The Growth Project: Day 6

Today was Day 6 of the Growth Project, and this is how it turned out:

1. Mindfulness

I had a really nice 10 minute meditation using the waking up app this morning. I also took brain breaks in between these tasks to get into flow.

2. Health/ Exploration

For brain health, I took my daily supplements, which consists of fish oil, Matter, Turmeric, and vitamin D.

I also ran, did some burpees, and stretched as soon as I got up.

3. Computer Science/ Software Engineering

I successfully learned how to parse DateTime variables, and use those in C#!

4. Writing

I wrote today’s post!

5. Reading

Here’s what I took from Limitless today:

I’m reading about how to study more efficiently while spending less time doing so. There are seven habits that Jim outlines.

1. Employ active recall: This is a technique that involves reading your passage and then hiding the material and writing down how much of it you recall, you can repeat this process ~4 times for maximum retention.
2. Employ spaced repetition: This one has been proven to increase memory retention dramatically, Jim suggests that before each study session, spend a small percentage of the beginning portion on review, the more times you come back to information with days in between, the better you’ll remember it.
3. Manage your state: If you just had a bad day and tried to take an important test or give a speech, chances are you didn’t do the best you could. One of the most important things about your state is your posture, sit like you are about to learn the most crucial, life-changing information. When you sit straight, it facilitates breathing and good circulation, if you are slumped you can stifle your breathing and feel more distant and tired.
4. Use your sense of smell: This one is kinda wild; if you study with a specific scent in the air, and then use a little bit of that on your wrist to go take the test of the contents you were just studying, there’s evidence that can heighten your recall and make you preform better.
5. Music for your mind: Many studies have pointed to better concentration and relaxed state of mind when you are listening to the right music, Jim recommends Baroque music, but states that any music in between 50–80 bpm with little to no vocals can massively improve studying effectiveness.
6. Listen with your whole brain: Most adults are bad at listening, that’s a fact. I have experienced this for sure and Jim points it out here. Your brain can potentially decode about 400 wpm of information from a speaker and the average speaker in NYC talks at about 125 wpm. This means that generally speaking, your mind is always running when you are listening to someone. Jim put together an acronym to help us be more aware of listening: HEAR; H is for halt, do everything you can to tune out your mind’s random thoughts about what you are going to say next, what your plans are after this conversation, or any concerns about anything else, try to focus on presence. E is for empathy, if you put yourself in the speaker’s shoes, it becomes much easier to pay attention to them because you want to be listened to, right? Try to listen to where they are coming from and absorb their perspective. A is for anticipate, engage in the experience with a sense of anticipation, remember that learning is state-dependent and that if you attach emotion to your hearing, it will become long-term memory much easier. R is for review, listen with the intention to talk to the person afterwords and ask them clarifying questions, try and paraphrase the content in your mind to the best of your ability.
7. Take notes of taking notes: Be sure that you understand the purpose of the notes that you are taking. Use your own words as often as you can, if you are copying someone’s content verbatim, you are probably not processing all of it. Use Jim’s capture and create note taking method, split your paper down the middle and use the left side for capture, get the contents of what you’re studying. Then use the right side for create, get your impression of what your capturing, How can I use this? Why must I use this? When will I use this? After your done taking notes, review them immediately.

6. Music

I practiced random basic chords and strumming patterns on the ukulele for about 15 minutes.

7. Juggling

I practiced juggling for about 20 minutes, feeling closer to getting into flow and being able to seamlessly juggle!

getting better!

8. Cooking/Diet

Today I ate a cheese and Jalapeno bagel for breakfast. I also made some tea and my brain smoothie! Then I had a spinach, turkey, and cheese wrap for lunch.

9. Typing

Practiced typing using the home row for about 10 minutes today, I’m getting slightly more accurate and up to about 30 wpm!

10. Social Skills

I watched a video on how to read people better in social situations:

1. Increase self-awareness: the first step is to be aware of your emotional state and body language.
2. Find where their attention is: watch for eye contact, or wandering eyes, to see if they are into the conversation or not.
3. Get good at identifying micro-expressions: When people feel an emotion, but don’t necessary want to reveal that they are feeling a certain way, you can see them disconnect for a moment, a micro-expression.
4. Identify common patterns: When you can identify common patterns in people’s language you can start putting the pieces together and faster in all of your social interactions.
5. Make predictions based on their body language: Watch people’s interactions and make predictions on who is comfortable with who and start reading people’s body language.
6. Experiment in your own life: Use these concepts in your own life and see if you can start recognizing patterns, micro-expressions, attention, and body language.

This was the sixth day in The Growth Project!

Go to the previous day or next day

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Contact me by email at aric.silverhand@gmail.com