilled, least confident, least motivated team in the country, which was clearly not who they were. I don't know what happened in the huddle (how cool would it be to hear that?), but something caused that group of women to remember that they were the very best. You do the same: Remember how fantastic you are. Replay your successes in your mind, even little ones. Look back on what you've done, victories you've achieved. Sometimes it's easy to forget the greatness that we each possess, and when we re-remember it, POW! You begin your comeback.

  How long did it take you to read that? _____ minutes and _____ seconds

  The article you just read is exactly 500 words, so you could determine your baseline reading speed by dividing 500 by your time, expressed as a decimal. Better yet, just use the chart shown in Figure 4.1.

  Figure 4.1

  Baseline reading speed: _____ WPM

  What Your Score Means

  Here's what various speeds indicate about your reading. Please keep in mind that your score does not reflect your character or your intellect. A below-average reading speed doesn't make you a below-average human. It just means that you read slowly. The good news about all of this is that wherever you are starting from, you have the ability to improve dramatically. Look at the following to see how your score stacks up.