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.

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 ;-) ...

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

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

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

Kindness gives birth to kindness.

I think daughters can change the perception of their fathers.

As I grow older, I become more and more of a Marxist - Groucho, that is. When you have lived two-thirds of your life, you know the value of a good joke.

The more complicated this society becomes, the greater the need is to simplify your life.

I would like to use architecture to create bonds between people who live in cities, and even use it to recover the communities that used to exist in every single city.

The biggest luxury is a job in which I get to live in New York, travel the world, and work with so many incredible people.

The biggest profit center for investment banks is the hefty fees they charge for underwriting stock offerings and giving financial advice, and analysts put those profits at risk if they publish negative conclusions about the companies that pay the fees.

Life is too short to spend at war with yourself. Practice acceptance and forgiveness. Letting go of yesterday's troubles is your first step towards happiness today.

I don't just want my books to be about the '30s and '40s. I want them to read as if they had been written then. I think of them as '40s novels, written in the conservative narrative past.

It's hard not to get depressed when you pay attention to the world and how strangely and corrupt the people in it sometimes behave.

Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we cant even describe and arent even aware of.

So many organizations have a mentoring arm, but they don't really do it. Their idea of mentoring a kid is giving them general advice. But what they need to do is read with children.

A smile puts you on the right track. A smile makes the world a beautiful place. When you lose your smile you lose your way in the chaos of life.

There's a viewpoint that says, 'I can fight for minorities, and I can fight for women,' and if you get that, you make up a vast majority of the voting block, and you win. And white males have been left aside a little bit in the politics of who speaks to them.

The name 'Boss' started with people that worked for me... It was not meant like Boss, capital B, it was meant like 'Boss, where's my dough this week?' And it was sort of just a term among friends. I never really liked it.

If someone is alone reading my poems, I hope it would be like reading someone's notebook. A record. Of a place, beauty, difficulty. A familiar daily struggle.

I completely trust Gloria Vanderbilt. I have always found her very honest.

I feel like I've been out of high school forever. So I just read to keep my mind going.

A string of burglaries is a crime necklace. Everything I have can be stolen except love, because I give it all away.

The books one has written in the past have two surprises in store: one couldn't write them again, and wouldn't want to.

You can't see other people's point of view when you have only one language.

I try not to think about anyone's expectations but rather focus on always doing my personal best. Modeling was never a thought in my mind growing up, but my mom felt it was important for me to be open to business opportunities and expand my horizons.

You can make a fresh start with your final breath.

If our species is to survive, our future will probably require outposts beyond our own planet.