Unleashing the Super Learner in you
billionaire investor warren buffet
spends 80 percent of his day reading
books even at an age of 90.
elon musk attributes his success to
daily habit of reading books
the average number of books read by a
ceo in an year
is around 50. now you must be wondering
you know why i am telling you all these
facts
well this is the information age wherein
we are living
and this is the age wherein not your it
is not your muscle power
but your mind power that matters it is
not your brute strength but your brain
strength which matters
right and i’ve even heard that the
better you learn in this information age
the better you earn and i’m not talking
about earning only financially
but then the holistic person the
successful person you become
when you hone your ability of learning
better
now we are talking about success here
right now success is a tricky thing
and it does not comes from luck or fade
or magic
but the good thing about success is that
it leaves clues
it definitely leaves clues and if you
can model those strategies and traits of
the successful people
and work towards them by taking a big
action of massive action
no one can stop you from becoming
successful and this is not
my personal concept or my personal
theory in fact tony robbins has been
doing this
for years now right he has been coaching
and teaching
only this particular stuff for years now
let me talk more about these successful
people whom you can see on the screen
and if i ask you to identify some common
traits amongst them
which makes them successful what would
they be
now i i am sure you you must agree with
me here
i’m sure that you know they are
celebrities they are billionaires
they are world leaders right they are
passionate they are they are committed
to to whatever they are doing
but you know there is one common trait
amongst all of these
successful people which is the most
important
and that is that they are lifelong
learners
now this is exactly the point i want to
make and lay stress upon
we need to hone the mindset of being a
lifelong learners
you know the strategies and techniques
comes later in the picture but then
before that
if we have that mindset clarity of this
being a
lifelong learners that will actually
help us a lot
you know what’s happening currently in
current state of affairs most of us have
this attitude
that you know i have graduated from the
college and i’m i’m having this
comfortable job
and i’m settled now now just pay
attention to this word guys settled
you know many a times we use this word
the settled right settle thing
now if whenever you say this particular
word settled
you send a message to your subconscious
mind that you know there’s no need to
learn more
and i’m okay where am i um i am right
now
in class seventh or eight you must have
learned about a concept called
sedimentation
wherein the mud settles down in the
water and once it settles down it stays
there
and does not rises the point i want to
make here ladies and gentlemen is if you
choose to settle
you cease to grow if you choose to
settle you cease
to grow you know what even employers
nowadays
prefer to hire individuals who have this
mindset of continuous learning
whether that is you know these hard
skills of ai machine learning blockchain
etc or whether they are soft skills like
communication collaboration team
building
you know although all these skills the
new
smart is what these organizations are
looking for the new smart we must have
heard about the new normal in recent six
months eight months but then this is the
new smart what
organizations are looking for in in the
times today
so let’s debunk this myth about this my
bad mindset of you know settling into a
cocoon
and staying there forever and let us
embrace this new reality by developing
a mindset of being a lifelong learner
guys my name is pomik and today in this
talk i will be talking about my favorite
and time proven strategies which can
help you to become an effective and a
smart learner
you know we are surrounded by smart
devices like smartphones smart tv smart
watches and even now smart houses right
but then have you ever thought that how
brain smart
are we have you ever thought of that or
how we can become
smart learners right well if i have to
name one skill
one skill that can make you help you
become
brain smart and have no limitations in
saying that
it would be learning how to learn that
is the one skill you need to master
which is learning how to learn and i
personally i
personally feel that this is the most
important skill
of the 21st century guys over here right
now let me tell you to do an exercise
with me okay
uh i would like you to bring out two
fingers here
like this right put them on your head uh
yes just follow me and just put them on
your head put them on your forehead
put them on your eyes put them on your
ears
on your nose on your chin
guys chin or cheek
this is cheek my dear friends right now
this is what
the basic learning the basic component
of learning is right that is
attention in other words we also say it
i
say to be you know concentration as well
now we all
know that you know we need to
concentrate to to
to learn the information which is which
is in our hands right and since of a
childhood right
all the elders whether it is our parents
our teachers
all the elders they have been telling us
only one thing and they have been
telling us to
concentrate to focus to pay attention
but unfortunately
no one has actually told us how to do
that
you know how to concentrate well if i
tell you to go and play to go and swim
to go and ride a bicycle you exactly
know what to do you know
why because you have that mental image
in place when i
when i ask you to do those specific
things right but then when i ask you to
do concentrate
when i ask you to concentrate on your
studies there’s no image which is
getting there
right and that is why we don’t know the
meaning of concentration
what what in this world is concentration
right so here
i will be unfolding the definition of
concentration to you right
now tell me tell me a movie which you
saw uh before the kobe that is you know
eight good eight nine months back in the
in the cinema hall what was that movie
and if i ask you about that movie i am
sure that
70 to 80 percent you guys would be able
to
you know tell me the entire story the
entire screenplay the dialogues
songs etc 70 to 80 you will be able to
recall
now tell me did you did you concentrate
while watching the movie
did you apply these blinkers like this
to to watch that particular movie
right or did you revise those movies
that that particular movie you know n
number of times
i don’t think so right you tend to
remember that movie
because you enjoyed that movie right and
similarly if
if you like a particular subject for
example you like science right
and the science teacher teacher enters
and the next next lecture is of science
uh of course the the teacher enters
your body language is like this wow the
next 40 minutes would be awesome
i would be enjoying these next 40
minutes and you know what
those next 40 minutes just run
and you you feel like a jiffy they just
run in a jiffy
and the most important point is that
whatever the teacher has taught in the
class
you are able to absorb it absorb it as
well at the same time
but then imagine likewise if you do not
like suppose say history
right and history teacher enters the
class uh now your body language is like
oh my god
again next 40 minutes how will i be able
to you know cope up with this 40 minutes
and next 40 minutes become really
horrible for you
right so this is this is what what
actually happens right
concentration is actually the state of
mind
wherein you can tap into the tap into
the unlimited potential of your mind and
harness
it to learn something new well all
learning i would say all learning is
state dependent
you know whenever uh and your state of
mind is has
actually the direct or direct impact on
how better you can learn
and hence in whatever subject you get
interested
the concentration flows automatically
you know wherever your interest goes the
concentration flows this is this is a
million dollar fact guys
that our mind tends to concentrate
automatically
automatically on the subjects of its
interest
now this is the new definition of
concentration which i just told you that
it is
it is related to the state of mind it is
a state of mind and it is
not a verb now in my talk i will be
sharing two secrets of concentration as
to if you can apply those secrets
to any subject to any information you
want to learn you will be able to learn
it
quite fast and in a smart way so let’s
go
and hear about those two secrets of
concentration
now when we understand that our for our
concentration
interest is an important ingredient
right it is the basic ingredient
and we understand that and if we you
know try to understand what all
are those things wherein our mind gets
interested
automatically it will be a big win for
us right
now let’s try and understand how many of
you remember
the stories from the childhood which are
there on the screen for example this
daughters and hair story the greedy dog
the thirsty crow
how many of you remember these stories
and i’m sure that you know i would be
seeing a 100 show of hands over here
that you know
yes i remember i remember i remember now
if i
ask you how many of you remember the
integration and differentiation formulas
how many of you remember the
trigonometric formulas
you know based on my experience of what
i have been taking the sessions on
probably 20 to 30 percent of the
audience say
yes i do remember them but you know uh a
bit
bit hazy and you know and even even
though those 20
are those who are still using those
particular formulas in their day-to-day
life
now the question here is a very
important question here is that
these stories were taught to you when
you were in kindergarten
right and these stigmatic formulas these
this integration differentiation were
taught to you much later
ideally you would you should be able to
remember the trigonometric formulas much
more robustly
than these kindergarten stories but it
is exactly the opposite
you know why because the way the stories
were taught to you
you know they were colorful images they
were colorful images they were animation
they were
they were emotions related and there
were some bizarre things happening you
know
animals talking to each other where in
world that happens right animal talking
to each other
so the the way that information was told
to you
was really unique right and that is
where
you got to learn you you actually got to
learn them and remember them so
beautifully that you still remember them
and you know unfortunately what happened
as we progressed
uh through time and you you know we
actually jumped onto bigger classes
these images
and movies were replaced by the text
which was boring
which was exactly boring and hence the
problem started because of our mind
our mind understands better comprehends
better
in form of images information in form of
images and movies
rather than text and this is a really
really good point
a very important and a vital point now
if we understand how our brain
works and if we can follow the same
strategy for learning
it will definitely help us right and as
i just told you that our mind our brain
comprehends
images and movies better than decks let
us try this
this small experiment if you can just
close your eyes for three seconds right
just for three seconds and think about
an elephant
okay now open your eyes and and let me
know or you know or tell yourself what
did you see
did you see an image of an elephant or
did you see the spellings
spelled out of an elephant
e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t what did you see
i’m i’m pretty much sure that you know
100 of you guys would be
would would have seen the the image of
an elephant and not e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t
so if these images you know these sounds
these movies these emotions are so
important
why don’t we add these these images and
movies back to our curriculum
and make them interesting and once it
becomes interesting
the concentration will flow
automatically into
your learning process right even in the
subjects you seem to be
you you you know you don’t have interest
and you say no it is boring
even in those subjects you will be able
to learn better and smartly
right and this process of adding the
images sounds
emotions and you know these bizarre
bizarre things is called
visualization right and that actually
takes me to the secret number one
which says visualize any information by
adding these modalities by any of these
modalities not not necessarily all the
modalities and make it interesting
you know once you make it interesting
the concentration will flow
automatically it will actually flow
automatically over here right
so this was this was the secret number
one which i wanted to share
now coming to secret number two now
imagine there’s a nice afternoon here
right and you are alone at the home
and dope bell rings you see through the
window or the door hole
there is a stranger out there now tell
me will you let him in
absolutely not right but imagine at the
same time your dad calls you up and says
that there will be a person named so and
so will come to the house and he
would be dressed up in a particular
manner manner so
give him those papers which are there on
the table and let him in as well
now tell me will you let that stranger
in
definitely you will let him in right now
the point here i want to make is that
same
happens with our brain when we try to
learn a new concept or a new information
you know whenever our whenever we try to
learn the new information over here
a new information tries to enter our
brain our brain resists it
it says no i don’t know you you are a
totally unknown thing
a totally unknown information stranger
information to me
i will not allow you now here if we can
somehow if we can somehow
relate associate this particular unknown
information
to something which is known already in
our brain
it will be a win for us you know if you
associate this particular unknown
information to something which is
already known in your brain
the information will be yours forever
now this brings me to the secret number
two which says
associate associate any new information
which you want to learn
to already known information already
known and existing information in your
brain
and it will be yours forever now now
when we have learned
learn these two secrets you know
learning without application
is like you know nothing so let us apply
these secrets right and this is what i
have been doing for
for many years now you know uh one of
the area where
students really struggle is is the
english vocabulary right they want to
improve their english whether it is
spoken written
uh or you know the listing skills of
english
one thing is common to all and that is a
good vocabulary right
so let’s let’s apply these two secrets
to see
how you can enhance your vocabulary for
example you have to learn this word
mitigate
okay now now understand i’ll be applying
those two secrets the second one first
mitigate is a new word to me mitigate is
definitely a new word to me i don’t know
it’s meaning there’s no image being
formed when i
listen to this word mitigate right now
what i’m doing i’ll be doing is
let us break the word mitigate let us
break the word mitigate into mitigate
into
mitigate now mitigate is something which
is there already known in my brain right
there is an image there is an image
there is a there is a movie
or or image over here of mitigate right
now mitigate you have linked it to what
mitika gate now we will be visualizing
now
just close your eyes for for takes 30
seconds and imagine that you are sitting
on a mid
you are sitting on a sand beach and you
are building a mythical gate you know
the sand castles you are you are
building a mythical gate
and your friend is coming and pouring
water onto it and you are scolding your
friend that
don’t do that otherwise mitti the the
strength of the mittika gate will go
down will listen right now you can open
your eyes and you must have seen this
particular image right
now what what will happen next time when
you come across this word mitigate you
know
your your brain will directly take you
to the mitiga gate and again this
particular story this visualization
will come into your brain automatically
you know why automatically
because this is something which is of
interest of your mind right
and you will you will actually come to
the conclusion that mitigate means
to listen right so this is how i this is
how actually i
you know uh have a build an ebook as
well for this
which has 200 words explained in the
same
manner well that was that those were the
two secrets of concentration i hope you
like them
now let me talk you through and take you
through
probably towards the most wonderful gift
that we have and that is our brain
now let us understand this a bit more
you must have heard about the two
hemispheres of the brain left and right
right
now the left brain you know it helps in
it
it helps us in thinking like logic you
know the sequencing the linear thinking
the mathematics the facts whenever you
have to
indulge yourself into these things your
left brain comes handy
and whenever you have to think about you
know you you have to imagine you have to
do some intuition or you have to do some
art some music
musical music music instrument you have
to play something related to feelings
visualization daydreaming
your right brain comes into picture now
you know
what happens here now this is this is
actually a very good thing that you know
a very good a very good tool that we are
carrying here but you know what happens
with us
is really bad what happens is that when
we sit for study
our left brain understands the logic
right it says yes i should study to have
good grades to to earn good grades right
but then our right brain what does it
say it
you know right brain wants what fun
right brain says i want to see the movie
because it is funny
because it is fun for me right the left
brain says i need to finish the chapter
the right brain says oh no no i want to
finish the netflix
netflix series i want to finish this
particular series right
i want to see who was the villain who
was the murderer who was the culprit
left brain says it’s important for me to
study the right brain says
it’s important for me to update the
facebook status
as well why because i’ll be getting
those likes and that will be giving me
fun and gratification and i’ll be
enjoying that
and you know what happens just because
of this thing there is a constant divide
there’s a constant conflict which is
running between left and the right brain
it’s just that you know your left brain
knows where to go but your right brain
actually distracts you a lot and it
tells you that no i i’m not going that
way now if there is a way that you know
your left brain is aligned if there is a
way you can also align your right brain
here
towards your goal that would be for your
success and that is called whole brain
learning
and there are some steps to achieve the
whole brain learning right
one is definitely creating interest
right as i said as i just mentioned
in the secrets of concentration as well
if you create interest
this is what exactly happens your left
brain is aligned and your right brain
also gets aligned and
it is there on your goal second is
reward yourself you know
when when the left brain says that you
need to study right brain asks you
what does it mean for me you know what
is what is that i’ll be getting if i
if i uh you know adhere to your uh
you’re saying
now you need to reward yourself and that
is where
that is where you know when you reward
yourself there is a there is a chemical
called dopamine which gets released
in in the in the brain and that is a
happy chemical and whenever you
you have that happy chemical coming in
your right brain
becomes active the third point is goal
setting very important now this is again
a magnified version of the point two
which is reward yourself
you know whenever you are telling your
brain to learn something new
to to you know study for your exams
it must be aligned to your long-term
goals right and which should be a big
pleasure that you should be showing to
your right brain
so once you have those images those
visualizations being done
as to what you will be achieving in
future if you you know
invest your time in studying today your
right brain will be aligned
to to you know that particular task and
the easiest way easiest way to have your
left and right brain aligned
is doing super brain yoga now what is a
super brain yoga let me let me
illustrate
that to you if you just uh you know hold
your ear lobes with your uh
thumb like this you know in a cross
position like this
right and what you have to do you have
to do squats
you have to go down you have to come up
and while going down inhale
while coming up exhale while going down
inhale coming up exhale
now this is again that patek which our
which our teachers
made us to do right so and this has a
scientific
scientific backing that you know when
you do this particular thing exercise
do do 30 30 you know reps over here
at least two or three times for for 40
days this will actually you know bridge
the left and right
hemisphere of your brain all together
and this is a really good way of
you know combining the left and right
brain together and you know achieving
the whole brain learning now this brings
me to the end of this talk and i would i
would
like you like to you know leave you guys
with this particular thought which says
uh from elvin toffler who says the
illiterate of 21st century
will not be those who cannot read or
write but those who cannot learn
unlearn and relearn so guys i’m leaving
you with this thought
this is pomex in signing off thank you
very much