This is Dilip Mukerjea's original synthesis & consolidation of the 'World's Most Powerful Learning Systems'.
It will be the precursor to his highly anticipated, state-of-the-art 'Brainaissance University' curriculum, which is now still in the "planning stage". When completed, it will the driving force for all learning ecosystems.
The outline for the 'Mastery Competencies', captured succinctly in the form of "a wheel hub with twelve radiating spokes", can be found on the back page of his wonderful book, 'Unleashing Genius'.
By the way, this is the only book from his portfolio of writings that straddles both the educational as well as corporate domains.
Each spoke of the hub represents one "mastery competency".
Mastering the stunning array of skills sets gives one the competence & capability to survive, thrive & excel in today's fast-paced, rapidly changing, complex world.
To recap, the foregoing learning menu, as Dilip likes to put it, for readers' easy refer
ence, as follows:[I have deliberately inserted some of Dilip's constant exhortations in his teachings & writings, to expand & reinforce your understanding!]:
1) The Brain;
[A working knowledge about the brain & how it works is imperative for you to make headway in your quest towards personal mastery.
Your brain is your business. Be good to your brain & your brain will be wonderful to you!
Brainpower has replaced horsepower! Brains breed business!
Genius is unleashed when both the 'left' & the 'right' attributes of the brain are working in harmony with one another!]
2) Memory;
[Memory is power! There can be no learning without memory!
There are also no limits to learning!]
3) Visual Tools & Strategies;
[We are living in a dominant visual culture. As much as 90% of what we learned in a lifetime comes to us via visual cues!]
4) Global/Self-Leadership & Personal Mastery;
[Leadership is Learning is Leadership! More importantly, self-leadership must always come first!
In a nut shell, effective leadership is thinking strategically, organising relentlessly, communicate effectively, execute diligently, measuring objectively, learning continuously, mentoring intentionally, & leading passionately!]
5) Brain Fitness;
[There is much more power when the body & the mind move ahead, at the same time, in the same direction. Knowing this secret, apply it to whatever it is you wish to achieve!]
6) Braintertainment;
[As the adage goes: "All work & no play makes Jack a dull boy!"
More importantly, humour is serious business. Laughter is the food of the soul. Medicine may not be a good joke, but good jokes are certainly welcome... they get your brain entertained at no cost!
Also, all quiz parades, puzzles & teasers are always designed to agitate your neurons & flex your mental muscles... thus helping to build your brainpower!]
7) Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship;
[There is a New World to be won; NOW! The choice is: Creativity or Catastrophe! It's about YOUR ability to generate streams of ideas & translate these ideas into business items.
Innovation results when creativity is extended & amplified. Through this, the final product or process is improved.
Entrepreneurship comes to play when innovation is combined with marketing & management, whereby capabilities & resources are put together to attain a businesss objective.]
8) Emotional Intelligence;
[Developing EQ is the veritable pathway to becoming a better human being!
To paraphrase Dilip, "The greatest legacy you can leave for humankind is the quality of your own being."]
9) Recreation/Rejuvenation & Joyful Living;
[If you monitor the quality of your life, you will recognise patterns that exist, & where relevant, be able to take immediate action to make changes for the better...
The quality of your life depends upon the choices you make. Let them be such that you emerge as victor, & not victim.
LIVE passionately
LOVE ardently
LEARN feverishly
LAUGH jouously
& help others along the way!]
10) Self-Efficacy/Powerful Habits of Mind;
[Self-efficacy is the #1 predictor & determinant of success in life!
One's personal success in life is always tied to the inherent beliefs & convictions in one's personal capabilities to initiate & to successfully perform purposefully specified tasks.
Also, your habits of mind ultimately determine your future! Successful people always possess powerful habits.
Napolean Hill's classic, 'Law of Success'; Stephen Covey's '7 Habits for Highly Effective People'; Robert Ringer's 'Million Dollar Habits', & Verne Harnish's 'Mastering the Rockefeller Habits' readily attested to the foregoing observation.]
11) English Language/ Communication Clarity;
[Clarity is Power! Clarity leads to engaged learning & information power.
With Dilip's proprietary 'Sentence Mapping' & 'Generative Vocabulary Building' techniques, building & enhancing your language facility is a piece of cake.]
12) Self-Directed/Life-Long Learning;
[Learning is a continually never-ending process! Leaders are Learners!]
This unique collection of 'mastery competencies' is akin to billionaire investor Charles Munger's 'Latticework of Mental Models', which allows one to adopt "systems thinking" or "multi-disciplinary thinking" to problem solving & decision making.
Embedded within this core hub is the Ten-Steps 'SuperBrain Study Skills' for the academic domain.
In a nut shell, these are the 'Ten Steps', with my elaboration:
1) Goal Setting & Goal Getting;
[Goals set your directions; focus your attention; direct your energy; stretch your potential; more importantly, they activate your 'Reticular Activating System' in the brain.
In the corporate world, this goal setting exercise is called "strategic visioning".
According to consultant Jim Collins, companies with vision always out-performed their assets!
Likewise, according to educational psychologist Dr Benjamin Singer, successful students have a profound belief in their future & in their ability to shape it via their own efforts.
That's to say, students with a clear vision out-performed their assets.
Dr Karl Pribram of Stanford University, who works with sport champions, calls it the "image of achievement".]
2) Self-Management & Task Prioritisation;
[Before you can manage your tasks, you have to be able to manage yourself. One aspect of self-management is being able to organise & keep track of the important things that you have to do to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
According to productivity coach Stephen Covey, this is essentially attaining your "personal victory" first, before you can start to lead, & be a role model to others, i.e. attaining "public victory".]
3) Active Reading, with Power Browsing & Power Comprehension;
[The key to becoming a fast reader is to approach reading as an active, dynamic thinking process, & of yourself as an active, thoughtful reader.
You can slash your reading time by first identifying your purpose, & then, focusing your attention!]
4) Systematic Information Gathering;
[Actually, a lot of readers don't realise this: the first & foremost objective of reading is actually to gather information!
The best way to gather information quickly is to identify & isolate key words or key phrases in the text.
Next, pay attention to the author's text navigational aids, like bold or italic prints, headings & subheadings, bullet points, boxed selections, graphic illustrations, etc., as well as understand the author's text organisational patterns & transitional words which he or she uses to elaborate ideas.
In a way, they serve as some sort of "visual signposts" for the reader. Tactically, they offer vital clues to help the reader to navigate through the text with ease, & to make sense of the text with precision.]
5) Note-Crafting, with a smorgasbord of visual tools & strategies;
[Note-crafting is an art, for you are creating a personal library of facts & ideas from your class experience.
To practise this art effectively, you need to condese what you are reading &/or listening in class, respond to it, record it clearly enough, so that the notes continue to make sense to you when tests/exams come along.
Mind-mapping has proven to be very useful in note-crafting, but it is just one known visual tool.
Different subjects or disciplines may require different visual tools to help you navigate optimally through the text in order to fish out important ideas from the text.
Dilip will share with participants a smorgasbord of visual tools, which are his technological creations.]
6) Power Study, Review, Revision & Rehearsal;
[Research indicates that although your learning actually rises shortly after your brain processes information; without any planned revision &/or rehearsal, you can lose up to 80% of the content within 24 hours.
In a nut shell, the secret to academic excellence, besides goal setting & priority management, is actually very simple: it's studying your notes regularly, reviewing them periodically, revising & rehearsing them adequately for a self-test, & most important of all, starting your strategic lesson review/revision from Day 1!]
7) Memory Recall Enhancement, with 'The Most Important Graph in the World';
[The key to using your memory more effectively is to realise that your brain never loses anything. Once a thought or idea has been input to your memory, it stays there for the rest of your life.
What we call "forgetting" is either the inability to recall stored information or the failure to store important information in the first place.
Dilip will share with participants all the relevant tips & techniques in super-memory management.
One of his favourite techniques is 'Blast off to Super Recall', with the use of 5 major elements: Primacy, Repeated, Outstanding, Personal Associations & Recency!]
8) Rehearsing the Exams, with 'Examining the Examination' techniques;
[An exam is essentially a mind game, a game of 'SPEED' (how fast you can recall) & 'PRECISION' (how well you can respond).
To ace in any exam, you have to learn how to play the game well in order to win it!
The first thing Dilip will share with participants is the mastery of the 100+ 'Test Verbs'!]
9) Strategic Application with Writing Craft;
[In the academic environment, this is the acid test of putting what you have learned to work.
Knowledge is not measured by what you have stored in your head, but by your personal productivity ~ what you do & what you don't!
In a nut shell, you need to organise & express your thoughts clearly as well as cogently in response to the examiner on paper, within prescribed parameters & time-frame.
As a prolific writer - with more than a dozen finely crafted books to his credit - Dilip will be more than happy to share with participants authoring tricks of the trade.]
10) Stress Management & Energy Engineering;
[For a student as well as his or her parents, stress often builds gradually as the school term progresses.
Creativity consultant Doug Hall once remarked: "Stress kills brain cells; stress is definitely not a good idea!"
Explicitly, unresolved stress in the body often impacts the memory indexing capacity of the brain.
As a counterpoint: "What's power when there is no control!", asserts a tyre ad from a well-known manufacturer.
In reality, a resourceful mind state actually gives you the personal control.
As a dedicated Aikido practitioner, Dilip will show participants how to develop a resourceful mind state & to sustain a continuous flow experience, while under trying circumstances.]
Specifically for the student, Dilip will cover all the foregoing study skills sets in depth, with appropriate practices to help students internalise them.
The class coaching methodology, as he puts it, is:
"Fast-paced, pulse-quickeningly interactive, & with ample opportunity to develop these skills in real time. Emphasis is on practical applications, for immediate use, with spontaneous integration in daily life".
[to be continued in the Next Post.]
[For more information about the series of new programs under 'The House of Creative Brains', please get in touch with Ms. Faye Yeoh via her email faye_yeoh@yahoo.com.]
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