There is a recipe for learning, and it only takes 5 ingredients. These ingredients, once combined, create the ideal neurochemical environment for learning. Make use of the five ingredients — awareness, alertness, attention, activity, and rest — to boost your learning.
The first ingredient is awareness. After a certain point, learning passively and randomly doesn’t work anymore. We can’t just read a book or watch a lecture and absorb the information. We must be intentional and deliberate in our learning. Be aware of what you want to learn and why you want to learn it. Clearly define what you want to learn and why you want to learn it.
Studying and learning have to solve a perplexity, curiosity, or a question.
After being aware of what you want to learn, we next need the energy to learn. Trying to learn while we are too sleepy or too anxious never works. We have to have the right level of alertness; the right level of mental energy to learn.
Being alert is modulated via the neuromodulator Epinephrine in your brain. Epinephrine wakes up your brain and it increases the likelihood that certain neurons will be active. It basically gives you the mental energy you need for learning.
You can take certain actions to influence Epinephrine in your brain and thus your level of alertness.
If you are too sleepy, you can try methods like:
If you are too alert and anxious, you can try methods like:
Awareness and alertness are ingredients you have to unlock before starting to learn. Once you unlock them and start learning it is time to pay attention and focus on what is in front of you. Attention and focus act as a filter for your perception; reducing distractions that want to intrude your mind.
Paying close attention and focusing releases the neuromodulator Acetylcholine — the molecule of attention. Acetylcholine amplifies the signals and information you pay close attention to. So that the information gets communicated more clearly between neurons and can be distinguished from all the noise.