Power Up Your Mind: Learn faster, work smarter

Most of the questions below apply at home, although you probably

have even more factors to consider, not least of which is what the

rest of your family or friends are doing.

If you are learning at work, do you like to be sitting alongside a colleague, round a table, in

a classroom situation, taking part in operational activities, going off to a hotel to reflect?

Do you like a noisy or a quiet atmosphere?

Do you like background music? Do you find that music helps to tune in your mind?

Do you like to be in a well-lit area or working under low light?

Do you like to be sitting at a desk? Walking around? Sitting on an easy chair? Lying on the

floor or on a cushion?

Do you prefer early starts or sessions after work?

Do you like to have posters around you with key images or sayings?

Do you have evidence of your own success that you could display in your chosen environment?

How warm do you like to be?

It is also important to make sure that you have the right equipment

around you. Use the following checklist as a starting point and add

your own preferred items to it:

✔ Water

✔ Post-it notes

✔ Other colored adhesive strips of paper

✔ Large pieces of paper

✔ Colored paper

✔ Voice recording machine of some kind

✔ Laptop computer

✔ Access to the internet

✔ Highlighter pens

✔ Felt-tip pens

✔ Index cards

✔ Posters with quotations

✔ Posters with pictures

✔ Reference books

✔ Paperclips

✔ Stapler and staples

✔ Hole punch

70 Power Up Your Mind