Transcription
Do you know that the technological singularity is getting closer and closer? It's a hypothetical moment when the speed of updates and the emergence of new information increases so much that it can lead to unforeseen consequences. It will be practically impossible for one person to keep track of all the updates.
Such times can be a challenge for effective learning and absorbing new information. However, if you use the right methodologies, you can succeed and progress. In this video, you will see a large number of methods, tools, and materials that will help you understand how to learn better, how to absorb information, and how to study new things.
To make the content of this video more comprehensive and accurate, I invited Edward Abrosimov, a lecturer at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. There is indeed a lot of information; it's astonishing how humanity has evolved from hunters and gatherers to a civilization that has ventured to other celestial bodies.
Take us, for example: we spend 11 years in school, and at the end, we learn a little about atoms and start to touch on integrals. Then we spend 6 years in university, diving deep into mathematics, thermodynamics, and more. After that, we enter the workforce and realize that we need to acquire new knowledge every day. This is when the race for knowledge begins, a race against time.
But let's go in order and first understand how the brain and memory work.
As humans, we have two types of thinking. The first is called focused thinking, which is when you literally hold your thoughts tightly and track every action. The second type is called diffuse thinking, where you don't control your thoughts but let them flow freely. This type of thinking can be useful when you hit a mental block and don't know how to solve a problem. By not controlling your thoughts, you might arrive at an insight.
It's like staring at a complex puzzle, trying to connect all the pieces. For example, when you are learning a new programming language and trying to write a piece of code, you are fully focused. Your thoughts are concentrated solely on the code; you analyze the syntax, structure, and logic of the program, shutting out external distractions. Your goal is to solve a specific problem, and you think intensively about various ways to accomplish it.
In this mode, your brain works like a laser, focused on a small point. You deeply concentrate on a specific task and eliminate all distractions. Scientific research shows that this mode is well-suited for those who want to deeply understand a subject.
The focused mode of thinking is especially important for those who want to convert their knowledge and skills into a future profession. When you learn and master a large volume of information, it will definitely come in handy.
If you've ever wondered about the IT field or how to become a programmer, and you question whether this profession will be in demand, I can assure you that being a programmer is about finding and solving problems. As you can understand, such skills will definitely be in high demand in the future.
So, if you are interested in the IT field and ready to become a programmer, I recommend the program at Res Out University. I am its founder, and we have already trained over 1,000 graduates. According to statistics, 76% of our graduates find jobs within the first three months after completing their studies.
Our graduates end up in large companies like VK, Sberbank, Mail.ru, Rosneft, MegaFon, and Beeline because the program is quite powerful in terms of skills and aligns with the current market. The average salary of our graduates is 140,000 rubles.
How is such a salary achieved? Res University specializes primarily in web development. We have one major program that trains students from the very basic level to mid-level. If you complete the entire program, mid-level developers currently earn around 150,000 rubles.
This program was developed in collaboration with leading developers in the CIS, who also work in top companies and are public speakers. Our instructors come from companies like Yandex, VKontakte, Tinkoff, Kaspersky, Mail.ru, and others. Essentially, our students receive the best quality materials and knowledge from active market specialists.
Another unique aspect of Res University is that when a student joins the program, they are placed in a group of 20 people, and a mentor is assigned to guide them throughout their studies. The mentor conducts code reviews, checks homework, answers questions, and holds individual and group calls to ensure you gain as much experience as possible from an active specialist.
Our mentors are experienced developers, mostly mid-level and senior, so our students gain real-world experience and learn faster. This program is suitable for those who are completely new to programming and can start from scratch. We even have a free introductory course that you can take to gain your first knowledge and see how our information delivery system and mentorship work.
You can take the program as a whole or in parts. For example, if you already have some basic knowledge, like having studied a framework or a language, you can skip repeating that knowledge and start from where your knowledge ends, saving both time and money. The only requirement is to pass a diagnostic test, which will be conducted by an active specialist who will assess your knowledge level and provide feedback on what you did well and what needs improvement.
To take the diagnostic test or join the free course, links will be in the description. By the way, in the free course, if you have no prior knowledge, by the end of two weeks, you will write your first working website and be able to show it to your friends and colleagues, enjoying the result of your labor.
So, if you want to learn front-end development, do it with us. I wish you success!
The diffuse mode is when you give your brain a break, and it works in a more background mode. You don't focus on a specific task; this usually happens when you are doing some routine work, taking a shower, or just going for a walk. Your brain and thoughts flow from one idea to another, allowing it to solve a specific problem that was inaccessible in focused mode.
For example, imagine you have been sitting at home for a long time trying to solve a complex math problem. You feel stuck, and the solution isn't coming. If you go for a walk and start enjoying nature and fresh air, your brain will begin to relax, and your thoughts will start to drift. You may suddenly have an insight on how to solve that problem.
Taking a shower is another example. When you are in the shower, your brain switches off, and you do everything on autopilot. It's quite pleasant because the water is warm, and at that moment, your brain can find a suitable solution in a wandering mode.
The essence is that when you wash yourself, your attention shifts to your body, your brain relaxes, and you feel good. Engaging in routine tasks, like washing dishes or doing laundry, also puts your brain into a diffuse mode, where insights can come to you on how to solve a particular problem or connect different pieces of knowledge in your mind.
The diffuse mode is like a gentle flame that burns warmly in your consciousness, illuminating different areas of your brain. This way, you don't focus on a specific problem, but by lighting up different areas, you can be creative and look at problems from different angles, arriving at the right solution.
There is an interesting example of using the diffuse mode by Thomas Edison and Salvador Dali. When they were working, they would hold an object, like keys, in their hand and sit in a chair, starting to doze off. As soon as they fell asleep, the keys would drop to the floor, making a sound that would wake them up. But at that moment, the solution was already found.
The next concept is the memory chunk, also known as a fragment. It's a unit of information that you previously tried to understand or study. You can think of a memory chunk as an idea or concept that you are trying to bring into action.
For example, when you wake up in the morning, you don't think about how to take a shower or wash your face; you clearly understand that you need to do it without thinking about the specific actions. To form a new chunk, you first need to focus your attention on the specific information and material you are studying.
Next, you need to understand the main idea, and after that, you need to grasp the context in which this information is used—how, where, and when it is used. You can confuse memory chunks with mindless memorization, but understanding the main problem and the context acts as the glue that binds different parts of the brain together, creating understanding.
Now, a bit about procrastination. It has a rather interesting mechanism similar to addiction because it arises when we need to do something unpleasant. The brain activates receptors that respond to pain, and we prefer to engage in some other activity. The way out of this situation is to focus not on the end result you need to achieve but on the process you need to go through. This way, you can shift your focus from the unpleasant to the pleasant.
Procrastination shares many traits with addiction because, first, it brings temporary joy by saving you from reality, and second, it's easy to deceive yourself by inventing irrational reasons that seem perfectly rational on the surface. However, not all procrastination is bad; sometimes, it can signal that you are tired and simply need to rest.
Another way to combat procrastination is to find a reward that will be pleasant for your learning. For example, if you have a task to complete a test assignment for a new job, thinking about the end result may lead to procrastination. However, you can change your mindset and focus on the process by telling yourself that you will work for 20 minutes. This way, you immerse yourself in the process and start taking action.
There is also a ten-minute rule: you sit down and work for just 5 minutes, and most likely, you will get caught up in the process. Another technique is called the Pomodoro timer, which is designed to help you focus on the process, work on tasks, and keep track of time. But I will talk about that later.
Memory is one part of the learning process and the accumulation of your experience. In our body, memory is divided into two main components: short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory usually consists of about four layers and cannot hold a large amount of information. However, long-term memory, or our subconscious, can contain enormous volumes of information that make up our experience.
Through constant practice, we can transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory, thus gaining new knowledge. From time to time, it's advisable to give your brain a break to rest from accumulating information and consolidate all that knowledge to transfer it to long-term memory.
Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations where we seem to have learned something, but connecting the overall picture becomes quite difficult, and it feels like all these elements are unrelated. In reality, this signals that the brain is processing information, and we just need to give it some time to absorb everything. After that, insights usually arise, and we begin to understand the system of that knowledge.
Once, I read a book about thinking and have been using a great method for combining short-term and long-term memory. The essence is that in short-term memory, it's important to give focus and direction on what to think about. After that, when we load this task into short-term memory, it's crucial to let it go. This can be for a day or even a week.
But after that, without thinking about it and without expending energy on that complex task, over time, we receive insights. In short-term memory, we provided direction, and long-term memory solved it for us, resulting in knowledge gained from experience.
From my teaching experience, I can note that often in groups, there are one to three people who are no longer interested because they already know everything and have learned it all. Most students just go with the flow, from session to session, and only work during the beginning of the session. Then there are one or two ghost students who never show up.
When I had the honor of teaching classes, I developed a new course, created my lectures, and always included memes because I believe it helps engage students and makes the material memorable. In practice, I give each student an individual assignment and direct them to online courses where they can freely gain the necessary knowledge.
After that, we review their work together, and I provide feedback on the completed assignment.
Now, I will tell you about methodologies that allow you to learn effectively and absorb a large volume of information. You can see each of them on the screen: small steps, recalling, transfer, metaphors and analogies, stepping back, starting with the difficult, switching interpretation and perception, curiosity about the topic, sharing what you've learned, focusing on the process rather than the result, and sports.
Now, let's break each of them down in detail.
Small steps: the essence of this methodology is to avoid trying to grasp the entire volume of information at once. Instead, break the task into smaller parts and study each one step by step. It's also very important to take breaks between studying small volumes of information. This way, like a puzzle, we piece together the overall picture and can operate with it.
The best metaphor here is a brick wall. If you lay bricks one by one, carefully applying cement, you will end up with a solid, even wall. But if you throw all the bricks in a pile and dump cement on top, you won't get anything stable.
Recalling is a methodology that allows you to immediately activate the information you've learned. For example, when you read a book, instead of flipping to a new page and receiving a new volume of information, try stopping and summarizing in your own words what you just read or realized. This technique helps avoid the illusion of knowledge.
The essence of the transfer technique is that you use skills or knowledge from another field in the area where you are currently working. Metaphors and analogies work in such a way that when memorizing new things, you create vivid images in your mind that are easier to associate with the new knowledge you acquire.
This methodology is often used when learning a foreign language, where using analogies makes it easier to remember words or entire sentences.
The stepping back technique involves temporarily halting your learning when you feel tired from focusing on a task for too long. This allows you to see the whole picture and how its small parts are connected, making it easier to return to action productively.
Another great technique is to start with the difficult and then move to the simple. Our brain is a lazy substance that tries to avoid complex tasks. Here, we can trick it a bit. At the beginning, when we have a lot of energy, it's easiest to tackle the complex tasks, complete them, and then move on to the simpler ones. If we start with simple tasks, it will be much harder to tackle the complex ones later.
As Vladilen rightly pointed out, it's important to switch contexts. For example, when I come home from work, I spend time with my daughter, including putting her to bed. While she falls asleep, I listen to courses on various humanitarian topics like history, literature, and psychology. This helps me switch contexts and retain what I learned during the day.
My top three favorite courses are now on the screen.
The next great technique is changing perception and interpretation. Imagine you need to give a public speech in front of a hundred people. You stand in front of the stage, and your palms start to sweat. You automatically think about how nervous you are and that you will definitely make a mistake during your speech.
The essence of the technique is to change your perception from feeling stressed and uncomfortable to thinking, "I'm so excited; this will be an interesting experience, and people will be watching me." By shifting from negative to positive thinking, it becomes easier to create.
Curiosity about the topic is one of my favorite techniques because it allows you to focus on what interests you. For some reason, we often think that if we need to solve a problem or learn something, it will be unpleasant and difficult, and we don't want to start. The essence of this technique is to find interest and engage with what you actually need to do.
Scientists have proven that curiosity and genuine interest significantly increase productivity and efficiency. One of the most effective techniques is to share what you've learned, especially in teaching.
Imagine you already have a set of knowledge that you can operate with and perform your job, but you need to explain this knowledge to a beginner. There is a big difference between what you know and how you can explain it. To implement this technique, try taking the volume of information you need to absorb and explain it to your friends, family, or siblings. After that, structure the ideas you need to present, and your retention will be more effective.
In today's world, it's important to understand that everything is a process, not a result. If we focus solely on the end goal, we will miss 99% of everything happening in our lives, leading to burnout or, as I mentioned earlier, procrastination.
The essence of the technique is to enjoy what you are doing and focus on the moment. This way, your productivity and information retention will also grow.
Engaging in sports greatly helps your mental activity because when you exercise, your brain automatically switches to diffuse mode, allowing it to absorb the volume of information you've studied and provide you with a holistic picture. Moreover, sports help keep your body in good shape, which increases your endurance and efficiency at work.
Deep belly breathing can help if you are feeling stressed. This way, you manage your fight-or-flight response triggered by the sympathetic nervous system in stressful situations.
To perform the Hof breathing exercises, take 45 deep breaths from your belly to your chest, followed by calm exhalations until your lungs reach neutral pressure. You don't need to create a vacuum while exhaling; just take a full, comfortable breath and exhale calmly.
During the breathing, you may feel dizziness, vibrations, tingling in your hands and feet, and lightness in your head. This is a normal reaction to saturating your body with oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.
Hold your breath after exhaling; a person can easily hold their breath for 1-2 minutes without strain. During the breath-holding, the oxygen level in the blood drops sharply, and the brain thinks there is no oxygen, releasing adrenaline. At this time, our consciousness calms down, and we can enter a state similar to meditation.
Then take a full breath and hold it for 15 seconds. At this moment, the body receives oxygen, and blood flows through all the vessels. After 15 seconds, exhale. This breathing exercise should be repeated three to four times, slowly, like meditation.
Perhaps the best advice I can give comes from the movie "Blood, Sweat, and Tears," where a business coach has a method consisting of three points: set a goal, develop a plan, and take action.
It's important to carefully choose your sources of information, check their relevance and reliability, create a study plan, break it into blocks, set tasks, and allocate time for each task. Text-based neural networks can greatly assist in this planning.
For truly quality learning, it's important not to give up at the first difficulty and to be genuinely engaged in what you are doing. I also think it's very useful to unsubscribe from all news channels during your studies to avoid distracting triggers that constantly pull your attention.
Moreover, news channels often amplify negative events, creating a corresponding emotional background, and after such news, you may not feel like studying at all. Attention is our most valuable resource.
When you start studying a new topic, it's essential to have a broad understanding of what it entails. You can think of it like video games, where you gradually explore the entire map and build a broad understanding of what is happening in that area.
For example, if you want to study marketing, you don't have to dive straight into its specialization, understanding how traffic works or how contextual advertising operates. First, you can broadly explore the field, understand the different aspects of marketing, and then move on to specific issues.
For this, I use basic tools. First, of course, there's Google.com, which you already know well. The second, more interesting tool is Globe Explorer, a search engine based on neural networks that helps structure information for you based on neural networks and provides a complete sequence of knowledge you need to study on a chosen topic.
Similarly, I use the website Learn Anything XYZ, which is also built on a neural network and provides a full structure of what you need to learn. Lastly, but not least, I use ChatGPT. Neural networks have already become an integral part of our lives, and this tool significantly speeds up the process of structuring information, searching for information, and detailing a topic.
By the way, this tool works for me for free without a VPN and in a Telegram bot. To set up a similar configuration for your personal assistant that consults you on any topic, you can find out in my private Telegram channel; the link will be in the description of this video.
Now, let me show you how to quickly outline a map and create a general understanding of a topic using the following services. First, we will use Google, second, Globe Explorer, ChatGPT, and of course, Notion or any other text editor where you need to structure information.
Let's say I want to create a mind map on the topic of front-end development. What is front-end development? I create the first page, and the most logical starting point is to define what front-end is. We can go to Wikipedia to see that it refers to the presentation layer of web applications and information systems.
Usually, Wikipedia doesn't explain it in simple terms, so we can immediately turn to ChatGPT and ask it to explain in simple words what front-end development is. This way, we build a general picture of the topic we will be interacting with.
What ChatGPT provides is quite good, so we can save it. Let's use Cloud for this, and as a general definition, I will place it here. Next, I will add the main components or what it consists of. For this, we will need Globe Explorer, where we also input "front-end."
This service allows us to structure all the knowledge on the topic in the correct sequence. Here, we see that there is indeed a concept called User Interface, which is what front-end development is responsible for. Everything is divided into necessary segments: first, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and it also includes User Experience and other additional tools, including frameworks.
We can add a list of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Here, we can delve deeper into what CSS is. For example, we can look at selectors and nesting. We can request comments in English, and then we can explore this topic further through ChatGPT, asking it to explain it in simple terms.
Sometimes, I use a hack and ask it to explain it as if to a child, to make it really simple to understand the topic of CSS nesting. In the end, we get a brief summary of what CSS nesting is and the concepts a beginner needs to know.
Next, we can go to Globe Explorer and write about preprocessors. We need to clarify the spelling, so we go to Google and type "CSS preprocessors." We copy that, and we get a general understanding of what SASS, LESS, and other preprocessors are.
In the end, we quickly create a prototype of a page that serves as a map of our knowledge that we need to understand. After that, we can detail it. If we talk about the algorithm, Globe Explorer allows us to structure information very well by chapters.
We can orient ourselves on what topics and subtopics exist, and with the help of ChatGPT, we can detail them. Using Google, we ensure the correctness of the spelling and find additional resources available online, such as official documentation, which we can also bookmark.
In the end, we have a document that we can create in 15 minutes and then study the topic in detail. First and foremost, RTFM—reading the documentation is your main tool for studying any topic.
When I study a topic, I try to take notes. Ideally, I would keep handwritten notes because they are indeed remembered better. However, now it's not always feasible, so I can take notes in any convenient application.
It's important to surround yourself with this media space when studying a topic, meaning you should subscribe to relevant channels and keep up with them on YouTube to stay in context and trends related to your topic.
Sometimes, documentation doesn't cover everything, and that's when various forums, like Stack Overflow, come in handy. Another useful source is GitHub, where you can sometimes find helpful solutions to your specific problems.
The Pomodoro technique is one of my favorite techniques for quickly and focusedly solving tasks. The essence is that you choose a cycle period during which you will work, say, 25 minutes. During these 25 minutes, you turn off all notifications—email, Telegram, and other messengers—and focus on your tasks.
After the timer rings, you have 5 minutes to take a break from intense work, like looking out the window or pouring yourself a cup of tea or coffee. After 5 minutes, a new cycle begins, and you work for another 25 minutes.
These cycles can continue for four or five rounds, and you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish in a short time without getting tired. Afterward, you can reward yourself with a cup of coffee or tea or simply take a long walk because after intense work, you should take a significant break.
Task prioritization is a great concept called the Eisenhower Matrix. Its essence is that you have four categories of tasks you need to do: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent.
Logically, to progress in your tasks, you need to tackle the most challenging ones first—those that are important and urgent. After that, prioritize the tasks that are also important but with less urgency.
Music can significantly enhance focus on tasks and increase productivity. I have my favorite app, Endel, which generates neuro-music for various work states, integrating different times and your energy levels.
There is also other music that helps with concentration, like recordings of rain or thunderstorms, which you can play in the background while working. You will be amazed at the results. Alternatively, you can use an unusual life hack: play the Minecraft soundtrack, which lasts about 2 hours, and work to it. You will be surprised at how well it works!
In this age of information overload, it's essential to use additional applications that structure this information and allow you to track tasks. Personally, I use Notion, a platform that allows for various nesting and structuring of different areas of your life, providing convenient access.
On my channel, I have shared a lot of information on how to use Notion and even how to create things like a Second Brain—a system that essentially creates a second brain where all the information you gather is stored.
But besides Notion, there are other applications like Obsidian.
In conclusion, I want to say that the information you learned from this video, if applied in your personal life and professional activities, can help you greatly improve. The speed of acquiring new information and learning something new is what defines successful specialists in today's realities.
Also, as you may have noticed, my team and I decided to try a new format, and we would greatly appreciate your feedback on this video. Please let us know how you feel about the content, the filming, and whether the information is practical or not.
In general, please leave comments; it would be very nice to hear from you. Until the next video!