The Only Skill that Matters by Jonathan A. Levi

The Only Skill that Matters: The Proven Methodology to Read Faster, Remember More, and Become a Superlearner by Jonathan A. Levi

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Just as Moore’s law famously stated that computer power would double every two years (and costs would halve), knowledge grows in a similarly exponential way. Twenty years ago, computer science students at Stanford could rest easy knowing that their four years of training would prepare them for the job. Today, much of what they’ll learn is obsolete even before they graduate.

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“The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
—Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock

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Far too often, we approach a “new” subject as if it’s completely foreign, when in fact, the whole of human knowledge is connected in some way. By making this powerful mindset shift alone, you will almost instantly become a more effective learner.

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By simply considering the ways in which you will apply a piece of information, you increase your ability both to focus on and to remember it.

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A woodsman was once asked,
“What would you do if you had just six minutes to chop down a tree?”
He answered,
“I would spend the first four minutes sharpening my ax.”
—Unknown

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SQ3R =
Survey
Question
Read
Recall
Review

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“Who is wise? He that learns from everyone.”
—Jewish Proverb

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The utmost level in Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the reason for the big shakeup in 2001, is “create.” It’s one thing to understand the thinking or ideas of another, or even to criticize and evaluate them. It’s an entirely different thing to create your own original thoughts. In this stage, we know enough about a topic to develop our own related works. At the most basic level, this is the difference between being a music aficionado and composing your own music. At the highest levels, it’s the difference between a master’s degree and a PhD. One demands only the study and analysis of other people’s ideas, while the other requires you to contribute original thinking of your own.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a helpful reminder that the words “learning,” “knowing,” and “understanding” greatly oversimplify what’s really going on. In fact, it’s reminiscent of an apocryphal story about theoretical physicist Max Planck. After winning the Nobel Prize, Planck toured Germany, giving the same standard lecture on the new quantum mechanics. After a while, his chauffeur had memorized the lecture and asked Planck if they could switch places for a day. On the big day, Planck sat in the audience in a chauffeur’s cap, and his driver delivered the lecture flawlessly on stage. After the lecture, however, a physics professor stood up and asked a detailed, complex question. The chauffeur’s response? “I’m surprised to receive such an elementary question in an advanced city like Munich. I’m going to let my chauffeur reply!”

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By leaving things “unfinished,” even if temporarily, we can enhance our own memory of them.

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A standing desk will help you work and exercise at the same time.

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