7 Neuroscience Hacks for Superhuman Learning

Imagine taking a dr*g that grants you 100% access to your brain capacity.

→ What would you learn?

→ What would you do with it?

→ How would remembering everything would help you?

Because that's exactly what happens to Bradley Cooper in the movie Limitless:

Thanks to NZT-48, a powerful drug that only he has access to, the protagonist becomes the world's smartest man and achieves the craziest feats like:

Making tons of cash with day-trading stocks...

Recalling everything he has ever read, heard, or seen...

And even becoming a US senator by outsmarting everyone thanks to his cognitive abilities.

That's why in today's letter…

I'm going to show you 7 neuroscience hacks for superhuman learning...

That'll make you as smart as Bradley Cooper on NZT-48.

(Okay, maybe NOT as smart, but still pretty smart if you apply them)

Let's begin.

1) Spaced Repetition

Short but numerous learning sessions are way more effective than long but few in number.

7 20-minute sessions are way better than 1 2-hour session.

That's why you can't remember anything that you learned by cramming in school.

You may have remembered the info during the test, but one week after you can't recall anything.

The good news is that having memory becomes a choice.

If you make a priority in your calendar to learn for 20 minutes everyday, and review your notes and highlights…

You'll consolidate a lot of things in your brain that you'll be able to re-use in future conversations or content.

Because don't forget:

The reason why we learn in the first place is to be able to talk about it or use the information in the future.

Consuming to forget 90% in 30 days is pointless.

A great way to apply spaced repetition in Kortex is using tags.

You can tag the notes you want to #review.

If you want to take things further you can divide by time-frame with tags like:

• #review-daily

• #review-weekly

• #review-monthly

And review all the notes during specific time slots with the according tags.

You just need to hit cmd+k and boom, you'll see all your notes with your review tag.

2) Testing Effect & Active Recall

The more you try to remember the information, the better you'll memorize it.

Most people only re-read their notes when practicing spaced repetition.

But you have to understand that if you want to remember something, you need to make it hard on your brain.

If you don't make your brain work, it won't have any reason to remember.

So instead of just opening your notes when practicing spaced repetition, try to only read the title and remember the content of the note.

Actively recalling the information before reading it and testing your knowledge is how you build lasting neural pathways and increase memory.

3) Generation Effect

You remember better when the information has been generated by your own mind, instead of only read, heard or seen.

That's why you should always write your notes by yourself when creating them.

Do not delegate it to AI.

Do not copy-paste from other's content.

Do not lazily paraphrase from your source material.

Instead, actively engage with it and try to create your own version of the idea.

Your notes should be a record of your own thoughts and interpretations, not those of others.

4) Organization Effect

Organizing information allows you to memorize it better.

When you structure, integrate, synthesize and rephrase, you remember way more than if you only read or hear.

I think you start to see the pattern with all these strategies here:

The more active you are, the more effort you are putting into your learning, the more you'll remember.

5) Coherence Effect

Stick to one concept per note.

The best way to learn is by creating atomic notes that are coherent and heavily connected with other ideas.

Your brain doesn't work in folders and hierarchies but in connections.

That's why the Zettelkasten Method is so powerful to learn and create content.

You're creating a web of interconnected ideas that become assets for your thinking and knowledge.

6) Explanation Effect

If you aren't able to explain to a 5-year-old your idea, you haven't mastered it yet.

When you aim to be able to explain the concept you are learning to others, it will give a justification to your brain as to why this is important.

That's why creating content is one of the best ways to learn.

Because you are actively engaging with the idea by trying to explain it to others.

As I'm writing this email, I'm integrating all of these concepts about learning more deeply in my memory.

7) Elaborative Learning

Our brain hates facts without meaning.

That's one of the main reasons why you couldn't remember anything in class.

You didn't see the point.

It felt too abstract, vague and useless to your brain.

That's why you should always question your learning material.

When you are asking questions, you create meaning for your brain.

Deeply understanding the "why" behind what you're learning justifies memory retention for your brain.

As you can see, all of these strategies have one common goal:

Making you engage actively with the learning material to boost retention.

Difficulty is what makes you remember better.

And that's also why tools that over-simplify your learning process are traps.

If you are using AI to summarize content and create notes for you, you don't remember anything.

You're only creating an AI library of notes.

Which has no intrinsic value in and of itself, because you would have gotten the same result by asking AI or typing on Google.

The goal with note-taking isn't to just create a personal library of pretty notes so we can feel good about it.

It's to improve the quality of our thinking and writing.

To be able to have better discussions by retrieving interesting facts and concepts that add value to the exchange.

Of course, you shouldn't fall into the mindset of bragging or adding a concept every time you're discussing something.

But as a Creator, this ability to memorize and integrate a myriad of powerful ideas so you can manipulate them in front of your audience is amazing.

When we listen to people like Dan Koe or Naval Ravikant, we're drawn in because they clearly explain complex ideas we've only ever felt, but never knew how to put into words.

Active learning allows you to develop the same fluency with ideas.

Remember:

We are monetizing our brains.

So the better it is - the more impact - and thus money, we make as creators.

There are no "Limitless" Dr*g that will allow you to become a genius writer overnight.

But with curiosity and hard work, you can develop the skills and knowledge to create impactful content.

And that's what makes it meaningful.

My goal with Noah's Ark is to help you build a business that will be your vessel for fulfillment, abundance, and freedom.

To make this happen, we need to learn the right set of hard and soft skills to do so.

And Meta-Learning, learning how to learn, is the first and truly only skill you really need to master.

That's why I'm so obsessed with learning and note-taking.

It's a lifestyle that compounds into making you a better thinker and creator, which is how you'll be able to reach your goals in the long run.

There are no shortcuts.

No hacks or no magic tricks.

Learning and creating every day is the only path.

Anyway, I wish y'all an amazing day,

Welcome back to Noah's Ark.

Thanks for reading,

Noah.