• Our brain uses two very different processes for thinking—the focused anddiffuse modes. Itseems you toggle back and forth between these modes, using one or the other.•It is typical to be stumped by new concepts and problems when we first focus onthem.•To figure out new ideas and solve problems, its important not only to focus initially,but also tosubsequently turn our focus away from what we want to learn.•The Einstellung effect refers to getting stuck in solving a problem or understandinga concept asa result of becoming fixated on a flawed approach. Switching modes from focused todiffuse canhelp free you from this effect. Keep in mind, then, that sometimes you will need to be flexible inyour thinking. You may need to switch modes to solve a problem or understand a concept. Yourinitial ideas about problem solving can sometimes be very misleading.• Use the focused mode to first start grappling with concepts and problems inmath and science.• After you’ve done your first hard focused work, allow the diffuse mode to takeover. Relax and do something different!• When frustration arises, it’s time to switch your attention to allow the diffusemode to begin working in the background.• It’s best to work at math and science in small doses—a little every day. Thisgives both the focused and diffuse modes the time they need to do theirthing so you can understand what you are learning. That’s how solid neural structures are built.If procrastination is an issue, try setting a timer for twenty-five minutes and focusing intently on your task without allowing yourself to be drawn asideby text messages, web surfing, or other attractive distractions.There are two major memory systems:• Working memory—like a juggler who can keep only four items in the air.• Long-term memory—like a storage warehouse that can hold large amounts ofmaterial, but needs to be revisited occasionally to keep the memo-ries accessible.Spaced repetition helps move items from working memory to long-term memory.Sleep is a critical part of the learning process. It helps you:• Make the neural connections needed for normal thinking processes—which iswhy sleep the night before a test is so important.• Figure out tough problems and find meaning in what you are learning.• Strengthen and rehearse the important parts of what you are learning and pruneaway trivialities.

Practice helps build strong neural patterns—that is, conceptual chunks of understanding.Practice gives you the mental fluidity and agility you need for tests.Chunks are best built with:• Focused attention.• Understanding of the basic idea.• Practice to help you gain big-picture context.• Simple recall—trying to remember the key points without looking at the page—isone of the best ways to help the chunking process along.■ We procrastinate about things that make us feel uncomfortable. But whatmakes us feel good temporarily isn’t necessarily good for us in the long run.■ Procrastination can be like taking tiny amounts of poison. It may not seemharmful at the time. But the long-term effects can be very damaging.A little bit of work on something that feels painful can ultimately be very beneficial.Habits such as procrastination have four parts:• The cue• The routine• The reward• The beliefChange a habit by responding differently to a cue, or even avoiding that cue altogether. Reward and belief make the change long-lasting.Focus on the process (the way you spend your time) instead of the product (what you want to accomplish).Use the twenty-five-minute Pomodoro to stay productive for brief periods. Then reward yourself after each successful period of focused attention.Be sure to schedule free time to nurture your diffuse mode.Mental contrasting is a powerful motivating technique—think about the worst aspects of your present or past experiences and contrast these with the up-beat vision of your future.Multitasking means that you are not able to make full, rich connections in your thinking, because the part of your brain that helps make connections isconstantly being pulled away before neural connections can be firmed up.• Chunking means integrating a concept into one smoothly connected neuralthought pattern.•Chunking helps increase the amount of working memory you have available.•Building a chunked library of concepts and solutions helps build intuition inproblem solving.•When you are building a chunked library, it’s important to keep deliberate focus onsome of the toughest concepts and aspects of problem solving.•Occasionally you can study hard and fate deals a bad hand. But remember the Lawof Serendipity: If you prepare well by practicing and building a goodmental library, you will find that luck will be increasingly on your side. In other

words, you guarantee failure if you don’t try, but those who consistentlygive it a good effort will experience many more successes.• Mental tricks can be powerful tools. The following are some of the mosteffective:• Put yourself in a place with few interruptions, such as a library, to help withprocrastination.• Practice ignoring distracting thoughts by simply letting them drift past.• If your attitude is troubled, reframe your focus to shift attention from thenegative to the positive.• Realize it’s perfectly normal to sit down with a few negative feelings aboutbeginning your work.• Planning your life for “playtime” is one of the most important things you cando to prevent procrastination, and one of the most important reasons toavoid procrastination.• At the heart of procrastination prevention is a reasonable daily to-do list, witha weekly once-over to ensure you’re on track from a big-picture perspec-• Write your daily task list the evening before.• Eat your frogs first.Procrastination is such an important topic that this summary includes key takeaway points from all this book’s chapters on overcoming procrastination:• Keep a planner-journal so you can easily track when you reach your goals andobserve what does and doesn’t work.• Commit yourself to certain routines and tasks each day.• Write your planned tasks out the night before, so your brain has time to dwellon your goals to help ensure success.• Arrange your work into a series of small challenges. Always make sure you (andyour zombies!) get lots of rewards. Take a few minutes to savor the feel-ings of happiness and triumph.• Deliberately delay rewards until you have finished a task.• Watch for procrastination cues.• Put yourself in new surroundings with few procrastination cues, such as thequiet section of a library.• Obstacles arise, but don’t make a practice of blaming all your problems on externalfactors. If everything is always somebody else’s fault, it’s time to startlooking in the mirror.• Gain trust in your new system. You want to work hard during times of focusedconcentration—and also trust your system enough that when it comestime to relax, you actually relax without feelings of guilt.• Have backup plans for when you still procrastinate. No one is perfect, after all.• Eat your frogs first.The memory palace technique—placing memorable nudges in a scene that is familiar to you—allows you to dip into the strength of your visual mem-

ory system.Learning to use your memory in a more disciplined, yet creative manner helps you learn to focus your attention, even as you create wild, diffuse connections that build stronger memories.By memorizing material you understand, you can internalize the material in a profound way. And you are reinforcing the mental library you need to become a genuine master of the material.• Metaphors can help you learn difficult ideas more quickly.• Repetition is critical in allowing you to firm up what you want to rememberbefore the ideas fade away.Meaningful groups and abbreviations can allow you to simplify and chunk what you are trying to learn so you can store it more easily in memory.Stories—even if they are just used as silly memory tricks—can allow you to more easily retain what you are trying to learn.Writing and saying what you are trying to learn seems to enhance retention.Exercise is powerfully important in helping your neurons to grow and make new connections.• At some point, after you’ve got chunked material well in hand (and in brain),you start to let go of conscious awareness of every little detail and dothings automatically.•It may seem intimidating to work alongside other students who grasp materialmore quickly than you do. But “average” students can sometimes have ad-vantages when it comes to initiative, ability to get things done, and creativity.•Part of the key to creativity is to be able to switch from full focused concentrationto the relaxed, daydreamy diffuse mode.•Focusing too intently can inhibit the solution you are seeking—like trying tohammer a screw because you think it’s a nail. When you are stuck, some-times it’s best to get away from a problem for a while and move on to something else, or to simply sleep on it.• Brains mature at different speeds. Many people do not develop maturity untiltheir midtwenties.• Some of the most formidable heavyweights in science started out asapparently hopeless juvenile delinquents.• One trait that successful professionals in science, math, and technologygradually learn is how to chunk—to abstract key ideas.• Metaphors and physical analogies form chunks that can allow ideas from verydifferent areas to influence one another.• Regardless of your current or intended career path, keep your mind open andensure that math and science are in your learning repertoire. This givesyou a rich reserve of chunks to help you be smarter about your approach to all sorts of life and career challenges.Equations are just ways of abstracting and simplifying concepts. This means that

equations contain deeper meaning, similar to the depth of meaningfound in poetry.Your “minds eye” is important because it can help you stage plays and personalize what you are learning about.Transfer is the ability to take what you learn in one context and apply it to somethingelse.• It’s important to grasp the chunked essence of a mathematical concept, becausethen it’s easier to transfer and apply that idea in new and differentways.• Multitasking during the learning process means you don’t learn as deeply—thiscan inhibit your ability to transfer what you are learning.• Learning on your own is one of the deepest, most effective ways to approachlearning:• It improves your ability to think independently.• It can help you answer the strange questions that teachers sometimes throw atyou on tests.•In learning, persistence is often far more important than intelligence.•Train yourself to occasionally reach out to people you admire. You can gain wisenew mentors who, with a simple sentence, can change the course ofyour future. But use your teachers’ and mentors’ time sparingly.•If you aren’t very fast at grasping the essentials of whatever you are studying, don’tdespair. Surprisingly often, “slower” students are grappling with fun-damentally important issues that quicker students miss. When you finally get what’s going on, you can get it at a deeper level.•People are competitive as well as cooperative. There will always be those whocriticize or attempt to undermine any effort or achievement you make.Learn to deal dispassionately with these issues.The focused mode can allow you to make critical errors even though you feel confident you’ve done everything correctly. Rechecking your work canlow you to get a broader perspective on it, using slightly different neural processes that can allow you to catch blunders.Working with others who aren’t afraid to disagree can:• Help you catch errors in your thinking.• Make it easier for you to think on your feet and react well in stressful situations.• Improve your learning by ensuring that you really understand what you areexplaining to others and reinforcing what you know.• Build important career connections and help steer you toward better choices.Criticism in your studies, whether you are giving or receiving it, shouldn’t be taken asbeing about you. It’s about what you are trying to understand.It is easiest of all to fool yourself.• Not getting enough sleep the night before a test can negate any otherpreparation you’ve done.

•Taking a test is serious business. Just as fighter pilots and doctors go through checklists, going through your own test preparation checklist can vastly im-prove your chances of success.•Counterintuitive strategies such as the hard-start-jump-to-easy technique can give your brain a chance to reflect on harder challenges even as you’re fo-cusing on other, more straightforward problems.•The body puts out chemicals when it is under stress. How you interpret your body’sreaction to these chemicals makes all the difference. If you shiftyour thinking from “This test has made me afraid” to “This test has got me excited todo my best!” it helps improve your performance.•If you are panicked on a test, momentarily turn your attention to your breathing. Relax your stomach, place your hand on it, and slowly draw a deepbreath. Your hand should move outward, and your whole chest should expand like a barrel.•Your mind can trick you into thinking that what you’ve done is correct, even if it isn’t. This means that, whenever possible, you should blink, shift yourattention, and then double-check your answers using a big-picture perspective, asking yourself, “Does this really make sense7."