Do Hard Things. It Changes Your Brain. Mike and Matty

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Neuroscientists describe three ways that our brains can change when we do hard things. ️The first way is to speed up our brain circuits. When we focus intensely on a specific skill, we force a particular circuit in our brain to fire repeatedly. That causes the brain to wrap myelin around those neurons, as if wrapping insulation around a wire, to improve efficiency of the circuits. (Morell, 1999) Morell Article The second way is through rewiring our brains. When we practice a skill for thousands of hours, not only does our brain develop muscle memory, but it rewires what it knows to “conform to the current needs and experiences of the individual.” (Taub, 1995) Taub Article The third way is through the growth of the brain size itself. Our brain is like a muscle; the more we challenge ourselves, the more we can potentially grow in certain areas. Seasoned taxi drivers who didn’t use GPS were found on MRI to have a larger memory center or hippocampus. (Maguire, 2011). Maguire ArticleMonks who have meditated for thousands of hours have more grey matter in their frontal brain than the average person. (Lazar 2006) (Lazar 2006)

We can intentionally change our brain speed, wiring, and size by deciding how we want to work. ️Speed We increase our brain’s processing speed through intentional focus. When you study, put 100% of your attention on one single intention. This is what author Chris Bailey calls “hyperfocus.” Get rid of distractions, or put yourself in an environment where your focus cannot be broken. Offload all the unclosed loops and thoughts in your mind by writing them down on a todo-list before starting your focus session. By focusing on one task, you isolate that one circuit in your brain and force it to fire again and again to strengthen that connection. Wiring We rewire our brains through prolonged repetition. You’ll notice that when you first start using a new study skill, like the Feynman technique, you are constantly trying to remember the steps and what to do next. Sometimes you’re thinking more about how to use the technique than learning the lecture itself! But as you push through and repeatedly use the technique over many study sessions, you’ll notice the effort starts to feel like second nature. Your brain has rewired itself. Size We grow the size of our brains with appropriate challenges. When you’re falling asleep while studying, this is your brain telling you that the task is too easy. Learning should feel difficult but not too difficult. This is a concept that author Peter Brown calls “desired difficulties.” An easy way to challenge yourself is to use active learning instead of passive learning. A passive learning technique would be reading your notes multiple times to review for an exam. It’s easy to do. An active learning technique would be to close your notes and try to rewrite them from memory. It’s much more difficult, but this challenge will help your brain grow. The User Manual For Your Brain (Part 1) Ideas to reflect on your mood and explore your mind… The human brain is an engine of power. It sets us apart from other animals by granting us the ability to learn, problem-solve, and create. That’s true power, given to each and every one of us for free from day 1. But most people never read the user manual, as if expecting to figure out the complexity of the brain by chance. The brain learns and stores information in a particular way. Even a simple understanding of its neuroscience is enough to make a difference. It’s time we stop fighting our brains and start working in harmony. To start, let’s look at the knowledge center of our engine: memory. There are three types: sensory memory working memory long-term memory During a typical study session at the library, your brain constantly takes in new information: the glare of the overhead lights, the sound of doors opening and closing as other students enter, and the titles of books on the bookshelf. All this information that your brain senses is briefly stored in your sensory memory. Most of this memory will be lost in a few seconds if you give them no attention. Your attention is likely on the notes and laptop in front of you as you study for Friday’s exam. As you think critically about how to solve that practice problem, the relevant equations and key terms fill your working memory. Your goal is to store all this knowledge in your long-term memory because you won’t be allowed to bring your notes with you to the exam. Learning happens when we successfully store knowledge in our long-term memory (aka encoding) in a way that we can later call upon to solve problems (aka retrieval). Unfortunately, the knowledge that is stored in our long-term memory can also fade away if left unused. The reason we study is to reinforce that information to remain in our long-term memory (aka consolidation). Tune in next week for Part 2, as we continue dissecting this process and dive deeper into how to learn more efficiently. Here is a recap of what we covered last week: Learning happens when we successfully store knowledge in our long term memory (aka encoding) in a way that we can later call upon to solve problems (aka retrieval). The problem is, knowledge that is stored in our long term memory can also fade away if left unused. The reason we study is to reinforce that information to remain in our long term memory (aka consolidation). Encoding Encoding is like hanging an object onto a sticky spider web. The brain is essentially a network of billions of neurons, all with multiple connections to each other. A web of knowledge. Let’s say you’re studying chemistry. When you try to encode a chemical equation into long-term memory, that equation is connected to all the prior knowledge you have about chemistry: atoms, electrons, acid-base reactions, and so on. The more connections, the stronger that information will stick. Therefore, encoding is all about making connections and realizing how different ideas relate to each other. Retrieval Think of retrieval as the act of practicing with your knowledge. A golfer doesn’t improve by simply collecting more golf clubs and allowing them to collect dust in the closet. What’s required is taking those clubs out of storage and practicing with them. Collecting more clubs is easy, which is why it feels productive. But don’t confuse this with putting in the real work. The key to better retrieval is to challenge yourself under realistic conditions. Watching a golfer play is not the same as going through the motions yourself. Practice is when you’ll learn the differences between how one golf club swings compared to another. Learning works in a similar way. Collecting chemistry notes and chemistry textbooks on your bookshelf is not helpful unless you put the knowledge to practice. You might have hundreds of equations stored in your long-term memory, but how would you know which ones to use and under which circumstances? Retrieval allows us to practice our knowledge, giving us confidence that we’ll use it correctly. Consolidation Without review, your knowledge slowly fades away. This is what it means to “forget” something. Forgetting is a natural part of a memory’s lifespan, but we can combat it by repeatedly exercising that memory. In addition, it has been shown that quality sleep (particularly REM sleep) allows our brain to consolidate what we’ve learned into long-term memory. Sleep works synergistically with repetition to reinforce our memories. So when we pull an all-nighter and cram for an exam, we give our brains only one chance to consolidate knowledge. This study method neglects both sleep and repetition. But when we space out our reviews over multiple days, we give our brains the chance to consolidate across multiple sleep cycles. That’s the basic science of how our brains learn information.