Welcome to week 2! Thanks for being here. Now that you've gone through week 1 you kinda have a feel of how it's going to go. Here's the game plan! In this week we'll go over what Priming is and how you can use it to improve your learning and memory. Day 2 we'll go over effort after meaning, and making meanind to your memories. Day 3 and 4 will be why Absentmindedness and Forgetfulness may seem like flaws but are actually beneficial for your memory and creativity. 

As you go through the website, feel free to work along with the workbook as you do the activities, write down your goals and reflect how you're feeling. 

Good Luck! You got this! 

“The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special.” —Eddie Reese  (Olympic swimmer & coach)

Lesson: 

Today's lesson is about Priming! Priming is the process of introducing your mind to a topic, before actively learning/talking/thinking about it. It's a way to get your mind prepared for learning. Think of it like doing a warm up, it gets you ready for the actual workout and gets your body ready and blood pumping. In memory terms, priming influenced the quality of our working memory allowing it to receive the prime to process encoding information better. For example, you are more likely to remember a list of words given a prime like "beach" or "kitchen" and generate related words faster and even come up with words that may not even be on that list. It's a way of activating your schemas and effects the way and what information we retrieve. 

Activity: 

For this activity, there are a few ways that you can apply the principals of priming to your advantage. 

1) Read your syllabus for the class and look for the learning objectives. 

2) Before class, read the slides and look for something along the lines of "topics for the day"

3) Email the professor to tell you what you are going over in class

By preparing your mind before class, you give a little boost for your memory. You prepare yourself for the learning content for that day and start thinking about the content early. And when class time comes, you have already opened your mind to class content. Make it a habit to set aside time either before class or at the beginning of the day to prime your mind and prepare you for new ideas. 

"Every setback, every negative experience, is an opportunity for growth. It's in those moments of challenge and adversity that we discover our true strength and resilience. Embrace the process, learn from the setbacks, and emerge stronger, wiser, and more determined than ever before." - Serena Williams

Lesson: 

In this lesson we learn that Memory is malleable. We are in control of our memories because it is making something more from something less. We take our memories, simply composed of visual input and sensory input, and create meaningful memories. It is the "effort after meaning" in which we transform our experience so that it makes sense to us. When we experience an event, we may not remember every detail or understand every part. Our memory and our mind make sense of it through our eyes and through our perspective. Once a memory has meaning, it is enhanced and connected more strongly into our memory. Anyone can experience the same event, but it is the meaning we put behind it that makes it impactful. We make connections, we add emotion, are reminded of other memories. The past is written but the future is in our hands to write. 

For more depth on this topic, read Essay #3! 

Activity: 

I want you to think of an example of an expereience you had that was negative, made you feel bad and maybe ruined your mood. Maybe you made a mistake, or someone hurt your feelings. Maybe you did something embarrassing, or was accused of something you didn't do. Describe it. What was it like when you were experiencing it? What was it like?

Now, reflect on it. Write about how you see it now. Try to see it now in a positive light. What did that experience teach you? How can you grow from it? What positive lesson or reflection can you take away from it? 

You are in control. You are the one who puts the meaning to it. It is your choice if you want to grow from it. Let it all go here. 

"Let your mind wander; it's where the most creative ideas reside. In the vast landscape of imagination, there are no limits, no boundaries—only endless possibilities waiting to be explored and brought to life." - Albert Einstein

Lesson:

In this lesson, for part 1, we will go over why some of the flaws of our memory aren't actually flaws. Today, we are going to talk about how those moments of mind wandering that happen at the most unhelpful of times, can actually be beneficial in the creation of new ideas. 

Do you ever find yourself in the shower and all of a sudden some magical, weird and awesome idea comes to mind? Mind wandering encourages more creative ideas, problem solving behavior, and help explore new connections (Ditta & Storm, 2018). During mind wandering, our mind is making connections that we may not be aware of and so when we come back from that break, we have new insights. Some of our best ideas and most creative ideas don't come from those with high focus, but moderate focus. 

Don't be so hard on yourself when you can't concentrate on something. It's okay that you get distracted at times. Take a break and let your mind explore and make connections you never knew you could. 

So the next time your mind starts to wander when you're trying to concentrate on something, follow it! 

Activity:

One of the most effective study methods is called the Pomodoro effect. The Pomodoro effect works, because it applies the concepts of memory 

• 1) schedule a distraction time with in your study sessions to do something completely unrelated to what your studying. Give you mind some time to wander. 

• 2) after studying one subject for a time, take a break by studying something of another subject. This gets you to make connections that you wouldn't have made before when focusing on one subject.

• 3) Do both! study one subject, study another, distraction, study one, study another, distraction. 

"Cultivate the art of forgetting what isn't worth remembering, and remember what is worth forgetting." - Brendon Burchard

Lesson:

In this lesson we will go over why blocking/ forgetfulness may seem like a flaw, but its actually very beneficial and encourages creativity. Blocking occurs when you are unable to remember something and are unable to remember it. In other words when one has a mental block or writer's block. There can be several reasons why it occurs but it happens to everyone. Remember that time when you were trying to remember something and it was "at the tip of your tongue." Something like that. But, it's important to know that this isn't at all a flaw but an important tool in creative cognition. As well as trust that your mind is doing what its supposed to be doing. Blocking is the brain's way of selecting appropriate information for the task by blocking out others. Which is why every single memory doesn't come to mind when you are doing a math problem. The best way to combat blocking is to look at the problem at a more specific and closer angle. 

Activity:

Today's activity is based on a quote from A Consideration of the Seven Sins of Memory in the Context of Creative Cognition  "People must first generate many ideas and then narrow down to a small set of ideas to explore more thuroughly to produce an idea that is ultimatley both novel and useful based on the problem constraints" (Ditta & Storm, 2018)

When you find yourself struggling to come up with ideas for that new homework assignment or an essay or even get started here's what to do: 

1) Set a timer for 10 minutes and write down every idea, thought and feeling that comes to mind about this topic. Write a sentence a word, but just as much as you can and don't stop writing. 

2) Next, for another 10 minutes, go through your ideas and highlight some of the ones you like or are maybe want know more about.

3) Set another time for 10 minutes and expand a little bit on each of the ideas you highlighted. 

The highlighted ideas will serve as your prime to help you hone in on more specific memories so you can more easily expand on it. Then after your done, remember to take a 10 minute break, and then come back to it with a new headspace.