The Value of Learning

A little while ago, I was reading The Value of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell (from Problems of Philosophy). And now, it seems to be quite related to the previous post on finding powerful reason to learn.
Once upon a time, I was the biggest critic of philosophy. I couldn’t understand it’s appeal and thought it was [...]

Intelligent Attitudes (Part 2)

This is the second of several parts on attitudes that will put more information in your brain and keep it there. These tips are meant to be applied in all areas of life, so that maximal learning happens on every front, not just the academic ones.
The first part of Intelligent Attitudes lists tips 1 and [...]

Intelligent Attitudes (Part 1)

This will be the first of three (or four) parts on attitudes that will help you learn more in all areas of your life. Not only are these tips are useful in an academic sense, they are even more useful for learning as a whole.
1) Be humble in knowledge
No matter how much you know in [...]

Dedication: Screw the naysayers

There is a unique way of thinking that dedicated people have. In the same vein, there is an all too common way of thinking that undedicated people have. Here are some things I’ve heard over the past month on the topic of studying:

No one needs to study for a week for an exam.
I don’t want [...]

Getting yourself to commit

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help [...]

Finding flow in your work

Yesturday, I had the pleasure of leading a discussion on ‘how to live in the present moment’ with some lovely ladies at a Goal-Oriented Living Club meeting (you will find this post on the club’s website as well). This post covers the some salient points of the discussion (of those that I remembered or wrote [...]

Karl Iagnemma: Roboticist and Novelist

In an earlier life, and still now to a large extent, I have been guilty of compartmentalizing people based on their field of study or work. If someone is in the liberal arts, they must only be good at writing. If someone is in the sciences, they must only be good at memorization and analytical [...]

The 104th Carnival of Education

Ah yes, even though this is already 2 (almost 3 days late) , I would like to thank Carol at The Median Sib for hosting the 104th Carnival of Education. And of course I would like to thank her for linking to The Gravy Way.
But to anyone from the carnival reading this: The title was [...]

Life’s a Business: Value-Added Proposition

One way to gain control of your own life and to empower yourself to achieve successful living is by treating your life and everything about it like a business. A lot of people, myself included, spend a large portion of their time on activities that yield no value. For example: Every time I [...]

A new memory philosophy for a new year

Toward the end of last semester I’ve come across a different way of thinking about memory. It comes from an audio program from Vera Birkenbihl called Memory Optimizer.
She describes memory as construction: when you attempt to place a fact – say someone’s name – in your brain, you must first construct the idea of that [...]