AlexK’s Blog
Jan 02
Now that you’ve set your goals how can you make sure you keep working toward them? Sticking to your goals is a personal development.
When making new years resolutions and setting personal goals for the year most people dont write them down. So we quickly forget out good intentions. Many will already be feeling a tad [...] [...more]
Posted: under Goals.
Now that you’ve set your goals how can you make sure you keep working toward them? Sticking to your goals is a personal development.
When making new years resolutions and setting personal goals for the year most people dont write them down. So we quickly forget out good intentions. Many will already be feeling a tad guilty because they havent quite followed through on their good taking the first step toward their goal. And over the next couple of weeks the goals will be forgotten.
That’s why its important to write you goals down. If you haven’t planned your most important goal for the year see yesterdays post.
The key to success in achieving your personal development goal, is persistence. You can learn any skill if you put your mind to it. To do it you just need to persist. There will be days when you strike out and it feels like you’re going backwards faster than forward.
If you read your goal statement every day at least twice a day. There will even be some days where you might think its impossible to achieve. Yet persist. Stick to saying your affirmations and reading your goal statements daily.
It takes 21 days to instill a habit and it must be 21 consecutive days. If you keep it going for 30 days your personal development efforts will gain momentum.
So get yourself a nice sized calendar and every day that you read your goal statements at least twice a day make a cross through that day. The trick is to keep connecting crosses next to each other.
Once you have 21 crosses connecting it looks quite impressive. What’s more you probably notice some progress toward your goals.
What if you miss a day? Persist, do over, get the 21 crosses next to each other. The trick is to get up and go again despite stumbling. Don’t give up. Persist because I can guarantee in the beginning you will have misses or near misses in reaching your target every day for the first 21 days. Learning a new skill takes persistence.
Keep track of your new habit of reading your goals daily on that calendar and you will discover the power of persistence.
© Alex K Viefhaus
Dec 28
A Balanced life will consider all 6 areas of our lives most people only have one area in their life where they have a mission.
How do you find balance? Goal setting. You need not focus on every area of your life everyday for that balance but periodically you need to check how you are doing [...] [...more]
Posted: under Goals, Purpose, expectation.
A Balanced life will consider all 6 areas of our lives most people only have one area in their life where they have a mission.
How do you find balance? Goal setting. You need not focus on every area of your life everyday for that balance but periodically you need to check how you are doing in other areas. The best ways to do that is write your annual goals.
New Years Eve or New Years Day we often make resolutions. Resolutions seem like a good idea yet we fail to keep them. Our diets go out the window by week two and our exercise program barely started when the routine broke because it isn’t a routine yet. Our goal to increase our income by taking a course of study doesn’t work because there is no guarantee that once you have that paper your income will increase. There is more you have to do once you’ve gained the pass in the course. The hunt for a new job with a better pay will start tomorrow because today the workload is too heavy and you’re too stressed right now. Tomorrow never comes.
There is an underlying flaw with our resolution. It’s summed up in two words.
No Purpose.
The important purpose. It becomes a reason for for taking action . Purpose is the motivator that keeps you going once you start Purpose is what it takes to make changes in your life. When we have a purpose we have a mission in life. It doesn’t matter if it’s personal, in ways spiritual, relationship, wealth, success or career. It’s the engine that drives our mission.
Your resolution isn’t a mission in your life. The purpose is weak. To look good, lose weight, be healthier, earn more money are not your real mission.
If you’re serious about having a balanced life set goals that have a purpose. A real purpose comes from within the heart. It takes a few moments to go inside and reflect on what achieving your goal means to you. Looking good, being healthier having more money are superficial until we know WHY. Why is it important to you to look good. Why is it important to be healthier? Why is it important to you to have more money? Why is studying for your career important to you? Why are your spiritual goals important to you? Why do you want to change or begin a new relationship?
When you look at writing your goals for this year Look deeply for the, “Why”.
Once you know why. You have your mission. Then you only need to Decide what your first step is. Believe you can do it and Start. Reflect, Decide, Believe, Start on your goals for the coming year.
If goal setting isn’t your strong point and you don’t know how to go inside to discover your mission for next year there is a course I can recommend.
© Alex Viefhaus December 2006
Nov 09
With PhotoReading you allow your other than conscious mind to process the information you read so even as a beginner you can cut your reading time to 1/3rd. (There is research that proves we do process visual information non-consciously.)
What does that mean for the student. Well for starters what took the beginner 3- days to [...] [...more]
Posted: under Goals, PhotoRead, Photoreading, Studying.
With PhotoReading you allow your other than conscious mind to process the information you read so even as a beginner you can cut your reading time to 1/3rd. (There is research that proves we do process visual information non-consciously.)
What does that mean for the student. Well for starters what took the beginner 3- days to do would only take one. One learns some study techniques that uses the creative procrastination (incubation) you can save yourself unnecessary stress.
Stress
Stress is also a problem. It inhibits the working memory so it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get information in or pull it out you are going to experience even more difficulty understanding information.
PhotoReading is a whole mind system so it even teaches a way to handle stress. You learn a simple technique to enter the Accelerated Learning State. This state helps you to lower the stress levels, open the learning channels and lower resistance to learning. The Accelerated Learning State is a useful place to be to direct yourself on how you wish to continue and affirm your intent.
When you apply techniques like the 5-day PhotoReading test to a book you are learning a method for studying that you can us for any text for learning.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping works it’s a great tool, however most people dislike it because it has so many rules. It’s easier to use when you keep it simple. When Mind Mapping group ideas with a single colour, and no more than three words to a line. In correct Mind Mapping it is only one word a line. Why I suggest 3? Lighten up and do it. You learn faster by having a simple starting point. It doesn’t have to hard and you can benefit from small steps.
Would this and the techniques of PhotoReading alone help you in your studies?
Sure it can, it can make it a lot easier to at least achieve the grade you manage now.
Can you improve your grade?
Absolutely possible and it probably will take a lot less effort than you put in now.
Is it possible that you won’t see any improvement even if you learn PhotoReading or any other study method?
Yes. It’s still possible you’ll fail miserably in the subjects you are studying. When that happens you need to have an honest look at yourself and ask yourself why are you studying this?
Many people are studying subjects their parents or other people think will make them rich or keep them well off in life. Noble as that ideal is it doesn’t work too well if you don’t like the subject. So the student who is not interested in the topic and has no has a reason of their own for studying, will struggle with the subject. The student works hard and succeeds with entry to an elite college and suddenly they find themselves failing to keep the grade. It often hits in the mid-first or second college year when they realise they are backsliding.
Thoughts like 3 more years of this and for what? I’m working my butt of and getting nowhere. Even, I hate this subject, what’s the point of it? These phrases point to a lack of a goal. We just don’t know why we are studying this nor have we planned how we’re going to use what we learned when we’re done. So we have no motivation to learn.
The solution? Find your goal. Where are you going to use what you learned. If you worked hard to get into the this class it means you had that as a goal. It gave you your purpose. And your purpose is what motivates you. You had a goal to enter that elite school on that subject and you succeeded. Now you need a goal to take you to the next point in your life.
Of course it’s possible we “really” dislike the subject and reality has set in. We struggled to make it into college. Then in college we need to struggle to keep the grade and then, do we really want to keep doing that as a career. Something we don’t find easy, we don’t enjoy, what we struggle at… for a career? Self-preservation makes sense. Fail it soon so you can choose an alternative more enjoyable career. You might say. But my parents want….” That is exactly the problem it’s what your parent want not what you want.
If you have no choice than to follow your parents wishes I suggest you add to your studies at least one subject that interests you. That is a small part of the career you would like to have even if it only is a dream. Then you can make it a goal to complete your studies with the best passing grade so you can free yourself up to do more of what you want. It gives you a purpose. A reason to complete your studies, do your assignments and have more free time to concentrate on the subject that interests you.
As you can see PhotoReading is a tool in the toolbox of life. It cannot be the solution to everything however it can be a powerful resource.
© Alex K Viefhaus 9 November 2005
Sep 15
When I first learned PhotoReading I started with the PhotoReading book. The first page suggested following the path of the little Einstein graphics.
It was about halfway working with the little Einsteins that I figured what was going on. Here the author was telling me what I should read and what I can safely skip. [...] [...more]
Posted: under Activation, Goals, Purpose, expectation, reading, success.
When I first learned PhotoReading I started with the PhotoReading book. The first page suggested following the path of the little Einstein graphics.
It was about halfway working with the little Einsteins that I figured what was going on. Here the author was telling me what I should read and what I can safely skip. It was brilliant I thought. But how do I know where I have to read. Other authors don’t provide those little Einstein’s That’s where the PhotoReading step came in.
Some but not all of a book is immediately relevant. Students often say, ‘ But I need to know it all for my instructor. I won’t pass the exam otherwise.’
No, you don’t need to know it all in one step and you don’t even need to know it all. Authors are repetitive. You only need to know it once. The right example and you’re done. With PhotoReading you’ve got it all in your head anyway.
Secondly you don’t need to know it all in one drop. Learn it in stages. Follow the course outline to discover when you need to look at the book again. That becomes your little Einsteins.
The information builds in layers. Like the little Einstein in the PhotoReading book first comes one pass, then another and then another as necessary to get the information you seek.
But you want to know what the secret to successful activation is?
Stick to it. Stay with it until it gels. You learn what works and doesn’t work with each activation pass. So keep your curiosity high and stick with it.
© Alex K Viefhaus 2005
Sep 04
Many people feel if they could get everything they wanted out of a book in thirty minutes they wouldn’t keep putting it off until they had the time. Reading wouldn’t be such a chore.
In 2004 Learning Strategies had a PhotoReading Retreat. There were about 120 participants. The retreat was about taking PhotoReading skills to the [...] [...more]
Posted: under Activation, Goals, PhotoRead, Photoreading, comprehension, expectation.
Many people feel if they could get everything they wanted out of a book in thirty minutes they wouldn’t keep putting it off until they had the time. Reading wouldn’t be such a chore.
In 2004 Learning Strategies had a PhotoReading Retreat. There were about 120 participants. The retreat was about taking PhotoReading skills to the next level. They recorded the and is available on DVD. The Results Supercharger. These DVDs can be an inspiration to those who have learned PhotoReading and a hurdle to those who haven’t because they are about pushing your PhotoReading skills.
One of the features of the recording is the 30-minute challenge.
In the days before the challenge we PhotoRead many books. On the Power reading day alone everyone PhotoRead at least 20 books and managed as many as 30 or more. We did some manual activation on four books. During manual activation we looked for what we wanted to know and we didn’t expect to know everything from the book. We were looking for answers to our most pressing question toward our life goals.
Most of the people in the room were anxious about whether they could activate a book in 30-minutes. But that’s all the time they had so they put it to use and activated as much as they could in those 30-minutes.
When it came to the 30-minute challenge someone picked a book for us. We PhotoRead and activated it in that 30-minutes (no incubation time). At the end of the 30-minute we told the person who gave us the book what it was about. When we stopped talking, they asked questions and encouraged us to keep talking. All managed brilliantly.
What is important to notice is, [b]somebody is asking [i]questions[/i].[/b] After PhotoReading we let the mind answer. If you want to experience instantaneous activation, get someone to ask you questions about the book. For me instantaneous activation is PhotoReading a book and asking is there anything in this book new or useful to me to activate it some more. Then yes or no. Yes, take another look, no put it back on the shelf. But I ask myself some questions. When yes, I find something useful, when no, I never have, so I no longer spend more time with the book. I’ve PhotoRead it anyway so the information is still available to me. And if there is anything useful in the book in the future I know where to find it.
Activation takes questions. Whether manual (you ask the questions, mind map, link with what you know ask more questions to activate some more.) Or someone else ask a question and we give the answer without a second thought. What amuses me about spontaneous activation is, [i] it’s spontaneous; [/i]you don’t know you’re activating and as soon as you know you are activating it isn’t spontaneous any more. You start second-guessing making it manual (laboured if you like)
The point of the 30-minute Challenge was
1. To give ourselves a comparison of how much we [b]can[/b] get out of a book when we spend 30 minutes, [b]with a purpose.[/b]
When we remember what it was like to spend 30-minutes on the first two chapters and compare how much we can get from a whole book in 30-minutes. The quality and quantity of information we have that is useful to us from that time is the whole point of accessing the book.
2. Need to know. How much do you, [i]really[/i], need to know and what do you need to know right now? People read a book with the misguided belief that by reading it word for word they have a 100% comprehension.
Often they spend so much time reading that when finished they cannot tell you what the information was in the first 6 chapters. A novel is easier but even there they cannot remember exactly where the story began. And do we, really, understand it that well that we could say we have 100% comprehension, ever?
Remember research on memory shows that you forget as much as 60% of what you learn within the first 24 hours and that you have to review or use it to remember. So the more time between the beginning and the end without a review the more comprehension declines. When applying PhotoReading you review pages as you see them again.
So if you’re studying for a test. Build your knowledge in smaller chunks over many day. Reviewing each day is easier and what you already learned becomes an anchor point for more knowledge on the subject.
Here I pose a couple of questions. What’s the point of knowing it consciously right now if it is of no use to you right now? Doesn’t it make more sense to be able to spend 30-minutes with a book to get the information that is most important to you right now?
That’s what we did in the 30-minute Challenge. We looked for information that we needed right now. Right now we needed to be able to explain what the book was about. What the author had to say of importance. Most of all find the information we thought the other person wanted or needed to know about the topic. Since they gave us the book.
If we pick up the book for personal information our purpose is different. Some of us had a personal interested in the book and after 30-minutes focusing on getting the information for the other person we still had questions of our own. We would have liked to spend another couple of minutes with the book after we talked about it to the other person to satisfy our curiosity about some points. We discovered a personal purpose.
I had such an experience before PhotoReading Retreat. I was in the States and came across a book and spent about 10-minutes with one of the books. The time wasn’t there for me to activate the book for my own purpose. A year later I had the opportunity to spend another 10-minutes with the book and I looked forward to it because I still had the purpose of understanding some information in the book. I finished in 3-minutes. Seeing the pages I realised I already understood.
Check you purpose for reading and then decide how much time you have available. If you only have 10-minutes get what is most important to you now.
What do you need right now? The book is still there and so are other sources. So if in the future you need more you’ll find it. And if in the future it only takes you 5 minutes to pull out of a book the exact information that is relevant to you in that moment. Why would you spend 12 hours, 8 hours, 3 hours or even 30-minutes with a book right now?
For exams build in 20-minute blocks over a number of days. Trying to learn everything in one day is like eating all your meals for the week in one day. It creates discomfort and later in the week you still have to eat again. Even if you learn it all in one day, You have to review the whole lot during the week.
© Alex K Viefhaus 2005
