5 Ways to Train Yourself to Be a Genius (3 Short-term, 2 Long-term)

A comprehensive discussion about Learning Science used by Geniuses.

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

=== Paid Training Program ===

(Designed for busy students and professionals aiming to achieve top results without endless studying. 77% of our students cover the same amount of study material in 30% less time within 1 month.)

=== References ===

Adams, N. E. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 103(3), 152.

Biggs, J. B., & Collis, K. F. (2014). Evaluating the quality of learning: The SOLO taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome). Academic Press.

Borkowski, J. G., Nicholson, J., & Turner, L. A. (2004). Executive Functioning: Toward a Research Agenda on Higher-Level Cognitive Skills. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 4(2), 188-198.

Conklin, J. (2005). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives complete edition.

Corney, M., Lister, R., & Teague, D. (2011). Early relational reasoning and the novice programmer: swapping as the'hello world'of relational reasoning. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth Australiasian Computing Education Conference (pp. 95-104). Australian Computer Society.

Crysmann, B., Frank, A., Kiefer, B., Müller, S., Neumann, G., Piskorski, J., & Krieger, H. U. (2002, July). An integrated archictecture for shallow and deep processing. In Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (pp. 441-448).

DeLeeuw, K. E., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). A comparison of three measures of cognitive load: Evidence for separable measures of intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load. Journal of educational psychology, 100(1), 223.

Hasler, B. S., Kersten, B., & Sweller, J. (2007). Learner control, cognitive load and instructional animation. Applied Cognitive Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 21(6), 713-729.

Paas, F., Tuovinen, J. E., Tabbers, H., & Van Gerven, P. W. (2003). Cognitive load measurement as a means to advance cognitive load theory. Educational psychologist, 38(1), 63-71.

Paas, F., & Van Gog, T. (2006). Optimising worked example instruction: Different ways to increase germane cognitive load. Learning and instruction, 16(2), 87-91.

Phan, H. P. (2011). Deep processing strategies and critical thinking: Developmental trajectories using latent growth analyses. The Journal of Educational Research, 104(4), 283-294.

Phan, H. P. (2009). Exploring students’ reflective thinking practice, deep processing strategies, effort, and achievement goal orientations. Educational Psychology, 29(3), 297-313.

Phan, H. P. (2009). Relations between goals, self‐efficacy, critical thinking and deep processing strategies: a path analysis. Educational Psychology, 29(7), 777-799.

Phan, H. P. (2014). Self-efficacy, reflection, and achievement: A short-term longitudinal examination. The Journal of Educational Research, 107(2), 90-102.

Pollock, E., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2002). Assimilating complex information. Learning and instruction, 12(1), 61-86.

Schnotz, W., & Kürschner, C. (2007). A reconsideration of cognitive load theory. Educational psychology review, 19(4), 469-508.

Starr, C. W., Manaris, B., & Stalvey, R. H. (2008). Bloom's taxonomy revisited: specifying assessable learning objectives in computer science. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 40(1), 261-265.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem-solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive science, 12(2), 257-285. Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory.

=== About Dr Justin Sung ===

Dr. Justin Sung is a world-renowned expert in self-regulated learning, certified teacher, research author, and former medical doctor. He has guest lectured on learning skills at Monash University for Master’s and PhD students in Education and Medicine. Over the past decade, he has empowered tens of thousands of learners worldwide to dramatically improve their academic performance, learning efficiency, and motivation.

[JustinSung]

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

[ALifeofLearning]

As an educational sciences student I wholeheartedly approve of this content! Just one tip: I would really appreciate it if you could put chapters in your video 😊

[kamlasayeen]

3:13 Qualities of Genius: strong memory and deep understanding
4:15 How to have a good memory. Start with good informational encoding
4:54 Deepen understanding by deep processesing (connecting ideas to other related ideas)
6:59 Higher order learning
7:58 stages/orders of learning
14:52 Steps we can take to improve
16:41 Analyze which level of learning currently at
18:34 Go up a level
19:11 Prestudy structures
23:15 Delay note-taking
25:55 increase cognitive load tolerance
28:09 Critical reflection of technique

[UsernameDP]

As a high school student, having been developing this sort of studying pattern for about a year(without realizing it), I can definitely see where you're coming from. I used to be that one couch potato that would binge watch YouTube videos and play videos games for hours after school, but I completely stopped one day and gravitated my attention towards math. Before, I would only do the minimum work my tutor would assign me, but because I had much leftover time due to giving up video games, and because I didn't have any hobbies, I ended up doing homework my tutor would assign me next class so I'd have more free time. Gradually, I graduated from having to take tutor, and began self studying math entirely for fun and self growth.
What I can most agree with your video is that organization and deep level of studying. I found math to especially accel in this department, as math has the tendency to build up understanding as you go to higher levels. What I found most useful for getting into that 1 and 2 level of studying for math and possibly other STEM subjects is to 'understand' how everything works. To give more context, I mean trying to prove theorems, formulas, and what certain principles are implying. Eventually, I gained the ability to prove most of these theorems and formulas myself, and doing so helped me connect the dots within math even further.
Additionally, during this period of improvement, I attempted note taking. I was of course only an elementary at the start, and just like what you said in the video, I would take notes as soon as I learned something(just to get that stress out of my head). Overtime, I would take notes only after the end of each chapter, and also came to realize my style of note taking, which was to not just write down formulas for the sake of memorizing, but also add proofs(for those formulas), questions, and what exactly I was thinking while exploring a certain unit or topic within math. This allowed me to look back and my accomplishments, and gain self-esteem from them. But I should also add that I think taking notes in this style is a far more tedious than learning math itself, but that was able to trick my brain into thinking that note taking was far more difficult than learning something in math, when it may not be the case in reality.
Lastly, one of the best methods I found for pre-studying is to look over the material before solving any problems. For example, a single level of rudimentary math(geometry, algebra 2, calculus, etc.)normally has 14 chapters in total, and I would attempt to finish about 1 chapter a day. Each chapter can consist of about 5-10 sub-units, and I would just read over them for about 45 minutes just to see the intuition behind each information(as a way of categorizing the information), this not only tricks your brain into thinking the amount you're doing is substantially little, but can give you an idea of what all the informations are 'leading up to'(the end result/kind of like a spoiler).
As a closure, math is currently my favorite subject, and I am gaining more interest in other STEM fields because its styles are similar to how I would study math. From my perspective on this matter of "thinking/studying like a genius", I can say with complete certainty that it isn't something you can obtain by studying for school, but is only possible through self-studying. And I should add that this style of thinking shouldn't be too stressed about, but it is rather a natural process as a result of letting your curiosity flow.

(I wrote this on my phone, so there will probably be a lot of Grammer errors, but oh well)

[jorgerivas]

Hi, Justin. I'm retired, unemployed, disabled, 70 and a lifelong learner. After watching your video I wondered how I was the top student in my class and graduated with high honors in college being stuck at level 4. What a shame! That probably shouldn't have happened! I immediately started using your technique literally minutes after I watched your video with my Great Courses. This is mindblowing stuff. I'm hungry for more. Keep it coming!

[jimjmcd]

Justin, please--write a book! The subject matter of your lectures is a really important body of skills, but, as an educational psychologist, you know that lecturing is one of the worst possible ways of delivering them. That's why people say that your videos are long. They are actually no longer than they have to be to cover the content, but listen--we are all highly trained and experienced readers. We read 10, 000 words in 20 minutes, but it takes nearly an hour to listen to them. We can go back and forth in a book, highlight passages, fold down page corners, all that stuff. If you write a book, I promise I will buy it and recommend it to others.

[vijayshanmug]

Justin what you are teaching/informing is very crucial to students or the learning process . Please continue to provide these video, for those not taking the course, immeanse contribution!

[mamoako]

Long-term
25:58 Increase Cognitive Load Tolerance (Organize information in your head)(Do something with the information on your head)(Simplifying information into 3 or more main ideas and thinking about relationships)
28:09 Critical Reflection of your technique (what parts are working? why are they working? how can I make it work even better?)(and viceversa on the parts not working/contributing)

Short-term
16:43 What type of thinking are you activating? (Go up a level)
19:13 Create some pre-study structures (what can you do before hand to make the information you’re about to learn more useful)
(Know where the information is going to fit in your organizational structure from the big ideas—(3 or 4 main ideas and figure out the relationships between them)(if possible, from each main idea figure out the 2 to 4 ideas that are within them)—try you learn from an entire topic
23:17 Delayed Note Thinking (Process and organize the information in your head. This what actually produces the learning)
25:03 (Hold on to the information in your head first, thinking about/process/manuiplate it, make your own/make it make senses to YOU, THEN when it makes sense write the notes in your words)

[shortpitched]

Delayed note-taking is a huge one. We often feel a social pressure to make it look like we're doing something during our lectures. But I've failed courses because I didn't apply this rule, and instead took a lot of notes during lecture and ended up wasting precious lecture time. So make sure to follow this rule!

A trick that can help in this is to also make sure to try and ask a meaningful question at a point in the lecture. This can both help you ensure you're taking an adequate cognitive load, when formulating what's hopefully an intelligent question (doesn't need to be rocket science). And it also is "doing something", in case you're like me and feel the discomfort of "not doing anything" during the lecture process.

[cryingcar]

14:58 is where the steps are shown to train your brain however I suggest you watch the full video without skipping and you will understand the steps and why these steps must be used

[sakuranovaryan]

Just to make this clear. I don't wanna be smarter to raise my self esteem. Not that if you do there's anything wrong with that. But I want my self esteem to be built cause of authenticity and acceptance of myself. Want the wits so I can help myself and others more. Recently I've been doing some meditation, deep work and puzzles a lot. And that has helped me understand my mental health much more. Can't explain how much gratitude I feel for this

[jonnyboi]

I really enjoy the format of 30-minute videos (and longer). I'm glad you can dig deep into a subject and talk about it thoroughly.

[haneli]

It's a good day when Justin posts a video, they're so helpful, hopefully I can take the course at some point

[lewisburton]

The note-taking part is so true. The analogy of the movers applies here as well; note-taking becomes the movers just throwing everything inside, and I'll process information later.

[vcab]

Entering my last “official” college semester I’ve been meaning to change my way of studying implementing more connections between classes but seeing exposed al the theory behind the way you unfold, I’m fascinated. Thanks for sharing your knowledge man, very well earned suscriber. Can’t afford your course at the moment but as soon as I can, I definitely will

[moderndayvoyager]

I personally love the long videos I want in-depth understanding, thank you for making BEAUTIFUL content!

[siobhanrachel]

I love how this guy takes a huge topic and condense it so easily with terms one actually understand. Thank you so much Justin. Please keep doing these videos 😃

[Eminent_wolf]

The fact you added the source list for the papers on this is amazing, you've got my subscription. and i hit the bell notification

[daviddavid]

I absolutely value this type of content you put out for free. Its always understandable and applicable.
I think what would make it even better would be giving some examples with actual content. So that you actually pick a topic and really explain how to "higher order learn" with that.

[kelvinmburu]

I just found your channel, and i'm so happy to have found it. I have a feeling that i will be following your content for a long time. You are addressing issues that have bothered my mind in the past. I appreciate your efforts.