How to Study With Me (Instructions)

Summary

In this instructional video, Justin introduces a guided study method designed to enhance focus and comprehension. The approach involves initial preparation to optimize the study environment, followed by deep breathing for a focus ritual. It emphasizes creating a 'maybe map' to hypothesize connections between concepts, and iterative evaluation to understand and integrate new information into a coherent mental model. The method also includes active relaxation breaks and the use of questions to maintain curiosity and direct thought. This structured study technique aims to improve efficiency and retention, particularly for conceptually dense subjects.

Takeaways

• 📚 The video is an instructional guide for a study method called 'Study with Me', which includes a video to watch while studying to guide you through the process.
• 🛠️ The 'Study with Me' video is structured with different phases to optimize study efficiency, including preparation, deep breathing for focus, and active relaxation.
• 🌿 The preparation phase emphasizes creating an optimal study environment with minimal distractions and having beverages available for comfort.
• 🔕 It's recommended to use 'Do Not Disturb' modes on devices and inform others to avoid interruptions during the study session.
• 🎧 The use of white noise in the video is intended to aid concentration and is best experienced with headphones.
• 🌀 The deep breathing ritual before studying is meant to condition the mind into a focused state and should be felt with each exhale to increase calmness and focus.
• 🔍 The 'scoping' phase involves quickly reviewing study materials to identify and note the main concepts and keywords to create a foundational understanding.
• 🤔 'Maybe mapping' is a hypothesis phase where connections between concepts are guessed to form a basic mental model, even if it's not entirely correct.
• 🔑 The 'evaluation' phase is about understanding each keyword in depth and integrating it into the overall mental model, simplifying and refining the understanding with each step.
• ❓ After the evaluation, creating a list of questions captures current curiosity and knowledge gaps, which can guide the next study session.
• 🚶‍♂️ Active relaxation during breaks involves low cognitive load activities that keep the mind engaged but relaxed, such as housework or walking.
• 🔄 The cycle of deep breathing, questioning, evaluation, and active relaxation is repeated throughout the study session to maintain focus and efficiency.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the 'Guided Study with Me' video?

The 'Guided Study with Me' video is designed to accompany viewers during their study sessions, providing a structured approach to studying with specific timings and actions for each phase of the study process.

Why is it important to optimize our environment before studying according to the video?

Optimizing the study environment is crucial for minimizing distractions and ensuring a focus-friendly workspace, which is essential for maintaining concentration and enhancing the study experience.

What role does the white noise in the video play during the study session?

The white noise in the video is intended to aid focus by providing a consistent background sound that can help drown out other potential distractions and create a more conducive atmosphere for concentration.

What is the significance of doing five deep breaths before starting the study session?

The five deep breaths serve as a focus ritual, helping to condition the mind to enter a focused state. It is believed to be helpful for relaxation and focus, and it sets the stage for the study session ahead.

What does the 'scoping' phase of the study session involve?

Scoping involves quickly going through the study materials to identify and note down the main concepts and keywords. It's about creating a preliminary understanding of the content and what might be most important.

Can you explain the concept of 'maybe mapping' as introduced in the video?

Maybe mapping is about creating a hypothesis on how the identified keywords and concepts might be connected. It's a scaffolding process that helps in forming a big-picture understanding, even if the initial connections are not entirely accurate.

What is the main goal of the 'evaluation' phase during the study session?

The evaluation phase aims to make sense of the information learned by connecting each keyword or concept to the overall picture. It involves creating analogies, comparing concepts, and integrating them into a mental model to reduce the need for memorization.

How does the process of 'active relaxation' benefit the study session?

Active relaxation during breaks helps maintain a productive and intentional mindset without overtaxing the brain. It allows the mind to relax while still engaging in low cognitive load activities, facilitating a smoother transition back into focused study.

What is the importance of creating a list of questions during the study session?

Creating a list of questions captures the current state of curiosity and knowledge gaps, providing a snapshot of what is most pressing in the mind. These questions can be used to quickly re-engage the mind after a break and maintain the flow of learning.

How does the script suggest dealing with granular details during the initial stages of learning?

The script advises against focusing on granular details when first learning something new. Instead, learners should master the simple concepts first before moving on to more complex or detailed understanding.

What is the recommended approach for managing detailed information that seems to require memorization?

For detailed information that doesn't fit into the big picture, the script suggests offloading it onto a memorization tool like flashcards. This allows the learner to continue focusing on higher-level concepts without getting bogged down by specific details.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Study Preparation and Environment Optimization

This paragraph introduces the concept of a guided study video created by Justin. It emphasizes the importance of preparing the study environment to optimize focus, suggesting a workspace free from distractions and having beverages available. It also recommends using the guided study video with white noise to aid concentration and doing a deep breathing ritual to enter a focused state.

05:02

🌐 Scoping and Maybe Mapping for Conceptual Understanding

The second paragraph discusses the initial study phases of 'scoping' and 'maybe mapping.' Scoping involves quickly identifying key concepts from study materials, while maybe mapping is about hypothesizing how these concepts might be connected without needing to be correct initially. This process is meant to create a basic mental scaffold to prime deeper studying and improve memory and understanding.

10:02

🔍 Evaluation and Integration of Key Concepts

This section explains the evaluation phase of studying, where learners explore each keyword in depth and consider how it fits into the overall conceptual framework. It stresses the importance of making sense of information to reduce memorization needs and the use of analogies and comparisons to integrate concepts into a coherent mental model. The process involves active thinking and remapping to simplify and consolidate understanding.

15:04

❓ Question Formulation and Active Relaxation

The fourth paragraph focuses on formulating questions to identify knowledge gaps and curiosity points. It suggests using active relaxation during breaks to maintain productivity without high cognitive load, such as doing housework or going for a walk. This approach helps to retain the flow state and quickly re-enter it after breaks by pondering over the formulated questions.

20:06

🔄 Cyclical Study Process and Progressive Learning

The final paragraph outlines the cyclical nature of the study process, which includes evaluation, question formulation, active relaxation, and returning to the study with a focus on questions. It highlights the importance of progressive learning, starting with a broad understanding before moving into deeper details, and the use of memorization tools for specific details. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the general applicability of this study method for various subjects, especially those with dense conceptual content.

Keywords

💡Guided Study

Guided Study refers to a structured learning process where a video or instructor leads the learner through various phases of studying. In the video's context, it is about watching a video that provides a framework for studying, including preparation, deep breathing for focus, and phases of learning and relaxation. The script mentions, 'you can find a link to that one in the description,' indicating the video is a tool for this method.

💡Optimizing Environment

Optimizing Environment is about setting up a workspace that is conducive to focused study. The script discusses the importance of having a 'nice workspace distraction-free' and suggests having beverages and minimizing interruptions as part of the preparation phase for effective studying.

💡Deep Breaths

Deep Breaths are used as a focus ritual in the study process, aimed at helping the learner to relax and enter a focused state. The script describes this as a 'routine activity' that over time can condition the learner to enter the 'focus zone,' with the example being to 'do five deep breaths' before starting the study.

💡Scoping

Scoping is the initial phase of studying where the learner quickly reviews the material to identify main concepts and keywords. The script explains that during scoping, one should 'go through your resources' and 'write down what you think are the main most important concepts,' which sets the foundation for further study.

💡Maybe Mapping

Maybe Mapping is a hypothesis-driven approach to understanding how different concepts might be connected. The script describes it as creating a 'very basic scaffold' or a 'hypothesis on how we think those words might be connected with each other,' which helps in forming a preliminary big picture understanding before delving deeper.

💡Evaluation

Evaluation in this context is the process of learning about each keyword or concept and reflecting on how it fits into the overall understanding. The script mentions that after learning about a concept, one should 'take a step back' and consider 'how does this fit inside the overall picture,' which is crucial for integrating new information.

💡Nonlinear Note Taking

Nonlinear Note Taking is a method of recording information in a way that represents the interconnectedness of concepts, rather than in a linear, sequential manner. The script emphasizes its importance for efficient learning and mentions that it is something 'you really need to get good at,' contrasting it with traditional linear note taking.

💡Active Relaxation

Active Relaxation involves engaging in low cognitive load activities during breaks to maintain a productive state of mind. The script suggests activities like 'housework, cleaning your room, organizing something,' or 'taking a walk,' which allow the brain to relax while staying somewhat engaged.

💡Cognitive Load

Cognitive Load refers to the amount of mental effort required to process information. The script discusses managing cognitive load by simplifying and consolidating information to prevent overload, which is essential for efficient learning and memory retention.

💡Flashcards

Flashcards are a memorization tool used for offloading specific details that may not fit into the big picture understanding. The script suggests using them for 'particular detail that you think...you probably have to end up rote memorizing,' allowing the learner to focus on broader concepts.

💡Progressive Levels of Detail

Progressive Levels of Detail is an approach to learning where one starts with a broad understanding before moving into more complex specifics. The script advises against focusing on granular details initially, recommending to 'work with the simple one first, Master the simple, then Master the intermediate and then Master the advanced.'

Highlights

Introduction of a guided study method with a video to assist in the study process.

The importance of optimizing the study environment to minimize distractions.

Suggestion to have beverages available during study to maintain comfort.

Recommendation to use the 'Do Not Disturb' function on devices to eliminate predictable distractions.

Use of white noise in the study video to aid concentration.

The significance of deep breathing as a focus ritual to prepare for a concentrated state.

The concept of 'scoping' resources to identify main concepts and keywords before deep study.

The technique of 'maybe mapping' to hypothesize connections between identified keywords.

Emphasis on the value of creating a mental model even if it's not entirely accurate.

The evaluation phase where learners explore and integrate each keyword into their mental model.

The necessity of nonlinear note-taking for efficient learning and understanding.

The strategy of simplifying and consolidating information to prevent cognitive overload.

Creating a list of questions to identify knowledge gaps and spark curiosity.

Active relaxation during breaks to maintain productivity without high cognitive load.

Resuming study sessions with deep breathing to re-enter a focused state.

Continuation of the evaluation process with a focus on big-picture understanding before details.

The use of memorization tools like flashcards for specific technical details.

The progressive layering of learning from simple to complex terms and concepts.

The applicability of this study method to various subjects, especially those that are conceptually dense.

Inclusion of elements from techniques like Pomodoro in the guided study method for effective time management.

Final encouragement to utilize the guided study video and begin the study process.

Transcripts

hey everyone it's Justin here this is a

instruction video for the guided study

with me that I've created you can find a

link to that one in the description the

idea is that you watch the guided study

with me video while you are studying and

it's going to go through the timings and

what you should do at each stage and

then you can well study with me I guess

uh and then this video is the one that

tells you what to do during those phases

the difference between normal study with

MES and then the one that I've created

is that the techniques are not the most

straightforward or intuitive to use

unless you've already had prior training

or you've been watching a lot of my

content so I'm going to go through and

explain how that guided study with me is

structured why it's structured that way

what you should do at each phase and you

can go away and watch that study with me

video while you're actually studying and

not get distracted by uh explanations

and instructions during it so the idea

with that study was with me is that it's

broken up into a couple of different

phases the first thing is the general

prep phase and during the prep phase uh

it's just about making sure that we're

in the best situation before we start

studying what we're really talking about

here is optimizing our

environment so making sure that we've

got a nice workpace distraction free uh

you know we're able to focus in I would

recommend having something like water or

tea or coffee or something with you I

usually like to have one hot beverage

and then one cold beverage it just makes

me feel good don't ask me why the next

thing is to make sure that we are

proactively trying to eliminate any

distractions that we can predict so this

means putting your phone and things on

do not disturb your computer on do not

disturb telling people that maybe

physically around you don't disturb me

uh and just doing what you can to make

sure that during your focus session

there isn't going to be something

preventable to take you out of flow the

other thing that I'd recommend is that

in that video there is some white noise

that's playing as well this is designed

to help you focus so I would recommend

watching that video with headphones on

if you can the next part after we've

done the preparation is to do five deep

breaths and the reason we're doing these

five deep breaths is uh to create a

focus ritual it's like a routine

activity that you do before you enter

into a focused State not only is there

some evidence to say that really deep

slow breaths is helpful for helping us

focus and relax but it also can be

created as almost like a prefocused

ritual which means that the deep breaths

over time slowly help us to condition

ourselves into entering into that focus

zone it's not enough just to do the deep

breaths um you have to actually try to

let yourself feel that as you breathing

out you are getting a little bit more

calm a little bit more focused and more

zoned in with each breath I would also

recommend doing a like Max inhalation

and the way that you do this is you take

a deep breath in you try to use your

diaphragm to Brea breathe in so don't

breathe in like like that but breathe in

outwards you can't see cuz you can see

here there you go so you're

breathing outwards with the diaphragm um

and then once you breath in all the way

then you breathe in again

so and then that allows you to get that

extra level of inhalation to get that

maximum breath and then a slow exhale

and then you do that five times and

across the each breath you try to think

of yourself getting more and more

focused in after you do your deep

breaths

which naturally doesn't take that long

uh we're starting our first studying

phase which is

scoping scoping should only take a few

minutes and the idea with scoping is

that you're just going to go through

your resources and you want to have

really all of the resources laid out

already this might be a textbook it

could be a you know lecture slides it

could be a um you know a course guide

articles online whatever it is go

through very very quickly and just pick

out and write down what you think are

the main most important Concepts so uh

you you'd create essentially like a Word

document you might type this out if

you'd like with just a list of the most

important Concepts and keywords you

don't have to get it fully right it

doesn't have to be like Mega

comprehensive if you can get what seem

like generally the most important that's

going to be enough to work with again

again you really can't do this part

wrong I would recommend that if you're

doing a reasonable study block aim to

get at least 10 different keywords on

this page and probably not more than 20

or 30 so again it's not about getting

every single bolded word on there it's

about being a bit more Discerning about

what you think is the most important and

and starting with that so after we do

that for a few minutes we're then moving

on to the next step which I've talked

about a lot of my other videos and I've

decided to just give this a name which

is called maybe

mapping and I say maybe mapping because

what you're doing here is just a

hypothesis the idea with maybe mapping

is that we're going to take the items

and the keywords that we had just scoped

out we're going to look through those

words and we're going to create a

hypothesis on how we think those words

might be connected with each other we

want to try to create some very basic

scaffold that's a technical term for it

the idea here is that it's just a maybe

you don't have to be right in fact

you're almost definitely going to be

wrong but it's just getting our brain

thinking about how it all fits together

in a big picture and having that big

picture reference point is going to be

hugely beneficial as a priming step

before we get into the deepest studying

it's going to make content less

overwhelming it's going to make our

memory better it's one of the most

beneficial things that you can do for

studying and it's one of the things that

less efficient Learners commonly skip

because they don't understand the value

of it they're just like oh I just need

to get through the content I don't want

to waste time doing this it's not a

waste of time because when you invest

your time to create a hypothetical

scaffold and a mental model for you to

think through even if it's wrong even if

it's completely wrong there is a strong

benefit to helping you manage and

process any new information that comes

in after that

so uh just spend I would recommend

spending around about 10 minutes or so

trying to create a map you're going to

be wrong try to do your best if there

are words that you're looking at and you

don't even understand the meaning of

that word at all whatsoever then just do

a very quick Google search and just read

like literally a couple lines you should

never be reading or thinking about it

for more than like 30 seconds it's just

enough for you to get a very very very

general superficial understanding of

that word to construct a maybe map and

again it's not that you're trying to get

it right it's that you're trying to

figure it out create some kind of model

and then you can work off of that if you

find this process really difficult and

you're like kind of paralyzed there not

able to map anything out at all this is

a very very high yield thing that you

will need to work on it probably means

that you're not used to relational

thinking or higher Ro of learning in

general and that's actually going to be

a limitation for your studying

efficiency for life this is something

you have to learn to be able to do if

you want to become a more efficient

learner very black and white so after

we've done a maybe map we should already

have a general understanding about how

some of these ideas might relate to each

other and that can in some cases make us

naturally more curious about it as well

the next step after doing this is the EV

valuation and this is the first round of

evaluation that we're doing the

evaluation is the part where we're now

going to go through and learn more about

each of the key wordss if you are more

comfortable with this you can actually

start at whatever keyword you feel is

the most relevant for you if you're a

beginner at thinking in this way just

start at the beginning but every time

you learn about one keyword or a concept

I I want you to take a step back look at

your overall picture and ask yourself

how does this fit inside the overall

picture and there are a number of

objectives that I want you to have on

the front of your mind you may want to

even just have this like literally front

and center on the study with me video

you'll see that this actually pops up

during the evaluation process all the

time on screen so you've got it as

reference the idea with evaluation is

that you want to make sense of the

information you want to make sense of it

which means we're trying to make it more

obvious we're trying to reduce our need

for memorization so anything that you

feel man I need to repeat this and do it

again and again for me to stick it in my

brain that's a red flag we want to think

how could I think about this how could I

connect it create an analogy for it

integrated into a network so that I

don't need to do that repetition or at

least I don't feel like it's slipping

away

imminently so we're creating analogies

we're actively comparing that concept

with other Concepts and we're asking

ourselves how does it fit in the big

picture you want to do this after every

concept or every keyword because if you

go through three or four Concepts and

then you take a step back to see how it

integrates it's much more overwhelming

because you've got so many more pieces

that you have to try to think about it's

much easier to say do one concept take a

step back integrate it with the big

picture see how that changes our mental

model maybe if we've mapped it out first

uh then we can we can redo

it uh if you're at a point where your

nonlinear note taking skills are still

relatively new then this may be

something that you find a little bit

more challenging but just keep pushing

at it nonlinear note taking again is one

of those things that you really need to

get good at because linear note taking

is just so so limited if you have not

even tried nonlinear note taking before

in the first place then I would very

strongly recommend checking out my video

on uh nonlinear note taking before doing

the study with me because otherwise you

you're really going to struggle a lot so

this evaluation process involves a lot

of back and forth your going to your

keyword list that you've created you're

going to your textbook references or

lecture slides or Google search you're

exploring it and after you've understood

that concept you're then straight away

going okay take a step back how does

that fit within my big picture you're

remapping moving things around adding

other arrows thinking about it a lot of

this time is spent in your head just

thinking and trying to put the puzzle

together okay it should feel like you're

trying to put a puzzle together and then

once you feel like okay I think that's

how it fits that makes sense to me then

you're going to move on to the next

keyword and then go back evaluate you

know learn more about it and then add it

to your map and then think okay well how

does that fit with what I've already got

on my map all the other things how does

it fit in the big

picture you know refine it a bit add

more arrows move things around and then

once you feel like that makes sense

we're going back to the keyword so we're

doing that process again and again a lot

of this time is spent just in our heads

thinking and then refining and

consolidating and simplifying the map as

we go you absolutely absolutely want to

have the feeling that as you are

learning more the map is becoming easier

and simpler to understand the amount of

overwhelm you feel should go down as you

keep studying if you find that as you

are studying it's getting harder and

harder to keep track of what's going on

it means that you're either not pulling

out to look at the big picture and like

often enough or when you are you're not

simplifying it to a level that makes

sense enough before you move on this is

something that we call multiple element

interactivity which is part of cognitive

load Theory which is the idea that when

there are too many things that our brain

is trying to process it struggles and

enters into overload which is a

detrimental effect on our learning

memory efficiency understanding so we

want to make sure that when we learn

something we're then exerting mental

effort and time to simplify it and

consolidate it to a point where we can

look at it and think yep I feel like

that makes sense to me and then we're

ready to move on we don't want to just

be overloading overloading overloading

and overloading because even though we

may be covering content physically very

quickly in terms of what's happening in

our brain we're actually going to be

operating a very low efficiency and

you're going to have to pay the

consequences of that in future sessions

because you forgot on half of everything

that you've learned and that's

ultimately the biggest waste of time so

after we do our evaluation period which

lasts usually at least 30 minutes maybe

potentially more if you're really

focused then we move on to questions

when we do the questions part we want to

deliberately think about what are the

gaps in my knowledge right now what are

the things I'm most curious about and if

you're not really curious about

something try to be curious about

something and we're going to create a

list of questions that are the most

pressing on our mind that reflect the

direction that we're thinking in because

after the questions we're going to take

a break so the questions are really good

as almost like a here's a current

snapshot of what I'm thinking about

where I'm curious at where I want my

mind to be directed towards and then

when we come back into the session we

can use the questions to springboard

ourselves back into that deep Flow State

very quickly and pick up from where we

left off you can have you know as few as

three or four questions I would probably

not spend you know too long on this just

a few minutes writing down some of the

pertinent questions after we have

written some questions we're now going

to enter into an active relaxation

period active relaxation means that we

are doing something in our break the

active relaxation part is important

because we don't want to then go off and

watch like a like your favorite Netflix

show or uh get into like a really deep

meaningful conversation with someone

that's going to take ages or play your

favorite online game those are not

things that even though they may be

relaxing they're not things that are

going to help you to get back into a

flow state after the break obviously if

you don't have any more time to study

and that's your session done you can go

do whatever you want but if you need to

come back into another session straight

after this then uh you want to make sure

you're doing something that's somewhat

productive during this time but not

mentally taxing so what that means is

that this task needs to have a low level

of

cognitive load otherwise known as mental

effort however it should be something

that is generally productive a great

example of this is actually housework

cleaning your room organizing something

these are methodical you could think of

them as almost like tedious but mindful

tasks that don't require lots of

thinking if cleaning your room makes you

Mega stressed then maybe

don't do that do something else instead

another really good one is to just take

a walk go for a stroll getting some kind

of movement or physical activity

in is really

beneficial and in fact you can even take

the questions that you wrote before your

break with you on a walk and then while

you're walking just generally think

about those questions and what the

answers might be we're almost creating a

mini maybe map just in our brain and

again we don't want to be like super

super focused on this we do want our

brain a chance to just relax cool off

but still stay in that productive

intentional mode once our active

relaxation time is up we're then going

to move back into the next session and

as before we want to start with having

some nice deep

breaths and just as before trying to get

into the Zone with each

breath and then after your fifth breath

we're then moving back in and this time

we're starting straight with the

questions that we had left over we'll

spend some time to explore the questions

and try to see what the answers to those

questions are this may naturally lead

you into the next phase which is another

round of

evaluation essentially what this means

is that we're picking up from where we

left off we're moving on to the the next

key concept the next key word the next

part in our material and we're going to

just continue going through that exactly

the same process as before and just

continuing to build on our map and get a

deeper and deeper understanding of

things but still keeping things

relatively big picture depth complexity

technical detail these are things that

happen in layers and only once you've

got a broad understanding at a big

picture then do we move on to a deeper

understanding add a big picture and then

we move into the progressive levels of

detail you should never ever really be

focused on F granular detail when you

are first starting to learn something if

you can't already explain it in simple

terms don't move on to trying to explain

it in more complex terms work with the

simple one first Master the simple then

Master the intermediate and then Master

the advanced and work in that way across

the entire topic and it's going to be

much more beneficial for your learning

efficiency as well as for your memory

another thing that we can do during this

evaluation period which is different to

what we were doing before is that we can

potentially start offloading some

material if we need to onto a

memorization tool such as flash cards so

if there is a particular detail that you

think this is really detailed I don't

see how it fits into the big picture

really at all it just seems like a very

very specific technical thing that I

probably have to end up root memorizing

then we can make the decision to then

put that into our flash cards as we go

and not have to worry about it too much

we can continue to move through that big

picture higher level conceptual stuff

instead and again we do this process uh

for the the bulk of the session and we

move back into leaving ourselves some

questions exactly like we did before

thinking about where our gaps might be

and then we move into another round of

active relaxation and this cycle

basically just repeats themselves this

is a cycle that we would continue to

work through every successive cycle and

when we move on to a new topic that is

now falling outside of what we initially

had scoped out before then we would

start again from this stage where we're

actually scoping it and if obviously

it's a whole new day a whole new session

we have to start from the beginning

where we're actually doing the

preparation as well so this General

cycle of studying is something that you

can apply really for any subject that

you're learning it is stronger for

subjects that are conceptually very

dense uh so for some subjects like

studying mathematics uh coding things

that are really procedurally heavy this

type of flow may not work the best for

you there's variations to this that uh

might be more relevant but for any type

of conceptual material uh medicine

Anatomy uh you know basically all the

stem subjects really uh history

economics philosophy accounting these

subjects are going to be ideal for this

type of flow it involves a lot of

scaffolding it involves active

management of your cognitive load it

involves elements that are made famous

by things like pomodora or fodora which

is the work rest timing and taking

active relaxation we've got priming

involved in it we've got nonlinear

relational note taking so there are a

lot of things in this that are going to

be very very beneficial for your memory

for your engagement you actually even

enjoyment of studying the topic and

ultimately it's going to save you time

and make you a better learner so with

the instructions out of the way you are

now ready to go and do your actual

studying check out the guided study with

me video the link is in the description

and happy

studying