LEARNING HACK; OPEN UP. "MEGA CREATIVITY SHOWS YOU HOW"

Dr. Andrei Aleinikov explains an easy way to improve grades in his book “Mega Creativity”.

He has students sit in a circle around him. They get comfortable, ready for a lecture. He then tells them to freeze.Don't move.

Many students have folded or crossed arms, legs or ankles. He says this is a defensive position and it keeps new knowledge from entering their minds. To get better grades uncross arms, fingers, legs ankles. Be open to new information.

I use this technique not only when attending lectures but also when I am reading. It works.

LISTENING HACK

Dr. Aleinikov also addresses listening. He tells his readers how to listen better in conversations. He says to be aware of speech volume, speed and even pronunciation. When speaking to someone try to match their language style.

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Dr. Aleinikov says that most people just need to make small changes to enjoy more success. He has worked with many individuals. He might suggest a better handshake or better eye contact. Figure out what small change you most need.

LEARNING HACK OF THE DAY: DON'T BELIEVE PERFECTION; IT'S A LIAR.

Nobody is perfect. The television star with the perfect makeup and hair has a staff of professionals fussing with her all day. The student who seems to get the right answers all the time either knows as many learning hacks as I do, or he studies constantly. When I was growing up, I knew two couples who seemed to have perfect marriages. That is the image they presented to the outside world. Both marriages ended in divorce.

Some people do want to hide their imperfections. We all want to be well-groomed and to always do the best job we can. But perfection does not exist. I understand that some carpet weavers purposely leave in imperfections. Only God is perfect.

That said let me tell you about my day yesterday, with an exert from my journal.

My day: Cinco the cat pooped in the bathtub; Tiki the dog had to go out, but the screen door was frozen shut. I put her on a leash and took her out the front door. I started to take out a plastic bag of garbage, but it broke open on the kitchen floor. I did a load of laundry, but Cinco the cat wanted to get in the dryer. I had to lock him in a bedroom. He was mad and at me, but he got over it. I finally got to my blog, to my novel and then to relaxation and reading.

Granted my day was messy, but my description of it was honest.

Here is a review I wrote some time ago of Susan Lucci's autobiography,"All MY Life, A Memoir."

My mother hated Donna Reed because Donna Reed had a perfect life with a beautiful home, perfect hair, perfect husband, perfect children and starched dresses. Her housework was always done. Problems were quickly solved. I never understood my mother's dislike for this beautiful television actress. After all Reed's show was fiction. She was no more perfect than other television wives like June Cleaver, Harriet Nelson or Marjorie Lord who played Danny Tomas's television wife.

When I read Susan's Lucci's biography, I began to understand some of my mother's dislike for Donna Reed. But at least the Stone family, Reed's television family had problems to solve even if they did it too easily. It must be nice to live a perfect life. But I prefer a person who has challenges to face and can overcome those challenges. A perfect life must get boring.

Certainly Susan Lucci is beautiful and talented. But I don't need to read about her to see that. I know there is too much negativity in life, but stories, even true ones, need challenges, and people should change in the course of their lifetimes. None of us start off perfect and stay that way – even Susan Lucci.

It didn't take me long to start disliking Susan Lucci as I read her book.

I didn't like how she described glamorous women who wore furs like Mae West, Lana Turner and Gypsy Rose Lee. I really dislike anyone, celebrity or not, who wears furs. (Later Lucci confesses to loving veal dishes. Does she know how much cruelty goes into making veal? Veal is anemic calf.)But here I digress, this is about poor taste, not perfection. (No pun intended.)

The book became extremely boing mostly because of the perfection in everything. I kept reading and indeed I did find something to like. One of the later chapters was about her costars in “All My Children,” and I enjoyed this chapter. I particularly liked reading about the scene where she and David Canary, one of my favorite actors, had a food fight. I even looked that scene up on YouTube. I was never a steady watcher of the program, so I had not known about that scene before.

Her fan letter to her fans was a great idea, but boring as Susan described her favorite meals and artists.

Lucci's five ways to look taller start with “Wear High Heels.” Her fans are not teenagers. I wear prescription running shoes and visit a podiatrist once a month. I cannot wear high heels. The very thought gives me foot pain. High heels are very unhealthy. Ask any physician about the problems they can cause. What gives with giving fans such unhealthy advice? This is not a teenage magazine. A much better soap opera autobiography came from Lucci's ex costar Ruth Warrick. I read “The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler” years ago. It is a great autobiography.

To read a good book of advice by a celebrity read, “Wear Your Life Well, Use What You have To Get What You Want,” by Marilou Henner. Lucci tends to talk down to her readers. It is like she is lecturing us. We her fans know we are not perfect. Nice of Ms. Lucci to take the time to show us how wonderful life can be when one is perfect.

I like Donna Reed much better.

I believe in self improvement; I don't believe in perfection.

More Loci

More Loci

by Mary Ann Slavcheff


In an earlier blog, I wrote about organizing items into lists using location, numbering them and attaching them to things already learned.
I often use my laundry room even though I have added other rooms over the years. When using Loci, start with one room. 
The  items in my laundry room are, 1. doorway, 2. litter pan, 3. window, 4. Dryer, 5. wall cabinets, 6. mops, 7. furnace, 8. washing machine, 9. hot water heater, 10 sink. Say I want to memorize a list of the southern states in the order in which they seceded. (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee.)
Here is how I will use Loci to memorize the  names of the states in order of secession.  You may, of course,  use other images if those will work better for you.
I see Caroline Kennedy standing in the doorway of my laundry room speaking in a strong Souther accent. (South Carolina)
I see a Mississippi river boat  sitting in my cat’s litter pan. (Mississippi)
I look out the window and there are flowers blooming everywhere in my back yard. I  pink roses, purple  lilacs and yellow dandelions.  (Florida)
I look in my dryer. Ali MacGraw and Bambi are in there. (Alabama)
Next I open the wall cabinets above my dryer. George W. Bush is dressed as a confederate general and he is leading a cavalry charge. (Georgia)
Below this are my pail of mops. My Uncle Louis is  holding a mop that perhaps he might use as a weapon in the war. With him is actress Anna Paquin who is also holding a mop.  Louis plus Anna. (Louisiana) 
I look at the furnace and there is my tax statement for last year. I must have forgotten to mail it.  (Texas)
Virginia Graham swims in my washing machine. (Virginia)
On top of my water heater is an ark and a chain saw. (Arkansas)
Caroline Kennedy is now by my sink. She keeps saying “No” to let me know that she has lost her accent. (North Carolina)
Backing away from Caroline, I bump into Tennessee Ernie Ford, who is standing in a waste paper basket.(Tennessee)
An easy technique if I have ten items in the room and eleven items to memorize, is to add either a person, an animal  or a wastepaper basket to the room. (Eleven states seceded, so I had to put Tennessee Ernie in the wastepaper basket.
Those states will now be easer to remember. I have given them order and numbers. I associated them in fun ways with locations I had already memorized.
Loci is an ancient method, but fun for modern scholars. See my earlier blog on Loci. For longer lists, I use more than one room.  Kevin Vost has one of the best explanations of Loci in his book, “Memorize the Faith.”  He has a ten commandments room, a seven deadly sins room, a seven virtues room and even a cathedral. 
Readers do not have to be Catholic to use his rooms or for Vost to  help them with Loci. His rooms work for memorizing anything and I often use his ten commandments room. 
I like to work in multitudes of ten, so I added items to some of Vost’s other rooms when they had less than ten items.  
I also have a Loci car which I copied from “O.W.” Bill Hayes’ book “Your Memory.” This last book is a 1958 edition that has been out of print for years. It is still available  at online bookstores and at rare book stores.  There are 20 items on the Loci car.
I also have a Woodward Avenue list that I created.  Woodward is main street in Detroit and runs through several Detroit suburbs. A few of the businesses I slotted onto my Woodward Loci have gone, but I remember them where they were.  There are thirty items on my Woodward Avenue List going south and  twenty-six items going north.
Many people find Loci even easier to use than fun alphabets.
I shall close this column with the loci person. We will come back to this Loci person later and see how it can help us learn code and memorize even very long numbers.
Because this list is more than just Loci, when you memorize it, please use the exact words given. Don’t change toes to foot or muscle to leg.  Also leave the numbers as they are. Zero does not follow nine, but this will make sense later when we learn this as master code. 

1. Toes, 2. knee, 3. muscle, 4. rear, 5. love handles, 6. shoulder, 7 collar, 8. face.9.pate, 0. ceiling

Your assignment is to create some Loci rooms on your own. Draw a floor plan; below that number and name each item.  You may use my laundry room or any of Vost’s rooms. I will print print Hayes’  Loci car list in a future column.
Also memorize the Loci person, we will be using that as we learn other learning techniques.