Learning is one of the greatest joys in life and it can also be critical to staying employable and keeping our minds healthy as we grow older. Even with the great rewards that learning promises, however, few of us put much thought into how we might be better at it.

Here are seven practices that will help you take your learning to new levels.

Commit to learning

Most people can get on board with the idea of lifelong learning, but few of us really commit to making learning a regular, focused part of our lives. Commitment means setting clear goals for what you what to learn, how you plan to go about it, and how long it will take. Write your goals and your plan down, and set a specific time each week for reviewing your progress.

Read the rest of this article »

With the world becoming more culturally diverse everyday, it is becoming increasing important for everyone to learn a new language. Whether you are learning for your career, education, or just want to increase you knowledge of other languages, the Internet provides a wide variety of tools that can enhance your learning experience. Here is a list of 15 free language learning tools to explore today:

Popling – Popling is free online web software that is great for practicing language vocabulary without any real effort. This unique software works by having a window (flash card) pop up at certain intervals on your desktop. You can either click on the window to study the full flash card or ignore it and the window will disappear.

Radio Lingua Network – The Radio Linga Network offers free online podcasts that you can use to enhance listening comprehension and language learning skills for 20 different languages. The podcast episodes range from one-minute quick lessons to longer, five-minute lessons.

Livemocha – Livemocha is a free community language learning tool with online interactive lessons, user created courses, and language partners that are ready to practice with you. The language partners are a great way build your language confidence though conversations with live native speakers. You have the option of either using conversation exercises or submitting text and audio files to native speakers for corrections and edits.

Read the rest of this article »

A “factory manager” at a local factory called-in an “outside emergency maintenance guy” because one of his machines had “broken.”  The maintenance guy arrived at the factory shortly after receiving the call.  The “factory manager” then explained the problem he was experiencing to the “maintenance guy.”  The maintenance guy responded, “I know exactly what the problem is,” then he quickly replaced a screw in the machine, and the machine began to work like new.

The maintenance guy then said, “That’ll be $300.00!”  The factory manager responded, “$300! You just replaced one screw; that screw cost $1.00; I could have easily done that!”

The maintenance guy responded, “Yes, the screw did cost $1.00, but the knowledge of how to fix your machine cost $299, …and by the way, I only accept cash.”

What’s the point?  When you don’t know, you will pay the higher price!

This is why it’s critical to remain a student of life.  I’m always looking to learn and expand my mind, I’m always looking for leaders who’ve done what I’m trying to do, so that I can learn what they know.

Leaders are people with the knowledge you need, because they’ve been where you’re trying to go.  Hear me out, leaders aren’t necessarily “special,” they don’t “glow in the dark,” or wear a “halo,” leaders are just people who’ve experienced what you’re trying to experience.  They’re people who are a little further along the path that you’re traveling, and they have the knowledge to make your trip easier.

You follow leaders because they have knowledge.  There’s no need to worship them, or sing praises to their name.  You follow leaders because: “When you don’t know what they know, you will pay a higher price!”

Read the rest of this article »

Image courtesy of LittleStar

If you’re reading Pick the Brain, it’s a fair bet that you have goals. You might even have written them down. Perhaps you read them every day, or have them pinned to a notice-board.

How many of those goals are materialistic ones? How many are focus on a dollar amount or a particular purchase?

I’ve been reading a book by Jack Canfield recently, and while I’ve found plenty of good advice in it, I’ve also been a little disturbed at times by his seeming equation of “success” with money and material goods:

Here are the life purpose statements of some of my friends. It is important to note that they have all become self-made millionaires through the fulfilment of their life purpose.

Read the rest of this article »

…and we’re BACK!!

Ten days ago, PickTheBrain along with numerous other WordPress blogs, was hacked, and now finally we’ve debugged the system and are operating back at full force!

Thanks for the hundreds of concerned emails we received and thanks for your undying loyalty and patience!

Be well and get reading!

Erin

We know that exercise is good for the body, but it’s also incredibly good for the brain. As the authors of “The Sharp Brains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews to Keep Your Brain Sharp” point out, physical exercise is one of the four pillars of brain fitness, the other three being good nutrition, stress management, and mental stimulation.  Exercise gets rid of harmful stress chemicals and it boosts problem-solving, planning, and attention. Getting more exercise will help you improve your cognitive functions whether you’re a high school or college student, part of the work force, or an elderly person in retirement.

Below you’ll find interesting data from two books, filled with information on how our brains work, which describe the science behind the discovery that our brain functions much better when we exercise.   

Read the rest of this article »

Life seemed so beautiful back then

With my six childhood friends I had so much fun

Everyday seemed new

They taught me all the things I never knew

“Stop dawdling away your time” yelled my parents

Coercing me to ignore their existence

Taming their presence every now and then

I miss my friends named What, Why, Who, Where, How and When

Penning these words in their remembrance

I still hope for their magical reappearance

These words poured into my mind as I sat down to analyze my curiosity quotient. Somewhere deep down our heart we all lament over the loss of wonder and curiosity we had in our lives while we were kids. In fact we secretly crave for the reappearance of this trait, that made our life so exciting back then. Wasn’t it your curiosity that taught you more than anything else when you stepped into this world? The only way a toddler learns about his world is by exploring the things around him out of curiosity. The benefits of curiosity are underestimated and even frowned upon once we step into the adult world.

We fail to realize that curiosity is as important to us as it is to a toddler. If you are aiming for personal growth and experiencing a more fulfilling life then it is worth improving your curiosity quotient.

Read the rest of this article »

My sister-in-law was visiting my wife  just a few weeks ago and she mentioned to us a project that she was considering.  She was planning on starting a new club at Louisiana State University (LSU), which is the college she is attending.  She asked us for our opinion on her new project.

After listening to her ideas concerning the project, I told her that the project sounded like an excellent idea, I also let her know that we would support her in everyway possible!  Lastly, I cautioned her of three common roadblocks to success.  I said, if you can overcome these three roadblocks, you will be well on your way.

The following three roadblocks show up any time you decide to accomplish a major task; you should expect these roadblocks and overcome them.  These roadblocks progress from considerations, to fears and finally obstacles.  Each roadblock in this progression becomes increasingly more challenging to overcome, but if you can overcome them, you will succeed.

Read the rest of this article »

Every generation has had it’s own big world events and challenges, and of course, that’s what’s shaped the values, personality characteristics and lifestyle choices of each generation. One of the big events of our generation has been the birth and growth of the internet – an event that’s brought both challenges and opportunities for all of us. In an increasingly interconnected world where we have access to information about people and lifestyles all over the world, we all have more opportunities than ever before. So many of the barriers to entry that existed before, making life and leadership difficult, have been dissolved by the internet. It’s easier than ever before to find like-minded people all over the world, it’s cheaper than ever before to start a business and serve people all over the world, it’s easier and cheaper than ever before to educate yourself about anything you’d like to learn about, it’s easier than ever before to find out your rights, comparative prices on the stuff you’d like to buy, and the choices available to you, and it’s easier than ever before to create automated systems to provide the scaffolding that can help your life to run smoothly.

Read the rest of this article »

Many of us have a tendency to spend money frivolously. I’m not talking about the rare folk who run up insane credit card debts on things they just can’t afford – but people like you.

Maybe you always come out of the grocery store with a few things you don’t need … and which eventually end up in the trash. Maybe you can’t resist buying new books, even though there’s a great library nearby. Maybe you end up buying things online when you’re surfing the net in the evenings.

Spending money unnecessarily is just a habit – but it’s one that can be detrimental to your financial goals. Here are five things you can do to break that habit and take back control of your spending.

Read the rest of this article »