One Thing You Have Forgotten Since You Were A Student

The human brain has been clocked processing less than 60 bits of information per second. This means humans deal with information about as fast as early teletype machines of decades ago.

Humans can only listen to one song at a time or listen to one co-worker at a time. We can’t listen to a song and compose another while speaking to a friend while doing complex numerical calculations. Information flows into our minds in a linear fashion. We have to read a book from front to back, word by word, sentence by sentence. Computers can read a book all at once.

Have you ever had a great idea, turned to glance at the television, or answer a phone call, and you could never remember that brilliant, life-changing thought again?

You’re not getting older. This is apparently how our human minds work.

Too many modern day distractions. We have the internet, of course, but we also have 12 grocery stores and 42 gas stations all bidding for our attention. We have cell phones and instant messages, but we also have multiple brands of motor oil that want you to care about them, and dozens of pizza places in your very town that would love to see you. And when you get sick, there is an entire store, wall to wall, with nothing but medicine, all claiming to relieve your exact symptoms. Every label screaming at you, “Hey, I’m important. Take me home.”

How in the world can you concentrate anymore? No wonder people don’t invent or create anymore. Our 60-bits-per-second minds are too busy processing data. We need to grow separate brains to actually analyze this information.

Remember when you were in school?

There was no way you could remember everything your teacher said. So you took notes.

But why don’t people take notes in their real lives? At work, or home, or while watching TV, or listening to the radio or while you’re cleaning dishes.

At the end of the day, you can review your writings and take appropriate actions, even if it is just to seek more information.

Realize that everyday of your life is school.

Take notes.

There will be a test.

What’s your secret for keeping your attention in focus? Let me know.