0:01 Let's say you've got a lot of complex
0:03 stuff to learn in a very short amount of
0:05 time. It can feel overwhelming, but
0:06 there's a very high chance that the
0:08 reason it feels overwhelming is because
0:10 your brain is stuck in patterns of
0:12 learning that are actually making it
0:13 harder than it needs to be. And I know
0:15 this because I've seen this in thousands
0:16 of students and professionals who spend
0:19 more than enough hours learning, but
0:20 they still struggle. And in fact, across
0:22 my 13 plus years of being a learning
0:24 coach, this is one of the most common
0:26 issues that I see. But the good news is
0:28 that you can change these neural
0:31 patterns. You can literally rewire the
0:33 way your brain learns to make it faster
0:34 and better at learning. And it's because
0:36 of this phenomenon called neuroplasticity.
0:38 neuroplasticity.
0:39 So in this video, I'm going to teach you
0:41 what neuroplasticity is and how you can
0:44 leverage this to make your brain a more
0:47 efficient learning machine. So to start
0:51 with, what actually is neuroplasticity?
0:54 In short, neuroplasticity is your
0:58 brain's ability to change and adapt. So
1:00 the entire concept that you can get
1:02 better at things, that you can learn new
1:04 skills, that's because of
1:06 neuroplasticity. It's the idea that your
1:09 brain is not this fixed static thing,
1:12 which seems obvious, but actually wasn't
1:14 so obvious pretty recently. We used to
1:16 think that you go through childhood,
1:17 your brain develops, and then when you
1:20 become an adult, it's pretty fixed. And
1:21 that's your intelligence. That's how
1:23 smart you are. That's how good you are
1:24 at learning. If there are some topics
1:26 and subjects that you're better at, then
1:28 those are your natural strengths and
1:29 that's sort of how it's going to be for
1:31 the rest of your life. But that's
1:33 completely not true. While there are
1:35 certain preferences and certain habits
1:37 and certain processes that you are going
1:39 to be better at either because of your
1:41 genetics or because of your childhood
1:44 experiences. The brain is surprisingly
1:46 very malleable and can learn to be good
1:49 at a lot of things even if you start off
1:52 being terrible at them. learning being
1:53 one of those things. And if you have
1:55 found yourself in a situation where you
1:59 have a lot to learn and you feel like
2:01 you cannot keep compensating for this
2:04 just by spending more time learning,
2:06 then this is really important because it
2:07 means that there is an alternative
2:09 pathway here which is instead of just
2:11 compensating, you can actually just
2:14 upgrade the way that your brain learns.
2:15 So in the same amount of time, you can
2:17 cover more content or the same amount of
2:19 content to a deeper level. And for most
2:22 learners, this should be a really top
2:24 priority because the benefit you get
2:26 from retraining your brain and making it
2:29 a more efficient learning machine is
2:31 lifelong. But there are some
2:34 requirements that have to be met to make
2:36 your brain undergo this neuroplastic
2:38 change a little bit more quickly because
2:40 you probably don't want to be spending
2:43 the next 15 years of your life waiting
2:45 for your brain to slowly upgrade. But
2:47 before I teach you how to do that more
2:48 quickly, we actually first need to
2:51 understand why our brain isn't wired to
2:53 learn that efficiently to begin with.
2:56 Because those very reasons are probably
2:58 going to be the same reasons that hold
3:00 you back from trying to rewire your
3:02 brain. And to understand that, we need
3:05 to go back to what the brain was
3:07 actually well adapted to do in the first
3:08 place. So let's say that this is a
3:11 person with an enormously large head.
3:13 And this is the brain inside here.
3:17 This brain is very well adapted to do a
3:20 few things. It's really good at looking
3:23 at patterns. It's really good at
3:25 learning things that are practical. And
3:26 it's really good at learning socially
3:29 from other people, especially if that
3:30 thing that you're learning is really
3:32 practical. And it's good at all of these
3:34 things because all of these things help
3:37 with survival. If you can see the
3:40 pattern of a a tiger's face in the bush,
3:43 you're likely going to survive. Learning
3:45 is a very practical thing that your
3:48 brain is really really good at doing.
3:51 It's not really good at passing an exam.
3:53 So if we take this brain which is geared
3:56 to do this type of learning really
3:58 really well and then you tell it that
4:01 you need to learn this really high
4:04 volume of information in a really short
4:07 amount of time to a very high level of
4:10 detail when it doesn't really seem practical
4:12 practical
4:14 uh or relevant for your daily life. And
4:16 even though technically there are
4:18 patterns that you can see, you only
4:19 start to see those patterns when you've
4:21 learned a lot about the topic. So in the
4:23 beginning, those patterns are not at all
4:24 obvious. And then you're going to be
4:28 examined on this at a extremely high
4:31 level of detail with a really high level
4:33 of retention that you need on this
4:35 seemingly irrelevant, highly detailed
4:37 information. You can see that what we're
4:39 asking our brain to do is not what it
4:42 was kind of built to do. To combat this,
4:46 we figure out methods and strategies of
4:49 dealing with the artificial modern needs
4:52 of learning. So we start doing things
4:54 like wrote memorization. We use methods
4:56 of learning that are very repetitive. We
4:59 write a whole lot of notes, lots and
5:01 lots and lots of notes. And usually we
5:04 do that repetitively. And we do this, we
5:07 use these methods for years.
5:10 And these then become habits of
5:12 learning. And then when we think about
5:14 learning, we no longer think about this
5:16 stuff which your brain is really good
5:19 at. We think about this stuff. We think
5:21 about the methods and the habits that we
5:24 built up. And over time we assume that
5:28 these habits, this is what learning is.
5:31 But that is absolutely not true. And
5:32 this is why when I coach someone, the
5:33 first thing that they have to understand
5:36 is that the way you are used to
5:38 learning, the way that is comfortable
5:39 for you, the way that you have been
5:41 learning for years, and probably the way
5:43 that all of your friends have been
5:46 learning for years, that is not the way
5:48 you should be learning. That is the way
5:51 you have been forced to figure out how
5:54 to survive in the system and get by. And
5:57 it's actually really interesting because
5:59 when I work with a lot of business
6:02 owners and entrepreneurs and CEOs,
6:04 sometimes they weren't very good
6:07 academically, but they can be extremely
6:09 good learners, very very effective
6:12 learners because they were so bad
6:14 academically and at school that they
6:18 actually rejected these methods. These
6:20 methods were so bad for them that they
6:22 never turned them into habits and
6:24 instead they had to examine how their
6:27 brain prefers to learn from a blank
6:28 slate. And so the methods and strategies
6:30 that they ended up coming up with were
6:33 actually more cognitively aligned for
6:35 their brain. And I even see the opposite
6:38 thing. I work with PhD candidates who
6:39 have been academically excellent their
6:42 entire life and then when it comes to
6:44 hitting a ceiling on their current
6:45 methods and needing to upgrade that,
6:48 they find it very very challenging to
6:49 change their methods because those
6:52 habits are so ingrained. And in these
6:55 instances, those learners have engaged
6:57 in neuroplasticity a lot. Their brain
7:00 has changed and adapted and it's molded
7:04 itself to be really efficient at this
7:06 thing. It's just that the thing it got
7:09 really good at is just this stuff. And
7:12 these are not processes that are
7:15 conducive to effective learning in the
7:16 brain. And so if you're in this position
7:18 now where you've got this existing set
7:20 of methods and processes of learning
7:22 that you were really used to and you've
7:24 been using that for years and now
7:26 suddenly you feel like you're getting
7:28 progressively overwhelmed. There's too
7:30 much to learn. There's not enough time.
7:33 But the way you're trying to learn feels
7:35 like how you've always been learning.
7:37 It's what's comfortable to you. It
7:39 should be working, but it's not. If
7:41 that's happening, then that's a sign
7:44 that you need to actually retrain and
7:46 rewire the brain because you have hit
7:48 the limit of performance and result that
7:51 you can reach when you keep learning
7:53 with those patterns of thinking. So the
7:56 question is what are the good patterns
7:58 of thinking? What are those processes
8:00 and patterns and habits that are
8:02 conducive to really effective learning?
8:05 Good question. Glad I asked. Uh 20 years
8:07 ago, no one would have been able to tell
8:09 you this is how learning works because
8:11 the research wasn't really there. But
8:12 over the last 20 years of research, we
8:15 have learned a lot about how learning
8:16 works. And so while we don't know
8:18 absolutely everything, there are certain
8:22 principles that we know must be met. If
8:24 you do not meet these certain processes
8:26 and principles, the quality of your
8:28 learning is not going to be high. So
8:32 first of all, we know that memory
8:36 is a symptom. It is not that people have
8:38 a good memory or have a poor memory. It
8:42 is that the processes you use may lead
8:44 to a good memory whereas sometimes the
8:46 processes you use may lead to poor
8:50 memory. We also know that cognitive
8:53 processes are much more important than
8:57 physical processes. So it doesn't matter
8:59 if the way you write notes looks this
9:02 way versus the way you read looks this
9:04 way. What matters is what goes on inside
9:07 your brain when you consume that
9:08 information. Once that information
9:11 enters your eyes, enters your ears, and
9:14 gets inside your brain, what do you do
9:16 with that? What thoughts do you have
9:18 about this information? Those are the
9:20 processes that dictate how good your
9:22 retention is going to be and how good
9:23 your depth of understanding is going to
9:26 be. And we know that more integrative
9:28 processes, this is what I often talk
9:30 about as higher order learning are
9:34 vastly superior to isolated processes.
9:37 So when that information comes into your
9:39 brain, if you think about that in a way
9:42 that's relating it to a big picture,
9:44 looking for patterns, seeing how it
9:47 connects, looking for relevance and ways
9:50 to make it relevant, those thoughts,
9:52 even if you don't get to a clear answer
9:54 at the end of those thoughts, the
9:57 thinking in itself builds a stronger
9:59 memory and deepens your understanding.
10:01 And hopefully you should see a trend
10:03 here, which is that these effective
10:07 methods more closely mirror the type of
10:09 thinking that your brain is well adapted
10:11 to do. You're looking for patterns in
10:13 the information. You're trying to make
10:15 it more practical and more relevant.
10:18 Even if it doesn't seem relevant to
10:19 begin with, but even though this is more
10:22 effective, most people do not use these
10:24 methods. Part of it is because it's
10:26 uncomfortable. It's new, new set of
10:28 habits. They're not used to doing that
10:30 because of everything that I talked
10:32 about here. But the other reason is
10:35 because we also know that this type of
10:40 thinking involves more effort. And
10:43 effort is a good thing. Effective active
10:46 learning takes more mental effort, which
10:48 makes sense because your brain is doing
10:50 all of this integrative thinking behind
10:52 the scenes. The problem is that a lot of
10:55 people see this effort, they feel this
10:57 effort, and then they think that because
10:59 learning is feeling harder and more
11:01 effortful, it's less effective for them.
11:03 And therefore, they actually stop using
11:05 the methods that would help them the
11:07 most. Never underestimate a human
11:10 being's tendency to take the laziest,
11:12 easiest shortcut. And for learning, it's
11:14 exactly the same. Now, obviously, this
11:15 is a gross oversimplification. There's
11:17 lots more complexity around learning
11:20 than this. But even with just these four
11:22 points, you can form a mental checklist
11:23 about whether a technique is going to be
11:25 effective or not. If you appreciate that
11:27 memory is a symptom, then you should
11:28 understand that you should be thinking
11:30 about the processes and trying to vary
11:33 the processes. That becomes one
11:36 checklist. You should be doing lots of
11:38 thinking inside your brain which is
11:40 integrative. So you should be doing integrative
11:42 integrative thinking
11:44 thinking
11:46 and it should take a reasonable amount
11:49 of effort and it should be mentally engaging.
11:51 engaging.
11:55 So let's take a technique like reading
11:57 and rereading something. Are you
11:59 focusing on the process of learning that
12:00 you're using? Not really. You're just
12:02 doing the same thing over and over again
12:03 hoping that it leads to a different
12:05 result. So there's an X here. When you
12:08 read that stuff, are you doing complex
12:10 engaged thinking mentally with what you
12:13 read? Not really. You're hoping that
12:14 when those words enter your eyeballs,
12:16 somehow that's going to translate into
12:19 memory with enough repetition. So, big X
12:21 there. And how difficult, how much
12:24 effort, how engaging is it? Not very
12:26 because if it was, you probably wouldn't
12:28 be falling asleep every time you do
12:30 this. So, big X on that, too. Now let's
12:32 contrast this with another technique
12:34 which is very popular and genuinely
12:36 pretty effective which is to teach
12:38 someone else what you've learned. So the
12:41 very fact that you are trying to use a
12:43 different process to consolidate your
12:45 learning that's good. You are also
12:47 having to recall what you've learned
12:50 bring it together figure out a logical
12:52 way to teach someone else and actually
12:56 generate that teaching. That's good. And
12:58 if you've ever tried teaching, it's a
13:00 lot harder than just passively reading
13:03 something. So on this one, that's also a
13:05 tick. This is why the idea of teaching
13:08 to a 10year-old is especially effective
13:10 because it takes this integrative
13:12 thinking part and it increases the
13:14 amount of effort and engagement. Because
13:15 if you're teaching it to a 10-year-old,
13:17 you have to not only organize your
13:19 thoughts, create a flow that's logical
13:21 and intuitive and makes sense, but then
13:23 you have to simplify it. So you have to
13:25 evaluate how well you understand this
13:27 thing to make something that is simple
13:30 and accurate and comprehensive. That is
13:32 very difficult and very mentally
13:35 engaging. And a person who is wired to
13:38 learn really effectively naturally leans
13:41 towards using methods and strategies
13:43 that promote this kind of thinking.
13:46 Whereas the person whose habits and
13:49 comfortable strategies of learning are
13:52 generally like this, not very
13:55 integrative. They're more just doing the
13:56 same technique over and over again and
13:59 thinking about information in isolation,
14:01 usually not involving much effort. When
14:03 you've been doing this for years, these
14:05 people will have brains that have become
14:08 wired to find learning more difficult.
14:11 And so the way that you go from a brain
14:14 that is not wired effectively to
14:16 becoming wired more efficiently is to
14:19 understand what these processes are, the
14:21 ones that you should be doing and slowly
14:26 practice them. You immerse yourself in
14:29 these patterns of thinking and over time
14:32 your brain adopts this neuroplastic
14:35 change and will slowly rewire and mold
14:37 itself. At least that is the big
14:39 picture. But like I mentioned before,
14:41 there are certain requirements that have
14:43 to be met. It's not as simple as saying,
14:45 "Hey, just start learning like this and
14:46 everything's going to change for you
14:48 magically." There's actually certain
14:50 conditions that you need to meet in
14:52 order to make neuroplasticity work for
14:54 you more effectively. Otherwise, like I
14:56 said, it's going to take you years and
14:57 years and years. Now, I will quickly
14:59 mention that these requirements for
15:02 neuroplastic change, there are eight of
15:04 these core requirements and I'm going to
15:06 go through them fairly quickly in this
15:07 video because I don't want this to
15:10 become a 6hour video. But if for any of
15:12 these you want to go a little bit more
15:14 in depth, one good place that you can
15:15 find that information is in my free
15:18 weekly newsletter. I go through some of
15:20 these things with a bit more examples,
15:22 some more walkthroughs in some of those
15:23 newsletters and it can give you a few
15:25 more ideas in terms of how you can
15:27 implement these requirements for
15:29 neuroplastic change. So, uh, if you'd
15:30 like to join that, it's totally free.
15:32 Uh, each newsletter takes a few minutes
15:34 to read. I'll leave a link to that in
15:36 the description down below if you'd like
15:37 to join. So, starting with the first
15:41 requirement for rapid
15:45 neuroplastic change, which is intention.
15:46 Now, it's going to be a lot easier for
15:49 me to explain intention and all the
15:51 other principles if you can sort of
15:53 visualize what's actually happening
15:55 physically in your brain with the
15:56 neurons. So, I'll just draw this quick
15:59 diagram here. This thing here, this is
16:01 called an axon. It's like a highway for
16:03 the electrical signals in your brain.
16:05 So, when you have thoughts, uh, they're
16:08 going up and down this highway and it
16:11 terminates at this area called a
16:14 syninnapse. The syninnapse is the
16:16 connection between two neurons. So this
16:19 here is neuron number one and this here
16:21 is neuron number two. Okay? And this is
16:23 another axon. So if you have a thought,
16:24 what's going to happen is that it's
16:26 going to travel down here and it's going
16:28 to cross this connection, this
16:30 syninnapse, and then it's going to
16:32 travel down this axon as well. And so
16:35 your brain is made up of billions or
16:37 actually maybe trillions, hundreds of
16:39 trillions of these synapses and these
16:41 connections. and they form this
16:44 extremely dense intricate network and
16:46 that is pretty much your brain. And so
16:48 let's say we kind of zoom out from this
16:52 view. Uh and it looks like this. So
16:54 we've got these different brain
16:56 connections. So each of these lines is
16:58 an axon
17:00 and each of these little circles here
17:02 that's a synapse. So it's a connection
17:05 between two different neurons. Now when
17:07 your brain is doing a certain type of
17:09 thinking and especially when there's
17:12 patterns of thinking it's using certain
17:15 pathways. So one pattern of thinking
17:17 might look like this. You'd start from
17:20 here, you go down here. Uh maybe you
17:22 come like that and that becomes a
17:24 pathway. Another pathway might be that
17:26 you you know start over here and then
17:27 you you know you come down here and then
17:30 you you you go back up over to here. So
17:32 that would be another pathway. And the
17:35 idea is that the pathways that are used
17:38 more frequently are the ones that get
17:40 reinforced and strengthened over time.
17:42 So the idea with this first requirement,
17:44 which is intention, is that when you
17:47 deliberately intend to think in a
17:50 certain way and you try to use a certain
17:54 pattern of thinking, it's more effective
17:57 at activating those specific pathways.
17:59 This is fairly obvious. Like if you're
18:01 just kind of randomly thinking about
18:03 things, not very intentionally, maybe
18:05 your brain is doing this sometimes,
18:06 maybe it's doing this sometimes, maybe
18:08 it's doing this sometimes, maybe it's
18:10 doing that. It's going to be a mix of
18:12 all of those things. The intention
18:14 basically means that we want to be very
18:17 clear about how we are thinking and very
18:21 purposeful so that we try to use the
18:23 pathways that we know are more
18:25 beneficial and therefore it means that
18:27 they're more likely to be activated and
18:29 strengthened over time. This is the
18:31 reason why I spent time talking about
18:33 all these different prerequisites and
18:35 requirements for effective learning. You
18:38 have to understand what effective
18:39 learning actually looks like at a
18:41 process level so that you can be
18:44 intentional with how you think. It's not
18:45 good enough for me to say use this
18:47 technique and you will be a good
18:49 learner. It doesn't work that way. Even
18:51 if you know the technique, you have to
18:53 understand how it's meant to make you
18:56 think cognitively. And that intention is
18:59 what drives that neuroplastic change.
19:01 Well, is one of the eight things that
19:03 drive the neuroplastic change. The
19:08 second point is intensity.
19:11 Let's say you've now learned about these
19:13 effective methods and processes of
19:15 thinking and learning and you've watched
19:16 some my other videos taking my course.
19:18 Maybe you've learned about these things
19:20 and so you give it a go. You sit down
19:22 with your material. You're about to
19:24 study. You read a few lines and you try
19:25 to draw a mind map for like five
19:28 minutes. you're not going to really get
19:30 any neuroplastic change because the
19:33 intensity of that stimulus wasn't
19:34 enough. It's kind of like going to a
19:36 gym, lifting up a weight for one rep,
19:39 and being like, "Am I stronger yet?" No,
19:42 not not even a little bit. The threshold
19:44 that you need to reach in terms of
19:46 intensity for that neuroplastic change
19:49 to actually kick in is sometimes
19:51 actually fairly high. And a simple rule
19:54 of thumb that I recommend is that you
19:56 should calibrate the intensity so that
19:58 it's always challenging. When you're
20:00 learning a new skill, if you want to
20:02 improve at that skill, get better at it,
20:04 get used to that skill, you should
20:06 practice in a way where you feel
20:08 challenged. You don't get good at
20:11 something by getting to perfection at an
20:13 easy level. You get good at something by
20:15 getting good enough at a certain level
20:17 and then moving on to the next level
20:20 where you're rechallenged. So if you uh
20:22 let's say that being really really good
20:25 at this kind of learning is a 10 out of
20:27 10, right? You can do all of these
20:28 processes really really well. That's
20:31 that's a 10 out of 10. Let's say that
20:33 one out of 10 is that everything you do
20:35 is you know very very isolated. You're a
20:37 very passive learner. Uh probably you
20:39 know memory not very good struggling
20:42 with learning a lot. So challenging for
20:45 you if you are at 1 out of 10 maybe just
20:47 to get to a 2 out of 10 or a 3 out of
20:50 10. At this point all of your problems
20:51 with learning are not being solved. You
20:54 do not have phenomenal memory. It is a
20:56 little bit better than it was before.
20:58 There is incremental bits of progress
21:00 that's being made and to achieve that is
21:02 challenging and it's effortful and after
21:04 a while it's not going to be effortful
21:05 and at that point maybe you're at a 3
21:08 out of 10 and now your next step is a 5
21:10 out of 10. Obviously, if you're starting
21:12 from a 5 out of 10, then your next step
21:14 is going to be a 7 out of 10. You don't
21:17 need to stay at 5 out of 10 or aim for a
21:19 3 out of 10 like everyone else. And so,
21:20 this is really important for learning
21:22 because your own sense of mental effort
21:24 and challenge is the only way that you
21:27 can tell whether the intensity is enough
21:28 for you. You are the only one that will
21:30 be able to feel that you are really
21:32 trying your best to think in this way
21:34 and learn in this way. And it's up to
21:37 you to recognize whether you are able to
21:40 persist through that challenge and feel
21:43 that difficulty and stay there or
21:46 whether you hit that difficulty and then
21:47 bounce back and retreat into what's more
21:49 comfortable for you. This is probably
21:51 one of the most common reasons why
21:52 people really struggle with creating
21:54 this neuroplastic change with learning
21:57 is that every time it gets difficult
21:58 they instinctively come back to their
22:00 comfort zone which is actually
22:02 preventing their brain from rewiring.
22:04 Now having said that uh you don't want
22:06 to make it too challenging. So if you
22:08 are at a 1 out of 10, you don't want to
22:11 aim for 5 out of 10 or 10 out of 10
22:13 straight away. The idea here is that
22:16 your patterns that exist might look like
22:19 this. The pattern that you need to get
22:22 to might be this. But this connection
22:24 for your brain, it doesn't actually
22:28 exist yet. So you're basically trying to
22:31 use a pathway that you don't have. This
22:34 is tied to this idea of the zone of
22:37 proximal development which is a term
22:39 that was coined famously by a
22:41 psychologist called Vigodsky and they
22:43 basically said the best point of
22:47 learning is just outside of your current
22:49 comfort zone and ability. So if this is
22:51 your current level of ability, you want
22:54 to be in this zone of proximal
22:56 development here which is the things
22:57 that are just beyond what you're
22:59 currently capable of doing. And the way
23:01 we know we are in that area is that we
23:05 have some errors. It feels challenging
23:07 and we probably don't feel confident
23:09 with it. So these are actually good
23:12 things. So that was to do with
23:14 intensity. So I write here there's a
23:16 sort of goldilocks
23:18 zone that you want to hit which is your
23:21 zone of proximal development. Not too
23:23 easy, not too hard. The third one here
23:26 is in variety.
23:29 The most effective way of getting good
23:31 at something and rewiring your brain is
23:34 not to do the same challenging thing
23:37 over and over again. It's to do slightly
23:40 different challenging things over and
23:41 over again. So, for example, let's say
23:44 that there's a specific type of math
23:46 problem that you want to get really good
23:48 at solving and you want to wire your
23:49 brain to be better at thinking about
23:51 mathematics. So there might be a
23:52 particular question that you're
23:54 answering that's very challenging for
23:57 you. Answering that question and just
23:59 very very similar questions over and
24:02 over again runs the risk of turning your
24:04 brain into autopilot. Which means that
24:08 you do figure out that this is a good
24:10 pathway to take. But instead of really
24:13 consciously activating this pathway, it
24:16 starts operating on autopilot. And this
24:17 is actually detrimental in the early
24:19 stages of learning because when your
24:22 brain starts operating on autopilot too
24:25 early, the brain chemicals that are
24:27 released actually change and the
24:30 chemicals that drive pathway
24:33 strengthening and creation that drive
24:35 neuroplasticity actually start going
24:37 down. Now, on the other hand, when you
24:38 challenge yourself with a bit of
24:41 variety, so instead of just solving the
24:43 exact same type of problem, you're
24:45 choosing similar problems related to
24:47 similar concept, but you're hitting it
24:48 from very different angles and
24:51 challenging yourself in more novel ways.
24:53 Then this introduces more
24:55 unpredictability. Sometimes it
24:57 introduces errors. And that
24:59 unpredictability and those occasional
25:02 errors actually help your brain to
25:04 calibrate which pathways are better and
25:06 which ones are worse. And it makes it
25:08 clearer and more intentional at
25:09 strengthening the ones that are
25:11 effective. This principle actually
25:13 applies for all forms of learning.
25:14 Whether you're learning knowledge or
25:17 learning a skill is that introducing a
25:19 level of variety helps your brain to
25:21 learn that thing faster. I've often
25:23 talked about this concept using the term
25:26 interle which is very closely related to
25:31 Now the good thing when it comes to
25:34 learning to learn is that it's easy to
25:35 get this variety because you're
25:37 naturally going to be studying different
25:39 things and learning different topics
25:41 with different pieces of information. So
25:43 as long as you're continuing to learn
25:44 different things and you keep
25:47 challenging yourself in different ways,
25:48 you're going to hit that variety
25:51 automatically. Now, what you may find is
25:53 that when you hit that variety, you have
25:56 inconsistency. You're able to really
25:58 make it click and get really effective,
26:00 efficient learning in one session, but
26:02 then the next week it might be just as
26:05 bad as it's always been. That's actually
26:06 perfectly normal and it's part of your
26:09 brain figuring out how to replicate that
26:12 success more times. So, don't worry
26:14 about the fact that you might have
26:16 inconsistency or you're making errors.
26:18 It's just all part of the learning
26:21 process. Now, the fourth point here is frequency.
26:23 frequency.
26:25 Like I said before with going to a gym,
26:27 lifting up a weight one time, doing one
26:28 repetition, and wondering if you're
26:30 strong or not. You can't go to the gym,
26:33 do a single workout, and then expect
26:34 that you're going to be stronger after
26:37 that. You have to go back to that gym
26:39 regularly. There has to be a certain
26:42 frequency at the intensity. So this
26:45 intention, this intensity, this variety,
26:47 this all has to happen at a certain
26:50 level of frequency for it to promote
26:52 that neuroplastic change. Otherwise,
26:53 what's going to happen is that you're
26:55 going to send this concentrated burst of
26:57 signals to the brain saying, "Hey, here
26:59 are some pathways we want to strengthen
27:01 and make more efficient." And then it's
27:03 going to start making it more efficient.
27:04 And then a week later, it's going to
27:05 realize, "Hey, guess we don't need this
27:07 anymore." And it's going to prune them
27:09 back down. You know how they say that
27:11 once you learn how to ride a bike, you
27:13 never forget? That's false. If you give
27:16 it enough time, you will forget how to
27:17 ride a bike because your brain is
27:19 constantly pruning out pathways and
27:22 connections that it doesn't need. Now,
27:23 again, practically speaking, if you're
27:26 learning to learn, part of this is easy
27:27 for you to implement because you're
27:30 probably learning continuously. You're
27:31 not just learning something for one week
27:32 and then you're just never learning
27:35 anything for the next year. every single
27:37 week there's probably something new for
27:39 you to learn. So all you need to do is
27:40 make sure that when you have those
27:42 learning sessions, you're trying to hit
27:44 a relatively intentional method of
27:47 learning at a certain level of intensity
27:50 that is in that Goldilock zone with that
27:52 level of variety. And again, naturally
27:54 the frequency should take care of
27:56 itself. Now I will mention one thing
27:58 though, which is that thinking about
28:00 challenging yourself is not the same as
28:02 actually challenging yourself. I have a
28:04 lot of people who will watch my videos
28:06 or go through the program and they spend
28:08 a lot of time thinking about the methods
28:10 and the strategies and the theory and so
28:13 the frequency at which they are engaging
28:16 with the material is very high but they
28:19 actually only practice and apply that
28:21 skill maybe like once or twice. It's not
28:24 about how much you've thought about it.
28:26 It's how much you actually immerse
28:29 yourself in the practice of challenging
28:30 yourself. And not only do you have to
28:32 immerse yourself in that frequently
28:35 enough, you have to do it for a long
28:38 enough prolonged period of time, which
28:40 is the fifth one here, the D, which is
28:43 for duration. You have to hit yourself
28:45 at the right intention, intensity,
28:48 variety, and frequency
28:51 for a long enough duration of time.
28:53 Let's say you go to the gym 3 days a
28:55 week doing some good workouts. You need
28:59 to do that three days a week for years
29:01 to get really strong. Now, you might be
29:04 thinking, how long do I need to practice
29:07 this for to get really good at it? And
29:10 the research is very unclear about this.
29:11 And so, actually, rather than drawing on
29:12 the research, I'm going to have to draw
29:14 from my own personal coaching experience
29:16 and what I've seen with the students
29:17 that work through my program and in my
29:19 coaching practice. The short answer is
29:21 that it really depends. It depends first
29:23 of all on all these other factors. the
29:25 intention, the intensity, the variety,
29:27 and the frequency. And it also depends
29:29 on your current baseline level. I've had
29:32 students who were haphazard with their
29:34 intention, didn't really expose
29:36 themselves to much intensity. Every time
29:38 they feel it was difficult, they would
29:39 kind of pull back into their comfort
29:41 zone again. They weren't challenging
29:43 themselves very frequently. They were
29:45 only practicing this maybe once or twice
29:48 a week. and they will go years like two
29:50 three years they'll be working on this
29:52 practicing and not really make much
29:54 progress because they're never really
29:57 hitting that threshold for sustained
30:00 neuroplastic change. So in that case
30:01 it's sort of an infinite amount of time.
30:03 You're never going to get there because
30:06 you're never staying above that
30:08 threshold for long enough. Whereas I'll
30:11 have other learners who maintain that
30:13 optimum level of intention and intensity
30:14 and variety and frequency and they're
30:17 able to see changes within four to six
30:19 weeks. And these could be two learners
30:22 that have the exact same baseline level
30:25 of skill. Uh but I did say that the
30:28 baseline level does matter. But the way
30:30 that it matters is how fixed those
30:32 habits tend to be and how willing you
30:34 are to change and experiment with them.
30:37 Now, normally if someone is really
30:38 really struggling with learning and
30:40 they've been struggling for a long time,
30:41 they've never really been a great
30:43 learner, then it also probably means
30:45 that there are a whole host of habits
30:47 that are not working well for them.
30:50 There's bad habits there. And so, it
30:52 actually takes them longer to see
30:54 improvement because they have to do more
30:57 work, not just using that neuroplastic
30:59 change to become a better learner, but
31:02 just to get them from bad to neutral.
31:04 Likewise, a high achiever who's really
31:06 stuck in their ways and doesn't want to
31:08 change anything, is really rigid, they
31:10 will again spend months, maybe years
31:12 never really improving. But if you want
31:14 a short answer for this, then the
31:16 duration you need to maintain this
31:19 pressure for even though it's possible
31:21 to do it in weeks, if you have the right
31:22 guidance and the intensity and the
31:24 structure and everything, I would
31:26 normally say you should expect that it's
31:29 going to take you months up to years.
31:32 But the good thing about this process of
31:35 actually upgrading and rewiring how your
31:37 brain learns is that it's not a binary
31:39 process. It's not like you have to train
31:41 yourself meditatively for months and
31:43 then only after 10 months do you finally
31:46 get your first good result. Every single
31:48 week, every single month that you are
31:50 engaged in this process, things are
31:52 getting easier and easier for you. Your
31:53 results are getting better and better.
31:54 Your memory is getting better. Your
31:56 understanding is becoming deeper and
31:58 clearer. So, you're getting incremental
32:00 improvements consistently. The thing
32:03 that takes months or years is for that
32:05 to start being more consistent, for it
32:07 to be easier, and for you to be faster
32:10 at doing it. But compared to what you
32:12 may normally be doing or are used to
32:15 doing, this is still the safer strategy
32:17 because what you've previously been
32:18 doing, if you're already hitting the
32:19 ceiling of it, there's no real
32:21 possibility for future improvement
32:22 there. You're just going to continue
32:24 having those same problems forever.
32:26 Whereas with this one, you will have to
32:28 do a little bit of hard work, but that
32:29 hard work is actually going to pay off
32:31 with something. And that payoff is going
32:33 to be lifelong. So these are the first
32:35 five. And you you'll notice that I've
32:37 arranged them like this because they
32:39 kind of build on each other. Uh but then
32:41 there's three more factors and
32:43 requirements for neuroplastic change
32:45 which set as a foundation to all of
32:48 these ones which mean that you need to
32:50 have these three also really locked in.
32:54 Otherwise the impact of these first five
32:57 is going to be significantly reduced. So
33:00 the first one of these more fundamental
33:04 requirements is emotion.
33:06 This is a really interesting one because
33:10 research says that when a experience is
33:13 more emotional and that this could be
33:16 positive or negative it leaves a bigger
33:18 imprint on your brain. And while you
33:21 can't really make every study session a
33:23 thrilling, exciting, memorable
33:25 experience, and I also don't recommend
33:26 trying to make it like a traumatic
33:29 experience either. Uh there is an
33:31 element of emotion that you can and
33:35 should tap into, which is the idea of
33:38 trying to create a level of dopamine.
33:41 Dopamine is the the happy hormone. When
33:42 you have high levels of dopamine, which
33:44 is a type of neurotransmitter, you feel
33:46 good. So let's say you eat some food
33:48 that you really love and you you know
33:50 you eat it and you think a so good and
33:51 you feel happy. That's dopamine. The
33:52 reason you feel that way is because of
33:55 dopamine. And actually learning can
33:59 produce dopamine if you do it right. And
34:00 this is where it gets quite interesting
34:02 because these processes that I talked to
34:03 you about before where you're doing
34:06 things really integrative and it's it's
34:07 involving cognitive effort but that
34:09 effort pays off because it's so much
34:11 more effective. These are the ways that
34:14 your brain initially is well adapted to
34:16 learn. So your brain is really good at
34:18 learning in that way and it really
34:21 enjoys learning in that way. So when you
34:24 learn with these processes, you should
34:29 actually feel this sense of satisfaction
34:31 or excitement
34:33 about the fact that things are clicking
34:35 together. You feel the knowledge taking
34:37 shape. And yes, there's confusion and
34:39 there's overwhelm at times. But when you
34:40 get that moment where it clicks and it
34:43 starts to make sense, that releases
34:45 dopamine. And there's actually two
34:47 reasons that the emotion and this
34:49 dopamine uh increases that rate of
34:51 neuroplastic change. The first reason is
34:54 purely chemical. The chemical reason is
34:57 that dopamine directly reduces the
35:00 threshold that you need to reach for
35:02 neuroplastic change to occur. That means
35:04 that you can actually create that change
35:08 with a lower level of intensity, less
35:10 variety, less frequency and with less
35:13 duration. You don't need to do that as
35:15 intensely to still get that change. So
35:17 it reduces the threshold directly.
35:21 Dopamine also directly increases the
35:24 gene expression
35:27 of certain chemicals in the brain that
35:29 create neuroplasticity. So these
35:32 neuroplasticity chemicals are actually
35:35 expressed more because dopamine triggers
35:36 it. But the other reason is not chemical
35:40 at all. This is purely psychological.
35:42 Dopamine makes you feel good. When you
35:44 feel good, you're more likely to do this
35:47 thing again. It creates a positive
35:51 feedback loop
35:53 and this increases your level of motivation.
35:56 motivation.
35:58 So, when I said it's going to take you
36:01 months or years of duration to maintain
36:03 this and create this change, well, those
36:04 months and years are going to fly by if
36:07 you're actually having fun doing it. And
36:09 that's important because everyone, every
36:12 human brain is capable of neuroplastic
36:15 change. But not everyone, very few
36:17 people actually are able to successfully
36:19 rewire the way that they think. And in
36:21 my experience, the key differentiator is
36:24 not the brain of each person, but how
36:26 long they're able to stick with it. So
36:28 that's where emotion comes in. The next
36:33 one here is sleep. Apart from all the
36:36 other things that sleep is so important
36:38 for just in terms of your overall life,
36:40 please don't sacrifice sleep. And anyone
36:42 that tells you to sacrifice sleep, just
36:44 unfollow them, please. They're not good
36:46 for your health. Uh but sleep when it
36:48 comes to learning and memory and the
36:51 brain is incredibly important. One of
36:53 the best pieces of advice, which was
36:54 actually just a throwaway piece of
36:56 advice that someone told me uh back when
36:59 I was 18 years old, was you can cram as
37:01 much as you like. Do as many allnighters
37:04 as you want, but the night before your
37:06 exam, get really, really, really good
37:09 sleep. And that was because in sleep
37:11 your brain does this thing called sleepd
37:13 dependent memory consolidation which is
37:14 basically all the stuff that you've been
37:16 cramming in it actually moves that
37:18 information into a more usable
37:20 retrievable part of the brain. So if you
37:22 don't get enough sleep that means that
37:24 you may do all of the studying and you
37:25 crammed all this information in your
37:27 brain but then when it comes time to
37:28 actually needing to use it for an
37:30 interview or for an exam or you know
37:32 just for work you're not actually able
37:35 to draw on that information which is a
37:36 shame. I don't agree with that advice.
37:40 don't do all nighters all the time. Uh
37:42 but I agree with the idea that sleep is
37:44 extremely important. Now when it comes
37:46 to neuroplastic change, it's actually
37:49 even more important because during
37:51 sleep, your brain goes into this kind of
37:54 maintenance mode and uh it's during this
37:57 time that it replays certain neural
37:58 pathways that were activated during the
38:01 day to strengthen them. It also prune
38:03 the ones that are not necessary. And
38:05 this is all very crucial for keeping
38:07 your brain in good health. And so if
38:09 you're constantly sleepd deprived, your
38:11 brain isn't able to perform this
38:14 maintenance properly. So not only do you
38:15 feel terrible cuz you're sleepd
38:17 deprived, but your concentration goes
38:19 down, your focus goes down, your actual
38:21 thinking capacity and your executive
38:24 capacity goes down and your brain's
38:26 ability to adapt and change and grow
38:28 also reduces. So I'm sure you've heard
38:30 this hundred times before. Get your
38:32 sleep sorted. But if your sleep is still
38:33 not sorted and you've heard it a hundred
38:35 times, then let me tell you again, get
38:37 your sleep sorted. I'm talking to you.
38:40 It's not worth it to be sleepd deprived.
38:42 Let's move on to the next one. The next
38:45 one here is exercise. Specifically, uh
38:49 especially aerobic exercise is good for
38:51 brain plasticity. So, you know how I
38:54 said that there's this neuroplasticity
38:55 chemical that's released in your brain?
38:58 Well, one of those chemicals is called B DNF.
39:00 DNF.
39:02 It stands for brain derived neurotrophic
39:04 factor and it's one of the key chemicals
39:06 that's involved in strengthening
39:08 pathways, maintaining the brain and
39:11 pruning unnecessary pathways and aerobic
39:14 exercise actually seems to directly
39:17 increase the expression of BDNF. So how
39:19 much exercise do you actually need? What
39:22 type of exercise? Uh when do you need to
39:25 do it? There's actually a surprisingly
39:27 large amount of research on this which
39:29 is great. The good news is that any
39:32 level of aerobic exercise, even done for
39:34 a short amount of time, oneoff, has
39:38 benefits. But there is a sweet spot. And
39:41 that sweet spot is roughly three to five
39:46 times per week, roughly 30 to 45 minutes
39:49 per session at around a 6 out of 10 intensity.
39:52 intensity.
39:54 So 6 out of 10 intensity is like a
39:57 pretty moderate like vigorous level of
39:59 activity. And it's at this level when
40:01 you hit this criteria that it's shown to
40:04 produce long-term changes to your
40:06 hypocample volume which is a a key part
40:08 of the brain involved in memory as well
40:10 as long-term improvements in your memory
40:14 and a higher baseline level of this BDNF
40:16 chemical. But like I said, even a short
40:18 amount can help. So you can just do like
40:21 a 20 15 to 20 minute session at a
40:23 moderate level of intensity and that can
40:25 also produce a short-term increase in
40:27 BDNF. And actually some studies have
40:30 even found that you can do 15 to 20
40:32 minutes of exercise and then follow that
40:35 in the next sort of few hours with some
40:38 kind of mental task like studying or
40:40 learning something. And it's shown that
40:43 there's an improvement to your memory of
40:46 what you learn in those few hours in
40:48 that window compared to not having any
40:50 exercise beforehand. So doing a little
40:52 bit of exercise uh in the morning and
40:54 then having a great focused deep work
40:56 session that can be a really great
40:58 combination plus getting good sleep. I
41:00 mean what kind of what a great life
41:02 you're living there. Yeah, I'm sure
41:03 you're jealous of this hypothetical
41:05 person already. Now, if doing this level
41:07 of exercise this frequently is, you
41:08 know, not easy for you, you can also do
41:10 lower intensity exercise. So, even just
41:12 going for a brisk walk can increase your
41:15 BDNF levels, uh, just not to the same
41:17 amount, but it's still better than
41:20 nothing. Now, if you're like me and you
41:22 really hate doing aerobic exercise,
41:25 honestly, I I really hate jogging, uh,
41:26 you might be wondering, what if you just
41:27 do strength training? You know, you go
41:29 to the gym, you lift some weights. So
41:32 the answer to this is that unfortunately
41:33 it doesn't seem to be quite as good.
41:34 There are some benefits because there
41:36 are other chemicals in your brain that
41:38 go up that do improve neuroplasticity.
41:41 So it's it's for sure better than doing
41:43 nothing. Uh but it's not as good as
41:45 aerobic exercise. So unfortunately that
41:47 does mean I should be talking to a
41:49 mirror right now. You need to do some
41:52 aerobic exercise. So anyway, these are
41:54 the requirements for creating rapid
41:56 neuroplastic change. You may also be
41:58 wondering, is there a limit to
42:01 neuroplastic change? Like, if I am truly
42:03 starting at a 1 out of 10, can I one day
42:06 be a 10 out of 10? And also, is there an
42:08 age limit? Like, am I too old to be
42:11 changing the way that my brain works?
42:14 The answer is that there isn't a clear
42:17 limit to neuroplastic change, but there
42:20 definitely is a limit. So some of the
42:21 best ways that you can think about this
42:23 is that if you have a really really
42:26 severe brain injury or brain trauma,
42:28 there are certain functions that at a
42:30 certain level of damage, you will never
42:33 be able to get that back. Uh so your
42:35 brain is not able to neuroplastically
42:38 just like heal itself from anything. So
42:40 what that suggests is that there is some
42:42 kind of limit to the pathways that your
42:45 brain can create and prune. In my own
42:47 experience as a learning coach for the
42:50 past decade plus, I found that pretty
42:53 much everyone is able to create really
42:55 significant changes in their learning
42:57 ability. Like you can start from having
42:59 really really bad memory to developing,
43:02 you know, like very very good memory
43:04 beyond what you may normally have ever
43:06 thought you were possible of. However,
43:08 someone that is a let's say a 1 out of
43:11 10, it's pretty rare for someone to get
43:13 all the way through to a 10 out of 10.
43:16 But also most people don't ever need to
43:18 be at a 10 out of 10 anyway. So in terms
43:20 of answering that question as is it
43:23 possible for anyone to improve and
43:25 rewire their brain to be able to learn
43:28 more effectively so much so that it
43:29 makes a significant difference to their
43:32 lived experience? Definitely. Everything
43:33 that I've seen in my coaching experience
43:35 supports that. Is there an age limit to
43:38 this? Not that I've seen. In fact, I
43:39 would actually say that my most
43:41 successful learners have been in their
43:44 40s and 50s plus. And that may just be
43:48 due to maturity that allows them to uh
43:49 hit this threshold and maintain that
43:51 threshold for a longer period of time
43:52 more consistently than younger learners.
43:55 I do know that um neuroplasticity is
43:56 much higher in children, especially
43:58 young children. I don't really have a
43:59 lot of experience working with young
44:01 children, so I can't comment on that.
44:03 But certainly within adult learners
44:06 between a 20-year-old and a 65 year old,
44:08 I haven't really seen any significant
44:10 difference. But I hope this helps. And
44:12 again, I go through some of these
44:13 concepts with more examples and
44:16 practical takeaways in my newsletter as
44:18 well. So, uh, remember the link to that
44:20 to join is in the description below. And
44:21 if you're interested in learning a
44:24 little bit more around the processes of
44:25 effective learning to make sure that you
44:28 are really intentional about that, then
44:30 you should check out this video here
44:32 where I break down that process in a lot
44:34 more granular depth. In this video, I
44:37 kind of just gave you the the cliffnotes
44:39 summary of it. But this video is the one
44:40 to check out if you want to familiarize
44:42 yourself. Thanks so much for watching
