There are two types of non-fiction books, those that describe very specific facts, usually read for work or academic obligations, and those that teach you about a practical topic, usually read for pleasure. As a result, there are also different methods to retain information from these texts that differ between the two types. One technique to remember specific facts is called pre-reading. Pre-reading involves preparing your brain to pick up the most important information from a body of writing. For example, if you looked through a book’s table of contents, skimmed the chapter, read subheadings, or read a summary or review questions available at the end, you would be able to recognize the chapter’s most important topics. By pre-reading, you will ensure that when you actually read through the chapter, you can easily recognize key points worth memorizing. You will have read the important information twice as well, further ensuring that you will remember it.

Another method of recognizing important information in a nonfiction book is highlighting. As it is well known, highlighting easily helps information stand out, thus it is great for visual learners. However it is important to note that your highlights need to be effective. The more you highlight on a page, the less useful each individual highlight is as you get closer and closer to just highlighting the whole page. In order to highlight effectively, it’s important that you read and understand the body of writing beforehand. Using the first technique, pre-reading, is a great way to recognize what you should highlight in a book.

Taking notes of what you have learned is another amazing technique of retaining information from nonfiction. Even more effective, is reading through a chapter and trying to write down notes about it with the book closed. Doing so will ignite active recall in your brain, a method of efficient studying that practises actually extracting information from your memory instead of passively shoving new information in. Similar to highlighting, it can be difficult to decide what information you should take note of, which again can be helped with pre-reading. Other ideas to keep in mind are to take note of key terms, definitions, and examples of both to help you remember. Instead of taking multiple notes, you can also write a summary of every chapter you read to accomplish the same benefits of information retention.

The most important technique of remembering specific facts in nonfiction is to do some research. By learning from secondary information that relates to the topic you are reading from, you increase the number of neural connections in your brain that center around the topic, thus you will be more likely to remember the information. Even more, learning more about a topic, or gaining secondary information in a fun way (such as watching a movie) can help you increase your interest level in the subject. For example, I’m sure that you have retained more information about your favourite show on Netflix than the last book you studied. The reason why this is generally true is because you are more interested in the show.

Finally, in order to remember practical non-fiction books such as those that help you cook or improve your life, you need to put its tips into use. Again, doing so increases your neural connections and interest in the nonfiction topic. If you read a book about the science of cooking, try to use it to develop your own recipe. Even more important, try to take a break after you read. The best way to learn isn’t to constantly stuff your brain with knowledge, but to let the most important knowledge fully stick.

With the use of these five techniques, your reading of nonfiction will be useful, efficient, and possibly even more pleasurable. Now, the next time you sit down to read a nonfiction text, whether you are obligated to or not, just know that the information might stay in your head forever.

The post How to Remember Everything You Read first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post How to Remember Everything You Read appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

     A hidden aspect of time-management is having the right mindset to be productive. If you think about it, your mind and feelings are what make you procrastinate and avoid necessary tasks. So taking power over your mindset is a crucial step to becoming more productive overall. First, you have to recognize that you completely own your time. Every moment, you have the ability to choose what you most want to do. When you catch yourself being unproductive, you have to ask yourself if watching Netflix is really the best use of your time and how this choice will affect your future self. It’s even a good idea to stop using the phrase “I don’t have time” to get into that productive mindset. The reality is you have the time for whatever you prioritize. You have the time to study everyday, or you can just choose to watch TikToks instead. 

     Another key idea to realize is that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This idea is known as the Pareto Principle and it is all about simplifying your efforts to be efficient. Sometimes we get an urge to finish everything at once, but when we attempt to do so, we get burnt out and end up doing nothing at all. This is where the Pareto Principle ties in. If you find that you have a lot of tasks to get done, simply highlight those that absolutely need to get done by the end of the day. Then divide your time between those specific jobs. You don’t have to do everything, just focus on the 20% of your tasks that are the most important. Integrating the Pareto principle will significantly shorten your to-do list, which will motivate you to get your few essential tasks done, and help you avoid burnout. 

     The final principle of time management is called Parkinson’s law. This law states that work expands to fill the time that is allowed for it. Parkinson’s law is frequently seen in real life. For example, think of a time when you had three weeks to complete an assignment, did you finish it well before the deadline, or the night before? Most people would answer that they only finished the assignment near its due date, or possibly after. This is because you had 3 weeks allotted for the project, which was probably more than enough. Therefore, you kept pushing the assignment off until you had no choice but to do it. Yet if you had set a rigid deadline for yourself a bit earlier, you would have been able to churn out the project quickly. Even if the project had to take the entire assigned period of time, you could have set a smaller daily deadline for yourself to gradually complete the assignment, which again would be a great technique to prevent overwhelm. By sharing your deadlines with others and getting an accountability partner, you can easily ensure that your personal deadlines are adhered to.

      Beyond principles, it is helpful to have a set of tips and tricks to implement into your life when using time wisely. First, shorten your to-do list as much as possible. If you ever have a task that will take you two minutes or less to complete, just get it done and out of the way so nothing is looming over you. Second, batch your tasks together. If you have some tasks that you frequently do at separate times, batch it all together into one time period. For example, if you always have to reply to emails, spend a set amount of time each day to solely reply to emails. Another idea is to stop addictive rewards. It is important to have rewards for diligent productivity, especially when you have worked for a long period of time. However you should never indulge in rewards (like watching Netflix) that will occupy your time for more than 15 min. Instead of watching a show after you study, try reading instead.

     Effective time management is not only essential, but simple to achieve in your life. By keeping some principles and techniques in mind, studying and finishing assignments will be a breeze. Though procrastination may seem more fun than harmful, the cost of poor time management is the potential efficiency and success in life you could have had.

The post How to Effectively Manage Your Time first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post How to Effectively Manage Your Time appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The main problem of overwhelming anxiety is feeling that crowded state in your brain. Too many thoughts and responsibilities weigh down on your thoughts and you feel like you just can’t do it all. As stressing as this can be, there is an effective habit you can use to combat your crowded mind. This habit is called the drain dump. Instead worrying over thoughts in your head when faced with overwhelming pressure, write down everything you are thinking about. The first step of relaxation is letting go: you need to let go of the stresses hanging over you. Even more, having tasks written down in front of you makes organizing your priorities much easier, and eliminates that feeling of forgetfulness. 

The second step of avoiding overwhelms is to get out of a multitasking mindset. Many times when people get anxious, it is because they have this need to do everything at once. They do not like future tasks hanging over their head, and they want to get ahead of the curve. Yet it is important to realize that doing everything at once is impossible, and trying to do so harms the quality of the outputs. Though it feels nice to be ahead of what is being assigned to you, it’s completely ok to just be on track, as long as you do not fall behind. Most people strive to be ahead so that they can have free time to relax later, yet once they do get ahead, they work harder to stay ahead,, creating an endless cycle void of relaxation. The best way to stay relaxed is to actually give yourself quality breaks where you are not thinking of your responsibilities. A good technique is to give yourself at least one day a week where you forget about school or work. 

Sometimes, getting out of the multitasking mindset is difficult, but a good strategy to play by is to think about what is important at the moment. To do this, look at your to-do list or schedule. Now, decide what assignments absolutely need to be done by the end of the day. Take the time to complete all of these tasks carefully, while taking a few breaks to give yourself a rest. If you still have more time at the end of the day, then go ahead and complete some extra work. Nevertheless, you need to be mindful of your mental state: are you capable of doing some more work, or do you require some relaxation for the rest of the day? If you are still having trouble with these steps, journaling about how you’re feeling is a great way to recognize your own feelings, and it also ties into the first step of brain-dumping. 

Finally, you need to start prioritizing your mental health. I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before, but if you are starting to get feelings of being overwhelmed it’s a clear sign that you’ve put mental health on the back burner. Tying into the last strategy, focusing on the present, try to recognize when you need a break. If you are not falling behind and have extra time to work, it is completely ok to just take a break. Recognize that you are not wasting time and it is okay to not be productive at all times. Taking some time off will actually help performance when completing a task later.  As long as you are not spending all of your day, on Netflix or social media, giving yourself some extra free time is a vital habit especially to avoid burnout. 

Overall, it’s great to have that drive of being productive and getting things done, but you don’t want to be so extreme that you get to the point of constant anxiety. If you do get to that point, that is okay, all you need to do is recognize and accept how you are feeling. After dumping your brain, getting out of the wrong mindset, focusing on the present, and prioritizing mental health you can find that perfect flow state of reasonable productivity and relaxation. 

The post Feeling overworked or overwhelmed? Here’s how you can handle your stress. first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post Feeling overworked or overwhelmed? Here’s how you can handle your stress. appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

     Habits are so important because of how much they impact our lives. Each habit we have is a pattern that has been repeated numerous times in similar situations and has delighted us in some way. Our habits become autonomous, and our brain loves using these programmed sequences to avoid the unknown. If you develop bad patterns, you will find yourself continuously falling victim to them because your brain does not know any other way. Good habits, on the other hand, build consistency, control, and confidence into life. Developing good habits as a part of your routines will help you find other time to relax or pursue other hobbies without being unproductive. They are also an easy way to build compound results, as the regular practise of the sequence will perfect your outcomes. If you meditate, read, or exercise a little each day you could be a completely different person this time next year. 

     The key to both building good routines, and breaking bad tendencies lies in the 4 fundamentals of habit change: making it obvious, making it attractive, making it easy, and making it satisfying. By either following, or inverting these rules, you can control any habit in your life. These fundamentals are based on the psychological breakdown of how habits work in our brain. First, there is a cue, a small detail that kicks off a craving, which is a desire to perform the habit. This leads to the response (the actual habit). Finally, the sequence ends with a reward and satisfaction. How do you make it obvious? You want to highlight the cue that leads to your desired habit. For example, if you want to read everyday, place a book on your nightstand. On the other hand, for breaking a bad routine, make the cue invisible. Place your phone in another room when working to avoid social media. The second rule, make it attractive, addresses the craving part of the habit loop. To build up a good custom, increase your craving to actually perform the habit. For example, you can listen to music while exercising to have fun and ultimately crave the activity more. Inversely, you can make bad habits unattractive by reminding yourself why you want to avoid it each time you think about indulging. Making your routine easy is the third fundamental of habit change. If you want to stick to a desired practise, try to simplify it. In the example of exercising, start by working out for 5 minutes a day and gradually increase this time to build up a lasting pattern. Or, you could make your bad habits difficult to carry out: hide your video game controller if you want to stop wasting time. Lastly, the fourth law of habit change is to make it satisfying, which correlates with the reward portion of the habit loop. You want to make your desired routines satisfying to complete in order to stick to them, and do the opposite for bad tendencies. Give yourself rewards and celebrate success with other people when proud of completing your habit, or tell someone to keep on top of you to help you avoid your bad practise. 

     The most important thing is that habits have the power to change your identity. For example, writing in your journal everyday can serve as proof to classify yourself as a writer, and this classification can push you to continue writing. This is the amazing paradox of sticking to good habits, they help you turn into whoever you want to be, which helps you stick to the processes that got you there. Consistency is the best principle in this case. Being consistent provides a better chance for you to become your desired identity and helps you achieve long term results. 

     With the proper techniques, creating and sticking to desired habits is not hard to do. Big or small, any useful habit will help you gradually improve over time, especially when it becomes frequent and autonomous like all habits do. Yes, it may be difficult to change the actions you have been doing for years, but wIth a little extra effort in the beginning, you can make small changes to your routine to reap large benefits in the long run, and that’s a deal anyone would take. 

The post Take Power Over Your Habits: How to Change Your Life by Changing Your Routine first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post Take Power Over Your Habits: How to Change Your Life by Changing Your Routine appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

Study spaces are very important for success in both school and work. An effective study area is one that is tailored to its owner. Firstly, the area should reflect your personality and preferences. For example, if you need silence to learn efficiently, your space should accommodate that. Your location should be in a private zone away from family activity, and equipped with books or small snacks to support your preferences. In addition, this spot should be solely claimed for productive purposes. Working in your bedroom or living room may not always be effective because those rooms have more than one purpose. Claiming a specific study location will make it more special, give it more respect (by you and members of your family), and motivate you to actually learn when you are there. Most importantly, you should make sure your area is comfortable. An effective study space is one that you can spend long periods of time in, so it should have utensils/snacks, the perfect temperature, and be ergonomic. It is important to avoid remaining in harmful positions (arching your back too heavily) for long periods of time, as it will result in future injuries. Finally, an effective learning area is created with rules and communication. You must set boundaries and tell your family when and how you are working, or if you are taking a break to ensure that everyone can cooperate and support your study spot and precious time. Productive learning should be like a ceremony to you, with special places and allocated time. This way, you will remember to hit the books, and the process will be valued in your mind. 

     Sometimes, it’s hard to create a personalized productive area when you are working with small spaces, yet there are ways to adapt to that. Turn your kitchen table into a desk; kitchen tables are fairly large so they have enough room for you to spread your assignments out. Simply bring your pencil case as well as any other supplies you may need and you are set. If you need privacy, try investing in noise cancelling headphones; that way, you can easily get some silence. It’s a great idea to use beanbags as well. Beanbags are multifunctional as a chair or a table to help you make the most out of your location. Similarly, you can use pillows for posture. Pillows can help make your floor spaces appropriate and comfortable for learning. If you want to stick to working at a desk, use glass topped tables. Glass topped tables can serve as two separate desks: if you need to copy something down, instead of cluttering your zone with books and papers, place the book under the table and read from above. You can also try going outdoors. Nature has more area, is usually far less distracting, and can serve as your separate space designated only for work. Lastly, the most important tip is to keep your room organized. This will help you optimize your spot; you do not want to clutter an already small desk!

     Creating a study space is the key to ensure elongated, efficient, and successful working.This simple activity can easily be tuned to your specific preferences and current situation. Once you perfect your location, productivity can become a therapeutic experience, motivating you to actually work more often. You can implement some of these tips into other aspects of your life as well. For example, bringing noise cancelling headphones to support your studying at school or work if necessary. Really, the best part of knowing how to create your own study space is that you can use these skills for the rest of your life. When you require increasing amounts of productivity to excel in your school, post-secondary education, or job, looking for a place to learn is the last thing you want.

The post How to increase your productivity at home first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post How to increase your productivity at home appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

      When assigned a task, the first thing you should do is analyze what is expected of you. For students, this means understanding what subject area an assignment covers, what requirements exist, and how the assignment will assess you as a student (if you are independent, collaborative, initiative, etc). This information can be found by looking through rubrics, assignment pages, and other instructional materials for your state and grade, as well as clarifying with your teacher. For employees, this means understanding what the purpose or benefit of a specific task is and how you can display your personal value through the responsibility. Reading through handbooks and clarifying with experienced coworkers and supervisors are great practices if your goal is to progress professionally. Understanding what is expected of you and the specifics of every project will not only ensure that you complete it properly, but also shows that you can work well under instruction. 

      On the other hand, accessing the resources available to you is equally important in striving for excellence. Resources are extra sources of information, such as books or online media, that can optimize your results in any given task. For example, when you need to complete a written report, effectively accessing your resources can take form in using writing guides or getting your work proofread. These tools are easily accessible, and help perfect your efforts to ensure success, as well as improve your own learning. Even more, when these resources are handed to you, like employee handbooks or reading lists, effectively utilizing them will earn you a few brownie points. 

       While some people may work well under pressure, it is always a good idea to use effective time management and planning skills when tackling a daunting or important task. It’s essential to schedule regular time to work on your project and break down the big assignment into manageable daily tasks. Prioritizing your time is necessary  as well: if the task is very important, you need to make the effort to spend more time on it and start working on it earlier. Brainstorming or planning your ideas, expectations, and goals relative to the assignment can also help you get started in the right direction. Sometimes doing a “brain dump” of everything you’re thinking of in regards to the project will help you identify your background knowledge or perspective and clear your mind to help you focus. 

      The most important strategy to succeed in educational or work activities is efficiently going the extra mile. Supervisors and teachers have seen the bare minimum before; they want to be surprised and impressed with your completed work. Yet going above and beyond is not just about doing something that was not asked of you: it’s about showing your supervisor or teacher that you took the opportunity to extend your learning, experience, or effect. This is why, when thinking of ways to go the extra mile, it’s important that you review your expectations and resources again. You want to find an additional task that connects to the purpose of your assignment but displays extra information. For example, if a student was asked to write a book report, they could exceed expectation by also writing an alternate ending to the text to show a complete understanding of the novel. If an employee was asked to lead a staff meeting, they could put in extra effort by incorporating an interactive presentation. 

      So if you ever think that you can’t get straight A’s in school, or excel in your dream job, think again. The four strategies listed above— clarifying expectations, accessing resources, planning ahead, and doing more than expected—are the key to learning more, impressing your teachers or supervisors, and generally succeeding in academic or work environments. Even if you think of yourself as “smart” or not, it’s important to know that these techniques can be easily utilized by anyone, and in any situation, to work towards success.

The post Success is more about effort than intelligence first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post Success is more about effort than intelligence appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

As the new school year begins, it can be difficult to get out of your summer vacation mindset. Staying up late, sleeping in, and doing no work have been regular activities for two months, so it’s hard to suddenly change your routine. But getting into a school/learning schedule quickly is not impossible, and there are many ways to fix your biggest problems: going to sleep after midnight, waking up late, and being unproductive.

When you have no set routine, it’s easy to sleep late just because you can. Yet when we have to wake up at dawn for school or work, staying up just isn’t acceptable. Although trying to suddenly go to sleep earlier is easier said than done, there are a few good habits you can practice not only to fall asleep quickly, but also to have a better sleep in general. The biggest rule to abide by is avoiding screens. There’s a high chance that you’ve heard this piece of advice before, but there’s a good reason why it’s so important. A gland in our eyes naturally creates melatonin to induce sleep under the instruction of our brain. Yet when we shine the harsh blue light emitted by mobile devices through our eyes before going to sleep, the light tricks our brain into thinking it is morning, reducing melatonin levels, and preventing quick or deep sleep. Staying off your phone for at least one hour before going to bed will significantly improve sleep. If this is too hard for some, buying blue-light glasses or turning on the night-shift modes available on some devices will convert the harsh blue light to subtle yellow light, although this is not as effective as staying off phones entirely. Another key tip to remember is to keep your bedroom dark and cool to fully signal to your brain that it is night, and your melatonin levels should rise. For busy thinkers, reading or journaling your thoughts are great ways to clear your head and relax before going to bed.

A big problem that comes with the typical summer sleep deprivation and disrupted routines is waking up too late. With commitments that have rigid time schedules such as school or work, sleeping an hour or two more in fall results in large consequences. Yet even when it’s already 2 AM and you need to wake up at 6 AM, there are a few ways you can ensure that you get out of bed at the right time. First and foremost, set more than one alarm. If one alarm stops working in the middle of the night, you can make sure that another one will still ring, and if not, you will have a louder noise waking you up. Place the alarms away from your bed; this way you will have to get out of bed to turn the sound off, and you are less likely to hit snooze. There are even some apps that make you take a picture of a certain item in order to mute the alarm. It’s also a good idea to have a family member check up on you if it’s possible. Sometimes, no matter what we do, our alarms just don’t wake us up, so it’s better if you have someone who can shake you awake as well. As for breakfast, eating energizing foods with lots of fat or protein will rev you up more than calming foods like bananas or oats.

The most important skill to have in the school/work season is productivity. But after two months of doing nothing, getting the motivation to work may be a difficult thing to do. When you begin to work, it’s efficient to take short breaks in intervals—for example, every 25 minutes, you take a 5-minute break—because you are less likely to burn out when you have another break coming soon. Setting your own deadlines and rewards before the ones established by your institution makes it easier for you to keep track of your work and see the value of finishing tasks. With positive thinking, good planning, and removal of distractions, it’s easy to be productive!

Though it may be tedious, these tips will make your transition from summer vacation routines much easier. Even more, once you adapt to your new working groove, the next summer break will come in no time!

The post Transitioning To A Productive Schedule After Summer first appeared on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..

The post Transitioning To A Productive Schedule After Summer appeared first on New Heights Educational Group, Inc..