Karthigesu Sivalingam

Principal Consultant of Global Dynamics, a training and consultancy firm. Possess a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons.) from University Malaya and a Masters in Business Administration (HR Management) from University of Warick

More than 15 years experience in the field of training and consultancy. Have worked with Bank Negara Malaysia as an auditor and fulltime Trainer.

Have researched, designed and facilitated training programs in the areas of Personal Development, Customer Service, Personality Profiles, Motivation, Communication, Change Management, Supervisory Skills, Leadership Skills, Management Skills, Team Building, Personal Excellence, Financial Intelligence and Law of Attraction.

Have worked with the management teams (from the junior level to the senior management as well as the Board of Directors) of many organizations to create change and focus in the areas of business strategies, leadership styles, management techniques, customer centric etc.

Some of his in-house clients are the Arab Malaysian Group, Malaysian Tax Academy, American International Assurance, Alstom Power, the Amanah Group, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), CIMB Group, Caltex, Celcom, Citibank, DIGI , DRB HICOM Group, Hong Leong Group, Maybank Group, Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology, Malayan Rubber Board, MAXIS, Malaysian Airlines (MAS)., Malaysian Shipyard and Engineering (MISC), Modenas, OCBC Bank, PETRONAS , Star Publications, SIRIM ,the Sunway Group, the Sime Darby Group, Telekom Malaysia etc.

He has researched, designed and facilitated training programs in the areas of Personal Development, Customer Service, Personality Profiles, Motivation, Communication, Change Management, Supervisory Skills, Leadership Skills, Management Skills, Team Building, Personal Excellence, Financial Intelligence and Law of Attraction. Karthigesu is a Certified Law of Attraction trainer, having been certified by Michael J. Losier, author of the book on 'The Law of Attraction'.

"Having been in the training field for 15 over years and having trained more than 100,000 people, I have found the Law of Attraction as the missing link in getting individuals to create sustainable change in their lives and the lives of those around them. My recent introduction of LOA into corporations has proven to be a huge success with the reduction of TOXICITY among staff members and the massive increase in EFFICIENCY and PRODUCTIVITY." 

-Karthigesu-

The 2 Day Super Memory Workshop

 

The 2 Day Super Memory Workshop includes Speed Reading and Mind Mapping.

Speed Reading

Learning to read more efficiently

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It's also a skill that most of us take for granted by the time we reach the age of eleven or twelve. After all, it seems that if you can read and comprehend textbooks, you must be a good reader.With the volumes of information we have to digest every day, from the newspaper in the morning, to the long-winded emails from well-meaning colleagues, and all the reports, proposals, periodicals, and letters we are sent, reading is one of the most used skills we possess.

Unlike most other skills which we try to become better and better at, reading is one that people don't think about as much as they should. Given the time that reading consumes in our daily lives, it is actually a skill that we can, and should, improve upon.

But what does becoming a better reader involve? In short, getting faster and more efficient at it, while still understanding what you're reading in sufficient detail. The best starting point for doing this is to unlearn poor reading habits.

Breaking Poor Reading Habits

Habit: Reading word by word
This is how children are taught to read, but when you concentrate on separate words you often miss the overall concept of what is being said. People who read each word as a distinct unit comprehend less than those who read faster by "chunking" words together in blocks.

Solution: Speed reading involves reading blocks of words at one time and comprehending the meaning of the word group. Think of viewing a digital image. There are millions of pixels that only make sense when they are seen together. In the same way, our brains can comprehend ideas better when it takes in a group of words at one time.

Practice expanding the number of words that you read at a time. You may also find that you can increase the number of words read by holding the text a little further from your eyes. The more words you can read in each block, the faster you will read!

Habit: Sub-vocalization
This is the habit of pronouncing each word in your head as you read it. Most people do this to some extent or another. When you sub-vocalize you "hear" the word being spoken in your mind. This takes much more time than is necessary because you can comprehend a word much quicker than your can say it.

Solution: To turn off the voice in your head you have to first acknowledge that you do it (how did you read the first part of this article?) and then you have to practice not doing it. When you sit down to read, tell yourself that you will not sub-vocalize. You have to practice and practice this until this bad habit is erased. Reading blocks of words also helps as you can't "say" a block of words.

Eliminating sub-vocalization alone can increase your reading speed by an astounding amount. Otherwise, you are limited to reading at the same pace as talking which is about 250-350 words per minute. If you are an efficient scanner, you may increase this rate to between 400 and 500 words per minute. The only way to break through this barrier is to stop saying the words in your head as you read. If you can train yourself to simply scan the words without thinking about the pronunciation, you will increase your speed significantly.

Habit: Inefficient eye motion
Slow readers tend to focus on each word and work their way across each line. The eye can actually span about 1.5 inches at a time which, for an average page, encompasses four or five words. Related to this is the fact that most readers don't use their peripheral vision to see words at the ends of the line.

Solution: Soften your gaze when you read. By relaxing your face and expanding your gaze, you will begin to see blocks of words instead of each word as distinct unit. When you get good at this your eyes will drift across the page. When you get close to the end of the line, let your peripheral vision take over to see the last set of words. This way you can quickly scan across and down to the next line.

Habit: Regression
This is unnecessary re-reading of material. Sometimes people get in the habit of skipping back to words they just read and other times they jump back a few sentences just to make sure that they read something right. When you "skip back" like this you lose the flow and structure of the text and your overall understanding of the subject decreases.

Solution: Be very conscious of regression and do not allow yourself to re-read material. To reduce the number of times that your eyes skip back to a previous sentence, run a pointer along the line as you read. This could be a finger, or a pen or pencil. Your eyes will follow the tip of your pointer, smoothing the flow of your reading. The speed at which you read using this method will largely depend on the speed at which you move the pointer.

Habit: Poor Concentration
If you've tried to read while the TV is on, or when there is lots of activity around you, you know how hard it is to concentrate on one word, let alone on many sentences strung together. Reading has to be done in environment where external distractions are at a minimum.

Solution: Stop multitasking while reading. If you are attempting to speed read, this is particularly important because when you use the speed reading techniques of chunking blocks of words and ceasing to sub-vocalize, you may have "read" one or two pages before you realize you haven't understood something properly. Pay attention to internal distractions as well. If you are rehashing a heated discussion you had earlier, or wondering what to make for dinner, this will also limit your ability to process more information.

Sub-vocalization actually forces your brain to attend to what you are reading and that is why people often report they can read and listen to the radio or watch TV at the same time. To become an efficient reader you need to stop doing these things all together.

Habit: Approaching reading linearly
We are taught to read across and down, taking in every word, sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter in order. When you do this, though, you pay the same attention to supplementary and superfluous material as you do to the critical portions. There is usually far more information written than you actually need to understand.

Solution: Stop reading a book like you would listen to a speech. Scan the page for headings and look for the bullet points or things in bold. There is no rule saying you have to read in the order the author presents the information. Do a quick scan of the page and decide quickly what is necessary and what isn't. Skim over the fluff and pay attention to the key material.

As you read, look for the little extras that authors add to make their writing interesting and engaging. If you get the point, there is no need to read the example, anecdote, or metaphor. Similarly, decide what you need to re-read as well. It is far better to read the one critical paragraph twice than to read all eight paragraphs describing that same concept.

Keys to Speed Reading Success

Knowing the "how" of speed-reading is only the first part. You have to practice it to get good at it. Here are some tips that will help you break your poor reading habits and master the speed-reading skills discussed above.

• Practice, practice, practice – you have to use your skills on a regular basis. It took you several years to learn to read, and it will take time to improve your reading skill.
• Choose easy material to start – when you begin speed reading, don't attempt it with a challenging textbook. Read something like a novel or travel-writing, that you can realistically comprehend with a quick once-over.
• Speed read as appropriate – not everything that you read lends itself to speed-reading. Legal documents, the draft annual report, or even the letter you received from a loved one in the mail are better read in their entirety, sub-vocalizations and all. If you need to understand the message completely, memorize the information, discuss it in detail, analyze it thoroughly, or simply enjoy the prose the way the author intended, then speed reading is the wrong approach. Choose an appropriate reading strategy before you start.
• Use a pointer or other device to help push your reading speed – when you quickly draw a card down the page or run your finger back and forth you force your eyes and brain to keep pace.
• Take a step back and use the material's structure – this includes skimming information to get a feel for the organization and layout of the text, looking for bolded words and headings, and looking for the ways in which the author transitions from one topic to the next.

When you start speed-reading it is wise to benchmark your current reading speed. This way you can tell whether your practice is paying off and you can impress your friends and family when you report that you can now read 700 words per minute. There are many speed reading assessments on line. One such assessment can be found here: http://www.readingsoft.com/.

Key Points

Speed reading is not magic. It is a skill that can be learned and it mostly involves breaking the poor reading habits that you have developed since school. Simply becoming a faster reader is not the point either: You want to become a more efficient reader. There are some great techniques to use when practicing speed reading including reading blocks of works and breaking out of the habit of sub-vocalization.

Whichever techniques you apply, you must always be aware of the purpose of your reading and decide whether speed reading is the most appropriate approach. When applied correctly and practiced diligently, speed reading can significantly improve your overall effectiveness as it frees up your precious time and allows you to work more efficiently in other areas as well.

Mind Mapping Part 2

This page is meant to inform you about Mind Mapping and provide ideas that can help you create and benefit from Mind Maps.

What is Mind Mapping?

Mind mapping is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain. Mind mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" your ideas.

All Mind Maps have some things in common. They have a natural organizational structure that radiates from the center and use lines, symbols, words, color and images according to simple, brain-friendly concepts. Mind mapping converts a long list of monotonous information into a colorful, memorable and highly organized diagram that works in line with your brain's natural way of doing things. 

One simple way to understand a Mind Map is by comparing it to a map of a city. The city center represents the main idea; the main roads leading from the center represent the key thoughts in your thinking process; the secondary roads or branches represent your secondary thoughts, and so on. Special images or shapes can represent landmarks of interest or particularly relevant ideas. 

The Mind Map is the external mirror of your own radiant or natural thinking facilitated by a powerful graphic process, which provides the universal key to unlock the dynamic potential of the brain.

The five essential characteristics of Mind Mapping:

• The main idea, subject or focus is crystallized in a central image.
• The main themes radiate from the central image as 'branches'.
• The branches comprise a key image or key word drawn or printed on its associated line.
• Topics of lesser importance are represented as 'twigs' of the relevant branch.
• The branches form a connected nodal structure.

 

Mind Mapping

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hand-drawn mind map

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizinginformation, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies and tree structures denoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.

Buzan^[3] claims that the mind map is a vastly superior note taking method because it does not lead to a "semi-hypnotic trance" state induced by other note forms. Buzan also argues that the mind map uses the full range of left and right human cortical skills, balances the brain, taps into the alleged "99% of your unused mental potential", as well as intuition (which he calls "superlogic"). However, scholarly research suggests that such claims may actually be marketing hype based on the 10% of brain myth and exaggeration of the importance of lateralization of brain function. Critics argue that hemispheric specialization theory has been identified as pseudoscientific when applied to mind mapping.^[4]

Farrand, Hussain, and Hennessy (2002) found that spider diagrams (similar to concept maps) had a limited but significant impact on memory recall in undergraduate students (a 10% increase over baseline for a 600-word text only) as compared to preferred study methods (a 6% increase over baseline). This improvement was only robust after a week for those in the diagram group and there was a significant decrease in motivation compared to the subjects' preferred methods of note taking. Farrand et al. suggested that learners preferred to use other methods because using a mind map was an unfamiliar technique, and its status as a "memory enhancing" technique engendered reluctance to apply it. Nevertheless the conclusion of the study was "Mind maps provide an effective study technique when applied to written material. However before mind maps are generally adopted as a study technique, consideration has to be given towards ways of improving motivation amongst users."^[5]

Pressley, VanEtten, Yokoi, Freebern, and VanMeter (1998) found that learners tended to learn far better by focusing on the content of learning material rather than worrying over any one particular form of note taking.^[6]

Memory Myths

• Myth: It is possible to produce everlasting memories.  
• Even reputable researchers use the term permastore (see: Prof. Harry Bahrick). It is a widely-held belief that it is possible to learn things well enough to protect them permanently from forgetting. 
• Fact: It is possible to learn things well enough to make it nearly impossible to forget them in lifetime. Every long-term memory, depending on its strength, has an expected lifetime. When the memory strength is very high, the expected lifetime may be longer than our own lease on life. However, if we happened to get extra 200 years to live, no memory built in present life would remain safe without repetition
• Myth: We never forget. 
• Some accelerated-learning programs claim that we never forget what we learn. Knowledge simply gets "misplaced" and the key to good memory is to figure out how to dig it out. 
• Fact: All knowledge is subject to gradual decay. Even your own name is vulnerable. It is only a matter of probability. Strong memories are very unlikely to be forgotten. The probability of forgetting one's name is like the probability of getting hit by an asteroid: possible but not considered on a daily basis
• Myth: Memory is infinite. 
• Fact: Anyone with basic computational understanding of memory knows this claim is absurd. However, this is just one of a million living claims that are incongruent with primary school level science. After all, half of Americans still believe the earth was created by God less than 10,000 years ago (apology). We cannot even hope to memorize Encyclopedia Britannica in lifetime. Memories are stored in a finite number of states of finite receptors in finite synapses in a finite volume of the human central nervous system. Even worse, storing information long-term is not easy. Most people will find it hard to go beyond 300,000 facts memorized in a lifetime. For the other extreme of this myth see: Memory overload may cause Alzheimer's
• Myth: Mnemonics is a panacea to poor memory. 
• Some memory programs focus 100% on mnemonic techniques. They claim that once you represent knowledge in an appropriate way, it can be memorized in a nearly-permanent way. 
• Fact: Mnemonic techniques dramatically reduce the difficulty of retaining things in memory. However, they still do not produce everlasting memories. Repetition is still needed, even though it can be less frequent. If you compare your learning tools to a car, mnemonics is like a tire. You can go on without it, but it makes for a smooth ride
• Myth: The more you repeat the better. 
• Many books tell you to review your materials as often as possible (Repetitio mater studiorum est). 
• Fact: Not only frequent repetition is a waste of your precious time, it may also prevent you from effectively forming strong memories. The fastest way to building long-lasting memories is to review your material in a precisely determined moments of time. For long memories with minimum effort use spaced repetition (see SuperMemo)
• Myth: You should always use mnemonic techniques. 
• Some enthusiasts of mnemonic techniques claim that you should use them in all situations and for all sorts of knowledge. They claim that learning without mnemonic techniques is always less effective. 
• Fact: Mnemonic techniques also carry some costs. Sometimes it is easier to commit things to memory straight away. The pair of wordsteacher=instruisto in Esperanto is mnemonic on its own (assuming you know the rules of Esperanto grammar, basic roots and suffixes). Using mnemonic techniques may be an overkill in some circumstances. The rule of thumb is: evoke mnemonic techniques only when you detect a problem with remembering a given thing. For example, you will nearly always want to use a peg-system to memorize phone numbers. Best of all, mnemonic tricks should be a part of your automatically and subconsciously employed learning arsenal. You will develop it over a long run time with massive learning
• Myth: We cannot improve memory by training. 
• Infinite memory is a popular optimist's myth. A pessimist's myth is that we cannot improve our memory via training. Even William James in his genius book The Principles of Psychology (1890) wrote with certainty that memory does not change unless for the worse (e.g. as a result of disease). 
• Fact: If considered at a very low synaptic level, memory is indeed quite resilient to improvement. Not only does it seem to change little in the course of life. It is also very similar in its action across the human population. At the very basic level, synapses of a low-IQ individual are as trainable as that of a genius. They are also not much different from those of a mollusk Aplysia or a fly Drosophila. However, there is more to memory and learning than just a single synapse. The main difference between poor students and geniuses is in their skill to represent information for learning. A genius quickly dismembers information and forms simple models that make life easy. Simple models of reality help understand it, process it and remember it. What William James failed to mention is that a week-long course in mnemonic techniques dramatically increases learning skills for many people. Their molecular or synaptic memory may not improve. What improves is their skill to handle knowledge. Consequently, they can remember more and longer. Learning is a self-accelerating and self-amplifying process. As such it often leads to miraculous results.
• Myth: Encoding variability theory. 
• Many researchers used to believe that presenting material in longer intervals is effective because of varying contexts in which the same information is presented.
• Fact: Methodical research indicates that the opposite is true. If you repeat your learning material in the exactly same context, your recall will be easier. Naturally, knowledge acquired in one context may be difficult to recover in another context. For this reason, your learning should focus on producing very precise memory trace that will be universally recoverable in varying contexts. For example, if you want to learn the word informavore, you should not ask How can I call John? He eats knowledge for breakfast. This definition is too context-dependent. Even if it is easy to remember, it may later appear useless. Better ask: How do I call a person who devours information?. Now, even if you always ask the same question in the same context, you are likely to correctly use the wordinformavore when it is needed. For more on encoding variability and spacing effect see: Spaced repetition in the practice of learning 
• Myth: Mind maps are always better than pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words. 
• It is true that we remember pictures far better than words. It is true that mind maps are one of the best pictorial representations of knowledge. Some mnemonists claim that all we learn should be in the form of a picture or even a mind map. 
• Fact: It all depends on the material we learn. One of the greatest advantages of text is its compactness and ease at which we can produce it. To memorize your grandma's birthday, you do not really need her picture. A simple verbal mnemonic will be fast to type and should suffice. In word-pair learning, 80% of your material may be textual and still be as good or even better than pictorials. If you ask about the date of the Battle of Trafalgar, you do not need a picture of Napoleon as an illustration. As long as you recall his face at the sound of his name, you have established all links needed to deduce relevant pieces of knowledge. If you add a picture of the actual battle, you will increase the quality and extent of memorized information, but you will need to invest extra minutes into finding the appropriate illustration. Sometimes a simple text formula is all you need
• Myth: Review your material on the first day several times. 
• Many authors suggest repeated drills on the day of the first contact with the new learning material. Others propose microspacing (i.e. using spaced repetition for intervals lasting minutes and hours). These are supposed to consolidate the newly learned knowledge. 
• Fact: A single effective repetition on the first day of learning is all you need. Naturally it may happen, you cannot recall a piece of information upon a single exposure. In such cases you may need to repeat the drill. It may also happen that you cannot effectively put together related pieces of information and you need some review to build the big picture. However, in the ideal case, on the day #1 you should (1) understand and (2) execute a single successful active recall (such as answering the question "When did Pangea start breaking up?"). One exposure should then suffice to begin the process of consolidating the memory trace
• Myth: Review your material next day after a good night sleep. 
• Many authors believe that sleep consolidates memories and you need to strike iron while it is hot to ensure good recall. In other words, they suggest a good review on the next day after the first exposure. 
• Fact: Although sleep is vital for learning and review is vital for remembering, the optimal timing of the first review is usually closer to 3-7 days. This number comes from calculations that underlie spaced repetition. If we aim to maximize the speed of learning at a steady 95% recall rate, most well-formulated knowledge for a well-trained student will call for the first review in 3-7 days. Some pieces must indeed be reviewed on the next day. Some can wait as long as a month. SuperMemo and other computer programs based on spaced repetition will optimize the length of the first interval before the first review
• Myth: Learn new things before sleep. 
• Because of the research showing the importance of sleep in learning, there is a widespread myth claiming that the best time for learning is right before sleep. This is supposed to ensure that newly learned knowledge gets quickly consolidated overnight. 
• Fact: The opposite is true. The best time for learning in a healthy individual is early morning. Many students suffer from DSPS (see: Good sleep for good learning) and simply cannot learn in the morning. They are too drowsy. Their mind seems most clear in the quiet of the late night. They may indeed get better results by learning in the night, but they should rather try to resolve their sleep disorder (e.g. with free running sleep). Late learning may reduce memory interference, i.e. obliteration of the learned material by the new knowledge acquired during the day. However, a far more important factor is the neurohormonal state of the brain in the learning process. In a hormonal sense, the brain is best suited for learning in the morning. It shows highest alertness and the best balance between attention and creativity. The gains in knowledge structure and the speed of processing greatly outweigh all minor advantages of late-night learning
• Myth: Long sleep is good for memory. 
• Association of sleep and learning made many believe that the longer we sleep the healthier we are. In addition, long sleep improves memory consolidation.
• Fact: All we need for effective learning is well-structured sleep at the right time and of the optimum length. Many individuals sleep less than 5 hours and wake up refreshed. Many geniuses sleep little and practice catnaps. Long sleep may correlate with disease. This is why mortality studies show that those who sleep 7 hours live longer than 9-hour-sleepers. The best formula for good sleep: listen to your body. Go to sleep when you are sleepy and sleep as long as you need. When you catch a good rhythm without an alarm clock, your sleep may ultimately last less but produce far better results in learning. It is the natural healthy structure of sleep cycles that makes for good learning (esp. in non-declarative problem solving, creativity, procedural learning, etc.). It is not true that if your sleep is short, so is your memory
• Myth: Alpha-waves are best for learning. 
• Zillions of speed-learning programs propose learning in a "relaxed state". Consequently, gazillions of dollars are  misinvested by customers seeking instant relief to their educational pains. 
• Fact: It is true that relaxed state is vital for learning. "Relaxed" here means stress-free, distraction-free, and fatigue-free. However, a red light should blink when you hear of fast learning through inducing alpha states. Alpha waves are better known from showing up when you are about to fall asleep. They are better correlated with lack of visual processing than with the absence of distracting stress. You do not need "alpha-wave machinery" to enter the "relaxed state". You can do far better by investing your time and money in ensuring good peaceful environment for learning, as well as in skills related to time-management, conflict-resolution, and stress-management. Neurofeedback devices may play a role in hard to crack stress cases. However, good health, peaceful environment, loving family, etc. are your simple bets for the "relaxed state"
• Myth: Memory gets worse as we age. 
• Aging universally affects all organs. 50% of 80-year-olds show symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Hence the overwhelming belief that memory unavoidably gets rusty at an older age. 
• Fact: It is true we lose neurons with age. It is true that the risk of Alzheimer's increases with age. However, a well-trained memory is quite resilient and shows comparatively fewer functional signs of aging than the joints, the heart, the vascular system, etc. Moreover, training increases the scope of your knowledge, and paradoxically, your mental abilities may actually increase well into a very advanced age
• Myth: You can boost your learning with memory pills. 
• Countless companies try to market various drugs and supplements with claims of improved memory. 
• Fact: There are no memory pills out there (August 2003). Many drugs and supplements indirectly help your memory by simply making you healthier. Many substances can help the learning process itself (e.g. small doses of caffeine, sugar, etc.), but these should not be central to your concerns. It is like running a marathon. There are foods and drugs that can help you run, but if you are a lousy runner, no magic pill can make finish in less than 3 hours. Do not bank on pharmiracles. A genius memory researcher Prof. Jim Tully believes that his CREB research will ultimately lead to a memory pill. However, his memory pill is not likely to specifically affect desired memories while leaving other memories to inevitable forgetting. As such, each application of the pill will likely produce a side effect of enhanced memory traces for all things learned in the affected period. Neural network researchers know the problem as stability-vs.-plasticity dilemma. Evolution solved this problem in a way that will be hard to change. Admittedly though, combination of a short-lasting memory enhancement with a sharply-focused spaced repetition (as with SuperMemo) could indeed bring further enhancement to learning
• Myth: Learning by doing is the best. 
• Everyone must have experienced the value of learning by doing. This form of learning often leads to memories that last for years. No wonder, some educators believe that learning by doing should monopolize educational practice. 
• Fact: Learning by doing is very effective in terms of the quality of produced memories, but it is also very expensive in expenditure of time, material, organization, etc. The experience of a dead frog's leg coming to life upon touching a wire may stay with one for life (perhaps as murderous nightmares resulting from the guilt of killing). However, a single picture or mpeg of the same experiment can be downloaded from the net in seconds and retained for life with spaced repetition at the cost of 60-100 seconds. This is incomparably cheaper than hunting for frogs in a pond. When you learn to program your VCR, you do not try all functions listed in the manual as this could take a lifetime. You skim the highlights and practice only those clicks that are useful for you. We should practise learning by doing only then when it pays. Naturally, in the area of procedural learning (e.g. swimming, touch typing, playing instruments, etc.), learning by doing is the right way to go. That comes from the definition of procedural learning
• Myth: It is possible to memorize Encyclopedia Britannica. 
• Anecdotal evidence points to historical and legendary figures able of incredible feats of memory such as learning 56 languages by the age of 17, memorizing 100,000 hadiths, showing photographic memory lasting for years, etc. No wonder that it leads to the conviction that it is possible to memorize Britannica word for word. It is supposed to only be the question of the right talent or the right technique. 
• Fact: A healthy, intelligent and non-mutant mind shows a surprisingly constant learning rate. If Britannica is presented as a set of well-formulated questions and answers, it is easy to provide a rough estimate of the total time needed to memorize it. If there are 44 million words in Britannica, we will generate 6-15 million cloze deletions, these will require 50-300 million repetitions by the time of job's end (see spaced repetition theory), and that translates to 25-700 years of work assuming 6 hours of unflagging daily effort. All that assuming that the material is ready-to-memorize. Preparing appropriate questions and answers may take 2-5 times more than the mere memorization. If language fluency is set at 20,000 items (this is what you need to pass TOEFL in flying colors or comfortably read Shakespeare), the lifetime limit on learning languages around 50 might not be impossible (assuming total dawn-to-dusk dedication to the learning task). Naturally, those who claim fluency in 50 languages, are more likely to show an arsenal of closer to 2000 words per language and still impress many
• Myth: Hypertext can substitute for memory. 
• An amazingly large proportion of the population holds memorization in contempt. Terms "rote memorization", "recitatory rehearsal", "mindless repetition" are used to label any form of memorization or repetition as unintelligent. Seeing the "big picture", "reasoning" and leaving the job of remembering to external hypertext sources are supposed to be viable substitutes. 
• Fact: Associative memory underlies the power of the human mind. Hypertext references are a poor substitute for associative memory. Two facts stored in human memory can instantly be put together and bring a new idea to life. The same facts stored on the Internet will remain useless until they are pieces together inside a creative mind. A mind rich in knowledge, can produce rich associations upon encountering new information. An empty mind is as useful as a toddler given the power of the Internet in search of a solution. Biological neural networks work in such a way, that knowledge is retained in memory only if it is refreshed/reviewed. Learning and repetition are therefore still vital for the progress of mankind.
• Myth: People differ in the speed of learning, but they all forget at the same speed. 
• Fact: Although there are mutations that might affect the forgetting rate, at the very lowest biological level, i.e. the synaptic level, the rate of forgetting is indeed basically the same; independent of how smart you are. However, the same thing that makes people learn faster, helps them forget slower. The key to learning and slow forgetting is representation (i.e. the way knowledge is formulated). If you learn with SuperMemo, you will know that items can range from being very difficult to being very easy. The difficult ones are forgotten much faster and require shorter intervals between repetitions. The key to making items easy, is to formulate them well. Moreover, good students will show better performance on the exactly same material. This is because the ultimate test on the formulation of knowledge is not in how it is structured in your learning material, but in the way it is stored in your mind. With massive learning effort, you will gradually improve the way you absorb and represent knowledge in your mind. The fastest student is the one who can instinctively visualize and store knowledge in his mind using minimum-information maximum-connectivity imagery
• Myth: Learning while sleeping. 
• An untold number of learning programs promises you to save years of life by learning during sleep. 
• Fact: It is possible to store selected memories generated during sleep by: external stimuli, dreams, hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (i.e. hallucinations experienced while falling asleep and while waking up). However, it is nearly impossible to harness this process into productive learning. The volume of knowledge that can be gained during sleep is negligible. Learning in sleep may be disruptive to sleep itself. Learning while sleeping should not be confused with the natural process of memory consolidation and optimization that occurs during sleep. This process occurs during a complete sensory cut-off, i.e. there are no known methods of influencing its course to the benefit of learning. Learning while sleeping is not only a complete waste of time. It may simply be unhealthy
• Myth: High fluency reflects high memory strength. 
• Our daily observations seem to indicate that if we recall things easily,  if we show high fluency, we are likely to remember things for long. 
• Fact:Fluency is not related to memory strength! The two-component model of long-term memory shows that fluency is related to the memory variable called retrievability, while the length of the period in which we can retain memories is related to another variable called stability. These two variables are independent. This means that we cannot derive memory stability from the current fluency (retrievability). The misconception comes from the fact that in traditional learning, i.e. learning that is not based on spaced repetition, we tend to remember only memories that are relatively easy to remember. Those memories will usually show high fluency (retrievability). They will also last for long for reasons of importance, repetition, emotional attachment, etc. No wonder that we tend to believe that high fluency is correlated with memory strength. Users of SuperMemo can testify that despite excellent fluency that follows a repetition, the actual length of the interval in which we recall an item will rather depend on the history of previous repetitions, i.e. we remember better those items that have been repeated many times. See also: automaticity vs. probability of forgetting