From the most basic, to the extremely obscure, I can respond to any question, speak to almost any subject matter, or pull statistics and historical information on a moments notice. Whether it's spouting off a quick answer to a question raised in a professional setting, conversing with 3 very inquisitive children about topics they know more about than I do, or kibitzing with old friends over sports rivalries, Google provides me with the intellectual edge that makes me seem way smarter than I really am.

There, I said it!

"r_u_smarter_than_a_5th_grader" Please click on the link to watch the PPT.

Than I?  Than I am?  My intern would know. Seriously.  He asks better questions than I do.  He knows more about foreign relations than I do.  He knows the capitals of countries that I only pretend to know.  He is heading to Oxford, for crying out loud.  I think my bosses like him more than me. 

I saw him creep. I saw him venture. Right into my domain for another adventure. This time I need to confront him and let him know what I think. If it scares the shit outta him, he can go see a shrink.

"The Hatter, I presume! Please to meet you... hope you guess my name!"

"Just my imagination running wild again. Nothing more than shadows in sight, nothing else seen in this twilight."

"Well your observation is good I must say, and though we've met on many an occasion, this probably is our first conversation."

"Now to myself I'm talking and into the shadows I'm walking..."

"HAHAHA! Maybe you should say, 'Now to the shadow I'm talking and into myself I'm walking,' as that would not only make more sense but you would appear to be smarter!"

After that moment, I saw his mouth agape like a clown in a circus. Before he could reply the lenses began to focus.

"Are you feeling alright Hatter?" asked someone.

Damn! The show is over. Good going! Hatter my friend. You and I missed life again.

In comments, Mark Farrell suggested a parallel thread on characters who got smarter as the series went on, and rightly suggested Margaret on M*A*S*H as an example. She and Frank started out at around the same level (Frank was a little dumber than she was when the show started, but not that much, because he was originally intended to be a good surgeon) and then she gradually got smarter while he constantly got dumber. And then after Frank left, she continued getting smarter and more sympathetic until by the end of the series, nobody had called her "Hot Lips" in years.

Other characters who got smarter as the series went on? This is obviously a lot tougher to find than characters who got dumber. Making a character dumber is almost an unconscious process, especially in a comedy. Making a character smarter is usually a conscious decision, and writers can rarely make it seem plausible. Remember how 24 tried to make Kim smarter (a CTU agent, yet) in the third season, and how nobody bought it? Another example of that is Theo on The Cosby Show. The whole point of the character originally was that he was a poor student. It would have been logical for him to improve as time went on, but as I recall, the writers didn't really make it seem logical; it just felt to me, at the time, like suddenly he had gone from a slacker to a smart guy without a clear transition. It was part of Cosby's attempt to make all the kids perfect so they could all be role models for the world. I just didn't buy it.

There are also characters who transition very early on into being smart, but that's more about the writers finding out who the character is. Lisa Simpson was not particularly smart in the Tracey Ullman shorts or some of the early episodes, but by the end of the first season they had established that she was the smartest one in the family, and they stuck to that characterization after that. (Her intelligence has fluctuates since then, but she's remained the smartest Simpson with the possible exception of Maggie.)

As others pointed out, Edmund Blackadder got smarter: Prince Edmund in the first series was an idiot, while subsequent incarnations of the character were P.O.'d at being surrounded by idiots. But it's debatable whether Edmund should be considered one character who develops over time or a bunch of different characters with the same name.

Corky on Murphy Brown may be a character who got smarter in a plausible way. She became more competent and less ditzy as the show went on, the way real-life people get more competent and knowledgeable as they get more experience. And Edith on All in the Family (who, by the way, was much smarter in the pilot than she became later; originally she was going to be closer to the deadpan character from the original British version, but they quickly decided to make her more innocent and sweet) also seemed to get smarter, though you could argue that since she was never really dumb, she didn't so much become smarter as more assertive, more willing to challenge the other characters.

Sometimes a show will try to make characters smarter in a gradual way, and then kind of give up on it. In the middle of its run, King of the Hill tried to make both Bobby and Luanne smarter, Bobby by aging him a year and making him act a tiny bit more grown-up, Luanne by switching her from beauty college to regular college. Both those characters have now regressed to the point of being even more clueless than they were originally. And of course every time The Simpsons tries to make Homer a little smarter, they give up within a few weeks.

Tracy on 30 Rock may be a character who has smartened up as other characters have gotten dumber. He's still not exactly sane, but whereas in the early episodes he was not merely an idiot but a dangerous idiot ("I am a stabbing robot!"), the show has humanized him a bit, given him occasional lucid moments, and even made him a genius video-game creator. I wonder if other Token Dumb Guys get a little smarter as everybody else on the show becomes dumber?

A couple of days ago I had a couple of people compliment me or say something about me which anyone else who heard it wouldn't have thought twice about the effect.  You see just as in the quote above words can change your life.  Whether they are good or bad they will effect you.  One particular comment someone shared with me last Sunday has greatly upped my spirit and changed how I view myself.  In short I was told that I had become the type of person that I wanted to be.  And the thing is no one else thought much of it.

You see when you compliment someone or say something bad about someone you may not realize just how much that effects that person.  I believe that in many cases words can have a larger effect than actions and that in itself is amazing.  I've witnessed words tear someone apart to the brink of suicide.  And I've seen words bring joy instead of tears.

I see it everyday in fact.  I think way too often do we take our own words for granted.  We don't realize just what we are saying and how it's going to effect the person we direct those words too.

And jokes are good just as well.  Laughter, after all, is something that everyone needs.  Yet at the same time so few of us know where to draw the line on jokes and insults.  And I won't take my self out of this one either.  I mean it's very easy to point out flaws in others, almost too easy.  It seems to me that I see way too many people simply looking for something wrong in someone just so that they can point it out to their group of friends and get a few laughs.

And so I bring up that quote above again.  Words, no matter what they are or who said it, will change you.  They will make you feel better.  And they will keep you up at night as you try to find a way to become better looking, skinnier, smarter, funnier or just a better person.

So my challenge to MYSELF and all who ever come across this.  Consider your words.  Choose your jokes wisely and think.  I saw first hand this past week just how two very small comments made about me not only made this a very good week but also changed me.  And it also made me feel good that that was they thought of me.  And you all know it to be true.  When someone compliments you it does make you feel good (and maybe even a little big headed).

Also feel free to share how someones words has changed you in this past week.  :D

• I may not know what I'm going, but I am figuring it out.
• I may not be the best, but I am getting better.
• I may not be the smartest, but I am getting smarter.
• I may not know the most, but I am learning more.

Keep on learning and keep on trying. Life is about taking things one step at a time and not giving up.

The important thing is to learn, develop, and mature. As long as you are headed in the right direction, you can't go wrong. Just think where you'd be several years from now if you learned one new thing each day or got just a little bit better at something each day.

Add your own statements in the comments section below and I'll add it to the post.

How To Study Smarter And Be More Organized.

Summary
This article will show you how to study smarter, in order to increase you knowledge and do it faster, while helping to organize your self for studying too. Studying smarter and organization are a fundamental skills you should learn in order to excel, weather in self studying, school, college, university, work or other areas.

(image owner: Flickr Page and licensed under Creative Commons )

Note: I don't claim to have created any of the ideas or techniques that I write about here, I am just sharing information I have found during my research on this topic. :) Should there be any issues with content, grammar, spelling etc then just leave a comment or use the contact page. With that said, lets get started!

Getting Started/Preparing

Introduction

Studying satisfaction and achievement of higher grade(s) should improve dramatically (on the condition that smart studying has not been used before) if you implement the ideas that are talked about in this article . If the techniques are adapted early on in the process such as, the beginning or before you start your course then the achievement of higher grades, knowledge and greater satisfaction with the studying process would more likely be achieved with ease. One thing to note is that all techniques shown here will not work for all people, you should pick and choose what works for you and your learning style.

Why Study?

I have written why study, because it is something you should know. Why are you studying? What is the goal for you? It does not even have to be the common one which is to get a job in a certain field, but you should have a reason, and the reason should be a strong one for you. Knowing why you are studying and what your goals are, is very, very important! Ask your self questions, and write down on paper why you are studying in a paragraph or two, in order to remember, in case your motivation is not as strong later on down the road.

Goal Setting

Goal setting is very important, it helps you know were you are going. Now, this article is not on goal setting, but I will try to give you a few tips I have picked up. First of all these goals are going to be goals relating to your study, although you should have goals relating to your overall education and career, again I don't want to get off topic here but doing this is very helpful and will give you something to aim for. Regarding the study goals, here are a few examples of goals :

• Gather material for ______ and organize them at my study area (10 minutes).
• Research on _____ at the library. (30 minutes).

As you can see the goals are very specific and easy to do. If a goal that you have written is not easy enough, try to break it down.

We come to my first tip for goals as you have probably guessed ...

Specific Small Goals!

Big goals have there place, but if you just focus on big goals you will more then likely get overwhelmed. Just imagine we have two people, Jake and Mark. Jake has chosen to focus on the big goals and Mark on small goals. If the project is something big like getting good grade in studys, then Mark will be more prepared and focused as he will be focusing on each individual piece of the puzzle. On the other hand Jake more then likely will be stressed because he will have less focus and may begin thinking thoughts such as "i must finish this or else ____", "everything is such hard work" etc. Specific goals come in to play when you make very small goals, like getting a certain book from the library at a certain time. There is no confusion, and it takes the greatness of small goals and makes them even easier by focusing them. I have done what Jake does in this example many times in the past, and have to say focusing on big goals does not work, small goals are proven and the way to go! You can use small goals in any area of your life, it is an amazing tool.

Action Plan

The reason for creating an action plan is simple, it helps focus you and takes away any confusion you may have. To create an action plan you must answer questions such as:

• What is the goal and What you are going to do in general terms?
• What do you have available in order to help you complete the goal?
• How you will achieve the goal?
• How you will know you have achieved the goal?
• How realistic the goal is on a scale of 10? a
• When you will achieve the goal by? (When is the Deadline?)

These are also commonly refered to as SMART goals, there is lots of information on this google for more, or leave a comment and I will get back to you.

Organize Goals

Having writen about small goals, I would say that you should also organize your goals.
Create a list of goals from were you are now to your main big goal, you can also go backwards if this helps, from imagining your completed goal, then going back through time and imagning each step you took. You can also break goals down in to goals for 2 weeks, for example you wish to achieve ______ by the end of 2 weeks, but it can be any amount of time you like, a month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 week, 3 days, 1 day.

Completed Goals

For each significant goal, or a goal that felt hard to accomplish you should reward your efforts.

Note About Aim: It also nice to have what range of grade you are looking to achieve too. So that you have an another aim, you know the quote:

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars"
~ Les Brown

Schedules/Time-Management

I would suggest you buying a calender and diary in order to organize yourself. First of all I will suggest that you be flexible with your schedule.

Lets start off with the calender, this should be a big calender that you would put on a wall in your bedroom so that you see it everyday, what do you write on the calender? everything from:

• Important exams.
• Dates homework are due to be handed in.
• Mile stones.
• Days left till studying for that year ends.
• Tick off each day that study has been done, your aim is to get all green ticks!

If you can think of any more I have not noted down (which relate to studying) please leave a comment.

Okay now why do you need a diary? well a calender only has so much space, a diary should be used to write any small milestone, even something like "I have studied today!". It will also be used to note down any other slightly less significant dates, but ones that do need to be noted, be sure to glance over your diary once everyday.

Time Saving Tips

• Alarm Clock ... for bed time, (I thought this was a brilliant idea) set an alarm clock for the time you will go to sleep, this way you will ensure that you get adequate sleep and enough to wake up early tommorow.
• Get up early - If you get up more early you will get more done, before others even start there day. You can use this time to meditate, exercise, eat a good breakfast, etc.
• Prepare Beforehand - If you can do something before you need to, its usually good so that you don't rush around at the last minute, what am I talking about here? Here are some examples, a few things you can before you go to bed are so you don't have to do them in the morning: plan fowhat you are going to do the following day, packing your bag and making sure you have what you need, picking and ironing clothes Etc. As another example, something you can prepare after you wake is lunch/snacks.
• Have A Morning Routine - You should have a morning routine so that you are not wasting time, you can have a wash/cleaning/toilet time, then changing clothes, eating time, once done you can then getting on with the days activity's. If you have more focus you will notice your not just wasting half an hour sitting in bed.
• Avoid - Make sure you avoid things that are not helpful to you, and are time wasting, such as going out to buy a coffee, smoking (you need to be in top condition), surfing on the net or watching to much tv/films, having set times for these activity's can dramatically add time to your day, socializing too much is another one, I am not saying cut yourself off from the world! that is something you defiantly DON'T want to do, but if you find your self spending more time chatting and not getting enough work done then that is an indication that you need to cut back.

I know there are times when people feel less then happy or willing to follow a schedule, just try do what you can and don't beat yourself up. You can set yourself up a schedule for times like this and follow that instead and perhaps even one that you do a little extra for days that you are feeling you can do more.

Preparation

In preparing for study, you should ask former students that have taken the course you are going on what it is like, so you know what to expect. You can use the preparation time to organize yourself, write a schedule and do a few "test runs" on it, know your goals and be flexible to change and adapt them, know why you are studying, purchase anything you need if you can etc. You should have a list of things you can do to motivate yourself when you are feeling less then your best, I will talk a little about motivation next.

Motivation

What do you do when you don't feel like you have the motivation to continue? Here are a few helpful tips:

• Take a break! - You should take breaks often so that you do not fall in to a situation were you burn out!
• Listen to music - Most often then not, listening to your favorite piece of music can make you feel good.
• Keep a grateful list - Create a list of things you are grateful about, this can be helpful sometimes.
• Smile - just smile for more than a minute and see if it changes your mood, simple enough!
• Why - think about why you are feeling unmotivated for example, if it is due to a large project, see if you can remedy the situation in this case breaking it down in to small manageable chunks.
• Exercise - exercising can be helpful in changing your mood there have been studys on this and its pretty well known now. You don't have to go all out, a light jog or walk would be fine, maybe incorporating music into it would make it even better!
• Meditation - try meditation to help calm and refocus your mind.
• Imagine - imagine a time when you were feeling motivated an happy and fully amerce yourself into that.
• Stop Over Thinking - just stop thinking so much, and move, do something, anything and see if your mood changes.
• Talk - Talk to someone else, who knows, it might just be you need some interaction with another human! Then you can get back to your studys after ;)
• Change the way you are talking to yourself. E.g, stop the unhelpful thoughts, replace unhelpful thoughts with solutions that will help you take action, or just positive thoughts (although that is usually not enough), you could also add a funny twist to a situation, do whatever works, be creative.

Forcing yourself to study when you really don't feel like it may make the situation worse, you really should take a break!
There is lots more information out there, search for some more tips if these do not do it for you. If you are feeling unmotivated or sad, on a constant bases, then see a doctor because they will be able to give you much better advice!

Health/Fitness

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you stay fit:

Exercise

Pretty straight forward, I don't need to tell you what you need to do here. There is no need for anything fancy, just running/jogging/walking is enough.

Eating health lifestyle

Again, I don't think people REALLY need to be told what to eat yet again, I trust you know this, and the benefits of eating healthily.

Meditation/Relaxation

Studying can be stressful and thus meditation and other relaxation techniques can be helpful. Check my article for more information.

Self-hypnosis

Google is your friend here. To get the basics read this article on How to Perform Self - Hypnosis

Actual Studying

You can use any of the below is studying or exam situations, choose what works for your style of learning.

General Outline

As a smart student you know why you are learning and the purpose of your learning and whole education. Smart students do not cram everything in to a study marathon, they take frequent breaks and study in shorter bursts unless they are in the zone, and even then they would not work past the point they know they healthily can, they will take a break! Smart students listen carefully to what is said and know what is expected of them. They incorporate ideas of what they already know about a topic into there study and try to get a general overall understanding of the text. They ask questions when reading a book and extract the important information from the fluff. They organize the information, write it in there own words, sumerize it, connect it with what they know and use memory techniques to learn any information that is needed such as specific orders of text. They will review a lesson after its over (on the same day) and when they take a day off they will be guilt free and not think about studying, they prioritize important work and do that work in order of importance, they will use techniques such as mind mapping, self testing, questioning, note organization, etc to there advantage, they will gather materials early and set up good a study space and study habits in order to make each study hour count and thus allow them time to do other things.

Specific Study/Exam Tips

• Change Books!
  What most people do is sweat over a book that is difficult for them to understand, if the book you are working with does not help you understand get another one! Simple but works, you will eventually come across one that is helpful to you. And perhaps when you understand more you can go back to the original book.
• Self Testing
  This is a good way to see if you have learnt something, pick an area (be specific) you wish to test your-self on, then write or record yourself (without any help) explaining the particular topic. Once you are done check to see if you are correct, if you are it is an indication you may be ready to move on to the next area. You can also write questions when starting a particular area of say a book, then once you think you have learnt it, put the book away, awnser the questions, and see if you are right. Retesting after some time will see if you have retained the information. Test yourself regularly and defiantly before exams!
  
• Teachers Help
  This is very simple, if you are stuck on a particular thing or anything for that matter, just ask your teacher and see if they can clear it up for you. They have been studying the topic for a long time (hence the reason there teaching it!) and will know the direction to point you in. It can do no harm to ask for a teachers help, they may even give you an extra tip or two.
• Note Taking
  When taking notes you should split your page in two, and write notes about the lesson on one side and questions and ideas that arise from this on the other side. You can also use, abbreviation's (which I have written about below and given a link to a website that will help with this) in order to speed up note taking, and also mind maps can be helpful in making the information more easy for your brain to follow, rather then boring notes, line by line. Picking out important points, paraphrasing, highlighting, using color, writing questions, and summarizing and all good tips for note taking too.
• Note Organization
  You can take all your notes and order them into categories, separating each one, there are folders that do this, I forgot what type of folder it is! Using color and condensing notes is also quite helpful.
• Reviewing
  Reviewing is very important!! you should regularly review your notes and your one page notes (I'll talk about this later) when the years end is coming. Doing this helps keep the information fresh in your memory. And if done on a constant basis can help the information move more towards the long-term memory. Just note it is something that is one of the fundamentals of successful study.
• Don't Stop Till You Have Finished
  Some people have been known to not stop working till there entire project is complete, this is pretty hardcore! You would obviously need to take frequent breaks, but I could see it working, just be aware of not working if you are very tired or having to many "energy drinks", you can work for as long as is okay for you, but no longer.
• Survey - Question - Read - Recite - Review (SQ3R)
  A well known tip here is a how to from Wikipedia:"1. Survey (2 minute): Before beginning reading look through the whole chapter. See what the headings are—the major ones and the subheadings; hierarchical structures seem to be particularly easy for our brains to latch onto—check for introductory and summary paragraphs, references, etc. Resist reading at this point, but see if you can identify 3 to 6 major ideas in the chapter.

  2. Question (usually less than 30 seconds): Ask yourself what this chapter is about: What is the question that this chapter is trying to answer? Or—along the curiosity lines—What question do I have that this chapter might help answer? Repeat this process with each subsection of the chapter, as well, turning each heading into a question. (As a variation of this technique, you can write the important question down, this is called SQW3R)3. Read (at your own pace): Read one section at a time looking for the answer to the question proposed by the heading. This is active reading and requires concentration so find yourself a place and time where you can concentrate.

  4. Recite/write (about a minute): Say to yourself out loud or write down a key phrase that sums up the major point of the section and answers the question. It is important to use your own words, not just copy a phrase from the book. Research shows that we remember our own (active) connections better than ones given to us (passive), indeed that our own hierarchies are generally better than the best prefab hierarchies.

  5. Review (less than 5 minutes): After repeating steps 2–4 for each section you have a list of key phrases that provides a sort of outline for the chapter. Test yourself by covering up the key phrases and seeing if you can recall them. Do this right after you finish reading the chapter. If you can't recall one of your major points, that's a section you need to reread.

  The Review part is usually meant to be an ongoing process. Flash cards, notes or other material made during one of the above 5 steps, can be used to review for a few minutes every day for several days. This technique was introduced in 1946 by Francis Pleasant Robinson in his book, Effective Study."

• Memorization With Cards
  Write whatever it is you want to learn on cards, and read through them a few times. Once you are finished try go though each of the cards of information (which should not be too huge, in terms of the amount of information per card) and see if you can say them out loud without looking at the cards, when you have one correct put it in to the correct pile and keep going till you have them all correct. Then start again. ;) Until you feel you have a good grasp of the content. Source
• Brainstorm
  Brainstorming is a good technique to use when you cannot think of anything to write for any particular topic, just draw a circle in the middle of a blank page and add any ideas you can think of that relate to the topic, and something you can write on it. The idea is to get enough content that you can use it in order to create a skeleton of the document you will create.
• Book notes - Quotes/Praphrasing/Summarizing
  When you are taking notes for books, you could copy quotes directly from the book, which is not really the best idea unless your using the quote for something. Paraphrasing something from the book which means you will be putting the text in to your own words is a good idea to test weather you understand the content.
• Ask Questions See How Fast You Can Answer
  This is a good tip to use for exam studying, what you do is gather questions on a particular topic, what would be even better esspecially for exam studying is to ask the teacher for practice questions and the type of questions that will be asked on the test, perhaps some old exam papers as well. Once you have the questions, you start a timer and see how fast you can answer, say, 20 questions. Once you time is up, check to see if your answers were correct or not, mark them by percentage of quality on the answers. These answers will be written on a different sheet of paper by the way. Then get a set of 20 different questions and go through the same process again. Once completed come back to the first 20, and answer the questions, either faster or with better quality answers or ideally both! Check your answers again. You can keep going till your answers are perfect if you wish. Doing this forum of study is very helpful to see if you can answer questions with a good understanding of the context. Doing this before exams will be especially helpful!
• Acronym
  Using the first letters of whatever it is you are trying to remember and creating an acronym with them. For example: Laugh Out Loud = LOL. This memory technique can be helpful in remembering a important information you come across in your studys. Another example is Roy G. Biv for Colors of the Spectrum (from first to last) = Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. An acronym is a type of mnemonic. We will go through (breifly) some more mnemonics next.
• Mnemonics
  There are many different types of mnemonics, the following are each of them with examples: Alliteration - The repeated use of one letter at the beginning of every word in a phrase, the most common example is: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper", Acronym - This has already been discussed, Rhymes - This takes in to account that people seem to remember songs very well, so if we take something we want to learn and make it into a rhyme is will be much more easier to remember, I'll let you do the rhyming :P Groups - The Roy G. Biv example groups the words in to a name. This method can be very effective, Numbers - How can you remember pi easily? How about remembering this: "How I wish I could calculate pi" now what you do is count how many letters there are in each word and you have pi to seven decimal places, Pictures - You can use your imagination to create funny or crazy happenings using the words that you want to remember, and join the together into a story, Poem/jingle (tune) - Similar to rhymes but in this case you are creating poems.
• Repetition
  Pretty simple, but I thought I would add it here anyway. You can use repetition by saying the words out loud, re-writing the words, even recording them and listening to them over and over.
• Teach
  An excellent way to see if we have learnt something is to try teach it! See if you can explain whatever it is you are learning in simple terms on paper and ask others if they can understand it. Or you can just try explain by giving a little presentation on it.
• Simple As Possible No Simpler
  Try to boil things down and make them as simple as possible. Just the act of making the context simpler to understand can help you understand it better too! Once you have a firm grasp of topics in there simplest form, understanding and adding more to your knowledge is easy as you have a strong "foundation".
• Focused Concentration
  When you are studying, you may want to test this out, for the next 10 minutes or so. Make your concentration focused like a LASER on the topic you are studying, focus on that one thing and nothing else. Keep going for 10 minutes, then you may want to write a summary of what you learnt, quite often it is more that what we would usually learn in that time. Test it out.
• Group Study
  Individual studying is great for getting to grips with a topic, but having other people to bounce off from is great too. You can time test each other, ask questions, give presentations, etc. Make sure it is a small group of 3 or so people, this makes the study more focused and you get more done!
• One Page
  This tip means that you will be taking the notes and condensing them down to one page. This can be a little challenging, because it means you have to add only the important key concepts and try include everything in a simple form. You will be doing this for each area of learning, if you can do it for an entire subject that is excellent! The purpose is that you will just need this one page and the triggers on the page of the main ideas will help you remember everything else too, very good to go through before exams!
• Cards
  Cards are a brilliant way to help you learn! A few examples of the usage of cards are: 1. Writing a question on one side and answer on the other and see how many you get correct (you can use this as a game in groups!) 2. Learning a new language, writing something in the language on one side and the translation on the other again see how many correct marks you get. 3. Writing IMPORTANT details extracted from lessons or books and writing them on the cards. There are more resources online, just do a quick search.
• Note Taking Abbreviations
  When you are in class you can use the short versions for words when you are taking notes in class, you can re-write them later. There is a nice list of abbreviations here as well as some nice study tips.
• Informal
  Studies have shown that informal learning can be more effective then formal learning, and for most students, informal learning means learning outside of school/college/university times, use this time effectively. But don't create too much of a formal atmosphere.
• Colors
  Using colors to help organize your content, folders, and it can be helpful in separating content.
• Self Study
  This is were the major learning will usually happen, take some time in your schedule to do some research on areas of content you are learning and use guides and resources available to help yourself understand the topic more. This is very important, and if you like the subject it should be easy. Even if you don't it is very important as you are generally more focused and learn more (if you aren't then make sure you plan what you are going to study, and don't be too general).
• Adding To Your Current Knowledge
  This is important and is a reason that missing lessons can be quite a set back, if you know the information from previous lessons and come prepared you will learn much more and quickly acquire all the information you need by building on what you already know.
• Question, Question, Question!
  Question everything you can, in the text you are reading, your notes, everything! Then (perhaps not all at once!) try to answer each question.
• Memory House
  Another memory tip is to imagine going from your door to a room and imagine the items in that particular rooom in your house, when you have a list of items that you can remember by imagining going from the door, then you can add things that you want to learn. Lets say the word iron is on the top of your list of words to learn, so you imagine incorporating iron with your visualized tour and that started at your door so, this has to be something your going to remember too so it could be something like a door with iron spikes hits you on the way in!! Ouch! You don't have to stop with a house, you can go to the garden, a shop, wherever you like!
• Fun/Humor
  You can incorporate humor, for example funny cartoons, explaining certain concepts in your notes. Humor can make things more fun and easier to learn.
• Filtered/Unfiltered
  This can be useful when you are all out of ideas, or do not know what to write for a subject. The idea here is to grab a paper and just start writing about the topic and do not filter anything that you think of just keep on writing for about around 5 minutes, which can seem like a long time but it will be worth it. Once you are done, you can then go back and filter any unnecessary stuff out and you should have a list of ideas that will help you get started writing.
• Document Skeleton
  Useful, especially after the filtered/unfiltered exercise, what you do here is write down how you want your article to look like in terms of your table of content, e.g intro, heading one, sub heading, etc. When you are done with that you can start to fill in individual pieces and attack the work part by part. Which is much easier then going from the top to the bottom!
• Mind Maps
  I'm sure many of you have heard of these by now, they are a great tool to help get your thoughts out on paper in a creative way. This is a diagram which is focused on a certain topic or word, then by the use of images and words other relate content is added around, you can use drawings, colors, whatever you like to make it your own. Google this for more information, as it may take me a while to explain it here, and this article is already big!
• Speed Reading
  What you need to do is, skim the book, read the book without saying the words out loud or in your head (this part is a little challenging, but can increase you speeds a lot!), use a pen or your finger to follow the text so you know were you are, read the text in chunks, if you can read two words at a time in stead of one then do that, and keep increasing as long as you are comfortable with it. Those are the basics, do a quick search for more information as there is many resources out there. Remember this is another very important tip and a skill you must learn, especially in this information era, we need to get through information quickly and extract the important and useful stuff!
  

If you know of others please let me know, if they are useful I will add them to the list.

Usage

Example Usage Story

I'll try explain a very simple example case to try help you understand how these techniques might help you.

Lets create our fake persons details:
Name: Paul
Occupation: College Student
Situation: Not doing so well in terms of, grades, organization, and well everything!

So Paul, has the information magically inserted into his head, and now we are going to follow everything he does.
Paul first gets clear on what he wants and why he is studying!
He sets some goals for the future, his big goal is to be a rocket scientist.
He imagines him self as a rocket scientist and knows it is what he wants, he is very clear and has thought long and hard about this.
He now goes back from his imagined future step by step back to were he is right now and thinks about what he has done to get to his end goal and the smaller goals that got him started. He then writes all of this down! Paul is already on track and on the right course, he knew what he wanted to do (if you are unsure, you should talk to a career guidance councilor).
Paul is aiming to get at least all B's for his exams, he notes this down with his goals too. He then begins to create a schedual of important dates, and ticks of everyday that he has successfully studyed, even if it is a small amount on his calender that he has hung on his wall.

Paul buys all the stationary and equipment he needs, and begins to organize his notes and study enviroment, and uses techniques such at the note taking, memory house, self testing, change books, and a few others from the list above that seem to work for him and incorperates them in to his learning.

Paul continues to make small goals to improve his understanding and grades.

Paul is doing much better then when he started out! And continues to refine his goals and schedule.

Ending Note

Wow that was a long article! Studying is great, but remember to have fun too. Use these techniques to improve your performance during your education or any time in your life, and as your studies progress you will find you will have to study less often, be far less stressed then others and have more spare time. Take it one step at a time, Be gentle with yourself! you don't have to do everything at once! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this article, feel free to leave any comments. Thanks for reading.

Author: Yaseen
Website: http://yastastic.wordpress.com
WordPress User Name: yastastic
To contact me just leave a comment on this article and I will get back to you or just email me using the form on the contact page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Now... what should I wear.

One of these tools makes available information on which web browser readers of this Blog use while visiting. It’s of limited value really; but it does provide some interesting statistics nonetheless. I’ve noticed over the course of the last few months that by far the most popular browser used by readers of this Blog is, wait for it, and yes it’s Firefox.

Take a look at the chart below and you’ll notice that in one eight hour period, this week, the browser wars went like this:

• Firefox 2.0.0.users: 325/500
• Internet Explorer 7 users: 76/500
• Internet Explorer 6 users: 68/500
• Unknown users: 7/500
• Opera 9.25 users: 5/500
• Firefox 1.5.0 users: 4/500
• Opera 9.20 users: 4/500
• Firefox 3.0b2 users: 3/500
• Internet Explorer 3.03 users: 2/500
• Mozilla 5 users: 2/500
• Firefox 2.0 users: 2/500
• Firefox 1.5 users: 1/500
• Opera 9.10 users: 1/500
• Safari 1.2 users: 1/500

So, 67.4% of visitors to this Blog use Firefox/Mozilla in one flavor or another. You might think that these are isolated or non representative numbers. In fact, these numbers with reasonable small changes up, or down, characterize the daily Browser activity on this Blog.

It struck me, that given the fact that Firefox currently has approximately 17% of the Browser market, then why are approximately 67% of this Blogs readers choosing Firefox?

Is it because they're  smarter, more technically knowledgeable, more security aware, more net savvy then you average IE user, or more familiar with the services/products that the Internet has to offer?

I think all of the above are more than likely true. Well perhaps not smarter. But it would be hard to argue that they’re not more technically savvy: after all this is a tech Blog and this is what they’re reading.

I’m not happy with unanswered questions, so if someone has a more reasonable explanation please let me know. I’d be glad to hear it.

Iata o problema reala de matematica pe care nu au rezolvat-o multi adulti. Daca vei deschide pagina TEST RESULTS vei vedea o lista cu foarte putini care au rezolvat-o...

- Intr-un autobuz sunt 7 fete.

- Fiecare are cate 7 rucsaci.

- In fiecare rucsac se afla 7 pisici mari.

- Fiecare pisica mare are cate 7 pisoi mici cu ea.

Intrebare: Cate picioare se gasesc in total in autobuz? (nu e niciun raspuns "la misto" de genul "autobuzul nu are picioare", ci chiar e o problema de pur calcul matematic)

Daca veti gasi numarul corect de picioare, acel numar este parola care va deschide pagina TEST RESULTS (pe bune, nu e la misto... am verificat eu si se deschide :) ). Dupa ce deschideti pagina, puneti acolo numele celui care a rezolvat corect problema, sub forma de comentariu.

Daca vrei sa trimiti si la prieteni, trimite aceasta pagina cu testul si apoi revino dupa cateva zile pe pagina de rezultate (acum stii parola ;) ) si vezi daca au reusit sa isi inscrie numele in lista :D.

Do you think you are smarter than a 5th form pupil?

Here is a real math problem, which few adults solved it. If you will open the page TEST RESULTS you will see a short list with those who solved it...

- In a bus there are 7 girls.

- Each girl has 7 bags.

- In each bag there are 7 big cats.

- Each big cat has 7 kittens.

Question: How many legs are totally in the bus? (there is no "funny" answer like "the bus has no legs", but is a pure math problem) .

If you will find the right number, that number is the password for accessing page TEST RESULTS (it's real.. I've checked this link :) ). After you open the page, please write there your name, like a comment to that page.

If you want, send to your friends this page with the problem and after a couple of days come back on the page with the results (how you know the password ;) ) and search if they achieved their name on the list :D.

Bist du kluger als ein Fünfklässler?

Das ist eine regelrechte Mathematik Aufgabe, für die auch viele Erwachsene keine Lösung finden konnten. Wenn Sie die Seite Test Ergebnisse aufrufen, werden Sie eine Liste sehen, die die Namen der Personen auflistet, die diese Aufgabe erfolgreich gelöst haben.

Und nun die Aufgabe:

- In einem Bus gibt es 7 Mädchen

- Jedes Mädchen trägt 7 Rucksäcke

- In jedem Rucksack befinden sich 7 Katzen

- Jede Katze hat jeweils 7 Kätzchen

Frage: Wie viele Beine gibt es im Bus insgesamt? (das ist keine "Klugscheißer" Frage, der Bus hat keine Beine, die Frage hat eine rein mathematische Antwort) .

Wenn Sie die richtige Anzahl von Beinen finden, diese Nummer ist zugleich das Passwort, das Sie benötigen, um die Test Ergebnisse Seite aufzurufen. Ich hab's selber probiert, und es funktioniert. Nachdem Sie die Seite aufgerufen haben, schreiben Sie ihren Namen (oder den der Person, die die Aufgabe gelöst hat) und geben Sie ihr Kommentar ab.

Wenn Sie die Aufgabe Ihren Freunden weiterleiten möchten, schicken Sie ihnen diesen Link, und dann können Sie später die Test Ergebnisse Seite aufrufen, um herauszufinden, wie sie abgeschnitten haben...mal gucken, ob sie ihren Namen auf die Liste eintragen konnten... :D

1. Never walk down the hall without a document in your hands.

People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings.

2. Use computers to look busy.

Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, calculate your finances and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. 

3. Messy desk.

Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts.

4. Voice Mail.

Never answer your phone if you have voice mail.

5. Looking Impatient and Annoyed.

One should also always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

6. Appear to Work Late.

Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read, but have no time until late before leaving.

7. Creative Sighing for Effect.

Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are very hard pressed.

8. Stacking Strategy.

It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc... You can always borrow from library. Thick computer manuals are the best.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: DON'T forward this to your boss by mistake!!!

Here is the truth. I have been... waking up late, playing games on my PS2, and watching TV all day, everyday. The only time I face the laptop is when I'm Googling up Walkthroughs.

With that said, I FREAKING LOVE GAMING! I don't know why it took me this long to get acquainted with the black, sleek, sexy machine. I purchased it a few weeks ago on a whim (pretty much= *dials Boyfriend's number* "ME RASA KAN MEMBALI PS2 AWLANI JUA, MUN U IKUT BEBAJU LAKAS I'M ON MY WAY").

One swipe of the debit card and a PS2 (inclusive of  one dualshock controller), a memory card, and 5 free games sat on my DVD player, which is now dead because I had to make room. Hehe.

Then I got a DDR mat.

A week or so later I got a Guitar controller.

In between those purchases I also bought (courtesy of EGM Tanjung Bunut) a rather alarming amount of Game CDs of various themes, genres and color scheme. *shiver* It's rapidly catching up with my.... enormously extensive (pirated) DVD collection.

So basically now, I don't know if my love for gaming stems from the actual gaming itself or the joyful fact that I am overindulging on my purchases! I guess I will find out soon because I've ran out of money hehehe.

***

In other news, it is confirmed, I am going to be attending the IM Charity Dinner, which is on the 2nd of February, 2008 (Saturday), organised by the future doctors over at UBD Institute of Medicine. All proceeds from the event, which is a concert featuring many local artistes, will go straight to SMARTER.

Will I be seeing any of you guys there? :)

Does being curvy make you smarter???

Studies have shown that women with more curves are smarter, as well as their children.  Something about good fats stored up in chubbierrific (see what I mean?) thighs and hips seeping into the tiny chubby-to-be children's forming brains.  But the key is smaller waist, and bigger hips.  So I guess having a round tummy just sucks for no good reason.

So next time I bemoan a severe case of  'chub-rub' on my inner thighs when wearing a flouncy skirt on a hot and humid NYC summer day, I will try to remember that I'm storing up essential omega-3 fatty acids for my nonexistent destined to be chubby spawn so they can take over the world!

but if I'm so smart, how come I still had to look up 'Ephemerist' on his site to remember how to spell it?

I here to meet with my fantastic partner Tariq Shaikh. He is one of my very most smart and interesting partners - and his for the last 14months been setting up a very special private equity company - something I cant really go deeper into - but you can see on the website and beneath. Its a really REALY big idea - and very hard for my micro patience - but I cant wait until we can tell more...

"RHT Partners is a private equity firm that brings together top calibre investment management professionals, entrepreneurs and prominent financial backers from Europe, the Middle East and the US in a firm dedicated to creating value through carefully considered investments in selected industry sectors. RHT's values are grounded in high ethics and its investment decisions focussed on generating industry leading returns."

I have spend most of my time with Tariq - and he also introduced me to some of the real Dubai natives (whom you NEVER MEET) - and I must say I have been extremely positivly impressed and suprsed how much energy and power and vision - there is behind this GROWTH EMPIRES PEOPLE!