Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #55. Ask Stupid Questions

At school or at work, we often feel as though we are "drinking from the firehose" when we have to learn a new extensive or complicated subject or task. In these situations, the least stupid thing we can do is ask stupid questions.

Human beings have acquired several different kinds of learning during the course of our evolution. Being able to acquire short-term disposable knowledge (such as where we left our spear) without cluttering up our brain with useless trivia might have been just as important to our survival as learning the long-term skills (such as building a fire or knowing when to plant crops) commonly associated with survival. As modern humans, if we learn something and then forget it before we want to, it might be because our brain never indexed it for long-term use.

Often, this occurs because information is coming at us so fast that our brain just can't keep up. Studies have shown that our short-term memory can in fact hold only between five and nine items [Hack #11], depending on the information.¹ Thus, if your short-term memory is full and you are given new items to learn, your brain will be forced to sacrifice. This hack provides some advice that will help you control the incoming flow of information so that your brain has a chance to index it in your long-term memory.

Learning is something we do, not something we receive. When we are tasked with learning some large, new body of knowledge, it is up to us to control the flow of information ...