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how to learn ANYTHING faster from zero — Transcript

by The Mindset Mentor Podcast · 3,217 words · 489 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00What if the reason why you struggle to
0:01learn isn't lack of time or intelligence
0:05or focus, but the way that you've
0:07actually been taught to learn? Because
0:09here's the truth. Most people are stuck
0:12in outdated school methods that ignore
0:16how the brain actually wires knowledge
0:18neurologically inside of your head. And
0:21then meanwhile, there's people like
0:23elite performers and memory champions
0:25and special ops units that are using
0:27psychological and neurological tricks
0:30that make learning faster and deeper and
0:33nearly permanent in your brain. And the
0:35best part about all of that is that you
0:37can use them, too. So, this isn't about
0:39just like reading faster or cramming
0:41harder. Really what it's about is about
0:43understanding your brain and
0:45understanding how to flip a switch in
0:47your brain that makes learning your
0:49superpower instead of your downfall. And
0:52so, let's dive into it. The first thing
0:53that you need to really understand is
0:56that you have to actually dismantle the
0:59thought that learning is just about
1:01input. Like when I was in school, I
1:03thought it's like reading and watching
1:05and listening and writing it down and
1:06being like, "Okay, I've got to memorize
1:08this."
1:09And so, there's a difference between
1:11memorizing something and mastering
1:13something. Usually when you memorize
1:14something for like a test, it's gone
1:16right after the test. I'm talking about
1:18how do you get something so encoded into
1:20your brain that you remember it years
1:22from now. And so, real learning is
1:25knowing how your brain learns and holds
1:28information in it
1:30and then how to do it in a way that
1:32makes learning sticky. And so, the first
1:35thing that we really need to to dive
1:36into is to understand that your brain
1:39learns what you believe it's supposed to
1:42learn, which sounds weird, but there was
1:45a study done at Stanford in 2007 that
1:48showed that the beliefs about
1:49intelligence change how people's brains
1:52light up during mistakes. And so, people
1:55who had a growth mindset, which are
1:57people that believe they can improve.
1:59Like they're like, "I know I can
2:00improve. I know I can get better." had
2:02what's called longer neural engagement
2:05after errors. Which means they literally
2:07stayed more present longer through
2:11discomfort. Which made their learning
2:14even deeper. Versus people who have
2:16what's called a fixed mindset, which is
2:18like, "Oh, I can't really get better.
2:20This is just how I am. I'm going to try
2:21to force this information into my
2:23brain." Those people actually
2:25disconnected after mistakes. Which means
2:28that they disengaged instead of staying
2:30engaged like the people who have growth
2:32mindsets. And so you have to understand
2:34that making mistakes actually triggers a
2:37neurochemical cocktail of acetylcholine
2:40and norepinephrine. And those heighten
2:42your focus, they heighten your
2:44engagement, and they heighten your
2:45neuroplasticity, which is the actual
2:47changing and re-wiring of your brain.
2:50And so making mistakes actually makes
2:53your brain more ready to learn. And so
2:55if you think about this in layman's
2:57terms, when you mess up, your brain
2:59focuses more.
3:01And most people who have a fixed mindset
3:03shut down.
3:04You need to go, "Okay, hold on. I'm my
3:06brain is is about to get focused, so I
3:09don't need to shut down. I need to push
3:11forward a little bit more."
3:12If you stay focused and keep pushing
3:15through after you mess up after some
3:17sort of mistake instead of shutting
3:19down, you can actually learn faster and
3:22more deeply than if you had actually
3:24gotten it right the first time you did
3:26this.
3:26And we will be right back.
3:29Do you want to finish 2026 strong? If
3:31so, then you need to be at my free 3-day
3:34live challenge. It's October 27th
3:36through the 29th live with me. Here's
3:39why. Most people check out around this
3:41time of year. They look at the goals
3:43that they set, they see how far off they
3:45are, and they tell themselves they'll
3:46start over again in January. Don't do
3:49that. There's still enough time left in
3:51this year for you to make real progress.
3:53You just have to use it. So, I'm going
3:55to teach you how to deprogram and
3:56reprogram your identity, how to take
3:58real action and stop procrastinating,
4:00and at the end of this challenge, you're
4:01going to have your own 60-day road map
4:04for the rest of 2026, plus a workbook so
4:07you know exactly what you need to focus
4:08on next. So, go to finish2026strong.com.
4:12You can hit that QR code right there, or
4:14you can click the link down below in the
4:15description, and I'll see you live on
4:17the challenge.
4:18And now, back to the show.
4:21And so, instead of thinking to yourself
4:22like, "Oh, I'm bad at languages. I'm not
4:25really a great learner." You need to
4:27actually believe like, "I know I'm going
4:30to learn this language. And if if I get
4:32pissed off because I'm making mistakes,
4:35my frustration means that my brain is
4:37more engaged. I need to push through."
4:40And now your brain goes, "Ah, mistakes
4:42are a good thing. Let's keep going." So,
4:44that's the first thing you need to
4:45understand. The second thing that you
4:46need to understand is that you can use
4:48what's called state-dependent learning,
4:51so that you can actually prime your
4:52brain to learn like they do in special
4:54operations.
4:56You [snorts] don't learn very well when
4:57you're bored and you're just like
4:59sitting on the couch and you're like,
5:01"Okay, I'm going to take out my textbook
5:02and try to learn." You learn when you're
5:05actually alive. Like, and what I mean by
5:07that is like, you're in a prime state.
5:09And so,
5:10what you want to do before you go into a
5:12learning session, whether that be I'm
5:14going to read a book, whether that be
5:15I'm going to journal, or whether that be
5:17you're in college and you want to make
5:18sure that you retain as much information
5:20as possible, what you want to make sure
5:22that you do is you want to make sure
5:23that you prime your body and your brain
5:26to encode this knowledge faster. And
5:29[snorts] so, what you want to do is
5:31activate the sympathetic nervous system,
5:32which is your fight or flight, just a
5:34little bit. You raise your energy, and
5:36then you drop down into your
5:37parasympathetic nervous system, which is
5:39the calm. And so, there's a real quick
5:41priming protocol you can go through.
5:43First thing, 1 to 2 minutes of intense
5:45movement. That could be like burpees or
5:47air squats or running up and down the
5:49stairs intense movement not like oh I'm
5:53just going to sit here and you know
5:55do a squat or something like it's like
5:56no I need to get my heart rate up.
5:59So you go to intense movement and then
6:01you get about 3 minutes of deep
6:02breathing. You want to get it really
6:04really heightened and then slow
6:05everything down. And then you want to
6:07speak out loud to yourself so that you
6:09say it but you also hear it.
6:12Today I'm smart and I retain everything
6:14I learn. Then sit down start learning
6:17whatever it is. What you've done is
6:18you've set up a another neurological
6:22cocktail of learning. And what that
6:24means this you get a surge of dopamine,
6:26you get norepinephrine and you get
6:28acetylcholine which is the holy trinity
6:30of focus, motivation and memory. And so
6:34this mix kind of puts your brain into a
6:36high alert high reward state making it
6:39easier to absorb and then lock in new
6:41information faster. So that's the next
6:43thing that you want to do.
6:45Next thing that you want to do after
6:46this is you want to actually start to
6:50encode whatever it is that you learned
6:53as fast as possible. And how you do this
6:56is you teach it.
6:57Immediately. Not next week, not
7:00tomorrow, right after you learn it. So
7:02as soon as you learn something
7:04whether that's I just went through an
7:05hour session or two hour session,
7:07whatever it might be, you're going to
7:09teach it. And there's a reason why
7:11because teaching forces your brain to
7:14retrieve the information, to organize it
7:17and then to translate your knowledge
7:20into your own words which creates
7:21multiple neural pathways around the
7:23concept. And so this is actually called
7:26the retrieval effect and it encodes the
7:28knowledge into your brain faster. Now I
7:31prefer to teach it to somebody else so
7:34my wife tends to be the person who just
7:35learns all this stuff. I'm like oh my
7:36god I just learned this thing I have to
7:38teach it to you.
7:39And then I go and I try try teach it to
7:40her and if she looks confused I'm going,
7:42"Mhm, I don't know it very well." But if
7:44if she goes, "Oh wow, that's awesome. I
7:46really get it." I'm like, "Okay,
7:48I think I I think I understand it now.
7:49If I can teach it, and I can teach it
7:51simply, then I really understand
7:53something."
7:54And if you don't have somebody to teach
7:57it to, like sometimes my wife isn't here
7:58or sometimes she's taking a nap or
8:00something, you don't need an audience.
8:02Like, talk to your couch. Talk to your
8:04cat. Talk to the wall. Just speak out
8:06loud. There's sometimes where I'll just
8:08learn something, I'm like, "Oh my god,
8:10this is amazing." And then I'll take out
8:12my notepad and I'll start talking out
8:14loud to myself as if I'm teaching it on
8:16a whiteboard to a group of people.
8:18This simple act of doing this solidifies
8:21your memory. And then what's really good
8:23about it
8:25is it also will expose the gaps in your
8:27understanding. Cuz when you're trying to
8:29teach something
8:30and then it doesn't fully connect,
8:31you're going, "Oh, hold on.
8:33Yeah, I don't fully understand this part
8:35right here. Maybe I should learn a
8:37little bit more about this." And so, it
8:38exposes the gaps in your knowledge and
8:41your understanding. And so, when you
8:43teach something right after you learn
8:45it, what you're doing is you're stacking
8:47active recall.
8:49And there's another thing that's called
8:50self-generated elaboration and another
8:53thing which is called contextual
8:54encoding. And so, you're stacking those
8:56three things, and those are three of the
8:59most powerful memory enhancers that are
9:01known in neuroscience. So, it's active
9:03recall, self-generated elaboration, and
9:05contextual encoding. And so, talk to
9:09yourself. It's not weird. Like, it's
9:10it's a brilliant thing that you can do
9:13to actually start to get something
9:15encoded into your brain faster.
9:18>> [snorts]
9:18>> The next thing is I want you to forget
9:20the idea of cramming. Like, when I was
9:22in college, I would just cram and cram
9:23and cram, and then I would take a test,
9:25and then a
9:26week later I'd feel like I had none of
9:27that stuff in my brain. What you want to
9:29actually do is use something that's
9:30called the spacing effect
9:32and then use your sleep. And so, I'll
9:34I'll explain what that means, okay?
9:36There was a study that was done at UC
9:37San Diego in 2012 that showed that
9:40spaced repetition not only increases
9:43your retention, but it actually alters
9:45the physical structure of your
9:47hippocampus, which means that you're
9:49literally rewiring your brain when you
9:51use spaced repetition. And so, you don't
9:54learn while you're studying, you
9:57actually learn deeper when you're
10:00sleeping. And so, like you learn it and
10:02then you like fully encode it and really
10:05get locked into your brain when you
10:06sleep. So, if you're trying to learn
10:07something really well, you need to get a
10:09lot of sleep.
10:10So, if you're trying to memorize
10:11something, this is what you would
10:12basically do.
10:14Right? So, what you're going to do is
10:16day one, you're going to learn something
10:17for 30-45 minutes with 100% focus. Like,
10:23take your phone, put it in another room.
10:25Whatever it you're trying to learn,
10:26nothing else in this world can exist.
10:28You've got to try to bring 100% of your
10:30focus to this thing.
10:32>> [snorts]
10:32>> Then what you want to do after your
10:3330-45 minute session is then teach it to
10:36yourself or teach it to somebody else.
10:38Now, if if you're done and that's all
10:40you needed to learn, cool. You'll go on
10:42to the next thing. If you're not done,
10:44then you'll need to do another round. 30
10:46minutes, 45 minutes, 100% focus, teach
10:49it to yourself.
10:5030-45 minutes, 100% focus, teach it to
10:53yourself. So, that's day one.
10:55Then, you're going to want to get a
10:57really good night of sleep cuz that's
10:59when your brain actually starts to
11:00hardwire it into your your brain.
11:03Day two, what you want to do
11:05is review briefly in the morning. So, 10
11:09to 15 minutes, read through everything
11:11that you read, write every you know,
11:12everything that you you wrote down, talk
11:14out loud to yourself. Take 10 or 15
11:16minutes. That's day two in the morning.
11:18Day two in the afternoon, you want to
11:20try to quiz yourself cold. And so, how
11:23could you do that? Well, you could take
11:24everything that you learned, you could
11:25copy and paste it, throw it into ChatGPT
11:27and say, "Hey, come up with 20 word
11:30question or 20 20 questions uh and quiz
11:32me on this information and see how you
11:34do.
11:35>> [snorts]
11:35>> And then day three, you want to then go
11:38out and teach it to somebody else. And
11:39so you when you do this, your what's
11:41called your synaptic consolidation goes
11:44from really shallow roots to like deep
11:47roots. Like it's deeply anchored into
11:49your brain. You're repeatedly wiring
11:51this knowledge into your brain.
11:53>> [snorts]
11:53>> A bonus tip on this is after you learn,
11:57take a 10-minute, 20-minute nap or do a
11:59quick meditation right after learning.
12:02The hippocampus starts consolidating new
12:05memories in that nap window, but it also
12:08consolidates memories during meditation
12:11when you're doing nothing else with your
12:12eyes closed. And so this is like the
12:14ultimate cheat code. This is one thing
12:15that I wish I would have known when I
12:17was in college. Like learn for 30-45
12:19minutes,
12:20take a 10-minute meditation. Learn for
12:2345 minutes, take a 10-minute meditation.
12:25And you're actually in this meditation
12:27time, your brain, your hippocampus is
12:29consolidating all these new memories.
12:31And then, if you want to take a nap, a
12:33nap is even better than the meditation.
12:35Okay?
12:36Next thing that you want to do and how
12:38you can actually get it encoded into
12:39your brain faster is to trick your brain
12:42with word hooks.
12:44And this is basically like like mental
12:46glue. Like raw repetition, which is what
12:49I always thought that I was supposed to
12:50do, it's so exhausting and it's so
12:53inefficient. And so if you're out there
12:56and you're like, "Well, my memory's not
12:57that good." You don't need a better
12:58memory, you need like mental glue. And
13:01what it is, I've been using these for
13:03years and like it's really really helped
13:05me memorize stuff, is what's called
13:07mnemonic associations. So this is where
13:10you link something new with something
13:12that you already know that's familiar.
13:14Usually through visual similarity or
13:16sound or emotional charge. Your brain
13:19loves patterns and it loves shortcuts
13:22and it loves things that are novel and
13:25weird. So just try to give it something.
13:28I'll give you an example for me.
13:30When I was going through my pilot exam
13:31to get my pilot license,
13:33I could not get in my brain the
13:36difference between latitude and
13:37longitude. Longitude. I was like, my
13:38entire life I've I've like, which one's
13:40which? Lat- latitude, longitude? Like, I
13:42don't know what is what.
13:43And then I looked at it and I was like,
13:44latitude goes from left to right,
13:47and it kind of looks like a ladder
13:50going up the Earth.
13:51And so, I was like, wait.
13:54Latitude,
13:55ladder.
13:56Okay. I'll never forget that. And it
13:59like locked it into my brain. Now, if
14:01you're listening to this, you'll
14:02probably never forget which lines run
14:04east and west. Yeah, latitude, cuz it's
14:06like a ladder.
14:07And so, you want to do stuff like that.
14:09You know, if you're trying to remember
14:11like
14:12that the hippocampus is responsible for
14:14memory, visualize a hippo sitting on
14:18campus reading flashcards or reading a
14:21book.
14:22Right? Like, that's how you remember the
14:24hippocampus is responsible for memory. A
14:26hippo on campus reading a book. Is it
14:29absurd? Yeah, it's completely absurd. Is
14:32it effective? Extremely effective. And
14:35so, this is the reason why it works.
14:37Hooks
14:39for new info
14:40to known pathways make the retrieval of
14:44that information easier. So, the the key
14:47to it is this. The more bizarre
14:50or ridiculous or vivid the images that
14:52you create in your mind, the more your
14:55brain will flag it as important. Your
14:57brain loves novel stuff. So, I've said
15:02this in episode before, but let me just
15:03give you a quick example. The reason why
15:05if you go on vacation for a week,
15:08time feels like it's way slower than if
15:11you're a week at home and you're going
15:13through a normal routine, is because the
15:15week vacation you're doing things you've
15:17never done before, places you've never
15:19been before, and it's novel. So, your
15:21brain actually seems like it slows down
15:23time because it's actually processing
15:25that information in real time.
15:27When you're doing something in a routine
15:29that you've done over and over and over
15:30again, it's just normal, your brain
15:32doesn't even like to store it. And so,
15:34your brain loves novel. How can you give
15:36it the most bizarre, ridiculous, novel
15:39image so that your brain remembers that
15:41thing? And [snorts] so, what you're
15:42doing
15:43is you're stacking semantic encoding,
15:46which is meaning, with visual imagery,
15:49which is just basically like a double
15:50win for your memory. And so, when you're
15:52learning something hard, don't just try
15:55to memorize it, try to associate it with
15:58something else.
15:59Turn the abstract into something silly
16:02or familiar or visual. The weirder the
16:05better because the brain doesn't love
16:07boring, it loves weird. And so, make it
16:09meaningful, make it strange. Try to make
16:12it visual or try to make the words match
16:14up like, you know, latitude or bladder,
16:16whatever it might be. So, I want you to
16:18understand, your memory is not bad, it
16:20just might be that you haven't been
16:22taught to really learn based off of how
16:25your brain holds information. And so,
16:27these are the strategies that you want
16:28to use every single day, which makes
16:31learning faster and almost unfair
16:33compared to the way that you used to do
16:34it. Hey, thanks so much for watching
16:36this video. Based off of what you've
16:38been watching recently, YouTube searched
16:40its algorithm and searched all of the
16:41videos that I've ever made and it thinks
16:43that this video right here is the one
16:46that is what you need right now. If you
16:48want to make sure to never miss another
16:50video, hit that button right there,
16:52subscribe, and I'll see you on the next
16:53one.

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