This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

Brain Plasticity, Curiosity and Learning

Michael Merzenich is a neuroscientist and has been called the world’s leading researcher on brain plasticity. Brain plasticity refers to the physical ability of the brain to change over time – either weakening or thickening.

It’s not just a child’s brain that grows and develops. Research by Merzenich and others has shown that under the right conditions (i.e. appropriate mental stimulus), adults of any age have the ability to grow stronger neural networks in their brains too, strengthening the links and actually changing the physical structure of their brain.

Learning a new language creates the right conditions for stronger neural links by involving inputs from multiple senses that exercise the mind from a variety of angles and create a stronger brain function.  Martial arts, chess and dancing are other examples of activities that involve multiple senses.

Curiosity

Just one week into my challenge, I am feeling the input from multiple senses colliding as they try and find a place to settle in my brain. What I’m discovering is that Reading, Writing and Speaking are three separate brain functions and approaching them in the way they “want” to be approached greatly speeds up the learning process. I will explain more about this in my next post because today I want to focus on Curiosity and how it plays a vital part in keeping momentum going.

Some of the features about curiosity are:

• It fuels a need to explore
• It makes us question things
• It makes us open-minded and receptive to differences and things we don’t understand
• It stops habitual behaviour from stagnating us and weakening our brain function
• It drives us to learn

This week, I discovered an inherent ability to recognise sounds and shapes and put them together. Just a week in and I already know half of the Arabic alphabet by heart and can read it and recite it easily. However, I also found that writing these shapes is more difficult for me from memory.

There are only 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, but they all look different depending on whether they are at the beginning, end or middle of a word and also depending on whether they are printed or hand-scripted! I can recognise the shapes easily enough to read but writing is a completely different kettle of fish. “Blimey” I thought and screeched to a halt to re-evaluate my options and ask myself if I really needed to know scripting.

Guiding Curiosity

Now this is the important thing about curiosity. Curiosity can be like a pretty butterfly flitting from flower to flower. The path towards the goal is full of flowers – at each flower, curiosity gets a chance to change direction.

Curiosity made me start this challenge but it needs a helping hand to make me stay on track. The helping hand comes from the NLP PECSAW goal setting model. As I pause to re-evaluate my options, I revisit my PECSAW and the “Worthwhile” part of it floods me with the desire to break through my little alphabet issue – 28 letters, a million ways to write them? Pah! Easy!

Having a well-defined goal and constantly reminding yourself of the benefits of achievement helps to guide the butterfly towards it’s destination by reigniting it’s desire to get there.

Curiosity and Learning

If curiosity keeps you in touch with things to be explored, desire helps to create the right conditions for you to find a way to learn the new skills that ultimately strengthen the neuron connections in your brain.

Curiosity gets you thinking about a goal, desire finds a way – but actively reigniting curiosity throughout the period of learning turns the goal into a destination that can be mapped – both outwardly as you become fluent at the task and inwardly, as your brain gains stronger neural connections.

Language Challenge Part 4 – The Influence of Thoughts on Learning

This is part of a series covering my challenge of learning Arabic in 2 months. I’m using lots of Peak Performance techniques and sharing them along the way. The series is filed in the “Language Challenge” category.

Setting Goals

“When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.” – Jim Rohn

Previously, I mentioned I had some issues with time. My time analysis study has now shown me that I do have enough hours in the day. This has alleviated my concerns and I have comfortably and easily improved my time management. Mostly this is through getting rid of doorways to distraction (eg checking email) and timetabling non-essential but enjoyable activities like web-traffic analysis etc.

The PECSAW model in NLP is a set of guidelines that help design goals that are “do-able”.

I’ve only provided short example answers in this PECSAW outline below. If you do this for one of your own goals, make yours rich and full of information. The more detailed you are, the more your mind finds a way to make it happen.

P = Positive : i.e. What is my goal exactly? State this in a positive way i.e. “I want a new job” not “I don’t want to work here”

In two months time, I want to be able to read and write Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) to an introductory level and also to be able to hold a basic level of conversation through being able to adapt MSA to a more conversational dialect (Gulf focused). I want to have memorised the alphabet and have knowledge of scripting, pronunciation, basic sentence structure, numbers, gender differences in language and basic conversation. I also want to improve my knowledge of Arabic culture and customs.

E = Evidence : i.e. How will I know that I have achieved my goal?

1. Successful completion of all the exercises in my tutorial books
2. Being able to read – with a dictionary if necessary – a children’s storybook in Arabic
3. Showing some of my writing to an Arabian friend to see if they can read it
4. Being able to converse to some degree in Arabic
5. Being able to read UAE road signs and number plates
6. Being able to follow Arabic you-tubes

C = Context : i.e. Where am I going to do this? When will I do this? Have I got the right influences?

For information to go into long-term memory, the learning stage has to be intensely focused with high levels of concentration. For most people, 20-45 minutes of focused study is about the right length before concentration starts to wane and the return on study time diminishes. A 10-15 minute break helps to get the concentration back.

This feature of the learning process actually fits very nicely into my schedule as I can easily manage two or three short concentrated bursts of study throughout the day. Practicing what I have learnt uses different brain “muscles” to learning and doesn’t require as intense concentration or short periods of study. But as I only have short periods of study, I will be practicing between client appointments, waiting for the kettle to boil, in the car etc. This kind of repetitive practice is important particularly in the period that immediately follows the learning because not only does it help wire it in, but it creates better recall too. You’re effectively showing your mind that the subject is important enough for you to think about constantly so you need quicker access to the information. An advantage to practicing throughout the day is that I will be maintaining constant exposure.

As well as the where and when, you need to plan for the people in your life who are going to be drip-feeding negativity into your efforts. There’s a difference between constructive criticism and habitual putter-downers. You can learn from the former but the latter sap your energy. What can you do to limit this type of influence?

S = Self-achievable : i.e. Can I do this by myself? Making the goal completely within your influence gives you a greater opportunity for achievement.

I can achieve my goal through learning from books and other self-study resources. I am willing to get a tutor if I think I’d like one and having done a quick search, there are a couple listed in my area.

If your goal isn’t completely within your influence, is there a way you can change it slightly so that when you think about, it seems more self-achievable? For example, if your goal is to “get a job interview”, you are relying on someone actually offering you an interview. If your goal is “make myself worthy of being interviewed”, does this seem a more self-achievable route to the same outcome? If not, then adapt the goal until it does become more self-achievable and has a good feel.

A = Advantages & Disadvantages : i.e. What’s great about achieving this goal and what negative aspects are there?

It’s a good idea to think of the disadvantages now so you can address or eliminate them. You might even find that there is a disadvantage strong enough to make you not want this goal right now.

The numerous advantages to achieving my goal include the mystery of a new, exotic language, being able to speak to UAE nationals in their own language (even if it’s at beginner level) and of course, the fact that the actual process of learning a new language increases the physical density of neurons in the brain. I do believe that learning new things is the mental equivalent of oxygen.

Disadvantages include having to spend time learning, the expense of tuition resources, the effort of finding online video resources. Also, the “double learning” regarding the MSA and conversational versions of the language. However, none of these disadvantages are significant enough to cause any level of doubt or put me off my goal.

W = Worthwhile : i.e. How does this goal fit in and support my deepest desires and values?

I love to learn, I see myself as capable of learning and I find the whole idea of learning Arabic fulfilling on many levels, so no problems there.

However, in the game of Rock, Scissors, Paper, your goal will lose out to your conflicting values.  If there is a conflict between your goal and something you believe or aspire to, then the goal is starting off on shaky ground and it won’t take much to drop it… or rather, it will take a lot more effort to achieve it.

The only possible conflict I’ve identified around this goal is time. I think I have sorted out this conflict because the personal fulfillment that comes from checking emails and analysing web traffic is not as important to me as the type that comes from learning a new language. However, because I know I have the ability to squander time, I will be keeping an eye on it to make sure that whatever motivates me to squander it does not creep in again. If it does, I’ll post about it and will demonstrate a combination of EFT and NLP techniques to combat it. So far, I’ve just used the data from my time analysis exercise and a conscious effort to apply more discipline. It’s vital to keep an eye on this potential goal-wrecker because if it creeps in while I’m not looking, it does have the potential to throw me off my goal and make me lose the motivation to get back on.

If you do this exercise, identify any clashes between your goal and your values and address them. For example if you want to lose weight but deep down you believe that thin people are miserable, then you’ll inadvertently be less committed to losing weight.

If you go through these steps, you’ll find it makes you think in immense detail - You’re now clearer about what you want and you want it badly.  Having worked through the kinks, the goal has become significantly more achievable, juicy and attractive!

My tutorial books have now arrived and I’m excited to move on from the mental preparation and get on with doing the task using methods to try and accelerate my learning.  More about that next time… Remember to subscribe by RSS or email if you’d like to receive updates.

As always, I invite you to share your experiences, thoughts and tips.

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image: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/woodsy
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Language Challenge Part 3 – Curiosity and its Role in Learning