fizzNOTES: An Intro

Epiphany.
I’d like to introduce a regular series to my blog. I realized recently that I read a lot – voraciously if life allows it. I can never seem to get myself to workout as consistently as I read. At the minimum, I try to read each night before bed. In fact, I may be a bit guilty of losing track of my bedtime due to an engaging book. I also make it a habit to carry at least one book with me wherever I go – a habit I was introduced to by my friend Jihad. That way if I’m waiting somewhere or have unexpected downtime I can pull out the book instead of being bored or wasting time.

More recently, I’ve alternated carrying a book with carrying my iPad which I’ve stocked full of books and articles. Or if all else fails, I’ve linked my blog reader to my iPhone homepage for easy access. I also have my older generation iPod loaded with audiobooks and seminars as well as tons of music – because, well even information junkies need a (dance) break 🙂

Anyways, I kind of take my nerdiness to the next level because I have a notebook I carry in which I jot ideas, plan large and small projects, and takes notes on things I’m reading, watching or attending.

So I had an epiphany the other day. I was casually talking to someone about how we learn and how we retain information. Somewhere in high school I discovered that I learned really well by watching or hearing and then writing. So when I would study for exams, I would write and rewrite my notes while reading them aloud to myself. When I was teaching, I always made it a point to address various learning styles and modalities – visual, tactile (hands on), and auditory. In my classroom, I’d have students listen/watch/do and so write information down even if it was just the steps of the process. But more powerful than all of this is learning by teaching. I’d have students teach each other something about what we had just learned and address questions from their partner as they came up. They quickly realized if they were or were not proficient in the topic. It also helped them to pinpoint what they did not understand, i.e. how do I cancel the coefficient for x? I loved this method because I knew it would increase their information retention and it was a great way to check for understanding.

Don’t believe me? Check out these statistics:

Learners retain approximately:
5% of what they learn when they’ve learned from lecture.
10% of what they learn when they’ve learned from reading.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.

(Source: http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/art-retain-learning)

Do you know how you learn best? Are you aware of how you process and retain information best? I think these are important questions so that we are working smarter and not harder.

Back to my epiphany. A selfish one, really. I realized that I will learn at a deeper level and retain more of what I learn if I teach and share what I’m learning with you. You may already know a lot about what I’m just grasping or you may be at the same level I am. But you see, that still works in my favor because if you join in and share your knowledge, you not only help me and my readers, but you also further reinforce the information in your own brain. At the very least, getting it down in teachable format will help me process the information better. An additional benefit for you as the reader is that you will probably get the condensed version of whatever I’m reading – like Cliffnotes but Fizzah style…fizzNOTES!

I personally think this would be a great way to interact and learn from each other so please join in the conversation via comments/questions.

Epiphany #2: I will always be a nerd geek lifelong student and a teacher at heart. I see the world through both of those lenses. And damn it if my Myers Briggs doesn’t ALWAYS churn out “Idealist – Teacher” () each and every single time I’ve taken the test in the past fifteen years! Seriously, I’ve had the exact same result each time and I take the test every 1-2 years. Talk about consistency!

What’s next: The first installment of fizzNOTES next week will be a breakdown of Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Mastery. Stay tuned!