Why Didn’t I Think of That?

NEW THOUGHT NEW RESULT

Have you ever told your partner or your child something over-and-over, then one day they come home and say, “guess what so-and-so told me”? You are like, that is what I have been telling you for months. Well, this is what happened when I was listening to something the other day, but this time, I had a light-bulb moment. Ping!

People absorb information in various ways; process in various ways; and relay the information in various ways. For instance, back to the “guess what so-and-so told me” story. You weren’t conveying the information in a way that was absorbable for the person and somebody else did. We all learn in our own way. If you know how you learn, you will retain the knowledge much better. This is what happened to me with this ‘new result-new thought’ aha! moment.

I have heard this said many ways in the past i.e. if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results. I heard this many times, and I agreed with it in my head, and then, I kept doing the same thing anyway. WTH?

What was different when I read the idea of ‘New Thought/New Result’ this time? It was because I was writing the ideas that popped into my head while I was ‘listening’ to the article. It was having a conversation with the author basically. It was a ‘book club’ of my own. I got the idea from a show I had been binging on. The character used a visual board of the ideas that were popping into her head by putting all of them on a visual board with the thoughts she was processing for each item. In the end, she could connect some of the thoughts and ideas which trigger a truth she had not ‘seen’ before. I emphasize ‘seen’ because it can’t be seen by most of us unless it is visual.

You may struggle with reading because it is too slow for you or you get distracted by your own thoughts as you are trying to follow along. Listening to the article while I write my thoughts is working! I am able to retain much more. You might want to give it a try.

Now days, we can have almost anything read to us. It is called Text-to-Speech. For instance, I am writing this article with MS Word. I can click ‘Review’ in the toolbar and choose the ‘Read Aloud’ and Wah Lah, it reads it out loud to me. This is so much more interesting than trying to read it to myself. As I listen, I take notes. On an internet article, right click on article, and choose ‘help me read this’ and another screen will pop up and you choose play, or right click on screen and choose ‘speech’- start speaking. PDFs also have a way to ‘listen’. The very, very best way to retain is to follow along with the written word while it is read out loud. The results will be amazing.

The notes I take are more of a stream of consciousness. Sometimes my notes, may be about something else entirely that what I was listening to triggered. This is not only okay, it is wonderful, because that is what ‘new thought’ is about. I know the thought is now safe on paper and won’t be forgotten. I can go back to it anytime, so now I am ready to focus on the article or book or _____ again. I may back up a paragraph and start where my mind took off in a different direction.

We all know someone, or maybe it is you, who can sit and get totally absorbed in the written word. Their mind works well with the written word and their own thought or imagination. Maybe you can tell me what it is. I have a granddaughter and a niece who do this. I have another person in my life who does not retain by listening, he must read it himself. It is your unique brain. Anyway, it is not me and it is not many of the students I teach.

Yes, I am a teacher, and it has taken me many years to figure out the way my brain learns. It didn’t have to take many years though. It is okay to not learn the same way as your friends or partner. It does not make you less or them less. It is what you retain that is the judge and jury in the end. I had a student tell me that for the first time since grade school, she is enjoying a book. Some people learn best by doing. She listens while she organizes her room, or while walking, so reading has now captured her with the first audible ‘once upon a time’. I in-joy, listening to stories while doing stuff as well, but if I want to retain, I need the ‘solo book club’.

Cheers