7 Habits of Super Learners

7/28/2019 7 Habits of Super Learners

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7 Habits of Super Learners

Posted on 20. Dec, 2010 byGeorgeinAccelerated Learning,productivity

Do you find studying difficult as well? Do you have a hard timeunderstanding certain topics or concepts?

It doesnt matter whether you are one who often ace or fail the exams. No

matter how smart or stupid you think you are, you can become 10 times oreven hundred times better than you are right now.

In todays blog post, Ill be sharing with you the 7 habits to become

smarter in your studies and understand faster.

Habit 1: Love To Learn

When students dont study at all, or they dont have the mood to s tudy, itis usually because they like doing something else like playing computergames, watching television, hanging out with their friends.

Now, I know most of you will say, Only nerds love studying, Studying is

boring, or even Why do I have to study? And your parents are usuallyvery worried when you lose interest of your studies.

Im not here to force you to love what you are studying, but just to share

with you some personal experiences and my perspective. And its about youmaking yourself love what you are studying.

Why do you need to love what you are studying?

Do you notice that youll get better results when you love what you arestudying? When you love to study a particular subject, youll be more

interested to read more about it, to practice more, and to think more aboutit. The more you are thinking, the smarter you become.

From young, I like mathematics more than most of my other subjects. As a

result, my grades for mathematics were often better than my other subjects.No matter how difficult a mathematics test is, I could at least still get a C orDs. While for other subjects, I may get a F, or even less than 20 marks forsome tests (Yes, I really get less than 20 marks).

However, even though I like mathematics more, I still love playing computergames even more. That was during 2000 2001, when Internet was started
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to grow faster, and we can play games among our friends and with otherstrangers online. Games like Counterstrike, Starcraft and Warcraft weresome of my favorite games. And that was why Im pretty good at winningmy friends at that point in time.

I somehow knew that interest is important in our studies, but I couldntunderstand how to love what you are studying. Later on, it was because of

the rejections from some junior college that got me fired up and puttingmore interests in my studies. I learned to like what I was studying.

As I looked back towards my journey, and how I started to like what Imstudying, I realized that I used some of the motivational techniques to sparkoff the desire and interests in my studies.

Pain and Pleasure

We need both pain and pleasure for us to take action so that we movetowards our goals. Some people are more motivated when they have pain, afew are motivated when they are moving towards something pleasurable.

For us to shift our interest to study, we need both pain and pleasure tomotivate ourselves to love what we are studying.

Let us go in depth into whats pain and pleasure.

Pain

Most parents usually implement some punishments for their kids if they donot study or do well for their exams. Well, this is known as external pain andit may work or may not work for you as a student.

I dont think external pain is very effective as I was a very rebelliousstudent, and the more punishments there were, the more I will try to find away around it. I feel that most students nowadays are like this as well.

What I feel that is more powerful is the intrinsic pain that comes from

inside. Like I want to do well so I could support my parents, I want to do

well because I am sick of being in poverty, I want to excel in my studies soI could find a cure for my mums illnesses.

For me, I was trying to get into the junior college and the principal rejectedme, even after pleading with her. It was humiliating and I felt like Im not

smart enough.


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And it was in that point in time that I said to myself that Im going to prove

her wrong and get all Aces for my Cambridge A Level Exams.This became a real motivation for me when I was studying for exams.

Whenever I got stuck in some problems or questions, this whole incident

would appear in my mind and I would continue to crack my head foranswers to these questions.

You need to search deeply for whats making you pain that will makeyou take MASSIVE ACTION towards studying.

Pleasure

We feel happy when there is a positive outcome in an experience. When wereached our goal, we will experience the positive outcome. Most parents tryto reward their kids when they study hard and achieve good grades. And thisis also a form of external pleasure to motivate the students.

Different people have different values in what makes them happy. Somepeople yearn for fame, some needs love, some feels happy when theyachieve something.

Just like pain, you need to know what gives you the real pleasure. Not thosekinds of external pleasure like winning a lottery, but those internal pleasurelike having quality times with your loved ones or achieving the results youdesired.

If you talked about games, what really makes the games so addictive is thatevery time you win someone else, you feel a sense of satisfaction andachievement. Sometimes you lose the game, and sometimes you win thegame. But the more you played the games, the better you become and themore times you will win the game.

The truth is winning a game isnt easy. If you are a parent and you try towin the game, youll know that its not easy.

And because it is not easy to win, when you win a game, you feel more

sense of satisfaction and achievement.

This sense of satisfaction and achievement is very strong. It can make youaddicted to the game so badly that sometimes, a person sense of self worthdepends on the game.


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That was how I felt in the past. As a 14 year old teen, I was pretty good inthe game and it made me feel that I can only succeed in the game(especially I failed so many of my tests).

What if you can transfer this sense of satisfaction and achievement

from winning games to winning your studies?

That was exactly what I did. However, in the case of winning in studies, it isa matter of winning myself.

Every test, I made it a point that I must get better grades each time. Andeach time I get better grades, I feel the sense of satisfaction andachievement just like winning the game.

I then became more and more interested in what Im learning in school. Andthe more interested in my studies, the easier and easier it became.

If you can control these 2 pull and push motivational factors well, you caneasily motivate yourself to be interested in your studies. Start by finding outwhats your own inner pain and pleasure buttons.

Habit 2: Whole Brain Learning

Different students have different learning styles. The geniuses learndifferently as well. Most research have shown that geniuses are able to tap4-5 times more than average people. And it is believed that average people

only tap into 1% of their brain power!

Do you know how geniuses like Albert Einstein learn?

Albert Einstein was considered a slow learner He learned to speak at a lateage, and the teachers labelled him as a autistic because he seldom payattention in class. The truth is he was usually daydreaming in class.However, he was a natural musician and he could play the violin well.

And it was much later on, when Einstein applied both sides of his brain, he

developed the theory of special relativity. He was riding a bus and began today dream. As the bus moved forward, he looked back at the clock towerand ask the question What if the bus were to accelerate and move at the

speed of the light?

He asked again, What would he see if he looks back at the clock?


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He imagined that if a person were to stand at the clock tower, the clockwould seem normal to him. But when the bus moves at the speed of light,the light from the clock is not able to catch up with him and hence the clockwould stop moving.

And this was how he discovered the theory of relativity.

To learn effectively, you want to tap into both sides of your brain and applywhole brain. By using whole brain learning, you are able to connect yourfacts and ideas effectively and look from a bigger picture.

Whole brain learning is about using more senses in learning visual,

auditory and kinesthetic. With your imagination and visualization, you areable to tap into apply whole brain learning in your studies. In fact, wholebrain learning is a entirely different system of learning that is much morepowerful than what we are usually taught in school.

Back in those junior college days, I had a classmate who often topped theclass with the best grades. He is different from many other friends as hewould often crack lame jokes using what we are taught in class. Sometimeshe even cracks lame jokes in class and the teachers would be exasperatedwith him.

As I looked back in those days, that was exactly what made him scored sowell for his exams. He was unknowingly using his imagination to crack thosejokes and enjoying himself in the learning process.

Sometimes a little humor and imagination could also help us to learn moreeffectively in class!

Habit 3: Never Give Up

Do you find it painful or difficult when you are studying? Most of the time,when we are faced with a difficult question or a problem, we often want toget the solution or answer straight away.

In fact, after tutoring many students in their studies, I realized moststudents gave up easily. When they are given a question, and they donthave an answer, they would straightaway ask me for a solution without eventhinking for a minute.

What most students dont understand is thatLearning is a thinkingprocess. In order for us to master and learn a certain topic, we must firstthink through it in a very specific and detailed manner.


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The initial phase of learning a new thing is the most difficult stage. Evenwhen we play a game, the initial phase isnt easy as easy as we thought. Butonce explore and learn through it, it becomes easier and easier.

This applies to our studies as well. We will face many hurdles and confusion

when we first started to learn it. But if we give up without even thinking,then we are not learning anything at all.

When I was practicing questions back in those days, I had gotten stumped insome difficult questions for a few days. And I never give up till I work outthe solutions all by myself. As a result, the methods Id used to solve thequestions left a lasting impression in my mind.

But thats not all.

Usually advanced concepts and topics are developed upon the easier ones. Ifyou dont understand the easier concepts, then itll be harder for you to

understand the difficult ones.

The key here is to think of the solution by yourself for some time.Even if you have done it wrongly, it doesnt matter, you just need to learnfrom your mistakes.

Habit 4: Being Consistent

Most of the top students understand the power of consistency. When we do

something consistently, we developed a very strong habit of doing theparticular action. And when we consistently do something in the long run,we can become successful in that.

For example, if you are a student and I am to ask you to take out USD$300for this month, you will probably find it extremely difficult for you to do so.

However, if you were to save a dollar in your piggy bank every day, by theend of the year, you would have saved a total of $365. Saving a dollar eachday is much easier than trying to find $300 in a month.

That goes for your studies and learning as well. For most students, they arenot consistent with their learning. They study only when the tests areapproaching. And when they do that, they find that it is extremely painfuland difficult to master everything in such a short span of time.

However, for top students, they study consistently. All they do is to spendan hour a day to study and when the tests are approaching, they just simply


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got to revise a little for it. They can still have fun and play near the exams.Even when you use whole brain learning, you also want to learn consistently.

Do You Study Consistently?

No, I studied only when there's a test Yes, I studied for an hour a day Yes, I studied 2 hours a day Yes, I studied more than 3 hours a day

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Habit 5: Effective Planning

Nowadays, there are so many things to do in school From projects tohomework and as well as revision. And if we dont plan the time well, we

may not have enough time to complete them.

To plan effectively, we need to gauge the time needed to complete each ofthe task. For example, you need to know how much time to finish reading achapter and understanding it, how much time to make your own notes, howmuch time to memorize the notes, and how much time to practice the

questions.

You need to get an organizer and plan your time according to daily, weekly,and even monthly schedule.

To avoid missing the deadlines, you may want to leave some buffers of aweek or two so that if you cant finish, there are still 1 or 2 weeks for you to

complete them.

Habit 6: Allocate Breaks At The Right Time

Getting excellent grades do not mean that you need to mug the whole day.In fact, if you study for the whole day without taking breaks, then you arenot studying effectively.

For example, you can memorize 100 words in an hour. But at the 2nd hour,you became tired and you can only memorize 50 words in an hour. At the
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3rd hour, you became even more tired and can only 25 words in that hour.If you add that up, you have memorized a total of 175 words in 3 hours.

Can you see that you are not using your time effectively when you study toolong without resting?

You need to take a rest too when you study so that you can keep yourproductivity at 100 words per hour.

Heres what you can do to keep your productivity levels up.

Take a 15 minutes break after 1 hour.

During the 15 minutes, do something else like washing up, exercising,playing a musical instrument, go for a toilet break. But dont do anything

that suck your concentration away like playing computer games.

Take an hour break after 3 studying session.

After each studying session, take an hour break before you start anotherstudying session. With these strategic allocated breaks, you will have noproblem in studying effectively and keeping your productivity up.

Habit 7: Learn From Mistakes

Do you know that one of the best ways to learn something very fast is by

making mistakes? The top students know this very well and treat eachmistake as a feedback. They learn from their mistakes.

Average students dont learn from their mistakes. Whenever theyve gottenback their results, they would be sad thinking that Why am I not getting

better grades and some feel sick to look at their mistakes again.

They feel that they are stupid to make those kinds of mistakes and let themistakes to discourage them.

Think making mistakes as playing a game, whenever you lose in a game,you can always retry until you get a higher score. And you can keep onchange your strategy till you get better and better scores.

This apply to studying and learning as well. You want to learn from yourmistakes and treat it as a feedback that you can change and learn from ituntil you eventually succeed in it.


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There was a period of time when I usually get Cs, Ds or Fs. And at that

point in time, I took a close look at my exam papers to find out what kind ofmistakes do I usually made.

And most of the time, I found that I dont understand the concepts or facts

well enough. As a result, I went back home and redo the questions againone more time. After that, I also took similar questions from past yearpapers and try to do it again to see if I understand how to do it correctly.

Apply the 7 Habits of Super Learners

What are some of the habits that you can apply in your studies now? Tryapplying it in your daily life and boost your grades immediately. If you findthis article useful, share it with your friends by hitting the facebook like or

share button.

And wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011!

7 Habits of Super Learners

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