How to Enjoy Lectures/Classes/Speeches (or At least Stay Awake)
May 29th, 2008
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Warning: This is ridiculously helpful to me. Your mileage may vary.
Until this past week, I have had a persistent problem - I would usually fall asleep during speeches.
“Agh, boring speeches, we all fall asleep”, you say. But I would fall asleep in speeches of any kind. No matter how awake or interested I was, there was nearly an assurance that I would fall asleep for at least part of the speech. If I didn’t, I was very much surprised. I have recently discovered a method that has flipped the percentage - I am now surprised if I fall asleep! And even better, it keeps me very much engaged and interested in the speech.
What’s the “trick”? In short: I take notes.
Such a simple thing! Why does it work? For me, it seems to activate my desire to say things as simply and clearly as possible. To me, this currently means: (1) identify the important points, (2) figure out how to best express them, (3) choose the best medium - picture, chart, or text, (4) how to organize it, and (5) choose a color. This style of taking notes forces you to connect with the information much more than merely listening or trying to write everything down.
One of the most important parts is that many - or all of these steps - engage the right side of the brain. That’s the creative, timeless part of the brain that is happy doing anything.
Do I ever look at these notes again? I haven’t yet - I take them simply to stay interested. However, if it’s information you need to know, rewrite the notes with the intention of sharing. That will intensify figuring out how to best express the ideas and insure that you really internalize the information. Some of you may want to post them online for the sheer fun of it.
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