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A few years ago, I bought an online course.
It was kind of a scary thing, actually.
I’m the kind of person who hardly ever spends money on herself.
I mean, I’ll make sure the kids have toys, books, school supplies, and clothes.
But when it comes to spending money on myself, my daughter makes fun of me because she thinks my underwear might be two decades old (it probably is!) and I wear jeans until they develop holes so big in the seat that I really honestly can’t wear them out in public any more.
Even then, I’ve been known to wear them around the house on laundry day (and then embarrass my kids if they have a friend walk in)!
Anyways, I bought this course.
It was kind of expensive: maybe $300 or $400.
It seemed so extravagant!
And then I didn’t even finish the course!
Now that I’m making my own online courses, I’ve learned a lot about course psychology.
So many of us buy a course because the promise of it sounds so wonderful, but then following through and starting (or finishing!) the course is too much for our brain.
See, our brain would rather keep the status quo, where everything is safe and known, then let us learn or try something new that might potentially threaten us.
So it’s super-easy for our brain to come up with excuses like we’re too busy, we’re too tired, we’ll get to it tomorrow….
And then you never get back to whatever it was.
I’m a little sad I never got back to my first online course, but let me tell you: looking back, I realize that I got A LOT out of it!
See, at the time, I was spending a lot of time in the car with the kids. We homeschool which means we were hardly ever home: too busy exploring the world, attending orchestra rehearsals and lessons, going to the library, driving across town for the homeschool co-op…..the time spent driving seemed endless!
So I used what I had learned in the course to teach my kids:
I think I even learned the beginnings of the alpha-numeric system, which is a way to memorize long numbers by turning them into consonants and then making words out of them. (I learned more about that later when I was listening to a lecture through the Great Courses…..but that’s a story for another day!)
Now, all of this memorization is really just a bunch of party tricks, and, since we haven’t been reviewing it regularly, I’ve sort of forgotten a lot of the information (although there was a time when you could shout out “23” and my kids would shout back “Benjamin Harrison!”….wait, I just tested my daughter and she DOES remember, wow!)
But what else did we learn through this magical online course?
Well, we learned how to use our brains! Tricks for memory, tricks for speeding up reading, tricks for excelling in school.
And boy have my kids been excelling in school!
Anyways, the reason I am writing about all this is because the author of the course published a book last year.
And you should read it!
It’s called Limitless by Jim Kwik.
In it he explains a lot of the techniques that he taught me so long ago: tips on how to improve focus, study, memory enhancement, speed reading, and critical thinking.
He puts together a plan for you to follow on how to improve YOUR brain, using the Limitless Model of Mindset, Methods, and Motivation.
Because we often learn best through metaphors, he makes things more memorable through stories, explaining the general concepts of WHY it’s important to learn, HOW to upgrade your learning skills (because how many of us were taught how to learn in school?), and then helps you develop an ACTION plan so you can get started.
The book includes everything from recipes for feeding your brain better to tips on how to remember people’s names and faces.
If you want to upgrade your brain (and have some fun along the way), I’d go pick up a copy of Limitless and see how it can change your world!
See below (and check back in future weeks) for some of my favorite ideas from Limitless!
Please note: If you click through any links to Amazon in this post and make a purchase today, I may, as an Amazon Associate, earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
