WORKSHOP

BECOME A LEARNING MACHINE

WITH DR. GERMAN GARCIA-FRESCO

PhD SCIENTIST, NUTRITIONIST, AUTHOR

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 ABOUT GERMAN

Dr. German Garcia-Fresco received a PhD in Molecular Neurobiology

from the University of North Carolina and is also a certified nutritionist.
His research has been published by several leading scientific journals, as
well as The New York Times. Having contributed to the understanding
of neurodegenerative disorders, Dr. Fresco has now dedicated his time
to creating methods and resources for enhancing cognitive abilities and
intelligence. He has written Train Your Brain for Success: How a Healthy Brain
Is the Key to Happiness and Better Health and created Neuro67 to this end.

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP

Formal education very rarely includes instruction on how to learn new

systems of information or improve memory effectively. Dr. Fresco was
lucky enough to attend a primary school in Argentina where such a course
was taught. Now that he has achieved his own high-level education on
neurobiology, Dr. Fresco wants to spread his vast knowledge of proper
learning skills and brain training to the rest of the world.

To accomplish this, he has recently launched a comprehensive platform for

teaching all that he knows about improving your abilities for memory and
learning. From Train Your Brain’s tips on health optimization to what is
covered on memory techniques in this workshop, it all comes together in his
new course, Become a Learning Machine.

CONTACT INFO

doctorfresco.com @DoctorFresco
info@doctorfresco.com German Garcia-Fresco
 THE 10,000 HOUR RULE

The 10,000 hour rule, made most popular by Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers,
states that 10,000 hours of practice will make you a master. Now, there are
a few caveats with this rule. First, it isn’t a hard and fast 10,000 hours—it
may be more or less depending on your starting point and other factors.
Additionally, true mastery may not always be attainable for skills that
demand certain physical attributes or abilities. One example is professional
sports. Pro athletes do tend to share broadly similar physical assets, but per
usual, if you don’t possess those assets, we challenge you to prove us wrong!

Ultimately, the key to this process is the word “deliberate.” For any skill or
profession that has set standards and guidelines, deliberate and dedicated
practice will absolutely take you to the top. Psychologist Anders Ericsson is
credited as completing the deepest research on this topic, and he emphasizes
that rote practice of the same task is not enough to develop mastery. You
must understand what skills are needed to improve at the task at hand, as
well as the most effective way to improve those skills in a comprehensive
manner. And, (and this is a big “AND”) it’s important that you love what
you are doing. If you’re practicing something that doesn’t inspire you to
keep improving, you simply won’t get there.

Think about a basketball player who wants to be in the NBA. There are
fundamental skills basketball players must master: dribbling, passing,
shooting, and scoring. Just within the category of dribbling, there are a
number of skills to improve upon: dribbling with either hand, dribbling
while running, dribbling with a defensive guard, etc. You not only have to
dedicate yourself to the act of practicing, but to the process of learning the
best practice as well.
 SPACED PRACTICE

Because not everyone has 10,000 hours to practice or actually wants to

master a certain skill, it’s important to remember that simply shooting
for proficiency is okay. It actually only takes about 20 hours to become
proficient in something new, but all your practice, studying, or research
must be absolutely deliberate.

One of the most popular epistemic mistakes students make is cramming

before tests. We’ve all done it: spending all night re-reading notes, chapters,
and assignments that will be on the test the next day. If you’ve been in this
situation, you may have had good results…on that test. However, while
cramming can be effective in the short-term (passing the test), it’s ineffective
for long-term comprehension and retention. Ultimately, most students end
up forgetting nearly 90% of what they learned in school because of poor
studying habits and their lack of deliberate practice.

Spaced practice is a technique in which you increase the intervals between

your studying sessions over time. First, you begin with hyper-focused,
deliberate studying. You learn the concepts and do your best to commit
them to memory at that moment. Then, you return to the same concepts
the next day for review, and potentially add a new topic or set of concepts
as well. Next, give your brain time away from the material—not just a few
hours but days. Then, return to the material about a week later and begin
the process again. This encourages your brain to reorganize and reinforce
what you had learned, which improves your memory while simultaneously
highlighting what you may have forgotten. Continue to increase the time
intervals between studying, up to 10, 20, even 30 days apart, and you’ll
cement the new knowledge in your brain for life.
 MNEMONICS

Mnemonics refers to the use of corresponding systems to help you

remember unfamiliar ones. The most common kind of mnemonic is
associating a specific sequence with an acronym that tells a story. Some
math teachers taught the acronym “PEMDAS” to help students remember
the mathematical order of operations: parentheses, exponents, multiply,
divide, subtract. To anchor PEMDAS with a story, students use the sentence
“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” If you can remember an imaginary
rude aunt named Sally, you can remember this quintessential algebraic rule.

You can extrapolate your mnemonic practices into a universal list that is
unique to you—one you will never forget. It’s easiest to make your list
alphabetical so that each letter corresponds with a mental object you’ll
remember. It helps if each object can perform actions, so think of different
kinds of people, animals, even machines—here’s why:

Let’s say you’ve built your permanent personal mnemonic list: A for
alligator, B for burglar, C for cat, and so on. Now, you have a list of items
you want to remember. So, tell yourself a story based on the items in
your personal mnemonic list, that features the new items you’re wanting
to remember. For instance: I have a pet alligator, and the only way I can
keep him friendly is to feed him special tea. However, a burglar broke into
my home and instead fed my alligator chicken soup, which enraged him.
Luckily, my cat defended me with a spatula from the alligator.

Tell yourself an outrageous story that evokes emotion—you’re more likely

to remember it. Humor works well, as do stories that frighten or upset you.
Link your own list with the new one through an emotional narrative and
you’ll never forget your grocery list again.
 MEMORY PALACES

Another way to memorize lists is with the memory place technique,

sometimes called the method of loci or the mind palace. These methods also
utilize reference lists that you must remember permanently, but they should
be better for doing so because the lists exist within imagined spaces that you
are very familiar with. Picture your home, your office, or another physical
space that you know intimately—somewhere you navigate easily. Picture the
different rooms or zones within that space, and then picture what features
those rooms or zones possess.

This should be relatively easy, considering that you’re already familiar with
the space. The reason this technique is called the memory palace is that as
early as ancient times, great thinkers used this technique, and they often
used the palaces in which they lived. It’s easy to recall the spaces and features
in your home, so all you have to do is fabricate a story where you inject the
items you want to remember into these familiar spaces.

Just like with your simple mnemonic list story, make it emotional. The
items or people you want to remember may be in their places because
of something incriminating or fantastic—whatever wild occurrence or
rationale gets you to remember most effectively—use it! Strong emotions
like fear or upset work well, but why not use the strong emotions of
humor and love whenever possible? Keep your emotional state positive and
balanced, and you’ll have an easier and more successful experience using this
technique over your whole lifetime.
 SPEED READING

Most people hear the term “speed read” and they immediately think of
reading more words faster and therefore completing more books. While
it is possible to achieve this kind of improvement, it’s easier to simply
optimize your reading process. The fact is, books are not perfect vessels of
information that require you to read them front-to-back in order to absorb
the value they offer. In fact, a large percentage of what’s included in every
book—outside of textbooks—is supplementary to, or illustrative of, the
central content (the “big ideas”). It’s your job as the reader to determine
where and what that information is, so you can more quickly extract value
from the writing.

Step one of this process is to read the endorsement material on the cover
and back of the book. Focus on gaining a broad understanding of what the
book’s overarching purpose or message is. Next, study the table of contents,
which tells you how the big ideas and themes are organized. Begin with the
largest sections but be sure to heed the sub-sections as well.

Then—and here’s the fun part—skim through the book, paying attention
to what naturally grabs your attention. Certain words that are emphasized,
infographics, and chapter titles are likely to catch your attention. This is
good because you’re effectively creating mental hooks to hang your new
nuggets of knowledge on. Your brain is naturally primed to learn, which
means it won’t miss the important stuff amid all that extra content.

Finally, read what you want. Whatever your current goals and desires are,
let that guide your consumption of the chapters and words. You may not be
reading more words per minute initially, but you’ll be comprehending better
than most readers, and you won’t be wasting any time!
 QUESTIONS & EXERCISES

What skills do you already have 10,000 hours of experience in?

What skills are you interesting in learning? Make a list and then decide for
each skill if you’re looking to develop mastery or proficiency.

Proficiency Mastery

How can you use the technique of spaced practice for developing some of
the skills you listed in both your “mastery” and “proficiency” lists?
Develop your permanent mnemonic alphabetized list. Remember to choose
objects that can perform actions, and link emotion to each selection as
much as possible.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
 QUESTIONS & EXERCISES

What spaces can you use for building your memory palace? Think of your
childhood home, your current office, the apartment you live in now—choose
one space to start with and then expand out from there. Imagine yourself
walking through that space, creating rich details that you can use to anchor
memories for any list you need to remember in the future. What space will
you use for your first memory palace?

Pick up a book and set a timer for 15 minutes. See how many pages you
read at a comfortable pace. Then, choose another book, reset the timer for
another 15 minutes, and this time use Dr. Fresco’s speed reading techniques.
Compare your experiences.

Remember: speed reading is best used for non-fiction books where you are
looking to extract the information as quickly as possible. Don’t rob yourself
of the experience of reading for pleasure. Studies show that reading fiction
actually helps raise your emotional intelligence by increasing your capacity
for empathy!
 EXERCISE
YOU’VE MADE IT!

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU’VE COMPLETED THIS WORKSHOP

You now have the knowledge to improve your memory. Now that you
have these high-level techniques for remembering and properly learning
new skills, get out there and learn, learn, learn!

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