ASICS - train your brain, more to gain!

Hi Laser-minders!

I was checking out running shoes the other day.  Did you know that the brand 'ASICS' is actually an acronym? ASICS stands for the Latin phrase 'anima sana in corpore sano' which means 'a sound mind in a sound body'. 

Your body has a major effect on your minds and how well you study and learn. Here are 4 habits of a healthy body that make good habits of a healthy mind.

Good Study Habit #1: Preparing properly

First, you need to prepare yourself to study. Like anything else, studying is a task that needs preparation. You need to have a special place setup and ready for you to 'do it'. That means a desk, table that is clear and spacious enough to do what you intend to do.

I know it may sound self-evident, but you need to have your pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers, calculator, computer, dictionary, thesaurus or other reference books READY. As well as pads or sheets of paper.

In addition - depending on what works for you - you need to have the appropriate light and 'ambience' - in some cases you might need some music. I prefer instrumental music (without words or lyrics).

You also need to PREPARE not to eat and study right away - the digestion of the meal will put you to sleep. You are better off eating 2 or 3 portions over 2-3 hours than the whole meal in one go. Even though you can stay awake watching TV - that is a PASSIVE effort with VISUAL STIMULATION - studying means you need to FOCUS with MINIMAL stimulation. The TV screen changes/moves every few seconds. A book just 'sits there'... You have to bring it to life.

Good Study Habit #2: Animate the process

Studying can be a chore and drudgery IF you don't create ways to 'liven it up'.  In my study book, I explain several ways to do this. In addition to those techniques, you can also make sure you change what you do ACTIVELY, by reading for 5 to 10 minutes, then solving a problem, then searching the Internet for additional information, then re-reading your class notes, then ADDING and creating new notes - then reading some more...

ACTIVELY changing things will make it more interesting - most students sit down to READ or DO PROBLEMS and fall asleep or get bored (same thing) due to lack of variety.

Good Study Habit #3: Change Your Habits

If you come home eat and then study - CHANGE YOUR STUDY HABITS. Come home, have a snack, study and THEN have dinner. Or come home, eat, watch ONE program and THEN study. Or try getting up early BEFORE going to work and studying BEFORE or AFTER breakfast...

Chances are you have a negative association to studying - let me give you an analogy with reading.

A lot of people say they fall asleep reading. I ask them if they read before going to bed and they say yes. I tell them to STOP reading BEFORE going to bed and NEVER read in bed - ONLY when they are wide awake.

Guess what happens? Their brain gets re-wired and they STOP falling asleep reading!

Just like that - of course it takes 21 days to BREAK a bad habit and replace it with a good one - so you have to change things around and then give it TIME...

...TIME TO WORK.

Good Study Habit #4: Get Fit

Without getting into a nutrition, fitness and health discussion - you will always struggle with studying if you are not fit and healthy. The fitter and healthier you are, the better your grades will be.

Master Chess Players do weights and train for cardio vascular endurance because they KNOW that fitness = focus and concentration...

If you aren't fit, then you can try to sleep a little more and cut out some TV and see how that helps. Sometimes an extra 30 minutes of sleep means you can focus and concentrate for as much as ONE HOUR MORE...

Try these suggestions and let me know how it goes!

Onward and upward