How you learn faster than 90% of the people on the planet

Today we’re going to talk about a topic that can transform your life: how you can learn faster than 90% of all people in the world. Because let’s be honest, most people are just muddling through. They use their brains as if they were old typewriters, when in reality they have a supercomputer inside their skulls.

You know how it is. You feel good, you’re looking forward to the day, but you’re just missing that little something to really make the day shine. You want to grow, you want to learn more, but time always seems to slip through your fingers. Don’t worry, I’m here for you. Today, we’re going to give your brain a good shake.

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The brain: The instruction manual we were never given

First, let's take a moment to review the basics: understanding your brain. Now I have to be honest with you right away: that's actually virtually impossible. Why? Because no one on this planet (no scientist, no neurologist and that includes me) understands the brain one hundred percent. It is a mystery of sorts. But what we do know is how to use it to learn and remember. Because that is ultimately what it is all about.

Learning is not the same as “consuming information.” It’s about embedding that information into your system. And your memory? That’s a fascinating place. It doesn’t work like a hard drive where you simply dump data. It works through associations, emotions, and above all: images.

The magic of images: From 3 to 16 in a minute

Let me take you back to a moment from years ago. I was in a training session, and the trainer gave me a simple assignment. “Edwin,” he said, “here’s a list of twenty words. You have exactly one minute to study them . Then you have to write them down, in exactly the same order.”

I looked at that list. Twenty random words. I began to read. Stamping, repeating, trying to jam them into my head. But you know what happened? My brain immediately stopped. That's what Daniel Kahneman describes as the difference between System 1 and System 2 thinking[1]. System 1 is your fast, intuitive brain. System 2 is that slow, logical brain that takes an awful lot of energy.

As soon as System 2 notices that a difficult, boring task is coming up (like memorizing 20 words) your entire system says, "Screw it, we're not going to do that!"

After that minute, I got to write down the words. Do you know how many I got right in the correct order? Three.

Three! That was painful, ladies and gentlemen. I always thought I was pretty smart, but in that moment I felt anything but a genius. In fact, I didn't remember anything at all. Yes, I knew some other words from the list, but the order was a mess.

Make it a movie

Then the trainer said, "Okay, we'll do it again. Here's a new list of twenty words. But now we're going to do it differently. The way you just did it (that old-fashioned cramming as we learned it in school), you throw it overboard. From now on, you make it a picture. Make it a movie in your head."

He gave me an example. Suppose you have the words: ball, milk, grass, house. Instead of repeating "ball-milk-grass-house," you see it in front of you. You see that ball lying there, shining in the sun. Next to that ball is a carton of milk falling over, and the white milk flows over the bright green grass. And that grass? That is in the front yard of a huge, beautiful house.

In a single mental image, you suddenly have four words captured in a logical, visual sequence.

I did the exercise with the new list. One minute again. And the results? I had sixteen right. Sixteen words, in the right order! I didn't know what hit me. I went from a paltry three to sixteen. That's an improvement of more than 500 percent in the same time!

And you know what the funny thing is? Those words(ball, milk, grass, house) they came from that list twenty years ago. I still remember them now. That's the power of images. Once your brain has formed an image, it is almost impossible to forget it[2]. Indeed, a picture says more than a thousand words, but it also remembers a thousand times better.

But what about abstract concepts?

Now I hear you thinking, "Nice and easy, Edwin. You can see a ball. So can a carton of milk. But what if I need to remember something like 'motivation,' 'beauty' or 'quantum physics'?"

That’s the next step. If you don’t have an immediate mental image of a word, turn it into a symbol . What does “motivation” mean to you? Maybe it’s a carrot dangling in front of a donkey. Or maybe it’s a rocket shooting into the sky. “Beauty” could be a sunflower, or a specific painting. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s a visual symbol for you.

This is also the principle behind the "Memory Palace. Professional memory artists memorize the order of 52 playing cards in less than a minute by using their own home as a storage place. They walk through their living room in their minds. The vase on the table is the Ace of Hearts. The couch is the Queen of Spades. Since they know their house dreams, they only need to "put" the new images (the cards) in the familiar places. If they want to recite the sequence, they simply walk around the room again in their minds[3].

Why you MUST read faster to understand more

Let's get to the second big "hack" to learning faster: speed reading. This is a gamechanger.

Did you know that your brain thinks much faster than you read? Your brain easily processes 1,000 to 1,200 words per minute. But how fast do you read? Probably like most people: somewhere between 200 and 300 words per minute[4]. That's about the rate at which we talk.

Why do we read so slowly? Because we were taught in school to read aloud. "The dove is on the dam." We heard the teacher or master, and we repeated it. Later we stopped speaking aloud, but we kept "speaking" the words in our heads. We call that subvocalization.

The problem is that your inner voice can't talk much faster than 300 words per minute. If you try to speed that up, you won't understand yourself and it gets stuck. But your brain? That doesn't need to hear that voice at all to understand the meaning!

Because you read so slowly, your brain gets bored. You read a page and halfway through you suddenly think, "What shall I have for dinner tonight?" or "Did I pay the parking meter?" You're distracted because your brain has 800 words per minute of "space" left over that you're not using.

When you pick up the pace, you force your brain to stay focused . The result? You read four times faster and understand the text better, because your brain simply doesn’t have time to get distracted.

The pen method: Double your speed today

How do you learn this? It's ridiculously simple. Grab a pen or use your finger. As you read a sentence, move the pen under the line. All you have to do is follow the pen with your eyes.

Force yourself to let the pen go a little faster than you would normally read. At first you may think, "Whoa, I can't even see the words right!", but trust me, your brain is picking up on it. Your eyes are like a camera taking snapshots. You don't have to "pronounce" every word to understand it.

Researchers indicate that this is also useful for quickly finding certain sections of text on topics[5].

I started practicing with this and my speed immediately shot up. I went from 300 to 600 words per minute, and now I'm around 1,000 words per minute. I now rush through books at lightning speed, especially non-fiction.

With a novel or thriller, I read a little slower because I want to enjoy the atmosphere, but still much faster than the average reader. Otherwise, my thoughts simply wander too much.

Do you really want to become a master at this? Then check out the work of my good friend Mark Tigelaar, an absolute expert in speed reading. Or look up Sean Adams, who holds the world record: 4500 words per minute (that's ten A4s!) with 100% comprehension of the text. That's extreme, I can't do that either, but it shows what is possible if you stop reading like an elementary school child and start reading like a modern supercomputer.

Your action plan

Do you want to learn faster than 90% of people? Then these are your two secret weapons:

1. Make it a picture. Stop repeating sequences. Build a movie in your head. Link information to visual anchors. The crazier, bigger and more colorful the image, the better you remember it.
2. Go fast reading. Grab that pen. Follow the pen with your eyes and pick up the pace. Stop that internal voice that wants to speak every word and let your brain soak up the images of the words instantly.

Start practicing this. You'll find you feel a little resistance at first (that's your System 2 complaining) but push on for a while. Before you know it, you'll be flying through information and remembering things you still know 20 years later.

Did you find this an interesting article? Leave a comment I always love to read what you guys think. And do you have a question? Send it in, because who knows, maybe I'll address your question.

Take care of your brain, use those images, and I'll see you next time!

Learn Hypnosis

During the training program at the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands, you’ll also receive a course handbook, which you can, of course, speed-read. Are you wondering if learning hypnosis is right for you? Come to the free masterclass for an introduction.

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