Be A Rich Whiz Kid

Some billionaires claim they can start from scratch tomorrow and rebuild their fortunes. How?

Success in life does not come easy. Even the most talented among us need some help now and then. This article is filled with great advice. I wish I had written it. Be Smart. be Rich.

http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-effective-yet-efficient-way-to-get-rich-2/answer/Evan-Asano?srid=pzlH&s...

John Langan's Seven Steps to a Better Memory

If you are looking for a good book on getting better grades, check out John Langan’s “Reading and Study Skills.” Adult learners will find it is the bible of books on how to survive in school.  Parents will find lots of help for their children.  Sixth graders and above can read the book for themselves. Struggling students might want to reread it once a year.  Now in its tenth edition, a new copy online  might cost you over a hundred dollars. College book stores will be just as expensive. Older editions are just as good and usually much cheaper.  Go with an older edition, unless assigned the latest edition.
The book discusses attendance, test taking, note taking  and all the other skills, students need.
It was a required textbook in the college classes I taught.  I drilled Langan’s seven steps to a better memory into students, so I hoped they would never forget.
Step One: Organize the material.  Using this step I could introduce Pegging. My students organized material chronologically, alphabetically, or by order of importance.  See my earlier and blog on “Pegging” and “Loci.”.  To really learn anything, you must learn the order.
Step Two: Intend to learn.  So many students think they don’t need English or math and that they can forget the information as soon as the test is over. Decide to learn the material and to keep that learning.  Review previous learning from time to time. I find a good time to review my old learning is when I am walking the dog, biking or doing dishes.
Step Three: Test yourself repeatedly.  Who says the teacher must do all  the testing? Write your own tests.  Quiz fellow students and let them quiz you.
Step Four: Use memory techniques.  Langan introduces his readers to catch words and phrases, but to learn more about memory techniques, read my blogs.  I will also be sharing a list of books that have some of these techniques. Those of you not willing to wait for me to address these topics can look for books by Harry Lorraine, Joshua Foer  or Dominic O’Brien,all of them memory champions. 
Step Five: Space out learning sessions.  Don’t cram for tests. Study everyday, but give yourself breaks. Get up, watch a television show, walk the dog, or eat a sandwich.
Step Six: Over learn. When I would give tests, I would watch the students leave the classroom, take  a deep breath and promptly forget the material.  Spend a little extra time and really learn the materials. I can rattle off the names of U.S. presidents in alphabetical or chronological order. Give me a number from 1-44, and I can tell you what president had that number. I also still know the shorthand I learned way back in high school.
Learning is something you should strive to keep.
Step seven: Study before bed time. We are more open to new learning when we are relaxed. Studies have shown that playing baroque music and relaxing comfortably increases learning.The very best time to study is just before bed time.
While Langan is a great introduction to learning, my techniques go further and show you more. I elaborate on techniques described by Langan and other scholars.  I hope you enjoy my blogs and learn from them.

An Assignment: Plan a Journey Around the World
by Mary Ann Slavcheff

Phileas Fogg went around the world in 90 days in a Jules Verne novel.

Abe Lincoln's son Willie used to make imaginary train

timetables

Plan a trip around the world in 90 days. Sure it can be faster today, but let's stop here and there and enjoy perhaps a soccer game or a concert or bicycle trip.  Maybe we can climb a mountain or take part in a festival.
Leave from your home. How long will it take to drive to the airport or bus station or to drive to New York City.
Go to the cities you want.  You can go north, or south east or west. Just so long as you go around the world in 90 days.
Find out about airline, bus, train and boat timetables.

What cities will you spend extra time in?

How will you get from airports or bus depots?

The imaginary trip is yours to plan.

Faulty Argument

Now that we have learned how to memorize anything faster, easier and better, let’s learn how to evaluate facts.  If you still need help with memorization, go the earlier blogs on chaining and pegging. They may take some practice, but after you have a fun alphabet or two and some loci, you can memorize anything.

Next comes logic. How do we evaluate information that is coming to us? 

If you are on a jury, how do you decide guilty or not guilty?

Who should you vote for? 

What product should you buy?

We use logic, to evaluate the facts and make a decision.

Too often in our modern world, we make decisions based on Liking or on Social Validation. Liking means that if I like someone, I am more likely to vote for him or buy a product from him. Salesmen work on likability. Social validation means we make decisions based on popularity. We read books on best seller charts, watch popular movies and television shows, and buy stupid toys because we saw people fighting over the toy on the evening news.

These are not good reasons to make selections.

One of the best ways of understanding logic is to understand examples of poor logic. That way when bad logic comes our way, we can quickly recognize it.

Over the next several months, I will be presenting a blog each on about a dozen and maybe more faulty arguments.

How to Select the job of Your Dreams

There are lots of guides that will tell you what future fields will be hot. Don't believe them. Often they are wrong because managers tend to overestimate future needs. Schools want to attract students so they often exaggerate the demand for the professions they teach. Besides that, no one can predict the future or the impact of technology.

 The best thing you can do is pick a field that you have a passion for working in. People are spending more and more time on the job, so doesn't it make sense that you should be doing something fun?

What is your dream job?

Surprisingly many of us don't know where our passion lies. Also our interests can change from decade to decade and even from year to year. Here is some help.

Name five things that you would do, if you had the next year to do whatever you wanted. People are not made to sleep in the sun. Those who do it are castaways without a choice, or they are on vacation. If you had unlimited time, you would stay busy. What would you do? Rebuild cars? Walk dogs at the animal shelter? Play guitar in a bar? No answer is too ridiculous.

What did you like to do as a child? I loved swinging and daydreaming and I make my living being creative. Sometimes, even today, I walk to the park, sit on one of the swings and daydream for awhile. It releases my creative energy and I walk home full of ideas. \\\\

Look for people who have unusual jobs. John Keene bills himself as Sherlock Bones and he has made a career out of finding lost pets. Others become food critics, ice cream tasters or video game testers.

Check out newspapers and magazines for articles about people who are doing jobs that you think you might like, Clip the articles, Contact the people in these jobs if they live near you.

I found one article about a woman with a knack for decorating rooms. She lacked the credentials to become an interior decorator, so she started decorating garages. She makes them look good enough for a home and garden magazine.

Other individuals write mystery scripts for murder weekends, become disc jockeys, bridal consultants, mystery shoppers or clowns. People who love second-hand treasures might be able to earn a living on e-Bay or with a resale shop.

One man became a pizza farmer. With just a small parcel of land, he planted a slice of his property in tomatoes, green peppers and onions. He raises chickens and pigs and shows them off to visitors. The animals don't even have to be killed. He makes his money by charging visitors or a tour of the pizza farm.

A woman gives business seminars in manners – no, not Miss Manners.

A 71 year old woman became a runway model.

A woman who had no place to teach her exercise class arranged for sessions at a tavern. An entrepreneur started a web site that recommends local restaurants, gives hours, menus and ratings.

Just reading about people like that fills me with hope and with ideas.

 Start thinking about your likes and your talents. Put together a list of things you would like to do. 

This is from my notes on finding the job of your dreams:
How to Select the job of Your Dreams
There are lots of guides that will tell you what future fields will be hot. Don't believe them.  Often they are wrong because managers tend to overestimate future needs. Schools want to attract students so they often exaggerate the demand for the professions they teach. Besides that,  no one can predict the future or the impact of technology.
The best thing you can do is pick a field that you have a passion for working in.  People are spending more and more time on the job, so doesn't it make sense that you should be doing something fun?
Surprisingly many of us don't know where our passion lies.  Also our interests can change from decade to decade and even from year to year.

Coming Next: How to create a job based on your interests.

Speed Learning

By Mary Ann Slavcheff

Now that we know pegging and chaining, are there others ways to speed up learning? There are. 

Mnemonics

Thirty Days Has September, April, June and November.

Fall back; spring ahead.

Red sunset at dawning, sailors warning; red sunset at night, sailors delight.

Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally.

I before E except after C.

There are a few others that night be less well known.

What happened to Henry VIII’s wives?

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorces, Beheaded, Survived.

What is the order of the planets from the sun? 

My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas.

Songs

People in my generation know what year the battle of New Orleans was fought.  We 

simply remember the first line of a Johnny Horton hit song. “In 1814, we took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.”

Many years later Tom Lehrer sang about the “Elements.” Hundreds of kids memorized the lyrics and the elements. Gosh that was fun. And while singing along with Lehner or with their friends, they didn’t even have to use chaining or pegging.

I have an album that includes campaign songs from each president and another album that includes songs from some of the presidential losers.

There are songs about adverbs, adjectives, nouns and even pronouns.

YouTube

You can find most if not all of the songs listed above free on youTube.  I learned American Sign Language on YouTube. I am sure one can take guitar lessons and much more from this site.

I Tunes U.

Say you are taking a class in mathematics, chemistry or political science, and you are having difficulty with the instructor or the textbook. Maybe you have not started the class yet, but you want a preview.  Maybe you already took the class and want to know more. Check out iTunes U.  The lectures are free.  It is a college education without the expense.

Television

I remember hearing students discuss the television series, “The Tudors.” in the elevator at Wayne County Community College. They were surprised that the future Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of Ann Boleyn, who had seemed to be more of a pretty mistress in the series than a real queen.  While they may have been enjoying the soap opera aspects of the story, they were also learning history.

Growing up in the 1950’s, television westerns started my interest in American history.  Recently there have been movies made about both John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. When films turn to history, the story ideas are unlimited.

But there are also police procedurals and crime scene investigation (to learn science on a dozen levels). One television program was about a mathematician.  Justice Sonia Sotomayor  in her autobiography writes about watching “Perry Mason” on television when she was growing up. It made her wonder not only about the jobs that lawyers do, but also about what the judge was doing.  The rest as they say is history.  She sits on the Supreme Court now.