I have noticed that the only thing ever holding me back from either understanding concepts, solving problems or remembering facts is a lack of persistent concentration, or focus. IQ aside, concentration, or focusing is my problem, and in fact, is most other peoples biggest problem, not education or intellect. Especially focusing on cue.
Think back to the last time you daydreamed. You got some good thinking done, didn’t you? Ok, now think back to the last time you daydreamed on purpose to solve a complex problem or recall an important piece of information. Still “thinking”? That’s my point.
Ok, so question is: Are there any concentration exercises for your brain out there? Ways to improve your critical thinking skills so that you can make yourself, on cue, into an unstoppable thinking train on a track with 10 million tons of payload on board?
But I have learned to my cost that learning a new concept is almost totally futile without a genuine intrest in it. When I was interested and enthusiastic about programming I picked it up in a flash. Even Object Oriented programming, which fellow students struggled to get their head around. Other things I’ve had an interest in I’ve learned amazingly fast. But things that I have to learn, but deep down don’t want to, I simply don’t succeed.
Well, just yesterday for example. I don’t know if it fits your example of “daydream” or not, but the work I do as a civil engineer demands a certain kind of thinking which is free flowing … I imagine the landforms and design a stormdrain system, or any other hydraulic structure to fit. Sometimes it takes several days; times of thinking about it and times of letting it rest. Some of my best ideas have come to me while I’m sitting in traffic.
CPS is what you’re looking for, if I’m not mistaken: http://www.winwenger.com/ There’s some interesting stuff there, especially focused on using your subconscious mind.
Check out your local used book store (or even your mainstream superstore), there are literally hundreds of books on the topic of creative problem solving. I even found one from the '30s. The information was exactly the same in the modern equivalents. Two that spring to mind are How to Think Like Einstein and How to Think Like DaVinci. Then again, I don’t remember much about them…
The general prognosis as I recall is to cultivate a wide area of interests which will give you insights from different perspectives. That, and try to think as often as possible.
You could try chess, I’ve just started to play and I swear that its helped my concentration as well as being able to filter the good ideas from the bad.
Try playing games of indefinite length against a computer, you’ll soon find the limit of your concentration and mental stamina and can work to improve it.
unfortunately genuine interest is the only thing that works for me too.
if you think/learn about the applications, and interrelations between different areas of knowledge that may help you find interest in thigs you previously didnt care about.
meaning its hard to get excited about theoretical stuff if you dont know what it can be used for in real life.
imo you should always look at applications before looking at theory, though in college courses its usually theory first and applications never. knowing applications will NOT help you understand theory, but it will motivate you.
Plain old hard work and will power worked prety well for me. I’m an inveterate daydreamer, and this doesn’t work out very well in university where projects have a timeline and grades matter. So, I managed the old-fashioned way.
Sit down to work on something, work awhile, catch myself daydreaming, force my thoughts back onto the topic at hand. Rinse. Repeat. Over time, my tendency to woolgather while I’m working has decreased significantly.
This has even worked for things that I find tedious or uninteresting. I simply promise myself a reward at the end of the process if I manage to complete it in a certain period of time. If I daydream too much and finish outside this limit by even a small bit, sorry, no reward for me. In the long run, this has helped a lot. There are times now where I can sit down to a task and focus steadily on it for 6 hours at a stretch, with only very minor breaks in concentration. That’s really pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that I never waste time. I make sure that my goals fit into a schedule, and I (usually) have the discipline to stick to it. Once I’ve achieved what I wanted, all the world’s my playground! Navel gazing is an artform and should be respected as such! Go daydreamers!!
