First Blog

  Take the time. Don’t fall behind. Make it a pleasure. It reduces stress. It expands horizons. It increases self-confidence. It increases your value. It keeps your mind active. You get more respect.

Learning from a book or notes should be viewed as using a crutch - the ultimate aim is to internalize the knowledge so thoroughly that you no longer need these aids. Your goal is to become a new container of the information. To achieve this, understanding your personal learning style is crucial, as organization methods vary from person to person. Here are some general, foundational tips: Remember, You Forget : Regular review of material is essential because forgetting is part of the learning process. True Knowledge : You only truly know something when you understand every detail and it all makes sense within your mind. Understanding vs. Acceptance : After studying, ask yourself if you understand the material or if you're merely accepting it at face value. Understanding leads to learning and retention; acceptance does not. Optimal Learning Times : Schedule your learning during times when you are most receptive, avoiding periods when you're tired, distracted, stressed, or depress...

  What made Einstein so great? The best answer is nobody knows. However, there are conditions under which he learned. First, he had a home tutor who was mathematically and physics trained. This person probably insisted the young Albert think deeply about what he was learning and how to explain it thoroughly. This put Albert into a mode of internalizing everything he learned, and learning how to explain it. This is simply not taught in schools these days, but if you look at notables such as Richard Feynman, his father taught him to think similarly. Even Isaac Newton once said, “I think about a problem constantly until I can see clean through it.” The lesson learned here is that one key to understanding is to contain the entirety of your subject all within the mind. You’ll note, all his life he was concerned with the very foundations of physics by way of understanding and explanation. Next, we come to the man himself. He was obviously highly intelligent, and having learned to t...

 Often, I'm asked by people major in physics, a horrific choice for many. So, I cooked up the main reasons, though some by seem a little absurd, though correct for some.   You really want to understand physical reality and understand how the models explain it. You have problems with the physical world compared with the spiritual world. That is, your beliefs are challenged. You absolutely love physics and feel there is no other subject for you. You ultimately want to study the origins of the universe and wish to understand all the theories extant. You get a scholarship in physics. Your parents give you three choices of what to major in, physics, physics, and physics. You do physics because you want others to think you’re smart. Finally, you doubt your intelligence and want to take on a difficult subject simply to master it, and thereby prove to yourself your intelligence. P.S. I was a physics major, but changed to math in grad school. I never felt I understood physics....

Given are two answers. A. Here’s the standard answer to your question. Study hard, learn much, do problems, and then you will understand. Then study harder.  B. Here’s an alternative answer. Do what wisdom does when understanding is delayed. Example. Infinity. It is safe to say no one really understands infinity. BUT, what most of us* do is learn the rules of infinity and work within them. Over and over again. Eventually, you are accustomed to all the rules, and this becomes your understanding. Your alternative is to learn the rules of the subject you have trouble with. Learn to work with them. Review and do dozens upon dozens of problems. By and by, you will be accustomed to them; you will have facility with them, and this will convert to your understanding. I know this sounds a bit cynical, but it does work. Please note, this alternative is not a shortcut. Both take much time and work. This is how most people understand God, who like infinity, is beyond comprehension. -----------...

Often I get questions about math. Some tell me they like math but just can't solve the problems. What I always say is this. Life is solving problems. If you can’t solve problems, your life will be one speed bump after another, one crisis after another, one brick wall after another. Learn how to solve problems. First you learn at home from toys and your parents. However, school is the first place you learn this formally. Others are experience, reading, management, parenting, teaching, hunting, sports, carpentry, and many more. All teach applicable lessons for life's problem solving. As John Daly on What's My Line , would say about everyone. "My line is problem solving." Now a word about math... All that said, you may like math, but you cannot say you’ve learned it unless you can solve related problems. Otherwise, it would be self-deception.

Think of a book as a crutch. In your learning, you want to eventually throw the crutches away. Thus, in learning you want to be an alternate container of the book. To manage your learning, you must first learn about how you learn. This is very individual, and so how to do it depends on how you learn. This I don’t know, but I can offer some tips. 1.      Don’t forget you forget. So, material review is important. 2.      You only know something when it is fully contained in your mind and it all makes sense. Let no detail be missing. 3.      You must organize and manage your learning to times when YOU are receptive to learning. That means, you’re not tired, distracted, stressed, or depressed. 4.      You must not try to learn too fast. If you’re slow go slow, and don’t deprecate the feeling you are slow. Some learn slower but deeper, and this is very ok. 5.      Review what you’ve ...

 In the cemetery of blunders and mistakes grows the garden of all our knowledge. LEARNING IN LIFE.  Do you want to learn?  Do you want to achieve?  Do you want to know?  Go to school, say the educators. Sometimes schools feed information and learning; sometimes schools teach how to learn. The how is what you need, and these are the most important ways to learn.         First, we learn from reading books or being taught in the classroom. We learn by solving given problems. Practice and repetition, this is the role and scope of all school teaching. Occasionally, inspiration occurs.           Second, we learn from examples and experience. Seeing many examples, some working and some not, and knowing why helps. These build our knowledge and intuition of reality.  Knowledge is a pathway to solving problems, while intuition provides a pathway to innovation.  More s...

You want to learn?  You want to achieve?  You want to know?  Go to school, say the educators. Sometimes schools feed information and learning; sometimes schools teach how to learn. The how is what you need, and these are most important ways to learn.         First, we learn from reading books or being taught in the classroom. We learn by solving given problems. Practice and repetition, this is the role and scope of all school teaching. Occasionally, inspiration occurs.           Second we learn from examples and experience. Seeing many examples, some working and some not, and knowing why helps. These build our knowledge and intuition of reality.  Knowledge is a pathway to solving problems, while intuition provides a pathway to innovation.  More simply, we learn by doing.  Attending the school of hard knocks is an expression of this.         Third, we learn from mistakes*....

Learning is the task of schools and us all.  Yet, learning has its own components: memory, understanding, application. The first step, memory, precludes all others.  A person with no memory of the “something” can never learn much about anything. From memory, a student has a chance of understanding through various mechanisms, not the least important of which is analogy through previously understood concepts.  Thus, understanding and learning are bootstrapping processes. But now comes the most important stage of learning, and that is applications or better known as problem-solving.  We  conclude… The greatest learning engine is problem-solving.  Give a lecture and only a fraction learn. Call for a group involvement and more learn.  Ask them to solve a problem, and all learn. Not solving a problem is a key learning experience.  It exposes gaps in understanding. It points to needs.  It is an essent...

Learning is the goal of schools.  Yet, learning has its own components: memory, understanding, application.  The first step, memory, precludes all others.   A person with no memory of the “something” can never learn much about it. From memory, a student has a chance of understanding through various mechanisms, not the least important of which is analogy through previously understood concepts.   Thus, understanding is a bootstrapping process. But now comes the most important stage of learning, and that is problem-solving.   We   conclude… The greatest learning engine is problem-solving.  Give a lecture and only a fraction remember. Call for a group discussion and more remember.  Ask them to solve a problem, and all remember - and learn.

Keep your brain working .  It is your best asset. Use it every day.   ·        Read a book. ·        Challenge a colleague. ·        Know your investments. ·        Understand your profession. ·        Talk to your kids. ·        Learn something you don't know. Examples. Do you know how to cook? (Experience) Do you know how your microwave works? (Requires a little physics) Do you know how IP addresses work? (It's not hard.) Do you know what Artifical Intelligence means?  (It's easier than you think.) Do you know why those big jets take off? (Simple ideas when you understand pressure) Do you know what love is? (Difficult, if possible) Do you understand when earthquakes will occur? (Nobody does) Do you know why the stock market goes up or down? (Ditto) Do y...