Critical Listening: How to Quickly Understand Difficult Things

During my time in medical school, I've gone from feeling like I'm drowning and lost during lectures, to feeling mostly comfortable, finding them actually valuable, and somehow managing to even focus during some of the most boring lectures.
Interestingly, during this process I swapped taking notes for focusing and thinking in a different way: so if you're anything like me, struggle with focusing during lectures and understanding what is going on - hopefully this might help!

To make your life easier:
0:00 Introduction
1:43 Increasing Your Focus
4:54 Avoid Whiplash
6:59 Untangling Logical Backbone and Chunking

If you want to stay in touch:

Or leave a comment, I (try to) answer 100% of comments :)

[JoelRosenfeld]

As a professor of mathematics, I knew exactly where you were going with this. I teach my students that the best skill they can develop is doubt. Doubt everything and don't move forward until you are convinced. That's how mathematicians do it.

[turtleby]

1. be in a critical mindset and be a mean listener, rather than thinking of yourself as a student
2. prime your brain for the topics in the lecture by making associations as you sit down and wait for the lecture to start
3. have questions that you want to be answered that you are looking for during the lecture -- keep making hypothesis, and listen for disproving them/adding to them
4. have the core backbone of the information down when you leave the lecture/the answers to your questions
5. write down questions and ask the lecturer later whenever you feel there is crucial information they miss

[larahporter]

I became an A student when I started to investigate on my own. ‘Curiosity’ is the difference of me 20 years ago (my first degree) and 2022 (my second degree). And for that I must thank the internet. Internet is really a wonderful tool, there is no excuse now not to be an exceptional student with this incredible technology at your disposal. Knowledge is a privilege, ppl don’t really get it.

[tjfryer]

If I was a lecturer, knowing each student used this level of criticism, I think I would cry 😂

[hannahm]

I do this as a law student and I didn’t even realize it. I’m in the top 5% of my class and what you’re explaining is exactly how my brain works. This was so fun to listen to!

[samkuzel]

I love this tagline, "don't believe everything you think."
As someone with debilitating OCD, I should keep this in mind.

[elizabte]

You don't know how valuable this is to me, and I love your way of explaining things and just the way your mind works. I guess at the end of the day it all comes down to learning some sense of humility - not being too above asking the simplest questions about any topic and questioning everything in lectures, life, conversations just like we would do when we were kids. It's a really good tool.

[kdog]

It looks similar to "Be the Teacher"

"Be the teacher" is an approach i've used. It works well with subjects I don't like.

Instead of trying to learn it myself, I approach it from a,

"If I had to help someone else understand this subject, how would I go about it?"

[RogerFordTheSmilingBassHole]

Absolutely fabulous! I'm 70 years old and you have changed my life! Thank you!

[xiongray]

My elementary teacher taught me this. Good notes. Listen, ask questions, and jot down the most critical definitions, concepts, and ideas so you can create simple notes, to quickly describe complex ideas and efficiently write it down. And so when you look back on your notes, it'll be enough to recall everything you need. That's how you know you made good notes. A good indicator for how well you understand the subject is whether you can teach it to someone else effectively.

I'd personally add, crack some jokes, use bilateral ideas, humor is easier to remember. Get good food, water, and sleep. And be in the zone and reduce stress and stressers. And find a positive study group.

[JayKumar-]

"3 weeks without your video feels like 21 days". Love your all videos :)

[ziggle]

I really enjoyed this lecture. It reminded me of a physics lecture that I had many years ago. The physics teacher said that we weren't critical enough. He started one lecture by saying "I am going to lie to you during this lecture. Find my lie." We questioned everything he said. At the end of the lecture, we asked, "Where was the lie?"

He said, "I lied." To a large extent, success in school is correlated with engagement. Critical analysis implies engagement.

[pavithraselvaraj]

This is exactly how science works: asking questions trying to disprove the initial hypothesis till you can find no logical flaws. Thank you for helping me rediscover my learning process. I have been doing a toned down version of this unintentionally when I was younger. I was struggling to put together the pieces I was missing in my learning process. I am glad to have watched this 🥰

[JamieWhiffen]

I've never thought about being intentionally critical in my mind when listening to someone speak, but I can see how it could be helpful in being more analytical. It's fascinating how our mindset can really impact how we learn and absorb information. I'm definitely going to try out this 'critical listening' approach when I watch YouTube videos or listen to podcasts as I'm no longer a student lol

[natas]

I'm not in school anymore, but I think this is useful in the workplace. For example: in meetings. Normally I would try super hard to focus and eventually realize I was zoned out. This is going to be a game changer. (Now that I think of it, I've always been a better listener to people I disagreed with 😂.)

[GuildmasterWigglytuff]

The advice about jumping to conclusions is great and applies in other places too. When I'm reviewing flashcards and don't know the answer to one, I make a guess and make note of why I'm guessing that. If I got it wrong, I look for the mistake in my reasoning. It really helps to highlight what information is important to notice and factor in.

[marabanara]

You just helped me realise something I naturally do- except when I was a bit younger, I didn’t let it stay in my head, I’d engage the lecturer and ask or challenge them. 🤦🏻‍♀️ But those were subjects I did well in! 😂
And engaging a strong emotion or challenge is absolutely a great way to make things memorable!

[chrisaisu]

As someone who struggles to sift through the fluff of new information, you gave priceless tips on how to take notes and comprehend them, well done

[toni]

As someone who is naturally critical but has gotten a lot of backlash over it this is kind of helping my self esteem to see that some people see it as a positive trait and not as that there is something wrong with me.

[sarmadaqrawi]

Thank you
I used this technique, but I call it teach ?
When I am listening to something. I set my mind to ; that I am going to teach this as you called to an “idiot”.
That set of mind helps me excel in any topic I want.
I did this all my life and thought of it as nothing.
I was talking to my manager and he told me he uses the same technique.
So I thought it must be solid.
Thank you again