Is DayDreaming Holding You Back?

Is DayDreaming Being Brain Dead?apprenticeship. Humans are natural copycats and
Did your 3rd grade teacher ever call you out as aquickly learn and remember what they see in
DayDreamer? Would you be insulted if today, oneaction.b) Trail-and-error: negative feedback is a
of your peers, supervisor or partner accused youpowerful tool for learning. When we try something
of daydreaming?new and make a mistake, our higher
Researchers at the University of North Carolina atexecutive-brain, (pre-frontal cortex) extracts and
Greensboro call it Wanderingremembers the error for future comparison. The
Mind. Would you believe college students testednext time we attempt the new skill, we
appear to daydream up toremember to avoid the original error. Learning to
33% of their waking hours? This study appears indrive a car, ride a bike, and using your computer,
the journal of the Associationfor Psychologicalare examples of trial-and-error producing new
Science July, 2007.permanent skills. You are already an expert in
Professor Michael Kane of UNCG believes, if yousuccessfully using this learning method.c) Listening
want to understand the human mind and itsto a description of how to learn the new skill.
activities, neuroscientists must discover theVery few learn to drive a car by hearing a lecture
secrets of attention andconcentration. Twoor reading a book;trail-and-error is a requirement.
Questions: why does our attention wander, andDid you learn to drive by your parents telling you
how come somepeople daydream only 10% ofhow to do it?
the time while others more than 40%?Is there a law that requires we use only one of
There appears to be a link betweenthese methods? Thousands of speed readers
Working-Memory Capacity (WMC), a formsuccessfully combine a), b), and c) methods.
ofintelligence test, and how often we stop toImitative Learning
daydream about extraneous subjects.A recent study on imitative learning by Dr.
The better your memory, the less your mindSekuler at Brandeis University appeared in the
wanders. It appears that studying,being interactiveJournal of Vision March 20, 2007. It focuses on
in class or participating in corporate meetingsnon-verbal learning and suggests merely seeing
require attention and concentration. Folks withthe new skill executed by another is enough to
higher WMC also ace producing innovativeimprint it on your brain.
resultswhen working in a team setting.Examples of learning through imitation include tying
Attention And Concentrationyour shoes, feeding yourself,producing a knot for
Successful speed reading requires the use of ayour tie, and holding a pen. Watching and imitating
Pacer in the form of a handheld laserpen, anwhat you saw your parent or sibling doing is a
ordinary pen, and finally using your computermajor factor in learning new skills. How did you
cursor to underline and chunk (separate) groupsget good at surfing the Internet? First you
of words in each sentence.discovered the moves, tested them through
The use of a pacer activates a human instinct;trial-and-error, and finally practiced until it was
using your peripheral vision. We call it the principlecaptured by your auto- pilot brain structure
of our eyes following a moving object, in this(hippocampus).
case the underlining byone of your three pacers.The Big Secret
The fancy scientific name for the secret of speedAttention and concentration is the secret of
reading is Vestibulo-Ocular-Reflex Also/Known/Asimitative learning. We mentally break down each
Fresh Pursuit Tracking. It is the abilityof our mindnew motor skill into specific chunks. A chunk is an
to focus and fix our attention and concentrationisolated step in organizing a new skill. Integrating
on a single task.the steps produces the specific strategy to
Concentration inhibits daydreaming. The mostaccess your new skill in the future. Is that how
powerful strategy to avoid mind-wandering andyou learned to use a microwave?
focusing your concentration is being interactivePoint-and-click on your computer is now automatic
with the materialyou are reading or listening to.and a habit. You had to learn it originally
Ask yourself these magical four questions whilestep-by-step until it entered your Dentate Gyrus
learning: Why? How? Which? and What-if?located in yourhippocampus for long-term
We tested three thousand graduates who used amemory. Today it operates on auto-pilot, right?
pacer while searching for the answers to theseReading
four questions while listening to lectures orThe average college graduate learns to read in
studying. Their results in learning improved up tothe 3rd grade and spends the rest ofhis/her life
35%; mind wandering reduced up to 33%. Theyreinforcing the skill of mentally hearing just one
paid more attention and concentrated better usingmulti-syllable word at a time. Naturally, they
a pacer, and focusing on discovering the answersbecome experts at it and almost impervious to
to these four powerful questions.reading faster.
Are DayDreamers Dumb?Random spacing is reading wherever you eye falls
The average untrained college graduate reads atwithout a particular strategy; itlimits your reading
an average of 250 words per minute with ato snailing up to 250 words per minute.
comprehension of up to 70%. A lecturer deliversSpecific-Guidance isused by speed readers who
his ideas to a class at an average of 150 wordsare trained to chunk (read groups) of words in
per minute.each sentence. It requires the use of your
Neuroscientists suggest the average collegeperipheral-vision and a pacer to guide your eyes
student comprehends language he reads andto chunk (group) multiple words in each sentence.
hears at up to 500 words per minute. There is anFor Brilliant Stars
excess mental capacity of 50%.You may want to remember you have a
Seriously, the reason for a massive 33% ofhorizontal ability to read up to
daydreaming is because you are too smart. Yoursix-wordssimultaneously. Graduates triple their
mind wanders because it gets bored by not beingoriginal reading speed for life, and read
fully occupied.andremember three-books, articles and reports in
If you desire to use up to 100% of your mindthe time others can hardly finish one.
during learning and studying and avoidWe have a vertical (up-and-down) reading skill of
daydreaming, use your pacer to focus attention,130 degrees, and a horizontal view of 180
and ask yourself questions to trigger yourdegrees. A speed reading graduate reads up to
concentration. You will release your inner brilliance1,000 words per minute witha comprehension of
and frighten your competition.up to 80%. Imagine tripling your reading skills and
Monkey See, Monkey Dodoubling your memory. Would it put you in the
There are three major systems to permanentlyfast-lane at school and career?
acquire new skills.a) Observation and