The document discusses the concepts of 3D thinking, focusing on memory and concentration techniques to enhance learning. It highlights how our brain processes information in three time dimensions—past, present, and future—and outlines strategies for improving memory recall, including mnemonics, rhyming, and sensory associations. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of being present and engaged in the moment as key to effective thinking and memory retention.

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3D Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
3D Thinking
THINKING SKILLS

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3D Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Thinking Skills
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INTRODUCTION
One of the key features of the human brain, which separates
us from other animal species, is our ability to think in three
time dimensions: past, present and future. It is believed that
we store every past event in our brains and that with skill
we can retrieve any memory. Thinking in the present means
the ability to concentrate on anything we are doing right
now. Thinking in the future brings together imagination and
logic and is the first necessary step in bringing about the
future we want.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
WHAT IS MEMORY?
Some scientists look on memory as the Rosetta Stone of the
brain: find out how memory works and you unlock the
mysteries of the mind.
Every culture since the ancient Greeks has pondered the
mystery of memory and come up with their own metaphor
to describe it. The Greeks saw it in terms of inscriptions on
wax tablets. Medieval societies portrayed it in a complex
system of hydraulics, pipes and valves. In the 17th century, it
became a clockwork mechanism and in the 20th century we
talk of memory in terms of the computer.
Psychologist Alan Baddeley says we have more than one
type of memory. We have a long-term memory which is like
a computer's hard disk; a short-term memory which is like a
computer's read-only memory; and a sensory memory for
recalling sights, sounds and tastes.

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GETTING IT TO STICK
Research shows that there are 3 stages to committing a
piece of information to memory.
Stage 1 is placing a chunk of information into immediate
memory. Most people agree that the amount of information
you can capture is very small, no more than about 6 or 7
chunks.
Stage 2 happens when we transfer the new information to
short-term memory. It takes 8 seconds to do this.
Stage 3, moving information to long-term memory, is much
harder. First, you need the neurotransmitters, epinephrine
and norepinephrine, to be present, for example through
having a strong physical or emotional experience at the
same time. To move a new motor skill to long-term memory
can take up to 6 hours unimpeded by other information.
To remember a new skill, you need to review often, have
breaks, and do something physical.

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POWERS OF RECALL
Most of us complain at some time about our poor memories
- especially when we forget things that are important, such
as birthdays, anniversaries and meetings.
But it is not memory that lets us down. Our brains
remember everything we have ever experienced; we know
this from near-death experiences, hypnosis and feelings of
déjà vu. What is at fault is our ability to recall.
There are 7 ways we can help our ability to recall facts and
experiences of the past:
1. synaesthesia or association of the senses
2. landmarks
3. the peg system
4. mnemonics
5. regular review
6. rhymes
7. name connections.

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SYNAESTHESIA
Synaesthesia is the association of memory with our senses.
Using our senses to remember is neglected by most people.
The Renaissance artist and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci,
complained: "The average person looks without seeing,
listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats
without tasting, moves without physical awareness, and
inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance.“
Experiments show that our ability to recall is heightened by
sense associations. Dr Frank Staub of Yale University showed
a class of students a set of words while secretly wafting the
aroma of sweet chocolate. The students were not told to
memorize the words but some days later when they were
asked to remember the list and smelt the same chocolate,
their recall was astonishingly high. This explains why we are
able to make connections with childhood memories from
sights, smells and sounds.

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LANDMARKS
Remember to remember. When you want to remember
something, you need to put down a striking landmark or
association.
Some striking landmarks are those that are sexy; funny; in a
numerical progression; first or last in a series; unexpected;
bold; colourful; strange; embarrassing; emotional; silly;
exaggerated; of life and death importance; and shocking.
Landmarks are based on our emotional reactions to events.
This is why most people can recall precisely where they
were and what they were doing at times of shocking news,
such as the assassination of President John Kennedy and the
death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

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LANDMARKING
We remember bad jokes we made that others found funny.
We remember things we did which were well praised.
We remember our first morning in a new job.
We remember people we met whom we found sexy.
We remember ideas we had that were outrageous and
worked.
We remember risks we took which went embarrassingly
wrong or surprisingly right.
We remember our first day at first school.
We remember stupid mistakes which we can't believe we
could have made.
We remember ideas we had that nobody had ever thought
of before.
We remember magical moments with those we love.
We remember moving music, warm summer nights and
beautiful sunsets.
We remember our first kiss and our last hugs.

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THE PEG SYSTEM
A peg memory system is useful for memorising a list of
numbered items. The peg is a hook on which we hang the
number. You can use any kind of peg system as long as it is
easy to remember and used consistently.
This is a rhyming peg system: 1 (one) = sun; 2 (two) = glue; 3
(three) = knee; 4 (four) = door; 5 (five) = hive; 6 (six) = sticks;
7 (seven) = heaven; 8 (eight) = gate; 9 (nine) = vine; 0
(nought) = wart.
Let's say we want to remember a phone number: 302187. In
the above system, this is "knee", "wart", glue", "sun",
"gate", and "heaven". All you need to do now is make up a
crazy, silly and exaggerated story. For example: "I drew the
number on my knee all around a wart. Next I put some glue
on it to keep it in place. Suddenly the sun came out, so I
went out the gate and found myself in heaven."

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RHYMES
Our brains are repositories of huge amounts of information,
stored in countless ways. It is no wonder that most of us
have difficulty recalling specific pieces of information. One
way to aid memory recall is the association of rhyme with
information.
The use of rhymes, poetry and storytelling has been a
common method of recalling and recounting information for
centuries. It is the way civilizations of the past retained their
histories.
Rhymes help us link one piece of information with another
and retain it through the sound it makes in our heads. So we
recall that: "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus
sailed the ocean blue"; or that "i before e, except after c"; or
"30 days hath September, April, June and November..." We
can use the same approach with any other information that
we need to remember.

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MNEMONICS
Mnemonics are specific letter and word combinations
named after the Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne.
There are no rules to follow when devising your own
mnemonics; the more personal they are, the better.
This is a mnemonic for remembering the order of the
planets based on their distances from the sun: My Very
Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, Pluto)
This is a mnemonic for remembering the order of the
colours of the rainbow: Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain;
(Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).

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REMEMBERING NAMES
One of the most common complaints of people who claim
they have bad memories is that they cannot recall people's
names. This can be socially disadvantageous as well as an
embarrassing flaw in their management skills.
To remember a person's name, your brain has to remember
a word, using the left brain, and a face, using the right brain,
and connect the two together. The following tips can help:
1. get the name clear in the first place
2. repeat the name in conversation as soon afterwards as
possible
3. once you've learned it, rehearse it to yourself
4. get a peg on it, eg someone called Burton might remind
you of a feature of the actor Richard Burton or of a well-
dressed person at Burton's the tailors
5. make up a silly association, eg Lazenby could laze on the
beach; Pakenham could pack 'em in.

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REPETITION AND REVIEW
Everything that we wish to remember goes from our
conscious brains into a holding area called the Short-Term
Memory and from there, if we want to recall it easily into
Long-Term Memory. 70% of what we learn one day can be
forgotten the next unless we use repetition and review
techniques to transfer it to our Long-Term Memory.
Repetition and review techniques include:
1. re-playing an event in our mind's eye while sitting
quietly
2. discussing the event with others
3. making notes and drawings, such as a cluster diagram
4. repeating the event at the actual place
5. re-telling an incident to someone else or a group of
people
6. using aide-memoires and posting them somewhere we
can see them.

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THE NEED TO FORGET
It is a mystery to neuroscientists why, when every single
molecule in our bodies dies and is replaced many times
over, our memories still remain. Yet is is just as important
for us to forget as it is for us to remember, otherwise our
conscious brains would be overloaded with huge amounts
of choices whenever we wanted to do anything.
One theory of forgetting is called trace decay in which the
traces of our memories simply fade with time. Another
theory, called interference, suggests that memories become
confused amid all the other memories.
Not being able to forget may be a mixed blessing. The
Russian memory man, Solomon Shereshevskii, could recall
any sequence of 50 numbers in less than 3 minutes but he
lived so much in his memory that he found difficulty in
concentrating on the present and doing any simple job.

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CONCENTRATION
It is hard to concentrate totally on a job in hand. When
asked "What is the longest time you've ever fully
concentrated?" Albert Einstein, one of the century's
greatest thinkers, replied: "About two minutes".
For most of us for most of the time, our thoughts wander
into the past with its emotive associations or into the future
with its hopes and fears. When we give ourselves over fully
to the present, we almost become disassociated from
everything else. This is the kind of thinking that lets you be
in present awareness; it is attentive, free-flowing, lost-in-
now thinking. Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey call it
"slowing down to the speed of life".
"When I work, I leave my body outside the door, the way
Moslems leave their shoes outside the mosque." (Pablo
Picasso)

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TUNNEL VISION
It is difficult to concentrate without letting the mind wander.
We notice it more often in other people than ourselves,
perhaps those who have lost interest when we are speaking.
Concentration sometimes needs a little help:
1. be as physically still as you can be
2. reduce the amount of outside interference. If you can't
stop the noise around you, treat it as a big ongoing
background sound.
3. do one thing at a time
4. if your thoughts turn to emotions, whether fear or joy,
or whatever, quietly lead them out of your mind
5. become interested in the job in hand to the exclusion of
everything else
6. don't force yourself to concentrate; concentration is
what's left when you remove distractions
7. if it won't come, fake it and it will come by itself.

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IN ANALYSING MODE
The analytical processor is the kind of thinking that requires
effort and hard work. When you know you're thinking,
you're usually in analytical mode. It is the kind of thinking
that resembles a computer's computations.
In the analytical mode of thinking...
1. we need to understand ideas first, such as the gist of a
report, a complex formula, an argument put by
someone else
2. we need to analyse the parts of an idea by processes of
selection, appraisal, comparison, evaluation and
judgment
3. we need to compare new information with information
already stored in our brains
4. we need to make use of conscious thought processes,
such as goal-setting, planning and problem-solving
5. we need to base our thinking on verifiable information
such as facts, statistics and reasonably certain reports of
events.

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FREE-FLOW THINKING
Free-flow thinking goes by names such as present
awareness, out-of-the-blue thinking, creative insight,
inspiration and effortless thinking. Unlike the analytical
processor, where we consciously turn our thinking on to
deal with known facts and information, free-flow thinking
turns conscious thinking off.
These are some of the characteristics of free-flow thinking:
1. we let go of worrying thoughts about the future
2. we open ourselves to what is happening here and now
3. we slow our pace to that of where we are and what we
are doing. It is not our pace but the pace of things
around us.
4. we don't worry if we don't have any answers to present
problems. By opening ourselves to influences around
us, we let insight come of its own accord.
5. we access the rich store of experiences in our
subconscious brain.

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HERE AND NOW
Top sports people, business people, artists - in fact, anyone
who excels at any profession - all need to concentrate in the
present. When we focus on the job in hand, we put aside
distracting thoughts about whether we will be successful or
not. The moment is all that matters.
Daley Thompson, arguably the greatest all-round athlete the
world has ever seen, had the ability to become fully alive in
competition: "I couldn't wait for the day of competition to
come. I didn't care about winning or losing. I only ever
wanted to know if I could achieve what was expected of me.
That was it - I loved the moment. The moment is the thing
for me.“
The moment for concentration doesn't have to be grand; we
can lose ourselves in concentrating on any normal, routine
or hum-drum activity. Even washing the dishes.

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ATTENTION
To be fully in the present moment is to be alive to what we
are doing here and now. The following steps show how to
bring Attention to the simple job of preparing vegetables:
1. begin by grounding yourself where you stand, with your
feet firmly planted on the ground with slight give in your
knees
2. move your awareness to your navel, the centre of your
body
3. allow your upper body to become open and alive
4. feel the sensation of what you are handling. Soften your
grip. Allow the feeling of what you are touching to come to
you.
5. as you breathe out, become aware of your body posture.
Let your eyes be soft and your jaw loose.
6. when you move, do so from your centre
7. attend to every moment as if it were your last.

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LIVE IN THE MOMENT
This is how Thich Nhat Hanh describes the feeling of being
thoughtful in the present in relation to the humdrum job of
washing the dishes:
"If while washing the dishes, we think only of the cup of tea
that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the
way as if they were a nuisance...we are not alive during the
time we are washing the dishes. In fact, we are completely
incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at
the sink. If we can't wash the dishes with awareness, the
chances are we won't be able to drink our tea with
awareness either. While drinking the cup of team we will
only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in
our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future - and
we are incapable of actually living one minute of life." (Thich
Nhat Hanh: "The Miracle of Mindfulness")

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CREATIVE VISUALISATION
The ability to think ourselves into the future is one of the
most remarkable features of the human brain. Not only can
we picture the future but through creative visualisation and
goal-setting, our thoughts can help bring that future about.
Creative visualisation can work when...
1. forward-winding our mental video of the day or week or
year ahead
2. making detailed plans
3. setting goals
4. describing the future we want for ourselves
5. practising how to do something before we actually do it;
6. going to places we can't easily visit (eg inside the human
body; outer space)
7. imagining how different solutions might or might not
help solve a problem.

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IMAGINATION
Creative imagining works because it activates the same
neural pathways in the brain whether the event is real or
imaginary.
The following are the steps to creative visualising:
1. get into a relaxed state; close your eyes
2. breathe evenly and smoothly
3. direct your thoughts to the future you want. Picture a
scene or part of the scene with yourself in it.
4. introduce some action into the scene such as seeing
yourself doing what you would like to do
5. focus on little details
6. notice how you feel, what you say, hear and do
7. now let the you in the scene recall how you reached this
point
8. praise yourself for getting there
9. gradually leave the scene and open your eyes.

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SEEING WHAT YOU WANT
Charles Garfield, a former NASA project manager, has
researched people who reach peak performance in their
professions. The common denominator of all those he
studied was their ability to visualise a successful outcome to
their efforts in rich detail.
This is how you might talk yourself through a future
visualisation exercise for working more resourcefully:
"In the days to come I am going to feel very relaxed at work.
No matter what happens and what others may say, I shall
remain calm and relaxed. No job is beneath me. if the job
needs to be done, then I go ahead and do it. I can see myself
getting on well with the other people I work with. Yes, I can
see myself talking to them, feeling very calm and relaxed,
making progress with the job I need to do. Because I feel
relaxed, I can see that they respond in a more friendly and
helpful way..."

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THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn