The 7 Steps to Successful Study

1. "Your brain is not a camel" - so how long should your study session last?

• Remember the old cowboy movies? Usually there's a scene where the criminal is being chased by the posse that's out to "string him up." You'll notice something important here. The criminal rides his horse flat out for a while and then suddenly pulls her up and rests her.

  
  

• Now you'd think this was a fantastic opportunity for the posse to keep going and catch the criminal, but this isn't what they do. No, they too get off and rest their horses.

• Horses, like your mind can crack when overloaded. The posse knows that if they keep riding after their horse tires, there's good chance that the horse can wear itself out and then even drop dead! So they take regular rest breaks. Doing this keeps the posse's horses fresh and it keeps your mind fresh too.

• So first, draw a mud map of your study chase, survey the entire amount of material that must be covered in your session.

• Plan to work for no longer than 30 mins, then break off for 12 mins and relax. And then repeat if there’s more to do.

• Scientific research shows that after 30 mins your attention quickly flattens (like the weary horse). So take a break when it’s needed. The rest allows your brain the chance to sort through your recent subject and then "digest" and memorize these facts like a computer.

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  2. An amazing two second "trick" that doubles your reading speed.

• Simply all you do is put your finger under the line you are reading. Not under each word, but under the centre of the line. This reduces the eye travel involved in reading, so that it does not go backwards or jump all over the page which wastes a lot of time. Try it!
• This is generally the first step of any speed-reading course. Doing a speed-reading course is vital for all good students.

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  3. How to drain tension before it starts

• Posture is important. Make sure your back is aligned but not rigid. Have your feet flat on the floor or slightly under you on the balls of your feet.

• Uncross everything! Crossing arms, legs, or feet will decrease your absorption of information.

• Relax your shoulders by dropping them down. The best image to copy is to imagine your spine is a broomstick, and then pretend that your body is a jacket which is hung off the broomstick. So your back is straight and everything else is dropped and relaxed, including your shoulders and gut. Let it hang.

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  4. You'll catch more flies with honey!

• Before starting your study, tell yourself that you are an excellent student, you are well organized and that your memory is superb.

• Inform yourself you can remember everything that you decide to, and that everything in this 30 minute session will be remembered when you want it. Then take a minute to feel very good about study ability and your superb memory. Close your eyes and smile as hard as you can!

• Consciously deciding to remember before commencing your study session improves recall! Research also indicates that repeating this suggestion upon closing your session heightens the impact of this material on your memory.

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  5. How to "palm-off" eye strain

• You see best when your eyes are relaxed. If your eyes start to feel strained, then an effective exercise called "palming" can bring great relief.

• Palming is based on the idea that your eyes operate on the basis of muscular action. Thus as your eyes and their supporting muscles grow tired, you may have trouble focusing.

• Think about it, from the moment you wake until the time you go to sleep, you use your eyes.

• Imagine if you pumped your arm muscles all day non-stop, surely they would be very knotty and painful. But giving your arm muscles a quick break regularly allows you to work them all day. So "palming" is simply a break for your eye muscles.

• To do Palming, cup your palms and cover your eyes. Your eyes must be closed, and don’t touch the lids with your palms. Once you have placed your palms to block the light, work on relaxing your eyeballs, the muscles behind, above and to the sides.

• Picture waves of relaxation pouring onto the top of your head. Palm for a minute or two whenever your eyes feel strained.

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  6. Little known resources that almost every student needs...

• Find out all you can about how to pluck important facts from your mind when necessary. One field to check over is called Neurolinguistic Programming [NLP], which is packed full of very handy stuff that gives you a mind like a steel trap. An example is how to spell perfectly by "seeing" the word, accessing it easily by looking up in a certain direction.

• Another skill that every good student needs to work on is memory training. Memorizing a list of "peg-words," which once learned give you the frame-work for an almost infallible memory. It is very easy to do, and the benefits are tremendous.

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  7. The Secrets of Super-Learning Music

• Music can be a study aid. Scientists have shown that Baroque music at the special tempo of 60 beats per minute creates the ideal environment for learning.

• This music boosts the production of alpha waves on both left and right hemispheres of the brain. The left side being associated with logical, rational function, and the right with creativity and spacial skills.

• An incredible learning-zone is reached when alpha waves are increased on both sides of your brain at the same time. The result produces a doubly-amazing increase in your learning power! This music acts like a hair-trigger in setting this off.

• Elevating your brain’s production of alpha waves invokes a charming, daydream-like mental state that soothes your mind and focuses your intellect. One remedial teacher commented on this miraculous music: "It seems to slow them down so they can really think."

• Studies have also shown that higher production of alpha waves increase your creativity, making projects, assignments and other tasks much easier to complete. It can transform work into play because your lower stress levels give you extra freedom to think more clearly and effectively!

• The revolutionary CD called High Performance Superlearning and Relaxation Music is the first music collection ever to be created specifically as a learning aid to help your study.

  To find out more about Superlearning and Relaxation Music, including a free sample download so you can feel the effect for yourself go to Music For Accelerated Learning and Relaxation at http://www.nqnet.com/learn or email: instep@nqnet.com

  Other Instep pages of interest include information about how this amazing music can be used by business to increase sales by playing it at retail stores. Go to: Background Music Increases Retail Sales http://www.nqnet.com/learn/retail

  Or discover the most successful asthma treatment on Earth at the Buteyko Breathing Info Page at http://www.nqnet.com/buteyko

  Copyright 1997 Instep International ACN 008207789. Contact: PO Box 2094, Townsville 4810, Australia. Phone (+61) 7 47 255 972.