I can honestly say that utilizing a memory palace and linking was a significant jump in my life. I started training myself in their use about a year ago, but never had to put them into action in a constrained time frame until recently. It felt wonderful. Currently working on incorporating spaced repetition into my routine. My chief problem is prioritizing lists. Figuring out what needs to be memorized in a subject requires some understanding, and I usually lack that in subjects I’m deeply interested in.
A combination of mnemonic techniques and mental math methods that I’d never encountered in childhood make a huge difference. I wonder why they are not taught in schools.
CARVER encourages tertiary recon to validate whatever data was initially gathered. I’m sure this wouldn’t be a problem for a neo-rationalist civilian or SOCOM, but when it’s applied in regular Army, the element that’s engaged in tertiary recon has incentive to simply agree with the initial report, especially if that’s the sort of thing command encourages.
That’s about all the topics I have serious familiarity with on that thread. Will check out the rest.
I am sure that there are many jobs where mental math makes a huge difference.
I manage a team of engineers, and though pretty much all of them are head and shoulders above me in their specialisation, they think I really know my stuff because I find errors in their work and zero-in on them on the fly. The skill that I have is doing rough approximations in my head. Then from experience: a factor-of-two difference is commonly confusing kg and lb, a factor of 10 - confusing kg and N, a factor of fifty—mistaking degrees and radians (usually in Excel, where radians are the default mesurement), etc… I get a LOT of mileage from this :). If they did the same, their already good work would be even better. And I imagine any calculation intensive job (finance, economics, science, business...) is similar.
If you don’t have to do these kinds of rough calculations many times a day I don’t see this as a worthwhile skill (you could simply ask Siri/WolframAlpha, for example), other than perhaps to consolidate one’s authority (if you really have to play that game).
My math skills are probably extremely poor, so it’s been easier for me to to make large gains. Most often, this is manifest in three digit multiplication or division, in situations that don’t allow for calculators. Small scale logistics (how much fuel do we need for x days in x area? How much food?) and other stuff a middle schooler wouldn’t have trouble with. The difference between three minutes and thirty seconds usually doesn’t matter, but I’m preparing for worst case scenarios anyway.
Currently, I have memorized nonsense paragraphs for work and basic medical diagnostic algorithms, as well as the pharmacology of drugs I administer most often. Memorizing faces, names, and minor facts concerning people at work is uncommonly useful in getting the job done. Following proper channels is usually nigh impossible, so we rely on a system of favors.
Basic python functions. Any factoid that may inspire fiction.
I am sometimes (about once a month) in situations where I am given a short amount of time to take in specific information, often digits, and there are dozens of checklists. This is where I’ve seen the most dramatic improvement.
Hrm. I think I’ve figured it out, purely from writing this reply. I’ll just focus on biases, python functions, and mathematical formulas I encounter until I’m ready to take on another major subject.
This thread is one of the top-voted on the nootropics subreddit & looks like it has a few interesting ideas: How do smart people really think?
I can honestly say that utilizing a memory palace and linking was a significant jump in my life. I started training myself in their use about a year ago, but never had to put them into action in a constrained time frame until recently. It felt wonderful. Currently working on incorporating spaced repetition into my routine. My chief problem is prioritizing lists. Figuring out what needs to be memorized in a subject requires some understanding, and I usually lack that in subjects I’m deeply interested in.
A combination of mnemonic techniques and mental math methods that I’d never encountered in childhood make a huge difference. I wonder why they are not taught in schools.
CARVER encourages tertiary recon to validate whatever data was initially gathered. I’m sure this wouldn’t be a problem for a neo-rationalist civilian or SOCOM, but when it’s applied in regular Army, the element that’s engaged in tertiary recon has incentive to simply agree with the initial report, especially if that’s the sort of thing command encourages.
That’s about all the topics I have serious familiarity with on that thread. Will check out the rest.
What kind of work do you do that being able to do mental math makes a huge difference?
I am sure that there are many jobs where mental math makes a huge difference.
I manage a team of engineers, and though pretty much all of them are head and shoulders above me in their specialisation, they think I really know my stuff because I find errors in their work and zero-in on them on the fly. The skill that I have is doing rough approximations in my head. Then from experience: a factor-of-two difference is commonly confusing kg and lb, a factor of 10 - confusing kg and N, a factor of fifty—mistaking degrees and radians (usually in Excel, where radians are the default mesurement), etc… I get a LOT of mileage from this :). If they did the same, their already good work would be even better. And I imagine any calculation intensive job (finance, economics, science, business...) is similar.
If you don’t have to do these kinds of rough calculations many times a day I don’t see this as a worthwhile skill (you could simply ask Siri/WolframAlpha, for example), other than perhaps to consolidate one’s authority (if you really have to play that game).
what kinds of things do you have remembered in the repository? (can you make a list?)
My math skills are probably extremely poor, so it’s been easier for me to to make large gains. Most often, this is manifest in three digit multiplication or division, in situations that don’t allow for calculators. Small scale logistics (how much fuel do we need for x days in x area? How much food?) and other stuff a middle schooler wouldn’t have trouble with. The difference between three minutes and thirty seconds usually doesn’t matter, but I’m preparing for worst case scenarios anyway.
Currently, I have memorized nonsense paragraphs for work and basic medical diagnostic algorithms, as well as the pharmacology of drugs I administer most often. Memorizing faces, names, and minor facts concerning people at work is uncommonly useful in getting the job done. Following proper channels is usually nigh impossible, so we rely on a system of favors.
Basic python functions. Any factoid that may inspire fiction.
I am sometimes (about once a month) in situations where I am given a short amount of time to take in specific information, often digits, and there are dozens of checklists. This is where I’ve seen the most dramatic improvement.
Hrm. I think I’ve figured it out, purely from writing this reply. I’ll just focus on biases, python functions, and mathematical formulas I encounter until I’m ready to take on another major subject.