there are four keys to learning faster and just remember the acronym fast f a s t and the F stands for forget which is so weird as a memory coach but I feel like sometimes we don't learn because we think we know a subject you know if you think you know sales because you've been doing sales for 30 years and you go to a training maybe your your mind is like a parachute it only works when it's open right so I just want to remind you that sometimes like especially when I first started in my
early 20s I would be in a corporation and people there would be twice or three times my age and you know the challenges is you know to be able to teach and and I feel like when I'm speaking for a company there's usually three types of people there's either people that are the vacationers and I call them that because they're just in they're there just so they don't have to work right then there are people there that are the know-it-alls you know which and you could tell because they're you arms are crossed and they know
everything about everything right and then you have your your learners you know the people that are really a privilege to be able to work with they they have an open mind and so I would say F in fast forget what you know about a subject so you can learn something new um temporarily and so forget about distractions like even when you're here I hope that you're here you're not trying to multitask and do you know checking emails do all those things because we can't do it very well the brain doesn't multitask very well it's just
like texting and driving you're going to have make more mistakes even by the way like when we talk about reading some people say does somebody posted in the questions about audio books and um how many of you like listening to books audiobooks now when people are tested from reading and Audi books for the things that matter comprehension and retention right understanding and remembering what you listen to which one tests better people that read or people that listen so it's actually it's actually reading and one of the reasons why and I love audiobooks um our audiobook
is me and my uh my business partner of almost 20 years Alexis and uh we talk at the end of every chapter so it's kind of like we talk about the chapter so it's a lot you know hours of more content there I love audiobooks and obviously we're approaching 400 EP episodes for our podcast you know we're across 100 million downloads this year uh we' never done one uh sponsor or ad so you could listen to it it's all 20 minutes or less uh you could join our YouTube where we have 1.6 million subscribers there
to further your education in this but um reading actually performs better for comprehension and retention and it's I'll tell you one of the reasons why is because when someone's listening to audiobook you're usually doing something else you know what I mean you're usually driving or you're working out or you're cleaning the house or you're doing something and so that multitasking because your focus is split you're not understanding or retaining and the Art of memory is the art of attention all right so that's the d f forget about what you know temporarily so you can learn
something new and forget about distractions temporarily so you could really just focus instead of multitask you monot Tas like you're doing right now the a in fast is active I want to remind you that learning is not a spectator sport all right the human brain doesn't learn best through consumption you can't push information in as well as you can pull it in or create so it's not so much consumption as it is creation the responsibility is not always the teacher to push information in it's as a limitless learner it's having agency so when I introduced
uh Richard Branson and Stan Lee were in the car and I asked Stan I was like you created all these amazing superheroes who's who's your favorite and he says uh Jim it's Iron Man and he and and he asked me back he said he said Jim who's your favorite superhero and I he had this um if you're if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram whatever I post a picture and he has a Spider-Man tie so I said Spider-Man and without a pause in Stan's iconic voice he goes we great power comes great put in
responsibility right and um I'm gonna get a little real with you like sometimes when I read or I hear something I reverse it um maybe because of my head injuries um but I heard something different and I was like Stan you're right with great power comes great responsibility and the opposite is also true with great responsibility comes great power when we take responsibility for something we have great power to make things better right because the opposite is complaining and making excuses and all those could be valid it could be very true but then nothing changes
right so and we can't be upset by the results we didn't get from the work we didn't do you can't be upset by the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do and I think sometimes we give up our power agency like a thermometer and we just react as opposed to I take responsibility and I think one of the most important things to be responsible for is the s in fast which is State all learning is State dependent now when I say State what do I mean yeah how you feel your emotions all
learning is State dependent that the key to a long-term memory is information combined with emotion becomes a long-term memory you know a little bit about brain anatomy um shake out a hand and just make a fist and then take your other hand and put it on top so this is your Triune brain where your wrist is like the brain stem the the cap is your your Neo cortex right your new brain Neo new and that's what's left and right brain right when you say left and right brain that's your neocortex the middle brain your fist
is there's a number of parts to your brain there one of it is looks like a seahorse and the primary function it's called your hippocampus the primary function is what memory attached to it is like an almond shaped part of your brain and that's your amygdala and how many of you heard of amydala so it's kind of like a switching station for emotions but isn't it interesting that your hippocampus memory is connected to your amydala emotions right because how many people he there's a song If it's playing it could take you back to when you're
a teenager right just a few notes or maybe a food or a fragrance could take you back to when you're child because the information by itself is forgettable but information tied with the emotion becomes Unforgettable but what was the Primary Emotion you felt as a Learner in school you're sitting in class what is the Primary Emotion you felt sitting in school Kelly stress boredom get me out of here frustration so if it's boredom like half half half half of people are confused the other half is like bored boredom on a scale of 0o to 10
of emotion is what zero and if it's information times emotion is a long-term memory if it's boredom or zero what's anything time zero zero and you wonder why you forgot the periodic table right and so the idea here the S and fast stands for state so going back to Stan's advice with responsibility comes greater power I think one of the most important things to be responsible for is how you feel like how many of you have a to-do list I really think it's important to have a to list like what are three emotions because remember
you don't have Focus you do it you don't have a memory you do it you don't have motivation you do it you don't have energy you do it same same thing also when when it comes to feelings you don't have feelings you do it and there are muscles and wherever you're spending the most time in your feelings that's what's your you're flexing on a regular basis and so I would say for State the most important thing to be responsible for is how you feel so have it to feel list what are three emotions and I
know certain emotions will just accelerate learning emotions like playfulness and fun and uh emotions like confidence right and in Psychology there's this confidence confidence Loop that the more conf ENT you get the more confident you get so most people don't read because they're not competent readers how many of you when you read your mind wanders or you don't understand what you're reading or you fall asleep right and like I'm not a great golfer so I don't golf very much right because I'm not good at it but if you're good at it more competent you get
the more confident you get and because you're confident you're going to do it more right and same thing with reading and same thing with memory same thing with Focus so s is state like even when you're facing a difficulty or demand how many of you have a difficulty in your life or a dilemma right if you're human we we all have these instead of asking what do I need to do I I would challenge you instead of asking yourself what do I need to do or say or whatever like you'll say you're in a spirit
of debate with a family member what do I need to say what do I need to do instead take take a step back and ask yourself who do I need to be you know how would I want to feel at this moment because if you want to be compassionate the doing takes care of itself does that make sense and so you have it to to to-do list but we're not human you know like Wayne Dyer says we're not you know human doings we human beings what's your to be list that day and cultivate that identity
and I think a great identity to adopt is that of a limitless learner right and you start looking for evidence that you could wow you memorize 10 keys to a better brain you memorize 10 brain foods forwards and backwards in literally a couple minutes it took more time for me to explain it than it would actually would for you to do it right so s is State control your state and how do you control your state you could smile show show everyone your billion- dollar smile right it just changes how you feel and you're going
to encode the information different and finally the last T in fast is teach teach when I want to learn something better and deeper I learn it with the intention of teaching somebody else even when I'm reading a book or listening to a presentation I ask how would I teach this and I think about someone very specific you know so again it's the explanation effect the explanation effect in science says when you learn something with the intention of teaching somebody else you're going to learn it better you're going to focus better you're going to take better
notes you're going to ask more questions you're going to personalize this information so forget what you know forget about distractions a be more active take notes ask questions do the exercises stand up do these things I silly exercise I do s is State control your state probably one of the most important things cuz learning like life is all state dependent and the t is teach learn with the intention of teaching somebody else and you're learn it so much better
