Thread by @Fox0x01

Brain Hack:

How to trick your brain into learning something new, faster & more effectively.

1. Tell yourself you are going to only focus on it for the next 45min, with high intensity.

2. Once you're done, stop everything and enter deep rest mode.

What this does to your brain:

Step 1 will induce a sense of urgency and the release two chemicals that trigger your brain into learning mode:

Adrenaline:
Raises your alertness

Acetylcholine:
Increases the modification of synapses related to the task, basically highlighting the areas it wants to change.

Step 2 ensures the necessary changes are put in place and helps consolidate what you learned into new pathways.

Bonus: knowing you can chill after 45mins serves as a reward and increases your motivation to do the task.

Increase the focus period over time (to up to 2h sprints).

Here is a research paper on "The Role of Acetylcholine in Learning and Memory" if you want to dig into the details:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P….

Before people start screaming "Pomodoro Technique" again:

I don't approve of it in its traditional form (25mins focus, short breaks in between) for *learning*.

Your brain needs ~23mins to build up focus. Stopping at 25 is poison for deep focus and flow.
azeria-labs.com/the-process-of…

I use the Forest app for deep work.

It let's you "lock" your phone into focus mode so your tree dies if you use it. You get points for planting and can spend it on tree species. Useful daily/weekly/yearly stats & views so you can see your progress in form of a pretty forest.