Want to hack into a Facebook profile page? Here is how.
Facebook has evolved into one of the hottest social networking website in the world. Here are some simple hacks that you can use on your Facebook account or profile.
Before that there are 2 things that you will need to do. The first thing is to install Firefox. After that install Greasemonkey.
Automated Login : If you feel lazy to type in your personal info every time, this might be the tool that you can looking for. By installing this you can save up your time & you will be logged in to your account/profile automatically!
Account/Profile Colour customization : Feel free to customize the colour that you like & add it to your account/profile
Source: http://edwardkhoo.com/how-to-hack-facebook-account-profile/
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
How to Get Any Girl You Want: Three Simple Steps
Want to get the girl of your dreams? Get any girl you want by following these steps:
Today I'm going to reveal to you the three most important laws of attracting women.
ATTRACTION LAW 1: "Gimme my game!"
ARgggggrrrrr....
AAAAAHH!
I would raise my fist to the heavens and shout: "By the powers of Gromthar, I shall possess her!"
We want what we cannot have.
ATTRACTION LAW #2: "Just a little Memento..."
If we DON'T know what's going to happen, we find it attractive.
ATTRACTION LAW #3: "She will come around..."
If it's perceived as establishing safety and comfort - we are attracted to it.
These 3 Laws of Attraction are POWERFUL. If you want to know how to get a girl to like you, simply learn how to use these three laws to your advantage with every woman you meet.
How to Roll a Fat Blunt
What is a Blunt?
A blunt is a joint made from a tobacco leaf wrapped around pure cannabis – a cannabis cigar. Blunts have become very popular in recent years, especially due to their
constant mention by gangster rappers in their lyrics. Blunts get their name
from Philly Blunts – an American brand of cigars. Smokers would take out
the inside of a regular cigar and replace it with marijuana. The word “blunt”
has now come to mean any tobacco wrap. Blunts are now sold as individual leaves
for you to make your own cigars. They come in many brands with many different
flavours to choose from.
The benefits of using blunts are:
a) they burn slower than joints so less is wasted and you can pass them round
more people
b) they hold more cannabis than a joint
c) you can extinguish and relight them as often as you want
d) they’re easy to carry around and they don’t look like illegal
drugs
e) many people report that they get a more intense high from blunts due to the
tobacco leaf reacting with the marijuana
Here’s how to roll a blunt from a pre-made cigar
like a Philly Blunt…
You will need:
The advantage of using individual blunt wraps is that you don’t have
to remove or waste any of the content – you only get what you need for
rolling. Individual blunt wraps look much like large rolling papers. They come
in all sorts of flavours. Some recommended ranges are EZ Roll Tubes and Platinum
Blunts.
You will need:
add a smooth sweet taste to your smoke.***
If you’re still in any doubt, take a lesson from rapper Redman:
“How To Roll A Blunt” Lyrics
“(Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww SHIT!!)
Check it out
Yo, 1992 begins the new wave for the blunt rollers
You know what I’m sayin’?
The saga of the Philly blunt continues
The flava’s the P-Funk y’all, get wit it
Check it out…
Verse 1
Check out a new type of gimmick which is splendid
Since you’re down with other shit, let’s see if you’re down with this
It’s about… strictly trying to roll a blunt
When you get the hang of it, you’ll catch more blunts than Archie Bunk
First of all you get a fat bag of ism
From uptown, any local store sells the shit friend
Purchase a Philly, not the city of Philly
Silly punk, I’m talking ’bout the shit called the Philly blunt
Lick the blunt and then the Philly blunt middle you split
Don’t have a razor blade, use ya fuckin fingertips
Crack the bag and then you pour the whole bag in
Spread the ism around until the ism reach each end
Take your finger and your thumb from tip to tip
Roll it in a motion then the top piece you lick
Seal it, dry it wit ya lighter if ya gotta
The results, mmmmmmmm… proper
Chorus
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
Let’s all roll a blunt
… and get fucked up (yea)
(Repeat)
Verse 2
The second paragraph might make you laugh
When a brotha rolls a blunt and his breath smells like gr-ass
That’s when you know you gotta take the blunt from him
Cuz his breath has the dragon in the dungeon
(Yo, yo, yo, light the blunt. Uh yo, here’s the lighter…)
I would if this shit would stop drippin’ wit saliva
And if you gonna lick it, don’t drown it with ya spit, shit
I dunno what dick or last puss you licked quick
And how ’bout the non-blunt rollin’ females
That always fucks it up ‘cuz they don’t wanna break their Lee nails
(Hee hee hee hee hee, sorry Red for spilling it…)
<BEEEITCH> You better pickup every seed of it
Because I paid 10 bills for the get ill
And for spilling it you better get lost or get grilled
Bo know everything from sports to other stuff
But I bet you Bo dunno know to roll a blunt.
(Chorus)
(Hey nigga pass the gotdamn blunt. Shit! What you holding it all day for?
Sit yo big ass down…)
Bridge
Yo, yo, check this out
I want all the real niggas out there and the females too
If you got a fat blunt in ya mouth and you feeling high as hell
I want y’all to repeat after me, check it out
I’m fucked up (I’m fucked up…)
I’m fucked up (I’m fucked up…)
I’m high as hell (I’m high as hell…)
I’m high as hell (I’m high as hell) Yea.
Verse 3
Last but not least, Redman would like to say peace
To all the blunt rollers from the Tri-State to the Middle East
And gimme a blunt when I kick the bucket
Devil or no devil when I am the wrong to be fucked with
So everybody put they blunt up in the air
Take a puff, blow the smoke out like ya just don’t care
So..(pump up the volume) ..so it’s heard thru the next block
I’m out, peace to Red Foxx, I’m off to the cess spot.
Outro
(Yea, DJ Twinz in the house)
Yea, Redman’s in the house
Yo, peace to Pack Pistol Posse, the 4,5,6
Yo, I’m out, yo Reg
Turn this shit off man (Yo turn that shit off..)”
A blunt is a joint made from a tobacco leaf wrapped around pure cannabis – a cannabis cigar. Blunts have become very popular in recent years, especially due to their
constant mention by gangster rappers in their lyrics. Blunts get their name
from Philly Blunts – an American brand of cigars. Smokers would take out
the inside of a regular cigar and replace it with marijuana. The word “blunt”
has now come to mean any tobacco wrap. Blunts are now sold as individual leaves
for you to make your own cigars. They come in many brands with many different
flavours to choose from.
The benefits of using blunts are:
a) they burn slower than joints so less is wasted and you can pass them round
more people
b) they hold more cannabis than a joint
c) you can extinguish and relight them as often as you want
d) they’re easy to carry around and they don’t look like illegal
drugs
e) many people report that they get a more intense high from blunts due to the
tobacco leaf reacting with the marijuana
Here’s how to roll a blunt from a pre-made cigar
like a Philly Blunt…
You will need:
- Philly Blunt
- Herb
- Grinder or scissors
- Step-by-Step:
- Lick your cigar and open it by cutting a straight line down the middle (from
tip to butt) using a razor blade or just with fingers. - Take out the contents and the inner layer of leaf
wrapping so that you are left with just the outer layer. Too much tobacco
with your blunt can result in a harsh taste. - Tear off any excess so that you have a rectangular
blunt wrap. Blunt wraps are delicate so be careful and don’t rush this.
Any unwanted tears you make around the edge can usually be resealed with saliva. - Fold your blunt wrap in the same way as you might
fold a rolling paper before you load it. - Spread your herb (make sure it is well-ground first)
into your blunt wrap. Use plenty so that your blunt will stay firm. - You can also add a large roach if you like to avoid
wasting any herb. Some strong card rolled into a tight spiral would be ideal. - Roll up your blunt wrap, remembering to keep the mouth
end big enough for an easy toke. - When there is about half an inch left to roll, lick
all the way down it and seal it up. - Use a lighter to dry your blunt by running it up and
down for a few seconds. Alternatively, put it in the microwave for a few seconds.
Doing this will make your blunt sturdier and easier to smoke. - Spark up, lay back and enjoy the ride.
The advantage of using individual blunt wraps is that you don’t have
to remove or waste any of the content – you only get what you need for
rolling. Individual blunt wraps look much like large rolling papers. They come
in all sorts of flavours. Some recommended ranges are EZ Roll Tubes and Platinum
Blunts.
You will need:
- Individual Blunt Wrap
- Herb
- Grinder or scissors
- Take a blunt wrap of your favourite flavour, or maybe a natural wrap.
- Uncurl your blunt wrap then fold it in the same way as you might fold a
rolling paper before you load it.
- Make sure your mixture is well-ground. You can use a grinder for this or
a pair of scissors. This will prevent any small sticks or lumps from tearing
your blunt wrap.
- Spread your herb (make sure it is well-ground first) into your blunt wrap.
Use plenty so that your blunt will stay firm.
- You can also add a large roach if you like to avoid wasting any herb. Some
strong card rolled into a tight spiral would be ideal.
- Roll up your blunt wrap, remembering to keep the mouth end big enough for
an easy toke.
- When there is about half an inch left to roll, lick all the way down it
and seal it up.
- Use a lighter to dry your blunt by running it up and down for a few seconds.
Alternatively, put it in the microwave for a few seconds. Doing this will
make your blunt sturdier and easier to smoke.
- Spark up, sit back and enjoy the ride.
add a smooth sweet taste to your smoke.***
If you’re still in any doubt, take a lesson from rapper Redman:
“How To Roll A Blunt” Lyrics
“(Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww SHIT!!)
Check it out
Yo, 1992 begins the new wave for the blunt rollers
You know what I’m sayin’?
The saga of the Philly blunt continues
The flava’s the P-Funk y’all, get wit it
Check it out…
Verse 1
Check out a new type of gimmick which is splendid
Since you’re down with other shit, let’s see if you’re down with this
It’s about… strictly trying to roll a blunt
When you get the hang of it, you’ll catch more blunts than Archie Bunk
First of all you get a fat bag of ism
From uptown, any local store sells the shit friend
Purchase a Philly, not the city of Philly
Silly punk, I’m talking ’bout the shit called the Philly blunt
Lick the blunt and then the Philly blunt middle you split
Don’t have a razor blade, use ya fuckin fingertips
Crack the bag and then you pour the whole bag in
Spread the ism around until the ism reach each end
Take your finger and your thumb from tip to tip
Roll it in a motion then the top piece you lick
Seal it, dry it wit ya lighter if ya gotta
The results, mmmmmmmm… proper
Chorus
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
That’s how you roll a blunt
Let’s all roll a blunt
… and get fucked up (yea)
(Repeat)
Verse 2
The second paragraph might make you laugh
When a brotha rolls a blunt and his breath smells like gr-ass
That’s when you know you gotta take the blunt from him
Cuz his breath has the dragon in the dungeon
(Yo, yo, yo, light the blunt. Uh yo, here’s the lighter…)
I would if this shit would stop drippin’ wit saliva
And if you gonna lick it, don’t drown it with ya spit, shit
I dunno what dick or last puss you licked quick
And how ’bout the non-blunt rollin’ females
That always fucks it up ‘cuz they don’t wanna break their Lee nails
(Hee hee hee hee hee, sorry Red for spilling it…)
<BEEEITCH> You better pickup every seed of it
Because I paid 10 bills for the get ill
And for spilling it you better get lost or get grilled
Bo know everything from sports to other stuff
But I bet you Bo dunno know to roll a blunt.
(Chorus)
(Hey nigga pass the gotdamn blunt. Shit! What you holding it all day for?
Sit yo big ass down…)
Bridge
Yo, yo, check this out
I want all the real niggas out there and the females too
If you got a fat blunt in ya mouth and you feeling high as hell
I want y’all to repeat after me, check it out
I’m fucked up (I’m fucked up…)
I’m fucked up (I’m fucked up…)
I’m high as hell (I’m high as hell…)
I’m high as hell (I’m high as hell) Yea.
Verse 3
Last but not least, Redman would like to say peace
To all the blunt rollers from the Tri-State to the Middle East
And gimme a blunt when I kick the bucket
Devil or no devil when I am the wrong to be fucked with
So everybody put they blunt up in the air
Take a puff, blow the smoke out like ya just don’t care
So..(pump up the volume) ..so it’s heard thru the next block
I’m out, peace to Red Foxx, I’m off to the cess spot.
Outro
(Yea, DJ Twinz in the house)
Yea, Redman’s in the house
Yo, peace to Pack Pistol Posse, the 4,5,6
Yo, I’m out, yo Reg
Turn this shit off man (Yo turn that shit off..)”
How to Have the Perfect College Experience
Want to have the college experience of your dreams? Here is how you can do that. . .
1. Answer the question, “Why am I going to college?”
Many college students really don’t have a clear reason for being there other than the fact that they don’t know what else to do yet. They inherit goals from family and peers which aren’t truly their own. That was how I started college. Is this you as well?
As I’ve stated previously on this blog, the three-semester deal wasn’t my first time at college. I had previously gone to college when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be there. In high school I was a straight-A honors student, President of the math club, and captain of the Academic Decathlon team. That momentum carried me forward, and without really ever deciding if it was what I wanted, I found myself with four more years of school ahead of me. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Consequently, I sabotaged myself in a big way. I blew off my classes and got an education in parties and alcohol. Apparently some administrator was biased against students whose GPA starts with a decimal point, so I was soon expelled.
That experience sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I was in a funk for about six months, mostly just playing video games. Finally in an attempt to re-ground myself, I got a retail sales job and tried to stay under the radar while taking some time to “find myself.” That was the time I began developing an interest in personal development, and boy did it pay off. A year later I was ready to go back to college, and I started over as a freshman. But this time I knew why I was there. I wanted to be a programmer, and I wanted to earn my Computer Science degree (I later added the Math degree). But it was more than that. I knew I was capable of a lot more, and I wanted to push myself. I wanted to create the richest experience I could. For me that meant a really dense schedule.
Your goals for college will likely be different than mine. What are they? Why are you there? If you don’t know — and I mean really know it in your gut — then you have no focal point for your experience. You may as well not even be there. What is it about your experience that resonates as true for you? What are you there to learn? What do you want to experience?
2. Imagine your ideal college experience.
Once you know why you’re going to college, imagine your ideal outcome. Let it flow outward from the reason you’re there. Whether you’ve already started college or not, stop and simply write down some attributes of your ideal experience. Describe it in as much detail as you can.
Before I returned to school, I spent hours visualizing the kind of experience I wanted to have. I saw myself being challenged but managing it easily and without stress. I saw myself making new friends. I saw myself having a really great time. Most of all I imagined a very balanced experience — a blend of academics, activities, socialization, and fun. The keyword I used was “richness.”
This was a really important step. I didn’t understand the mechanism at the time, but I was pre-programming myself to succeed. Whenever I encountered obstacles, my ideal vision was so much more compelling that I was always able to find a way to get what I wanted. I became a co-creator of my experience instead of a passive victim of it.
Visualization allows you to make mistakes in advance. If you can’t get a clear visualization, your experience is likely to be just as fuzzy. Debug your visualization until it inspires you.
Real life will of course turn out differently than you visualize. The point of visualization isn’t to predict the future or to restrict your freedom to decide later. The point is to give you more clarity for making decisions right now. Your ideal scene serves as a map that can guide you through the quagmire of options.
3. Take at least one extra class each semester.
Students are taught that 12-15 semester units (3-5 classes) is a “full” schedule. But a schedule that light is hardly full. A person with a full-time job will put in a good 40+ hours per week, and students enjoy every possible vacation day plus spring break, winter break, and summer vacation. If you want to spend four or more years in college, add more degrees or get a job on the side. Don’t feel you have to go at a snail’s pace just because everyone else does.
Now you might be thinking that 12-15 units are supposed to equate to a 40-hour week with all the outside homework and studying, but that’s only going to happen if you do things very inefficiently (which sadly is what most people do). If you follow some of the time-saving tips later in this article, then 15 units should only require a few additional hours outside of class to complete assignments. Obviously I couldn’t have taken 31-39 units per semester if it meant doing double those hours in outside homework. I didn’t succeed by overworking myself.
If you’re an above average student, you can certainly handle an above average schedule. Sometimes we don’t know what we can handle until we push ourselves a little. If you think you can handle 15 units, take 18 or 21. You can easily shave a year off your schedule. Or you may be able to add a minor or a double major.
What about prerequisites? For the most part I simply ignored them, and fortunately at my school they weren’t enforced too well. I found that most of the time a prerequisite is listed, it’s geared towards below average students. Don’t let pointless bureaucracy slow you down if you want to graduate sooner. There’s always a way around it — it’s usually just a matter of getting some random form signed by someone who’s too bored to care either way. A smile and a compliment go a long way.
By the law of forced efficiency, if you put more things on your plate, you’ll find a way to get them done with the time you have available. So if you don’t challenge yourself a little, that extra time will slip through your fingers.
I think the real benefit to a dense schedule isn’t that you’ll graduate sooner. The real benefit is that you’ll enjoy a richer experience. Taking five classes instead of four means more learning, more achievement, and more friends. And what employer wouldn’t be attracted to a student who graduated more quickly than his/her peers? This sort of thing sure looks great on a resume.
4. Set clear goals for each class.
Decide what you want out of each specific class. Is this a subject you’re eager to learn? Do you want to target this teacher for a letter of recommendation? Is this a required class you must take but which doesn’t otherwise interest you?
My goals for each class determined how often I would show up, whether I’d sit in the front or the back, how actively I’d participate, and what kind of relationship I’d seek to establish with the teacher.
For some classes I wanted to master the material. For others I just wanted an A grade. And for others I wanted to set myself up for glowing letters of recommendations from enthusiastic teachers whose native language was English (so the letters would be highly readable and positive).
My mom has been a college math professor for decades. At home she’d comment about students she barely knew who’d ask her for letters of recommendation. Many times she had to turn them down because she just didn’t have anything positive to say in the letter. On the other hand, she was happy to support those students who put in a serious effort. Most teachers want to help you, but you have to let them see your strengths. Even if you don’t get an A in a particular class, you can still give a teacher plenty of material for a great letter of recommendation if you participate actively and show respect toward the teacher.
This is not about manipulating your professors into lying on your behalf. The simple truth is that the quality of a letter of recommendation ultimately comes down to how much a teacher respects you. Don’t put yourself in the desperate situation of having to request a letter of recommendation from a teacher who doesn’t even remember you — or worse, one who thinks poorly of you. Set yourself up for success in advance.
One of my professors learned about my packed academic schedule and expressed interest in learning how I was managing it. We had a very nice conversation about time management techniques. I had several programming classes with this professor and aced them all. I happened to think he was an excellent teacher, I had great respect for him, and I quite enjoyed his classes. When it came time to ask him for a letter of recommendation, he wrote one of the most glowing letters imaginable (“best student I’ve encountered in my career,” etc.).
On the other hand, I had certain teachers who were downright lousy. I ditched their classes often and learned the material from the textbook. Obviously I didn’t seek out their assistance down the road.
Sometimes you’ll achieve your goals; sometimes you won’t. Even if you do your best, you may still fall short. You may encounter teachers that are unfair, lazy, sexist, racist, or otherwise incompetent. My wife had an overtly sexist professor who would never give a female student a grade higher than a B, no matter how well she did. He would say things like, “If you’re a male, you’ll have to work hard in this class. If you’re a female, just come by my office after hours.” Eventually sexual harrassment charges were filed against him. You’ll have to pick your battles. Some are worth fighting; others are best ignored. Having clear goals will help you decide which is which.
5. Triage ruthlessly.
You don’t need to put an equal amount of effort into every class. Inject extra effort when it’s important to you, but feel free to back off a little from classes that are a low priority based on your specific goals. For me this was an important way to conserve energy. I couldn’t play full out in every class, or I’d burn out, so I invested my energy where it mattered most.
In every student’s schedule, some classes are critical while others are almost trivial. In a typical week, I’d usually ditch around 40% of my classes because I just didn’t need to be there. For some classes attendance was necessary, but for others it didn’t make much difference. I could simply get the notes from another student if needed, or I could learn the material from the textbook. If it wasn’t necessary for me to attend a particular class (based on my goals for that class), I usually ditched it. That saved me a lot of time and kept me from having to sit in class all day long. Sometimes I’d just grab some food with friends to give myself an extra break.
I would also triage individual assignments. If I felt an assignment was lame, pointless, or unnecessarily tedious, and if it wouldn’t have too negative an impact on my grade, I would actually decline to do it. One time I was assigned a tedious paper that represented 10% of my grade. I really didn’t want to do it, and it required a lot more hours than I felt it was worth. I was headed for an A in the class, and if I didn’t do this assignment, I’d drop to an A-. So I respectfully told the professor I was declining the assignment and that I thought it was a fair trade to receive an A- in order to reinvest those hours elsewhere. He already knew me and understood my reasons. He gave me an A-, and I was fine with that. It was indeed a fair trade. In fact, looking back I wish I’d done this sort of thing more often.
Sometimes teachers get a little too homework happy and dole out assignments that really don’t justify the effort. You’re in charge of your academic experience though, not your teachers. Don’t feel you must do every assignment just because the teacher feels it’s a good idea. You be the judge in accordance with your own reasons for being there. Just be sure to consider the consequences of your decision.
By stealing time from low priority assignments, I was able to invest more time in the real gems. Some creative assignments taught me a great deal. I usually hated group projects with a passion, but there was one particular group project where the team really gelled. I enjoyed it tremendously and learned a lot from it.
A cool triage technique I used was timeboxing. I would decide how much time an assignment warranted, and then I’d do the best job I could within the allotted time. So if I had to write a 10-page research page on European history, I might devote 8 hours to it total. I’d slice up the 8 hours into topic selection, planning, library research, outlining, writing, and editing, and then I’d do my best to stay within those times. This was a great way to keep me from overengineering an assignment that didn’t need it.
In a way this was my own method of academic load balancing. Some of your assignments will be unbalanced in the sense that they seem to require an unreasonable amount of effort compared to how much of your grade they represent or how much you expect to benefit from completing them. Sometimes I would decide that the effort to write an A-paper just wasn’t warranted. Maybe I’d estimate it would take me 20 hours to do an A job but only 10 hours to do a B job. And if the assignment was only 10% of my grade, perhaps I could accept a B there. I often thought in this Machiavellian fashion back then, and often to my surprise I found that my B-quality papers would come back with As anyway.
6. Get an early start to each day.
I’ve written previously about the benefits of becoming an early riser. I wasn’t getting up at 5am when I was in college, but I’d usually get up around 6-7am. I found that getting an early start each day helped me get a lot more done, not just in the morning but throughout the day. I began each day with a 25-minute run followed by a shower and breakfast. This simple morning routine got me out the door feeling alert and energized.
I’d be lying if I said I got up early because I wanted to. It was really out of necessity. I had many morning classes, including 7:30am classes one semester. But I’m glad I did that because if I didn’t have those morning classes, I just would have slept more than I needed to. Even if you hate morning classes, you may find as I did that you’re a lot more productive if you schedule them anyway.
7. Reclaim wasted time during your classes.
Let’s face it. Not every class is going to require your utmost concentration. Sometimes teachers babble. Sometimes they reiterate what you already know. What percentage of class time requires your complete, focused attention? For some classes it’s 90%. For others it’s 20%. If you aren’t actively learning during class, you’re wasting time. If a class is really challenging, sit in the front and soak up every word. But if a class isn’t challenging you, then sit in the back, do homework for other classes, and pop your head up every once in a while to see if there’s anything worth jotting down. Always have a book open, so when your hippie professor goes off on yet another nostalgia trip about the 60s, you’ll have something productive to do.
This was a surprisingly great cure for boredom. If the professor was droning on and putting everyone to sleep, I’d be working on programming assignments. I used to write them out on paper and then go to the computer lab between classes and type them up. That way I didn’t have to spend much time outside class in the lab, sometimes just 10-15 minutes if my program worked the first time.
You’ll be amazed at how much time you can free up using this method. I was able to complete the bulk of my assignments in class (but usually not in the classes in which the tasks were assigned). If you’re in school right now, I challenge you to see how much extra homework you can complete during your normal class time today. Then estimate how many hours you’ll save every week from this practice. It really adds up.
You can’t concentrate at peak efficiency continuously, so be sure to take breaks. When you need a break though, take a real break. I used to meditate or nap on the grass between classes in order to recharge myself. I’d use my wristwatch alarm to signal when it was time to get up and go again. Those breaks were very restorative, and I could go to the next class and work full out once again. I never worked flat out all day long. I worked in waves between total concentration and total relaxation, cycling many times per day.
8. Learn material the very first time it’s presented.
One of the biggest time wasters in school is having to relearn something you didn’t learn properly the first time. When students say they’re studying, most of the time they’re making up for a previous failure to learn the material.
In software development it’s well known that bugs should be fixed as soon as possible after they’re introduced. Waiting to fix a bug near the end of a project can take 50x as much effort as it would take to fix the bug the first time it was noticed. Failing to learn what you’re supposedly taught each day is a serious bug. Don’t try to pile new material on top of an unstable foundation, since it will take even more time to rebuild it later.
If you don’t understand something you were taught in class today, treat it as a bug that must be fixed ASAP. Do not put it off. Do not pile new material on top of it. If you don’t understand a word, a concept, or a lesson, then drop everything and do whatever it takes to learn it before you continue on. Ask questions in class, get a fellow student to explain it to you, read and re-read the textbook, and/or visit the professor during office hours, but learn it no matter what.
I was normally an ace in math, perhaps because my mother is a college math professor who was taking calculus classes while I was in the womb. Plus my father was an aerospace engineer, so I’ve certainly got the genes for it. But there were a couple topics I found incomprehensible when they were first introduced: eigenvalues and eigenvectors. I’m a highly visual learner, which is normally a strength academically, but I found these abstract concepts difficult to visualize. Many of my classmates found them confusing too. I invested the extra effort required to grasp these concepts and earned an A in the class because I treated my confusion as a bug that had to be fixed immediately. Those students who allowed their confusion to linger found themselves becoming more and more lost as the course progressed, and cramming at the end couldn’t bestow complete comprehension. Just like programming bugs, confusion multiplies if left untreated, so stamp it out as early as possible. If you’re confused about anything you’re being taught, you’ve got a bug that needs fixing. Don’t move on until you can honestly say to yourself, “Yes, I understand that… what’s next?”
Ideally there should be no need to study outside of class, at least in the sense of relearning material you didn’t learn the first time. You can review old material to refresh your memory, but you shouldn’t have to devote a minute of your time to learning something that was taught a month or two earlier.
During finals I was probably the least-stressed student of all. I didn’t have to study because by the time the final exam came up, in my mind the course was already over. The test was just a formality. While everyone else was cramming, I’d be at the arcade playing video games. I’d already learned the material and completed all the assignments (at least the ones I was going to complete). At most I’d just spend some time reviewing my notes to refresh the material the night before the test. Isn’t this how academic learning is supposed to work? Otherwise what’s the point of showing up to class for an entire semester?
During each semester ask yourself this question: Am I ready to be tested right now on everything that has been taught up to this point? If your answer is ever “no,” then you know you’re falling behind, and you need to catch up immediately. Ideally you should be able to answer “yes” to this question at least once a week for every subject.
Falling behind even a little is an enormous stressor and time waster. First, you have to go back and re-learn the old material when the rest of the class has already moved on. Secondly, you may not learn the new material as well if it builds on the old material because you lack a solid foundation, so you just end up falling further and further behind. Then when you come to the end of the semester, you end up having to re-learn everything you were supposed to learn. But because you cram at the last minute, after finals you forget everything anyway. What’s the point of that silliness? It’s like overspending on a credit card that charges you 25% interest. Eventually you’ll have to pay up, and it will cost you a lot more time in the long run.
Put in the effort to learn your material well enough to get As in all your classes. It will pay off. Much of the material you learn will build on earlier material. If you get As in your freshman courses, you’ll be well prepared to pile on new material in your sophomore year. But if you get Cs that first year, you’re already going into your second year with an unstable foundation, making it that much harder to bring your grades up and really master the material. Make straight As your goal every semester. In the long run, it’s much easier. I found that C students tended to work a lot harder than I did, especially in their junior and senior years, because they were always playing catch up. Despite my packed schedule, it wasn’t stressful for me because I kept on top of every subject. Consequently, I had plenty of time for fun while other students experienced lots of stress because they constantly felt unprepared.
9. Master advanced memory techniques.
One of the keys to learning material the first time it’s taught is to train yourself in advanced memory techniques. I used them often in classes that required rote memorization of certain facts, including names, dates, and mathematical formulas. If a teacher wrote something on the board that had to be memorized verbatim for an upcoming exam, I’d memorize it then and there. Then I wouldn’t have to go back and study it later.
I’m sure you’ve encountered simple mnemonic techniques such as using the phrase “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the musical notes E, G, B, D, and F. Those kinds of tricks work well in certain situations, but they’re so grammar school. There are far more efficient visual techniques. The two I relied on most in school were chaining and pegging.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain these techniques in detail, but you can simply visit this site to learn all about them. Or you can pick up a book on memory improvement, such as The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne. I recommend learning from a book because then you’ll build a solid foundation step by step.
These techniques will allow you to memorize information very rapidly. For example, with pegging I could usually memorize a list of 20 items in about 90 seconds with perfect recall even weeks later. Experts at this are faster. Anyone can do it — it’s just a matter of training yourself.
I still use these techniques today. Chaining allows me to memorize my speeches visually. When I give a speech, my imagination runs through the visual movie I’ve created while I select words on the fly to fit the images. It’s like narrating a movie. My speech isn’t memorized word for word, so it sounds natural and spontaneous and can be adapted on the fly to fit the situation. Memorizing visually is much faster and more robust than trying to memorize words. If you memorize a speech word for word and forget a line, it can really throw you off. But with a series of images, it’s easier to jump ahead to the next frame if you make a mistake. Our brains are better suited to visualize memorization than phonetic memorization.
I don’t recommend memorizing by repetition because it’s way too slow. Pegging and chaining do not require repetition — they allow you to embed strong memories on a single pass, usually in seconds. The downside is that pegging and chaining require a lot of up-front practice to master, but once you learn them, these are valuable skills you’ll have for life. I also found that learning these techniques seemed to improve my memory as a whole, even when I’m not actively trying to memorize. I think this practice trained my subconscious to store and recall information more effectively.
It’s a shame these techniques aren’t normally taught in school. They would save students an enormous amount of time. Do yourself a favor and learn them while you’re young. They have a lot of practical applications, including remembering people’s names.
10. Have some serious fun!
Challenge yourself academically, but give yourself plenty of time for fun as well. Don’t squander your leisure time hanging around doing nothing. Go out and do something active that will blow off steam and increase your energy.
One of my favorite college leisure activities was frisbee golf (also called disc golf). I used to play for hours at night with a couple friends, sometimes until my fingers became blistered… or until campus security gave us the boot for hitting one too many non-player students.
While playing frisbee golf, we would often have to scavenge through bushes, wade through fountains, and climb over various hazards trying to recover errant frisbees. It was always lots of fun, and we’d usually “play through” these obstacles. Several hours of frisbee golf served as a delightful reward at the end of a challenging week. I still remember an incredible “hole in one” shot I made from a second-story balcony to hit a light post at the edge of a soccer field.
My biggest regret about college is that I didn’t have a girlfriend during that time. If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have added an extra semester and taken fewer classes to make time for that someone special. I had the opportunity, but I had to pass it up because my schedule was too packed. Girlfriends can be a lot of fun, but most aren’t very efficient.
This article’s advice centers on making your college experience as rich and memorable as possible. Get your school work done quickly and efficiently, so you have plenty of time for the variety of activities college can offer. Join clubs. Play frisbee golf. Get a boyfriend or girlfriend. The worst thing you can do is spend your time falling behind academically due to poor habits, feeling stressed and unprepared all the time, and then playing catch up. Squeeze as much juice out of college as you can, and let it serve as a springboard to a lifetime of fulfillment.
People often assume my aggressive schedule must have been stressful and exhausting, but the irony is that it was just the opposite. I seemed to have an easier, more enjoyable experience than my peers. Students with lighter schedules slacked off and fell behind because they convinced themselves they could make up for it later. But I couldn’t afford to do that because it would have been impossible for me to catch up on a dozen different classes… and way too stressful to even think about it. If I fell even a week behind, I’d be in serious trouble. So I was compelled to develop good habits that kept me perpetually relaxed, focused, and energized. Many of the habits discussed above were simply the result of setting the goal to graduate in three semesters. That goal dictated the process. I’m very grateful for the experience because it showed me just how much more effective we can be when we push ourselves beyond our comfort zones. It taught me to keep setting goals beyond what I feel certain I can accomplish. Many times what we assume to be impossible just isn’t. We only think it is.
Source: College Experience
1. Answer the question, “Why am I going to college?”
Many college students really don’t have a clear reason for being there other than the fact that they don’t know what else to do yet. They inherit goals from family and peers which aren’t truly their own. That was how I started college. Is this you as well?
As I’ve stated previously on this blog, the three-semester deal wasn’t my first time at college. I had previously gone to college when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be there. In high school I was a straight-A honors student, President of the math club, and captain of the Academic Decathlon team. That momentum carried me forward, and without really ever deciding if it was what I wanted, I found myself with four more years of school ahead of me. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Consequently, I sabotaged myself in a big way. I blew off my classes and got an education in parties and alcohol. Apparently some administrator was biased against students whose GPA starts with a decimal point, so I was soon expelled.
That experience sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I was in a funk for about six months, mostly just playing video games. Finally in an attempt to re-ground myself, I got a retail sales job and tried to stay under the radar while taking some time to “find myself.” That was the time I began developing an interest in personal development, and boy did it pay off. A year later I was ready to go back to college, and I started over as a freshman. But this time I knew why I was there. I wanted to be a programmer, and I wanted to earn my Computer Science degree (I later added the Math degree). But it was more than that. I knew I was capable of a lot more, and I wanted to push myself. I wanted to create the richest experience I could. For me that meant a really dense schedule.
Your goals for college will likely be different than mine. What are they? Why are you there? If you don’t know — and I mean really know it in your gut — then you have no focal point for your experience. You may as well not even be there. What is it about your experience that resonates as true for you? What are you there to learn? What do you want to experience?
2. Imagine your ideal college experience.
Once you know why you’re going to college, imagine your ideal outcome. Let it flow outward from the reason you’re there. Whether you’ve already started college or not, stop and simply write down some attributes of your ideal experience. Describe it in as much detail as you can.
Before I returned to school, I spent hours visualizing the kind of experience I wanted to have. I saw myself being challenged but managing it easily and without stress. I saw myself making new friends. I saw myself having a really great time. Most of all I imagined a very balanced experience — a blend of academics, activities, socialization, and fun. The keyword I used was “richness.”
This was a really important step. I didn’t understand the mechanism at the time, but I was pre-programming myself to succeed. Whenever I encountered obstacles, my ideal vision was so much more compelling that I was always able to find a way to get what I wanted. I became a co-creator of my experience instead of a passive victim of it.
Visualization allows you to make mistakes in advance. If you can’t get a clear visualization, your experience is likely to be just as fuzzy. Debug your visualization until it inspires you.
Real life will of course turn out differently than you visualize. The point of visualization isn’t to predict the future or to restrict your freedom to decide later. The point is to give you more clarity for making decisions right now. Your ideal scene serves as a map that can guide you through the quagmire of options.
3. Take at least one extra class each semester.
Students are taught that 12-15 semester units (3-5 classes) is a “full” schedule. But a schedule that light is hardly full. A person with a full-time job will put in a good 40+ hours per week, and students enjoy every possible vacation day plus spring break, winter break, and summer vacation. If you want to spend four or more years in college, add more degrees or get a job on the side. Don’t feel you have to go at a snail’s pace just because everyone else does.
Now you might be thinking that 12-15 units are supposed to equate to a 40-hour week with all the outside homework and studying, but that’s only going to happen if you do things very inefficiently (which sadly is what most people do). If you follow some of the time-saving tips later in this article, then 15 units should only require a few additional hours outside of class to complete assignments. Obviously I couldn’t have taken 31-39 units per semester if it meant doing double those hours in outside homework. I didn’t succeed by overworking myself.
If you’re an above average student, you can certainly handle an above average schedule. Sometimes we don’t know what we can handle until we push ourselves a little. If you think you can handle 15 units, take 18 or 21. You can easily shave a year off your schedule. Or you may be able to add a minor or a double major.
What about prerequisites? For the most part I simply ignored them, and fortunately at my school they weren’t enforced too well. I found that most of the time a prerequisite is listed, it’s geared towards below average students. Don’t let pointless bureaucracy slow you down if you want to graduate sooner. There’s always a way around it — it’s usually just a matter of getting some random form signed by someone who’s too bored to care either way. A smile and a compliment go a long way.
By the law of forced efficiency, if you put more things on your plate, you’ll find a way to get them done with the time you have available. So if you don’t challenge yourself a little, that extra time will slip through your fingers.
I think the real benefit to a dense schedule isn’t that you’ll graduate sooner. The real benefit is that you’ll enjoy a richer experience. Taking five classes instead of four means more learning, more achievement, and more friends. And what employer wouldn’t be attracted to a student who graduated more quickly than his/her peers? This sort of thing sure looks great on a resume.
4. Set clear goals for each class.
Decide what you want out of each specific class. Is this a subject you’re eager to learn? Do you want to target this teacher for a letter of recommendation? Is this a required class you must take but which doesn’t otherwise interest you?
My goals for each class determined how often I would show up, whether I’d sit in the front or the back, how actively I’d participate, and what kind of relationship I’d seek to establish with the teacher.
For some classes I wanted to master the material. For others I just wanted an A grade. And for others I wanted to set myself up for glowing letters of recommendations from enthusiastic teachers whose native language was English (so the letters would be highly readable and positive).
My mom has been a college math professor for decades. At home she’d comment about students she barely knew who’d ask her for letters of recommendation. Many times she had to turn them down because she just didn’t have anything positive to say in the letter. On the other hand, she was happy to support those students who put in a serious effort. Most teachers want to help you, but you have to let them see your strengths. Even if you don’t get an A in a particular class, you can still give a teacher plenty of material for a great letter of recommendation if you participate actively and show respect toward the teacher.
This is not about manipulating your professors into lying on your behalf. The simple truth is that the quality of a letter of recommendation ultimately comes down to how much a teacher respects you. Don’t put yourself in the desperate situation of having to request a letter of recommendation from a teacher who doesn’t even remember you — or worse, one who thinks poorly of you. Set yourself up for success in advance.
One of my professors learned about my packed academic schedule and expressed interest in learning how I was managing it. We had a very nice conversation about time management techniques. I had several programming classes with this professor and aced them all. I happened to think he was an excellent teacher, I had great respect for him, and I quite enjoyed his classes. When it came time to ask him for a letter of recommendation, he wrote one of the most glowing letters imaginable (“best student I’ve encountered in my career,” etc.).
On the other hand, I had certain teachers who were downright lousy. I ditched their classes often and learned the material from the textbook. Obviously I didn’t seek out their assistance down the road.
Sometimes you’ll achieve your goals; sometimes you won’t. Even if you do your best, you may still fall short. You may encounter teachers that are unfair, lazy, sexist, racist, or otherwise incompetent. My wife had an overtly sexist professor who would never give a female student a grade higher than a B, no matter how well she did. He would say things like, “If you’re a male, you’ll have to work hard in this class. If you’re a female, just come by my office after hours.” Eventually sexual harrassment charges were filed against him. You’ll have to pick your battles. Some are worth fighting; others are best ignored. Having clear goals will help you decide which is which.
5. Triage ruthlessly.
You don’t need to put an equal amount of effort into every class. Inject extra effort when it’s important to you, but feel free to back off a little from classes that are a low priority based on your specific goals. For me this was an important way to conserve energy. I couldn’t play full out in every class, or I’d burn out, so I invested my energy where it mattered most.
In every student’s schedule, some classes are critical while others are almost trivial. In a typical week, I’d usually ditch around 40% of my classes because I just didn’t need to be there. For some classes attendance was necessary, but for others it didn’t make much difference. I could simply get the notes from another student if needed, or I could learn the material from the textbook. If it wasn’t necessary for me to attend a particular class (based on my goals for that class), I usually ditched it. That saved me a lot of time and kept me from having to sit in class all day long. Sometimes I’d just grab some food with friends to give myself an extra break.
I would also triage individual assignments. If I felt an assignment was lame, pointless, or unnecessarily tedious, and if it wouldn’t have too negative an impact on my grade, I would actually decline to do it. One time I was assigned a tedious paper that represented 10% of my grade. I really didn’t want to do it, and it required a lot more hours than I felt it was worth. I was headed for an A in the class, and if I didn’t do this assignment, I’d drop to an A-. So I respectfully told the professor I was declining the assignment and that I thought it was a fair trade to receive an A- in order to reinvest those hours elsewhere. He already knew me and understood my reasons. He gave me an A-, and I was fine with that. It was indeed a fair trade. In fact, looking back I wish I’d done this sort of thing more often.
Sometimes teachers get a little too homework happy and dole out assignments that really don’t justify the effort. You’re in charge of your academic experience though, not your teachers. Don’t feel you must do every assignment just because the teacher feels it’s a good idea. You be the judge in accordance with your own reasons for being there. Just be sure to consider the consequences of your decision.
By stealing time from low priority assignments, I was able to invest more time in the real gems. Some creative assignments taught me a great deal. I usually hated group projects with a passion, but there was one particular group project where the team really gelled. I enjoyed it tremendously and learned a lot from it.
A cool triage technique I used was timeboxing. I would decide how much time an assignment warranted, and then I’d do the best job I could within the allotted time. So if I had to write a 10-page research page on European history, I might devote 8 hours to it total. I’d slice up the 8 hours into topic selection, planning, library research, outlining, writing, and editing, and then I’d do my best to stay within those times. This was a great way to keep me from overengineering an assignment that didn’t need it.
In a way this was my own method of academic load balancing. Some of your assignments will be unbalanced in the sense that they seem to require an unreasonable amount of effort compared to how much of your grade they represent or how much you expect to benefit from completing them. Sometimes I would decide that the effort to write an A-paper just wasn’t warranted. Maybe I’d estimate it would take me 20 hours to do an A job but only 10 hours to do a B job. And if the assignment was only 10% of my grade, perhaps I could accept a B there. I often thought in this Machiavellian fashion back then, and often to my surprise I found that my B-quality papers would come back with As anyway.
6. Get an early start to each day.
I’ve written previously about the benefits of becoming an early riser. I wasn’t getting up at 5am when I was in college, but I’d usually get up around 6-7am. I found that getting an early start each day helped me get a lot more done, not just in the morning but throughout the day. I began each day with a 25-minute run followed by a shower and breakfast. This simple morning routine got me out the door feeling alert and energized.
I’d be lying if I said I got up early because I wanted to. It was really out of necessity. I had many morning classes, including 7:30am classes one semester. But I’m glad I did that because if I didn’t have those morning classes, I just would have slept more than I needed to. Even if you hate morning classes, you may find as I did that you’re a lot more productive if you schedule them anyway.
7. Reclaim wasted time during your classes.
Let’s face it. Not every class is going to require your utmost concentration. Sometimes teachers babble. Sometimes they reiterate what you already know. What percentage of class time requires your complete, focused attention? For some classes it’s 90%. For others it’s 20%. If you aren’t actively learning during class, you’re wasting time. If a class is really challenging, sit in the front and soak up every word. But if a class isn’t challenging you, then sit in the back, do homework for other classes, and pop your head up every once in a while to see if there’s anything worth jotting down. Always have a book open, so when your hippie professor goes off on yet another nostalgia trip about the 60s, you’ll have something productive to do.
This was a surprisingly great cure for boredom. If the professor was droning on and putting everyone to sleep, I’d be working on programming assignments. I used to write them out on paper and then go to the computer lab between classes and type them up. That way I didn’t have to spend much time outside class in the lab, sometimes just 10-15 minutes if my program worked the first time.
You’ll be amazed at how much time you can free up using this method. I was able to complete the bulk of my assignments in class (but usually not in the classes in which the tasks were assigned). If you’re in school right now, I challenge you to see how much extra homework you can complete during your normal class time today. Then estimate how many hours you’ll save every week from this practice. It really adds up.
You can’t concentrate at peak efficiency continuously, so be sure to take breaks. When you need a break though, take a real break. I used to meditate or nap on the grass between classes in order to recharge myself. I’d use my wristwatch alarm to signal when it was time to get up and go again. Those breaks were very restorative, and I could go to the next class and work full out once again. I never worked flat out all day long. I worked in waves between total concentration and total relaxation, cycling many times per day.
8. Learn material the very first time it’s presented.
One of the biggest time wasters in school is having to relearn something you didn’t learn properly the first time. When students say they’re studying, most of the time they’re making up for a previous failure to learn the material.
In software development it’s well known that bugs should be fixed as soon as possible after they’re introduced. Waiting to fix a bug near the end of a project can take 50x as much effort as it would take to fix the bug the first time it was noticed. Failing to learn what you’re supposedly taught each day is a serious bug. Don’t try to pile new material on top of an unstable foundation, since it will take even more time to rebuild it later.
If you don’t understand something you were taught in class today, treat it as a bug that must be fixed ASAP. Do not put it off. Do not pile new material on top of it. If you don’t understand a word, a concept, or a lesson, then drop everything and do whatever it takes to learn it before you continue on. Ask questions in class, get a fellow student to explain it to you, read and re-read the textbook, and/or visit the professor during office hours, but learn it no matter what.
I was normally an ace in math, perhaps because my mother is a college math professor who was taking calculus classes while I was in the womb. Plus my father was an aerospace engineer, so I’ve certainly got the genes for it. But there were a couple topics I found incomprehensible when they were first introduced: eigenvalues and eigenvectors. I’m a highly visual learner, which is normally a strength academically, but I found these abstract concepts difficult to visualize. Many of my classmates found them confusing too. I invested the extra effort required to grasp these concepts and earned an A in the class because I treated my confusion as a bug that had to be fixed immediately. Those students who allowed their confusion to linger found themselves becoming more and more lost as the course progressed, and cramming at the end couldn’t bestow complete comprehension. Just like programming bugs, confusion multiplies if left untreated, so stamp it out as early as possible. If you’re confused about anything you’re being taught, you’ve got a bug that needs fixing. Don’t move on until you can honestly say to yourself, “Yes, I understand that… what’s next?”
Ideally there should be no need to study outside of class, at least in the sense of relearning material you didn’t learn the first time. You can review old material to refresh your memory, but you shouldn’t have to devote a minute of your time to learning something that was taught a month or two earlier.
During finals I was probably the least-stressed student of all. I didn’t have to study because by the time the final exam came up, in my mind the course was already over. The test was just a formality. While everyone else was cramming, I’d be at the arcade playing video games. I’d already learned the material and completed all the assignments (at least the ones I was going to complete). At most I’d just spend some time reviewing my notes to refresh the material the night before the test. Isn’t this how academic learning is supposed to work? Otherwise what’s the point of showing up to class for an entire semester?
During each semester ask yourself this question: Am I ready to be tested right now on everything that has been taught up to this point? If your answer is ever “no,” then you know you’re falling behind, and you need to catch up immediately. Ideally you should be able to answer “yes” to this question at least once a week for every subject.
Falling behind even a little is an enormous stressor and time waster. First, you have to go back and re-learn the old material when the rest of the class has already moved on. Secondly, you may not learn the new material as well if it builds on the old material because you lack a solid foundation, so you just end up falling further and further behind. Then when you come to the end of the semester, you end up having to re-learn everything you were supposed to learn. But because you cram at the last minute, after finals you forget everything anyway. What’s the point of that silliness? It’s like overspending on a credit card that charges you 25% interest. Eventually you’ll have to pay up, and it will cost you a lot more time in the long run.
Put in the effort to learn your material well enough to get As in all your classes. It will pay off. Much of the material you learn will build on earlier material. If you get As in your freshman courses, you’ll be well prepared to pile on new material in your sophomore year. But if you get Cs that first year, you’re already going into your second year with an unstable foundation, making it that much harder to bring your grades up and really master the material. Make straight As your goal every semester. In the long run, it’s much easier. I found that C students tended to work a lot harder than I did, especially in their junior and senior years, because they were always playing catch up. Despite my packed schedule, it wasn’t stressful for me because I kept on top of every subject. Consequently, I had plenty of time for fun while other students experienced lots of stress because they constantly felt unprepared.
9. Master advanced memory techniques.
One of the keys to learning material the first time it’s taught is to train yourself in advanced memory techniques. I used them often in classes that required rote memorization of certain facts, including names, dates, and mathematical formulas. If a teacher wrote something on the board that had to be memorized verbatim for an upcoming exam, I’d memorize it then and there. Then I wouldn’t have to go back and study it later.
I’m sure you’ve encountered simple mnemonic techniques such as using the phrase “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the musical notes E, G, B, D, and F. Those kinds of tricks work well in certain situations, but they’re so grammar school. There are far more efficient visual techniques. The two I relied on most in school were chaining and pegging.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain these techniques in detail, but you can simply visit this site to learn all about them. Or you can pick up a book on memory improvement, such as The Memory Book by Harry Lorayne. I recommend learning from a book because then you’ll build a solid foundation step by step.
These techniques will allow you to memorize information very rapidly. For example, with pegging I could usually memorize a list of 20 items in about 90 seconds with perfect recall even weeks later. Experts at this are faster. Anyone can do it — it’s just a matter of training yourself.
I still use these techniques today. Chaining allows me to memorize my speeches visually. When I give a speech, my imagination runs through the visual movie I’ve created while I select words on the fly to fit the images. It’s like narrating a movie. My speech isn’t memorized word for word, so it sounds natural and spontaneous and can be adapted on the fly to fit the situation. Memorizing visually is much faster and more robust than trying to memorize words. If you memorize a speech word for word and forget a line, it can really throw you off. But with a series of images, it’s easier to jump ahead to the next frame if you make a mistake. Our brains are better suited to visualize memorization than phonetic memorization.
I don’t recommend memorizing by repetition because it’s way too slow. Pegging and chaining do not require repetition — they allow you to embed strong memories on a single pass, usually in seconds. The downside is that pegging and chaining require a lot of up-front practice to master, but once you learn them, these are valuable skills you’ll have for life. I also found that learning these techniques seemed to improve my memory as a whole, even when I’m not actively trying to memorize. I think this practice trained my subconscious to store and recall information more effectively.
It’s a shame these techniques aren’t normally taught in school. They would save students an enormous amount of time. Do yourself a favor and learn them while you’re young. They have a lot of practical applications, including remembering people’s names.
10. Have some serious fun!
Challenge yourself academically, but give yourself plenty of time for fun as well. Don’t squander your leisure time hanging around doing nothing. Go out and do something active that will blow off steam and increase your energy.
One of my favorite college leisure activities was frisbee golf (also called disc golf). I used to play for hours at night with a couple friends, sometimes until my fingers became blistered… or until campus security gave us the boot for hitting one too many non-player students.
While playing frisbee golf, we would often have to scavenge through bushes, wade through fountains, and climb over various hazards trying to recover errant frisbees. It was always lots of fun, and we’d usually “play through” these obstacles. Several hours of frisbee golf served as a delightful reward at the end of a challenging week. I still remember an incredible “hole in one” shot I made from a second-story balcony to hit a light post at the edge of a soccer field.
My biggest regret about college is that I didn’t have a girlfriend during that time. If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have added an extra semester and taken fewer classes to make time for that someone special. I had the opportunity, but I had to pass it up because my schedule was too packed. Girlfriends can be a lot of fun, but most aren’t very efficient.
This article’s advice centers on making your college experience as rich and memorable as possible. Get your school work done quickly and efficiently, so you have plenty of time for the variety of activities college can offer. Join clubs. Play frisbee golf. Get a boyfriend or girlfriend. The worst thing you can do is spend your time falling behind academically due to poor habits, feeling stressed and unprepared all the time, and then playing catch up. Squeeze as much juice out of college as you can, and let it serve as a springboard to a lifetime of fulfillment.
People often assume my aggressive schedule must have been stressful and exhausting, but the irony is that it was just the opposite. I seemed to have an easier, more enjoyable experience than my peers. Students with lighter schedules slacked off and fell behind because they convinced themselves they could make up for it later. But I couldn’t afford to do that because it would have been impossible for me to catch up on a dozen different classes… and way too stressful to even think about it. If I fell even a week behind, I’d be in serious trouble. So I was compelled to develop good habits that kept me perpetually relaxed, focused, and energized. Many of the habits discussed above were simply the result of setting the goal to graduate in three semesters. That goal dictated the process. I’m very grateful for the experience because it showed me just how much more effective we can be when we push ourselves beyond our comfort zones. It taught me to keep setting goals beyond what I feel certain I can accomplish. Many times what we assume to be impossible just isn’t. We only think it is.
Source: College Experience
How to Pick the Perfect Christmas Present
Pick the perfect Christmas present by following these steps:
With so many people on your Christmas gift-buying list this year, it may be difficult to find the perfect present for everyone. After all, who really knows what your children's bus driver, schoolteacher and Scout leaders really want, not to mention your mother-in-law, preteen and spouse! When you're stumped for a gift giving idea consider these tips:
Think About Their Personality:
Just because you think a gift is silly, doesn't mean the person you're giving it to will. If they love quirky items, feel free to go a little crazy when choosing their gift. Consider your recipient's style, personality, and hobbies when shopping. But also consider their space. After all, if Grandma already has 5,000 trinket boxes displayed in her overcrowded condo, she may not appreciate anymore. But, if she's always talks about the lovely quilts she saw a local shop, by all means buy her one!
Don't Consider What It Costs:
Many people make the mistake of thinking a more expensive gift will be appreciated more. Sure, diamond earrings may be beautiful or something your mother would never buy for herself, but if she never wears them were they really worth the price? Choose gifts that will be used and appreciated. A great book costing $10 may be worth a lot more in the long run than those earrings.
Shop Early - And Often:
People who wait until Dec. 24th for the best deals are often disappointed by the selection. Don't relegate your shopping to just November and December. When you see something that reminds you of someone special and that you know they'll love - buy it - even if it is the Fourth of July! Finding the perfect gift isn't always easy, so when you stumble across it, pick it up and stash it in a closet until the holidays roll around.
Make Something Special:
Let's face it; we love all of those quirky (and even ugly) things our kids make for us. Why? Because they took the time, the effort and the thought to make something just for you! It isn't its beauty or its usefulness that makes it special - it's the love behind it. Everyone wants to be made to feel like they are worth that little extra. If you're good at making things, by all means do it. Does your child's teacher love your homemade bread or cookies? Bake her some! Does your mother-in-law rave about your scrapbooks? Whip her one up. Don't worry if your homemade gifts aren't perfect or expensive. They don't need to be!
Perform a Service:
Short on cash this year? No worry. There are a lot of things you can do for the people in your life that will be more appreciated than any store-bought gift. When I was a new mother, one of the best new baby gifts I received was a visit from a friend one morning that simply picked up the baby and told me to go take a bubble bath. I hadn't even had a shower in three days, so the thought of luxuriating in a steaming bath of lavender was too much to resist. Think about simple services you can provide: babysitting, yard work, housecleaning, snow shoveling, to help ease the burden of those you wish to share the holidays. You may be surprised at how much it really is appreciated.
Gift giving can often become a stressful and expensive endeavor. Strive to put love and thought back into your gift giving this year by taking the time to think about what your loved ones want, need and will appreciate the most.
Source: Perfect Christmas Present
With so many people on your Christmas gift-buying list this year, it may be difficult to find the perfect present for everyone. After all, who really knows what your children's bus driver, schoolteacher and Scout leaders really want, not to mention your mother-in-law, preteen and spouse! When you're stumped for a gift giving idea consider these tips:
Think About Their Personality:
Just because you think a gift is silly, doesn't mean the person you're giving it to will. If they love quirky items, feel free to go a little crazy when choosing their gift. Consider your recipient's style, personality, and hobbies when shopping. But also consider their space. After all, if Grandma already has 5,000 trinket boxes displayed in her overcrowded condo, she may not appreciate anymore. But, if she's always talks about the lovely quilts she saw a local shop, by all means buy her one!
Don't Consider What It Costs:
Many people make the mistake of thinking a more expensive gift will be appreciated more. Sure, diamond earrings may be beautiful or something your mother would never buy for herself, but if she never wears them were they really worth the price? Choose gifts that will be used and appreciated. A great book costing $10 may be worth a lot more in the long run than those earrings.
Shop Early - And Often:
People who wait until Dec. 24th for the best deals are often disappointed by the selection. Don't relegate your shopping to just November and December. When you see something that reminds you of someone special and that you know they'll love - buy it - even if it is the Fourth of July! Finding the perfect gift isn't always easy, so when you stumble across it, pick it up and stash it in a closet until the holidays roll around.
Make Something Special:
Let's face it; we love all of those quirky (and even ugly) things our kids make for us. Why? Because they took the time, the effort and the thought to make something just for you! It isn't its beauty or its usefulness that makes it special - it's the love behind it. Everyone wants to be made to feel like they are worth that little extra. If you're good at making things, by all means do it. Does your child's teacher love your homemade bread or cookies? Bake her some! Does your mother-in-law rave about your scrapbooks? Whip her one up. Don't worry if your homemade gifts aren't perfect or expensive. They don't need to be!
Perform a Service:
Short on cash this year? No worry. There are a lot of things you can do for the people in your life that will be more appreciated than any store-bought gift. When I was a new mother, one of the best new baby gifts I received was a visit from a friend one morning that simply picked up the baby and told me to go take a bubble bath. I hadn't even had a shower in three days, so the thought of luxuriating in a steaming bath of lavender was too much to resist. Think about simple services you can provide: babysitting, yard work, housecleaning, snow shoveling, to help ease the burden of those you wish to share the holidays. You may be surprised at how much it really is appreciated.
Gift giving can often become a stressful and expensive endeavor. Strive to put love and thought back into your gift giving this year by taking the time to think about what your loved ones want, need and will appreciate the most.
Source: Perfect Christmas Present
How to Get Rich Without College
Want to get rich without going to college? Here is how.
I accepted the fact after finishing high school that I was not college material. At first it depressed me because I knew that I would have to work my butt off in order to be somebody. But I am not a lazy person and I
was willing to do all it takes to live a normal life. That realization lifted my spirits and I went out looking for a job. My first job was on a farm as a tractor driver. I worked hard for two years in which I doubled my salary, but it still wasn't a living wage, so I headed for the big city where I was hired as a driver for a parcel delivery service. The job offered lots of overtime pay which I was happy to get. Half my pay was put into a mutual fund which was recommended to me by the financial department of the bank. Three years later I met my future wife. She was a beautiful woman who worked as a sales manager in a department store. We were approved for a mortgage on a new home and got ready to raise a family. Our son was born two years latter.
My wife was a practical and thrifty woman, so it was agreed that we would put twenty five percent of our salaries into the mutual fund that I had started a few years back, it would still leave us enough to enjoy our lives. Years later my son finished high school and searched for a good college to go to. He asked me for a loan of two hundred thousand dollars. That was the four year cost of the college he had chosen. Upon graduation he would need another hundred thousand dollars to get his masters degree. I sat him down and opened up the statement from my mutual fund. He gasped when he saw a million dollars. I told him they he could also be a rich man if he followed in his parents foot steps. I opened up a mutual fund for him and deposited the three hundred thousand dollars that he was going to spend on college. He was hired by the same company that I worked for and started work the next week.
He is now married and the owner of his own home. His wife works as a saleslady, and is also a practical and thrifty woman. They put away twenty five percent of their income in a mutual fund. They have a young son, who I am sure will never go to college.
Source: Getting Rich Without College
I accepted the fact after finishing high school that I was not college material. At first it depressed me because I knew that I would have to work my butt off in order to be somebody. But I am not a lazy person and I
My wife was a practical and thrifty woman, so it was agreed that we would put twenty five percent of our salaries into the mutual fund that I had started a few years back, it would still leave us enough to enjoy our lives. Years later my son finished high school and searched for a good college to go to. He asked me for a loan of two hundred thousand dollars. That was the four year cost of the college he had chosen. Upon graduation he would need another hundred thousand dollars to get his masters degree. I sat him down and opened up the statement from my mutual fund. He gasped when he saw a million dollars. I told him they he could also be a rich man if he followed in his parents foot steps. I opened up a mutual fund for him and deposited the three hundred thousand dollars that he was going to spend on college. He was hired by the same company that I worked for and started work the next week.
He is now married and the owner of his own home. His wife works as a saleslady, and is also a practical and thrifty woman. They put away twenty five percent of their income in a mutual fund. They have a young son, who I am sure will never go to college.
Source: Getting Rich Without College
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