Have you always wanted to change your life, but you don’t know how to begin or make it into a reality? After 25 years of researching change expert Stan Goldberg, Ph.D lays out 10 major principles that cover all the strategies which you need for successful change.

The 10 Rules of Change

Strategy: Break down the behaviorChange occurs in stages. To increase the overall probability of success, divide a behavior into parts and learn each part successively.

1) All Behaviours Are Complex

Fear of the unknown can result in clinging to status quo behaviours.Strategy: Examine the consequencesCompare all possible consequences of both your status quo & desired behaviors. If there are more positive results bound with the new behavior, your fears are unwarranted.e.g. still unpunctual? -> chance to be fired -> greater benefit to changing than to not changing.Str: Prepare your observersNew behaviors can frighten the people observing them, so introduce them slowly.Str: Be realisticUnrealistic goals increase fear. Fear increases the probability of failure.

2) Change Is  Frightening 

Reinforcement - not punishment - is necessary for permanent change. Reinforcement can be intrinsic, extrinsic or extraneous. One type of reinforcement must be present for self-change, 2 would be better than one, & 3 would be best.Str: Enjoy the actIntrinsic reinforcement occurs when the act is reinforcing.E.g. she loved dressing well. Seeing her clothes laid out at night was a joyful experience.

3) Change Must Be Positive

Str: Admire the outcomeAn act doesn't have to be enjoyable when the end result is extrinsically reinforcing. -> enjoy the payoff from your workE.g. I hate cleaning my kitchen, but I do it because I like the sight of a clean kitchen.Str: Reward yourselfExtraneous reinforcement isn't directly connected to the act or its completion. E.g. A worker may despise his manufacturing job but will continue working for a good paycheck. Whenever he met his target, he put $20 into his Hawaii vacation fund.

Change Must Be Positive -part2

Uncomfortable change becomes punishing & people don't continue activities that are more painful than rewarding.Str:Take baby stepsResearch:participants were more successful when their goals were gradually approximatedWrite down the behavior you want to change. Then write your goal. Draw 4 lines between the two & write a progressive step on each that takes you closer to your goal.Str:Simplify the processMethods of changing are often unnecessarily complicated & frenetic. Through simplicity, clarity arises.Str:Prepare for problemsPerfect worlds don't exist & neither do perfect learning situations

4) Being Is Easier Than Becoming

Everything has its own natural speed; when altered, unpleasant things happen. Change is most effective when it occurs slowly, allowing behaviors to become automatic.Str: Establish calmLife is like a stirred-up lake: Allow it to calm and the mud will settle, clearing the water. The same is true for change.Str: Appreciate the path "It's good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." -Ursula LeGuonDon't devise an arduous path; it should be as rewarding as the goal.

5) Slower Is Better

Surprise spells disaster for people seeking change.Knowing more about the process allows more control over it.Str: Monitor your behaviorsSome therapists insist on awareness of both current & desired behaviors, but research suggests it's sufficient to be aware of just the new one.Str: Request feedbackA study in the British Journal of Psychologyfound that reflecting on personal experiences with others is key to successful change.Str: Understand the outcomeSuccess is satisfying, and if you know why you succeeded or failed, similar strategies can be applied when changing other behaviors.

6)Know More, Do Better

Str:Identify what worksClassify all activities, materials you're using as either helpful/neutral/unhelpful in achieving your goal. Eliminate unhelpful ones, make neutrals into positives & keep / increase the positives.Str:Revisit your plan regularlyReview every day how & why you're changing and the consequences of success & failure. Research:repetition increases the probability of success.Str:Logically sequence eventsIt's important to sequence the aspects associated with learning a new behavior in order of level of difficulty / timing.

7) Change Requires Structure

Practice is another key approach to change & the majority of failures occur because this principle is ignored. Practice makes new behaviors automatic and a natural part of who we are.Str: Use helpersNot all behaviors can be learned on your own. Sometimes it's useful to enlist the help of a trusted friend.Str: Practice in many settingsIf you want to use a new behavior in different environments, practice it in those or similar settings. Dubbing this "generalization" is critical in maintaining new behaviors.

8) Practice Is Necessary

Even when flawlessly performed, new behaviors are fragile and disappear if unprotected.Str: Control your environmentEnvironmental issues such as noise & level of alertness may interfere with learning new behaviors. After identifying what helps and what hinders, increase the helpers and eliminate the rest.Str: Use memory aidesBecause a new behavior is neither familiar nor automatic, it's easy to forget. Anything that helps memory is beneficial (e.g.list discribing the sequence of things to be done, etc.)

9) New Behaviors Must Be Protected

Unfortunately, plans for big successes often result in big failures. Focus instead on a series of small successes. Each little success builds your reservoir of self-esteem; one big failure devastates it.Str: Map your successApproach each step as a separate mission and you'll eventually arrive at the end goal.

Small Successes Are Big

Change isn't easy, but it is possible: an expert offers 10 rules to change.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

Focusing:<ul><li>concentrating intently on sth you're trying to learn</li><li>sth you're rather familiar with -> thought moves smoothly as if it's traveling along a familiar, nicely paved road</li></ul>Diffuse thinking:<ul><li>more relaxed, related to a set of neural resting states</li><li>for new ideas/ approaches</li><li>looking at things broadly from a big picture perspective -> making new neural connections & pathways</li><li>it’s not for problem solving/finest aspects of sth, but for getting to the initial place you need to be in to home in on a solution</li></ul>Each helps us to learn, but you can't be in both modes at the same time.

Focused & Diffuse Modes - two modes of thinking

<ul><li>Relaxed in a chair, letting his mind go free, often still vaguely thinking about what he had been previously focusing on</li><li>A key in his hand, dangling it just above the floor</li><li>As he would fall asleep, the key would fall from his hand waking him up, just in time so he could gather up those diffuse mode connections & ideas</li><li>Then going back into the focused mode, he‘d build on these connections</li></ul>

Salvador Dali’s Technique to Be Creative 

Thomas Edison used the same technique as Dali, only with a ball.When you're learning something new, especially something that's a little more difficult, your mind needs to be able to go back and forth between the 2 different learning modes. That's what helps you learn effectively. To gain muscular structure, you need to do a little work every day, gradually allowing your muscles to grow.Similarly, to build neuro-structure, you need to do the same. A little work every day, gradually allowing yourself to grow. That’s the trick.

Switching Between The Two Learning Modes 

Neurons become linked together through repeated use. The more abstract sth is, the more important it’s to practice to bring those ideas into reality for you.<ul><li>If you first begin to understand sth, e.g. how to solve a problem, the neural pattern is very weak -> a faint pattern</li><li>Solving it again without solution deepens that neuron pattern (darker pattern)</li><li>Going over each step in your mind & practicing on related problems -> dark pattern</li></ul>Practice makes permanent.<ul><li>enriched environment (people around us instead of isolation) & excising creates new neurons -> helps learning + memory</li></ul>

Build & Strengthen Your Neurons

<ul><li>what you're immediately & consciously processing in your mind</li><li>through its connections to other parts of your brain, you can access long term memories</li><li>holds only about 4 chunks of information (researchers said 7 in the past)</li><li>We group memory items into chunks, to make our working memory bigger than it actually is</li></ul>

Working Memory

<ul><li>like a storage warehouse</li><li>it's where you store fundamental concepts & techniques that are often involved in whatever you're learning about</li><li>When you encounter sth new, you often use your working memory to handle it. If you want to move that information into your long term memory, it takes time and practice. You need to repeat it at least a few times or it can be difficult for you to find it later when you might need it.</li></ul>

Long Term Memory

<ul><li>repeat what you're trying to retain, but space this repetition out -> e.g. practice a new voc. word/ a problem solving technique over several days</li><li>Research: if you repeat sth 20times in one evening, you won’t remember nearly as well as if you practice it 20x over several days. </li><li>Like building a brick wall: If you don't leave time for the mortar to dry, that is, time for the synoptic connections to form and strengthen, you won't have a very good structure. </li></ul>

Spaced Repetition 

Metabolic toxins in your brain-> Sleep helps to wash away them, keeps the brain clean & healthyToo little sleep makes you do worse on tests (you can't think clearly)Over too long of a time: headaches, depression, heart disease, diabetes, aging/ dying earlierSleep: <ul><li>important for memory & learning process</li><li>organizing ideas & concepts</li><li>strengthens neural patterns</li><li>improved problem solving & understanding skills</li></ul>Repeat what you want to learn (focused mode) right before you sleep (diffuse m.) + set in mind to dream about it -> increased chance of dreaming -> better understanding

The Importance of Sleep in Learning

= pieces of information bound together through meaning/ useThe new logical whole makes the chunk easier to remember & also makes easier to fit it into the “larger picture”.Just memorizing a fact without understanding is not enough, you have to find a place for it.How does it work?<ol><li>Focused practice + repetition (4 slots of working memory make connections to informations of your brain, when you’re angry/stressed/ afraid->less of those connections)</li><li>Creation of chunks</li><li>Small chunks becomes larger</li><li>As you gradually become a master of the material, you’ll have more creative interpretations of it</li></ol>

What is a Chunk?

The best chunks are so well ingrained, that you don't even have to consciously think about it. When you're learning new math/science material:<ul><li>Undivided attention. Let your brain focus on chunking.Leave free the limited slots in working memory</li><li>Understand the main idea/connection bw. the basic elements. Start with an example with solution</li><li>Figure out why the steps are taken the way they are. See the key features. Underline principles of a problem</li><li>Concern:it can be all too easy to focus too much on why an individual step works & not on why this particular step’s the next thing you should do!</li></ul>

How to Form a Chunk?

Can you create a chunk if you don't understand? Yes, but it's often a useless chunk that won't fit in with other materials. Just understanding how a problem was solved doesn’t necessarily create a chunk that you can easily remember later. Don't confuse the "Aha!" of a breakthrough in understanding, with solid expertise.Math/science:<ul><li>review it soon after you first learned it</li><li>close the book & test yourself </li><li>solving the problem speeds up your learning. Seeing/ understanding it doesn't mean that you can actually do it. Doing it yourself helps create the patterns</li></ul>

How to Form a Chunk? - Part2

Gain context to see not just how, but also when to use this chunk!How to start with a new topic?<ol><li>Do a 2min. picture walk through a chapter (glancing at pictures & section headings allows you to gain a sense of the big picture to see where it fits in)</li><li>Begin studying it:Learn the major concepts first, then fill in the details</li><li>Go beyond the initial problem, see more broadly. Repeat & practice with both related & unrelated problems</li></ol><ul><li>to see not only when to use the chunk, but when not,</li><li>to build & strengthen each chunk, so you can easily access it whenever you need to</li></ul>

Gain Context

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philosophy

Philosophy

education

Learning & Education

creativity

Creativity

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects - Unfinished yet

“Always go with the choicethat scares you the most, because that’s the onethat is going to help you grow.”

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

Don’t let fear hold you back

„A negative mindwill never give you a positive life.“

Change your mindset!

“If you can solve your problem,then what is the need of worrying?If you cannot solve it,then what is the use of worrying?”

Worrying is useless

“Heavy multitaskers are actually worse at multitasking than most people.”Experiment - cognitive &amp; memory tasks with distraction:<ul><li>Self-described multitaskers performed much worse than people who preferred to focus on single tasks. </li><li>Multitaskers couldn’t perform better on any elements of the test</li><li>Maybe chronic multitaskers are hyperdistractible people, but there’re worries that media multitasking might actually be destroying students’ capacity for reasoning</li></ul>-&gt; debate: should laptops be allowed in classrooms?Attention: <ul><li>is generated by conscious effort </li><li>is an unwilled effect of outside forces.</li></ul>

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work?

Our working-memory capacity:<ul><li>is limited to 7 units or fewer</li><li>anxiousness/ fatigue/ presence of an attractive stranger -> even less</li></ul>How to maximize it?<ul><li>You can  “chunk” information -> you can pack more material into one of those 7 units. (E.g. at the beginning to learn a code: each dit, dash = a separate chunk-> later already letters as chunks-> words ->whole phrases)</li><li>You can also manage attention so that unwanted stimuli do not crowd the working memory.</li></ul>Attention & distraction are entangled in:<ul><li>reasoning, </li><li>working memory</li><li>in the encoding of information into long-term memory.</li></ul>

How to Learn Something Faster?

Experiment:<ul><li>distraction during learning can be harmful, even if the distraction doesn’t seem to harm students’ immediate performance on their tasks</li><li>when they were asked afterward to describe the general rules for that trial, they did much worse</li><li>distracted-&gt; they learned through a half-conscious system of “habit memory,”</li><li>when they were undistracted, they used the declarative-memory system (information is then more flexible—people are more likely to be able to draw analogies and extrapolate from it)</li></ul>

Avoid Distraction!

A simple retention of the information that is provided to you isn’t enough. You’d like to see some evidence that you can use information in new ways.That’s why-> single-minded attention is vital to learningThe best environment for learning:<ul><li>do not taking notes, or else you’re going to miss something</li><li>multitasking degrades performance, even under optimal conditions, it takes a lot of time for the brain to switch from one goal to another, and from one set of rules to another</li><li>a switching time cost & those extra time costs quickly add up</li></ul>

Keep Your Attention 

productivity

Productivity

https://www.chronicle.com/article/divided-attention/

Immediately after every lecture/meeting/ any significant experience, take 30 s — no more, no less — to write down the most important points. If you always do this, and even if you only do this, with no other revision, you will be okay.<ul><li>It’s not note taking: It’s an act of interpretation, prioritization & decision-making.</li><li>Quantity is not an excuse: Capturing everything is worth less, we only avoid the hard work of deciding what something counts .</li><li>You learn to listen better, ask better questions: this habit changes the way you pay attention to a talk/discussion.</li></ul>

Only 30 Seconds! -part1

<ul><li> Act quickly: Waiting a few hours, you may recall the facts, but you lose the nuance. And this makes all the difference in deciding what matters. (The tone/way one seemingly simple suggestions sparks others? The shadow of an idea in your mind? Write down fast!)</li><li>You’re able to help others more: This habit helps to observe what matters to other people, manage different interests in future conversations, understand others needs and so solve their problems.</li><li>Each time you practice, it gets a little easier, a little more helpful/valuable and little more fun.</li></ul>

Only 30 Seconds! -part2

Immediately after every lecture, meeting, or any significant experience, take 30 seconds -- no more, no less -- to write down the most important points.

The 30 Second Habit That Can Have a Big Impact On Your Life

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">exercise/walking improves thinking skills, immediately and in the longer term</li><li class="ql-align-justify">exercise -> better memory & ability to make decisions, organize thoughts</li><li class="ql-align-justify">but prolonged, intense exercise -> brief mental fatigue!</li><li class="ql-align-justify">walking improves our ability to generate more and better creative ideas, even when we sat down after the walk</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Inside or outside, the environment doesn’t matter, but walk!</li></ul>

How To Be More Creative?

<ul><li>The heart pumps faster, circulating more blood & oxygen to the brain.</li><li>We don’t have to be so conscious during walking, our attention is free to wander.</li></ul>-> After/during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention.Walking on a regular basis :<ul><li>promotes new connections between brain cells,</li><li>prevents the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age,</li><li>increases the volume of the hippocampus (crucial for memory) & levels of molecules -> stimulating the growth of new neurons</li></ul>

Why Walking Help Us Think

Experiment - contemplate & generate metaphors:<ul><li>95% of students who went for a walk were able to do so</li><li>only 50% of those who never stood up.</li></ul>But walking can worsen the performance: <ul><li>if you’re looking for a single correct answer to a question!! You probably don’t want all of these different ideas bubbling up.</li></ul>

Why Walking Help Us Think 

<ul><li>an arboretum is better than city streets for a memory test </li><li> spend time in green spaces—gardens, parks, forests</li><li>attention = limited resource, continually drains throughout the day -> A crowded intersection bats our attention around</li><li> A walk through a city provides more immediate stimulation—a greater variety of sensations for the mind to play with. </li><li>But, if we are already at the brink of overstimulation -> nature</li></ul>Brain & Music: <ul><li>songs with high tempos motivates us to run faster</li><li>loud, fast music -> drivers unconsciously step a bit harder on the gas pedal</li></ul>

Where to Walk?

A brief stroll, even one just around your office, can spur creativity, according to a new study.

writing

Reading & Writing

problemsolving

Problem Solving

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Want to Be More Creative? Take a Walk

There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask, “What if I fall?”,Oh but my darling,what if you fly?

Dare to fly!

<ul><li>Any degree of sleep deprivation will weaken performance & learning, and can cause memory difficulties</li><li>the brain is not resting during sleep, it's consolidating memories and performing memory-related functions</li><li>Activity/practice during daytime (e.g. playing guitar)-> brain activity goes on even during sleep</li><li>The brain replays the activity, this helps in laying down this experience in our memory in a more durable/long-lasting manner</li><li>It's like improving transportation between 2 cities: the 2 towns interact more intensively with each other and function better as a result</li></ul>

Learning While Sleeping?

More evidence is showing that sleep contributes to consolidation of memories of a newly learned task vs the same task not followed by sleep.

The 10 Rules of Change

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects - Unfinished yet

Don’t let fear hold you back

Change your mindset!

Worrying is useless

Violette