Churn it fully before you regurgitate

On reflecting upon how you learn enjoyably

I am feeling uncomfortable nowadays because I am not using my mind. I am mechanically using a power point presentation to explain concepts. My power was my brain and not a keyboard and screen. So the fun has gone. It seems like a routine and not an adventurous learning and teaching. And for that matter, I have started writing book chapters. This will bring back my skills to become better at teaching.

Scholars are not just lucky, they know their art of learning deep, the terminology which was traditionally used for human mind and not artificial intelligence.

“Unless you study all aspects of a particular concept, it is not worth a label of learnt and ready to teach.”

This art of conceptualizing if imbibed, shall surely make you reach far with respect to your academic success. Then it means you know your work. This is why you began first, years ago. But there were hindrances, there are obstacles still, challenges which remain. How to overcome is to try and add difficulty levels, and map your mind with a pen and paper after you read every 4–5 paragraphs of difficult text and understand it differently every time you read it.

Take different routes to understand. For example, Aspirin is found to reduce hyperglycemia as a primary care drug among people with high risk of developing T2DM or heart disease. But aspirin presumptive treatment was discontinued in guidelines years ago. I then came across the concept that Aspirin might cause hyperglycemia by attenuating the effect of anti-diabetic agents. So what I derived was, there is no competetive advantage of this drug in people on anti-diabetics unless there is very high risk of blood clotting, IHD or MI. But of course if someone has family history, is obese and sedentary, no bleeding tendency might benefit from aspirin prophylaxis.

So, conceptualization adds to the fun of studying and more importantly makes you understand and build a strong knowledge base.

Here is what can be done to churn and regurgitate what you learn, different from the usual learning hacks, with a psychological perspective:

Become bold and give time to it- Living a healthy life is not enough. You also should defy the need of permission of people (family, friends) around to begin modifications in your routine. You cannot be creative 24 hours, sometimes you need to rise early in the morning or go to bed late, because afternoons are lazy and should be used for work that does not require deep attention. Most meetings are therefore kept in the afternoon or early evening, for academic discourse prepared early during the day or late night. The idea is to empower yourself to stick to it. Do not become an escapist. Bold people responsibly pursue things. Mornings are for planning and executing what you planned. Most of the deep work should finish by the morning hours. Many people are not bold enough to get up at 4 am in the morning or sleep at 2 am after 16 hours of intermittent deep work. One needs to become tough if the goal is what you need to adhere to, like producing a meaningful article every day or every week. If we are not confident, always doubtful of how we think, learn, write, and read which creates ambiguity in decision making. Dubious endeavors never let us complete and reach our goals. Not bold students will keep thinking,

‘It’s time to sleep but I haven’t finished my article so let’s leave it today and try tomorrow’,

‘I need to read these many pages but its time to go to the gym, I am doubtful if I shall get 2 hours today of full concentration’.

‘I told my students this concept but did not explain it in detail, next time may be I can compensate’.

What bold and confident people think like is,

‘Let me endure sleep by a short nap of 1 hour in the afternoon, it will compensate for 2 hours late at night when I can concentrate’ or

‘I am distracted today, I shall complete my chores and clean toilets so that tomorrow I sit for 4 hours spent at deep work.’

‘Let me message the class representative to send the concept explanation in their WhatsApp group. I shall take a test next class before basking into the next chapter’.

Similarly,

‘I shall learn 400 pages in 5 days before exam by staying selfish and targeted, I have to avoid my friends today because I feel unfulfilled and distracted for so many hours already this week’.

So scholars must dare to learn, at least to start and complete till the end, not to leave in between due to distractions or difficulties. There is no fun in haphazard efforts, you are begetting procrastination, poor concentration and forgetfulness with dissatisfaction. Do not do that, dare to learn and do not become a weak personality to avoid the process of learning.

Fool yourself, try being innocent- Try foolish solutions to difficult problems during your moments of introspection. Like rearranging books might increase my memory or cleaning my bed might enhance concentration are my non-evidence based hacks to regain concentration between bouts of work. One should also be immersed innocently forgetting the environmental too hot, too cold, too tired, itchy, quarrelsome neighbors. Nothing gets to be done if you are not innocent or else you will be picky in choosing your time and actions for deep work, that will keep you only in the scoping stage. Only planning hard but doing nothing because of procrastination is not desirable. If you are not innocent, you are sensitive. You will not do your work and never move beyond scoping. If you are not innocent and think you have done your part, you will not explore the concept, you would be satisfied by memorizing and not understanding. For example,

‘I remember she said this to me last summer, I will never let her win any conversation henceforth’, or

‘I need to consider what she said last summer, may be there is an element of truth, I take this an opportunity to improve myself. I need to revisit my statement and consequently learn.’

Always pretend that you are reading the concept for the first time, assimilate it and after that re-analyze the previously read concept. This brings a cudgel your brain strategy which signifies looking at the problem from all angles, and flexibly accept changes in your critique of the same text which might become the reason for your perfect but innocent accuracy in teaching and learning.

In conclusion, don’t bother about means and ends, keep going and growing also by putting in some hard work in learning before you consider yourself somewhat capable of teaching or sit for exams. Make it an innocent effort. Consider yourself foolish not someone like an expert when you sit for learning. But while you perform, you are an expert of your art, you are the in charge, so be bold. Put in innocent efforts with a bold conviction. Do not stagnate!!