Fire hydrant = hydrogen Balloon = helium Batteries = lithium Barrel = beryllium Board = borum Diamant = carbon Knight Rider = nitrogen Ox = oxygen Tooth paste = flour Sign = neon

F.A.S.T. learning is the key concept for improving your brain performance.

F = forget what you know, your circumstances and limitations A = activate your brain by consuming less and creating more S = state is important, emotions create long term memories T = teach, because you learn it twice by telling others

Only 1/3 of our brain performance is determined. That means: 2/3 is in your control. There is nothing like a good or bad mind, only a trained and a not trained one. Learning how to learn is the most important thing in life. Unfortunately we are not really taught in school, how to do that properly. So we need catch up!

Quick recall can be trained with the MOM-method: Motivation, Observation, Mechanics. Motivation: If someone gives your 100.000 $ to just remember a name, you would do that, right? So recall is a matter of whether you want it or not. Check your motivation by asking WIIFN: Whats in it for me? Reasons reap results!

Observation: (1) Fight for your limitations and you get to keep them. (2) Its not your retention, its your attention. Leaders have a great memory because they care (e.g. Bill Clinton). Try not to listen in order to respond, but to understand. Quick recall via MOM – Mechanics (follows).

1. Good diet: You are, what you eat. 2. Kill "ants" (= automatic negative thoughts --> Dr. Daniel Amen) 3. Excerise: When your body moves, your brain growes 4. Brain nutrience (supplements) 5. Positive peer-group: who you spend time with, is who you become.

6. Clean environment 7. Sleep 8. Brain protection: avoid extremes (e.g. sports), your brain is fragile 9. New learnings: neuroplasticity possible even in older age; nutrience + novelty 10. stress manangement A lot of things are common sense, but not common practice.

Knowledge is power. Especially in the new knowledge economy we live in. The average CEO for example reads 4-5 books a month. Why? Because it gives him/her an advantage to non-readers. Leaders are readers!

To read 4-5 books per month like CEOs you don't even need to speed read (which is good anyway). Do the math: An average person reads 200 words per minute. An average book has 64000 words. Hence, you only need to read 45 minutes a day to complete that task. Just imagine whats possible if you are able to read faster ...

1. Keep a book list. 2. Start by testing your reading speed. 3. Keep in mind: You can finish a book per week by reading 45 minutes a day. 4. Schedule your reading time. Take your day peak as orientation.

Method for remembering names: BE SUAVE. B = Believe: Most people think they are unable to do certain things. That's the issue! All behavior is believe driven. "You cannot do it, YET!" E = Exercise: Practice makes progress. Bad news: It takes effort. Good news: Not so much :-)

S = Say it. Recall the name. U = Use it. Three or more times in the conversation. A = Ask. Talk about the name. Story behind it. Spelling etc. V = Visualize. Especially the face. E = End with their name. And they will remember yours as well ;-)

The average person reads 200 words per minute. Even with this tempo you could easily read a book a week by taking 45 minutes a day. But, however, this does not mean you keep in mind what you read. There are typical problems people have with reading.

Lack of skill: Reading isn’t something you can do when you are born. It’s a skill. So: When did you actually learn to read? In first class, right? Since then no one really gets taught how do it properly. So most people stay on that level of their ability to read.

Lack of focus: It’s a myth, that faster readers have less comprehension. It’s even the other way around. If you have no time for distraction, you focus more. Remember: Information combined with emotion becomes long term memory. Use a pen/finger as a visual pacer.

How do you recall a list of 10 random words? Test it. Read this list only once and then write down what you remember. Note: Its not about failure (which is good!). Fire hydrant. Balloon. Batteries. Barrel. Board. Diamant. Knight Rider. Ox. Tooth paste. Sign.

Now tell a story including these words. It doesn't have to make sense, just make something up (e.g. creative, funny, crazy). Now recall your story and write all the words down on a sheet. Did it work? You also learned the first 10 elements in the periodic table ;-) ...

By the way: Telling a story helps remembering things. Also does: primacy (first word), recency (last word), organization, emotion, outstanding things.

Subvocalization slows you down. Your brain can think faster than you can speak. 3 Hacks: 1. Strech yourself with getting used to shortcuts while reading. 2. Listen to music, because it may distract you from subvocalization (e.g. barock with 60 b/s). 3. Break patterns with humming, chewing gum or counting.

We forget 80% of what we learn during 48 hours. Thats tragic! What to do? The key is taking notes in a helpful way. How?

1. Be active in listening. 2. Know your purpose. 3. Textual hierarchy (e.g. highlighting or underlining) 4. Organize your notes. 5. Use your own words (verbatim note-taking is pretty useless!) 6. Create your own system (e.g. abbreviation, symbols) 7. Filter important information.

Research suggests: Handwriting is the most successful method for notes. This way you have to synthesize the information, because you don't have time to write everything down.

Method: Capture and create Take a blank sheet and draw a line in the middle. On the left side you capture all the info (imagine the left, logic part of the brain). On the right side you work with this info on your own, creating something important for you (imagine the right, creative part of the brain).

Method: TIP T = think about what to retain I = identify relevant information P = prioritize it

What takes more guts To fight for your own life at any cost or prove that youre willing to lose it

Children learn many principles of natural law at a very early age. For example: they learn that when one child has picked up an apple or a flower, it is his, and that his associates must not take it from him against his will.

Even when you have doubts, take that step. Take chances. Mistakes are never a failure - they can be turned into wisdom.

Before boxing, I was this angry kid ready to fight if someone said, 'Hello.'

Once a few Facebook employees put together a promising idea and start a company, that's very exciting to people. I happen to think being a Facebook employee is really correlated with good ideas.

I like people who are enthused about things they do, like travel, sports, work. I like being with people who have things they're excited about.

Of course, of course I'm grateful. How can I not be grateful? I have been afforded such a wonderful life.

If there's something I hate the most, it's feeling helpless, powerless.

These manly sentiments, in private life, make good citizens; in public life, the patriot and the hero.

Most people marry their mother. I married my father.

I would say that Times Square was the central hangout for Burroughs, Kerouac, and myself from about 1945 to 1948.

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I get so much grounding from Iceland because I know it's always going to be there. I have a very happy, healthy relationship with the country, so it's really easy to go everywhere because I always have Iceland to go back to.

With the general availability of Windows 8/RT and Surface, I have decided it is time for me to take a step back from my responsibilities at Microsoft.

There are three things we have no control over: our birth; our emotions, if we're sincere; and our death.

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.

I just love what Nicholas Britell did with 'Moonlight.'

Get out of your house and go see some live performance, for God's sake. There are people creating things just outside your window.

I'm the first Icelandic director who started working on U.S. movies. There are others behind me now, but it's like when Bjork opened the door for Icelandic musicians to work abroad. We're such a closed-off country, but Bjork broke the spell. And I'm glad it was a woman who did it. She showed us we could break this barrier.

There is something attractive about taking risks.

When you buy toothpaste or detergent or gas, that is now used for the first time in your lifetime or my lifetime to support candidates in so-called 'independent ads.' Same thing for unions.

To believe Christ's cross to be a friend, as he himself is a friend, is also a special act of faith.

When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream.

The Internet's impact is immense. My students can't imagine ever paying for a book.