Break It Down!

Sorry for the long break. We were working on some technical logistics. We can assure that things are going to be better now. Thanks for your usual understanding.

So today's article: 

“The easiest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time”

-Tolu Alao

Break your study material into small groups for efficiency. Many times, it’s not about how much you are able to take in, but how well!

As a rule always go for quality rather than quantity (especially if you want long term stuff). Don’t try to achieve all at once or so many at once! I tell people, instead of multi-tasking, prioritize!

For many years, it was thought that people who multitask, or perform more than one activity at once, had an edge over those who did not.

However, research now suggests that multitasking can actually make learning less effective. In the study, participants lost significant amounts of time as they switched between multiple tasks and lost even more time as the tasks became increasingly complex.

By switching from one activity to another, you will learn more slowly, become less efficient and make more errors. How can you avoid the dangers of multitasking? Start by focusing your attention on the task at hand and continue working for a predetermined amount of time.

Another research showed that the average attention span for most people was thirty (30) minutes. This means that after about thirty (30) minutes, their mind simply wanders off. The research also showed that we remember what we did at the beginning and the end of a learning session the most.

Consequently, if learning must be effective and efficient, it makes sense to break our learning sessions to bits of ‘half-hour’ sessions to have as many beginnings and ends as possible. 

The whole process of breaking your work into bits also has a psychological effect. It gives you a feeling that you just have to deal with a small piece then another and another till you are done.

Personally, it’s remarkable the kind of results I have achieved using this art. Still fresh in my memory is the Certification I did earlier this year (February, 2012).

We had to attend classes from 8am-6pm, participate actively in class and still read about 900 pages of an A4 size textbook page by page within two weeks. Remember, we still had to live normal lives.

The sight of the textbook was intimidating as it possessed an over-sized hardcover casing. For the first three days, I painfully carried the book everywhere I went and struggled to make any reasonable progress. I was weary to say the least. Finally, I resolved to break it down! The book had 14 chapters, so I divided it into 14 parts. Not only did I mentally break it down, I physically did! I detached all 14 parts and only carried 1 part a time (the book had a special type of spiral binding which aided detachment). 

Guess what happened! Within the space of about 12 days, I read and understood the 900 page book twice page by page, (marking the book and jotting important points), reviewed the book twice, participated in all class exercises (about 42 of them), attended all classes and finally came out tops in the final certification exam. 

This art works! 

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