WATCH the Episode:

On episode 208, Alexis Avila  speaks to Jared Cooney Horvath.

Our Guest:

Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD, MEd, is an expert in the field of Educational Neuroscience. He has conducted research and lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Melbourne, and over 100 schools across four continents. He is author of the book Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick.

For another related conversation, check out episode 150 with Jessica Yeager on how she got into Harvard and six other ivy league schools

On today’s episode Jared Cooney Horvath gives us his top five strategies teens and adults can use to learn faster.

  • Tip 1: Get your mind right. Make sure you tell yourself you CAN learn this and jump start your mind.
  • Tip 2: Match context to outcome. If you have a test next Friday in a Red room, then study in that red room, wear the same cologne, etc. Routines become highly contextual.
  • Tip 3: Don’t multitask. No one can multitask. Memory and accuracy tanks when you perform more than one task at a time. So if you’re studying, put the phone away, and study. Music is ok to study too as long as it’s just background noise.
  • Tip 4: Less is more. You’ll do better with less but focused study over course of two weeks, vs. study and multitask for four hours straight. Try 25 minutes of focused study then break for 5 minutes and text friends or grab a snack, then come back for 25 minutes. If after 25 minutes you reach a Flow state and want to keep studying by all means go past the 25 minute mark.
  • Tip 5: Recall is everything. The key to a deep memory is you have to pull info out of your brain. So talk a lot about what you learned. Teach someone else some of that info.

Bonus tip

Narratize or find the story behind the info you want to remember.

Jared’s tips for teens:

    1. Life is longer than you think. Make decisions in advance but ok to change your mind later. Remain open.
    2. Recognize you are in charge with this. Brain and body is passive and responds to you. Take control.

What was your biggest takeaway from this podcast about Top 5 tips for better, faster learning? Do you have any questions for Jared Cooney Horvath and Alexis Avila?

Post your comments below:

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