00:00school's back in full swing and it
00:01brings the excitement of seeing friends
00:03having fun but also the pressures of
00:05studying and test taking so in this
00:07video I'm partnering up with notion for
00:09an indepth walkthrough of my extended
00:11brain and my complete Learning System so
00:13you can enjoy more of this and less of
00:16this so I'm Maddie I'm a former Medical
00:18Doctor Who now helps people improve
00:19their learning to create a life doing
00:21more of what they love and for most of
00:23us that begins with the Three core
00:25components of a lifelong Learning System
00:27scheduling learning and organizing I'll
00:29leave links for extended brain below for
00:31anyone who wants a plug- andplay
00:33template which comes with loads of
00:34walkthrough tutorials I also created
00:36some free light versions if you'd rather
00:38start there either way I hope this video
00:40will be useful for helping you build
00:42your own Learning System all right let's
00:44hop over to notion one of the most
00:45common questions I get from students is
00:47how do I keep track of my studies in
00:49college I had four to five classes at a
00:51time in med school I only had one at a
00:53time but with the amount of stuff we had
00:54to study was basically like five so if
00:56there's a lot on our plate we need to
00:58know how to focus on the most important
01:00stuff that's why I created The Grow
01:01method it's an acronym for prioritizing
01:03your study schedule G stands for grid
01:05organized and visual way to display
01:07everything study related and it's found
01:10in my study dashboard so here are all
01:12the folders for my current classes we
01:13have physics chemistry study quest which
01:16is our learning skills program where we
01:17teach you how to get better grades and
01:18less time writing and O uh this is
01:22actually not supposed to be here I think
01:24that was uh Mike's or my mom's or
01:25something at the beginning of a semester
01:27I'll open up every single folder and
01:29I'll input my class syllabus including
01:31all of my lectures with their dates and
01:33if I scroll to the bottom any of my
01:35upcoming assignments for that class by
01:37status and of course all of my exams and
01:40there's a cool formula in here that if I
01:42change the date it automatically updates
01:45and lets me know how many days left I
01:47have to procrastinate and that way when
01:49I return to my study dashboard by
01:51clicking on method here I can see the
01:53entire grid from One calendar and if
01:56this looks kind of chaotic I totally
01:58agree which is why I have a few filters
02:00here where I can filter by the specific
02:03class like only my physics class and I
02:05can filter by type if I want to only see
02:07lectures or exams or assignments these
02:10two views here for assignments and exams
02:13are going to show me all of the
02:14assignments I have for every single
02:16class and every single exam for every
02:18single class so grid is all about having
02:21a visual way to track everything but we
02:23also need a way to manage a review
02:24schedule which is r and grow record
02:27after I start studying or I go to class
02:29I'll open up a lecture and I'll record
02:32how confident I feel with that material
02:34I keep it super simple if I am confident
02:36I'll mark Ranger and if I'm not
02:38confident I'll mark rookie if I haven't
02:40studied this lecture yet it's going to
02:42give me a Mastery of none right less
02:44options less stress hypothetically
02:46retire is for if I'm not going to be
02:47tested on that topic at all so let's
02:49choose rookie here because I kind of
02:51suck at physics pop-ups going to appear
02:53here for me to record my review I'll
02:55click sounds good and boom now clicking
02:58on that button triggers a sec sequence
02:59of automations that I programmed to
03:01where the last review date gets updated
03:03to today and a review log is created at
03:06the bottom here that's also timestamped
03:08exactly when I clicked it there are a
03:09couple more things that I like to record
03:11and I'll do so by clicking on the pencil
03:13next to edit here I record how long I
03:16spent studying 60 Minutes or something
03:19and I also record my mood how did I feel
03:22during that study session frustrated
03:25recording data about your study sessions
03:27is so underrated you know I used to
03:29never self reflect on anything and then
03:31I'd be shocked when I tanked another
03:32exam like what the heck like I would
03:34make the same mistakes over and over
03:36again because I was too dumb to realized
03:38that I was even making mistakes which is
03:40why in extended brain if I go to my
03:41growth mindset dashboard in purple this
03:43is where I Journal I set my goals I
03:45track my habits but there's also this
03:47page called The Log library and if I
03:50click on the log Library this is where I
03:52can view all of my Global study stats it
03:55compiles each individual review log how
03:58long I studied for it which topic I
04:00studied and also that timestamp that was
04:02created I can see every single time I
04:04was anxious I was calm I was energized
04:06and if I switch views I can see
04:08different combinations of stats the
04:10focus view shows me by most recent
04:12reviews how long I did in each mood and
04:14if I go to consistency I can actually
04:17zoom out even further and I can see my
04:19daily stats my total study time for the
04:21day which is a rollup property
04:23calculating all of the different times
04:25that I put in and also my
04:27procrastination rate or what I call my
04:29study streak here this is a Formula that
04:31basically means if I study today it's
04:33going to check and it calculates to the
04:35bottom on a monthly basis how often I
04:38studied or for me my procrastination
04:41rate which is not great uh 40% and so
04:45with this data I can self-reflect much
04:46more effectively to find weaknesses and
04:48gaps in my study habits and that way I
04:50won make the same mistake over and over
04:52again let's return to the study
04:53dashboard though and from this grid view
04:55I can see the last time I also reviewed
04:57a topic the red pin date and my
05:00confidence level pretty useful right but
05:01for a more focused view I'm actually
05:03going to switch over to the table view
05:05now this grid displays only topics that
05:08I've started studying right stuff that's
05:10either rookie or Ranger and it's
05:12organized by class like physics
05:15chemistry uh study Quest this is my
05:17preferred grid view for managing my
05:19review schedule because I can see my
05:20Mastery the last review date and also
05:24how many times I already reviewed this
05:25topic because the next step in grow o
05:28stands for overall out let's be honest
05:30we're students we procrastinate we have
05:32a lot going on with one piece the new
05:34season of jjk stalking our exes and
05:36chasing girls and boys who have
05:38absolutely no interest in us I would say
05:40very few times in my entire student
05:42career did I master 100% of the material
05:45and guess what you don't really have to
05:47in order to do well there's this concept
05:48called the 8020 rule or parader
05:50principal 80% of the test comes from 20%
05:52of the material this is why generally
05:54speaking getting a B on an exam doesn't
05:56require like too much effort but the
05:58jump from a B to an a requires so much
06:01effort because now we're entering that
06:0380% territory you have to cover a lot
06:05more information just to get those last
06:07few points again this is a
06:08generalization for sure it depends on
06:10the class you're in but if you think
06:11about studying that way it means you can
06:13be much more efficient with your time by
06:16focusing on the bread and butter
06:17fundamental lectures of your class right
06:19my point is you don't need to study
06:21every single detail from every lecture
06:23it's impractical and honestly not really
06:26worth it so if I know one of these
06:28lectures is going to be very heavily
06:29tested I'm actually going to do myself a
06:31favor and change the icon to a star that
06:36lets me know I should probably
06:37prioritize it but aside from that I'll
06:39just aim for an overall outcome of
06:41making my grid as green as possible
06:43knowing that it probably won't turn
06:45completely green and to make sure that
06:46I'm headed for that overall outcome I
06:48choose to study the weakest topic first
06:51the W and grow most students don't do
06:53this right they just cycle through
06:55lectures 1 through 10 over and over
06:57again I know this cuz I used to do it
06:59too but remember you're probably more
07:01confident in some lectures than others
07:03and also not everything is equally
07:05important and so I used to waste a lot
07:07of time reviewing stuff I didn't need to
07:09not reviewing stuff that I needed to so
07:11with grow that means to focus on the
07:13Stars first and if those are all good
07:15then I'll move on to the weakest rookie
07:17topics first and if there are multiple
07:20rookie topics I'm going to choose the
07:21one that I haven't reviewed in the
07:23longest time for example that be Force
07:25right here and also the ones I haven't
07:27reviewed as many times so the grow
07:30method makes it so simple to decide what
07:32to study every single day and I can save
07:34all three of my tiny brain cells for
07:36actually learning and it also reduces
07:38test anxiety because I can see from my
07:41grid view the overall outcome right of
07:43how confident I am and how prepared I am
07:45for my upcoming exam unless of course
07:47everything is still R in which case you
07:50have my permission to panic a little bit
07:51all right so knowing what to study is
07:53step one but we also need to know how to
07:55do it effectively which is the second
07:57core part of the Learning System I see
07:58learning as is a three-part cycle
08:00construct connect and challenge think of
08:02it like filling out a puzzle we
08:04construct chunks connect them to create
08:06some understanding and then challenge
08:08ourselves to make sure it's accurate the
08:10goal of this cycle is to guide us in
08:12critically thinking while we study so
08:14we're not just cluelessly writing things
08:17down or blasting through thousands of
08:18flashcards without thinking about why
08:20and recently the most gamechanging tool
08:22to help navigate the cycle is AI and
08:25very conveniently notion has its own
08:27native AI which I'll use to demonstrate
08:28this our process so let's imagine that
08:30I'm going to review for physics today
08:32I'm actually going to open up the
08:33physics folder into a full screen I'm
08:36going to scroll down to the review tab
08:39to see my grid View and choose the
08:42weakest topic which is going to be
08:43two-dimensional kinetics I'll open it up
08:46scroll down to the notes area and I'm
08:48going to create a new note here let's
08:49give it a name Newton's got nothing on
08:52me and I'm actually going to open up
08:54into another side Peak there when I
08:56create a note from the lecture itself it
08:58automatically links and also links back
09:00to the class it came from so just extra
09:03organization there without any extra
09:04work I'm going to choose this note
09:05template now if I go to any blank Block
09:08in notion I'm going to see faintly in
09:10Gray press space for AI simple enough I
09:13can follow instructions let's hit
09:15spacebar and whole list of options for
09:17AI will appear and notion AI basically
09:20becomes my personal assistant to study
09:22smarter the thing about AI is that the
09:25quality of the response that you get is
09:27dependent on the quality of your input
09:30and to be completely transparent I think
09:31that most of these stock prompts in
09:34notion AI are not really good for
09:36learning so instead here are a couple of
09:38my favorite prompts for each step of the
09:39CCC cycle let's start with construct
09:41construct is how we approach learning
09:44new information think of it like taking
09:45a road trip you would just blindly pick
09:47a spot on the map and then just start
09:48driving there you want to map it out
09:50first right maybe look up a few spots
09:51along the way route the course you don't
09:53get stranded in the middle of the desert
09:55somewhere well you want to take that
09:56same approach when you're studying in
09:57cognitive psychology this is is called
09:59priming basically preparing our brain
10:01for learning so before diving in ask
10:03notion AI for a road map I am AER to
10:06physics and I am learning about two
10:08dimensional kinetics today give me a
10:10list of the most important Concepts to
10:12know Define each Concept in simple terms
10:14to beginner and then explain how I
10:16should approach learning this topic to
10:17understand main ideas let's see what I
10:19get here and cool we have a very useful
10:23primer to uh Orient ourselves before
10:26diving deeper into this concept here's
10:27another great way to construct take a
10:29peek at the learning points or the
10:30learning objectives for your upcoming
10:32lecture this is your professor basically
10:34telling you what is most important to
10:36learn so highlight your learning
10:37objectives go back to notion and ask AI
10:40I am learning uh was to actually
10:42relative motion distance displacement
10:43distance and displacement today here is
10:46the list of learning objectives I need
10:47to know give me a brief and clear
10:50summary and how I should approach this
10:52lecture then go ahead and paste the
10:54learning objectives below I'm going to
10:56give them dashes just to differentiate
10:58it it and let's see what notion AI gives
11:01me I love this it's giving me a
11:02stepbystep approach to learning this
11:05lesson all right so next is connect
11:07connecting the dots of the material to
11:09the road map in our road trip example
11:10we've now hit the road and we're seeing
11:12the landmarks and we're associating the
11:14streets and the stores with a map and
11:16we're filling in all the details in our
11:17brain with that map that we made in
11:19terms of learning this means identifying
11:21relationships between Concepts and
11:23seeing how everything fits together
11:25looking for relationships is probably
11:27the single most important thing you can
11:29do to retain what you're learning better
11:31so as you go through your lecture and
11:32you encounter different terms like these
11:35go back to notion Ai and you can ask it
11:39create a table comparing and contrasting
11:41the relationship between displacement
11:42distance and kinematics for then why
11:45this relationship is important for
11:47understanding idea notion AI will even
11:50format it in a table like this which
11:51just makes it so much more clear and
11:53easy to read I get to see relationships
11:54and also this quick summary about why
11:57it's important here's another connect
11:58strategy when trying to understand
12:00complex topics it's easier to find
12:02relationships with things that you
12:04already know that's called making an
12:06analogy so if I get stumped on like a
12:08really difficult concept right and
12:10rereading that same slide five times
12:13over again isn't suddenly going to make
12:14it make sense so try giving AI this
12:16prompt right here I am having a hard
12:18time learning about scalars versus
12:21vectors give me three simple analogies
12:23to help me understand it better then
12:25explain the strengths and weaknesses of
12:27each analogy it gives me three different
12:30simple analogies that I can use and
12:33explains why they're useful and now I
12:35can use my prior knowledge about some
12:38analogies that I know about and
12:40understand this concept a lot more
12:41smoothly all right and finally challenge
12:44challenge is testing our knowledge to
12:46make sure that we actually even learned
12:47anything right it's taking that road
12:49trip again but this time without GPS and
12:51without a map and trying to use all
12:53those associations that we learned to
12:55figure it out on our own the most
12:56important part with the challenge is
12:58that you activ ly recall the information
13:00without peeking at your notes and
13:02without peeking at any resources and AI
13:03can help us out in really cool ways here
13:05one way is to ask notion AI to create a
13:07practice test for you I am studying
13:09motion displacement movement and
13:11distance I think it was in physics class
13:12at the college level create a 20
13:15question multiple choice practice test
13:17and you can substitute multiple choice
13:18for whatever your test is going to be I
13:19recommend challenging yourself the exact
13:21same way that you're going to be tested
13:23and if you want you can even tack on
13:24this at the end of it make sure to
13:26include questions about these learning
13:29objectives and then can paste the
13:32learning objectives below all right and
13:34let's see what I get fire look at that I
13:38love to see it work and of course you
13:40should take that practice test on your
13:42own without peeking at your notes you
13:43can ask notion AI for the answers and
13:46the explanations so you can check your
13:47work all right here's the second way
13:49test yourself by explaining the concept
13:51first and then asking AI to evaluate
13:54your thinking and your accuracy you can
13:56say something like this I am studying
13:58physics class and learning about
13:59displacement versus distance eval if my
14:02understanding of this topic is correct
14:04challenge yourself to explain this topic
14:06without peeking your notes again
14:16right see if I got that right or not
14:18cool and it gave me a great answer it
14:20says I'm partially correct and you can
14:22kind of just keep working back and forth
14:24with it until you deeply understand that
14:27concept and the best part about using AI
14:29the way I'm showing you here with
14:31construct connected challenge is that
14:33you're still actively studying right I'm
14:35not just looking stuff up but I'm
14:36actually thinking critically about what
14:38I'm studying AI is actually so good for
14:40learning if you use it properly and I
14:42made a much more detailed video about
14:44how to speed learn with AI which you
14:46should definitely check out after this
14:47video and right now notion is running a
14:49promo where all students can get 50 AI
14:51credits completely free to experiment
14:53with and try the tool in their own
14:54workspaces so try these prompts out for
14:56yourself let me know what you think all
14:58right so so while I'm studying I
14:59actually prefer to sketch on my iPad for
15:01a couple of reasons first I like to
15:03annotate directly on PDFs or lecture
15:05slides and stuff and second I think the
15:07freedom of handwriting just works way
15:09better for me because I draw mind maps
15:11and I sketch things out and I make
15:12diagrams and stuff so as I'm sketching
15:14my thoughts out I'm just using AI as an
15:17extension of my thinking and so once I'm
15:19finished sketching I'll actually
15:22export my note as a PDF into
15:27notion and I'm going to choose the note
15:30Newton's got nothing on me and click
15:32save and because notion syncs
15:35immediately across all devices if I look
15:37back in my computer here I should see
15:40that there is an Untitled note that
15:41suddenly appeared here and I don't
15:43really want to see it as a page so I'm
15:45actually going to click on the dots and
15:48turn this into a text and boom we can
15:53see now that my note was moved directly
15:57into notion if you don't annotate on
15:58your slides or sketch stuff out this is
16:00actually even easier and it works
16:02whether you're on iPad or whether you're
16:03on desktop I'll show you on iPad right
16:05here all I have to do is open up my
16:07files folder where I save all my PDFs
16:09and stuff and really just click and drag
16:12anything I want to directly into my
16:15notes area let's move another one just
16:17for demonstration sake just like that
16:20and again because it syncs automatically
16:22if I go back to my Mac and I open it up
16:25I can see that PDF here and if I need to
16:26download it I can do that but basically
16:28notion serves as like my own cloud
16:30storage where I just put all of my files
16:32on for easy access and so to sum up this
16:35whole system so far I'm using the grow
16:37method to manage my review schedule
16:39knowing what to study and then once I
16:41know what to study I'll open it up and
16:43I'll actually use AI tools to help
16:46facilitate my thinking as I'm sketching
16:48notes and then I'll send those notes
16:49directly into notion and that way
16:51everything is a notion because I prefer
16:53notion for organization all right so now
16:54let's move on to part three which is
16:56note taking and organization and there
16:58there is a distinction because at least
17:00for me studying and notetaking serve
17:02different purposes I view not taking
17:04more about Gathering and storing ideas
17:05to grow a database of knowledge so that
17:07I can create content and I can make
17:09stuff because as you know or maybe you
17:11don't know there's a lot more to school
17:14than just studying you know medical
17:15school I had to do research I had to
17:16read papers organize events handle
17:19applications create poster presentations
17:21and let me tell you I was terrible at
17:23organizing stuff I take notes right and
17:25they'd immediately disappear into the
17:28void like I'd be halfway through reading
17:30an article and then realize like wait
17:32I've already read this article before so
17:34in extended brain I built a simple way
17:36for organizing my notes and my knowledge
17:39and it all starts with a browser
17:40extension called save to notion it's
17:43completely free just type in save to
17:44notion in your browser somewhere and it
17:47should be right here save to notion
17:50download it as an extension save to
17:51notion creates a page in notion for any
17:54page on the internet that you want to
17:56reference so for example I'm currently
17:58researching for a YouTube series about
18:00focus training which means I've been
18:01doing a lot of lit review on Flow
18:03psychology and Peak Performance here's
18:05an example of an article I'll read
18:07through the abstract and if it pequs my
18:09interest and it seems like it's worth
18:11taking notes on I'll pull up save to
18:13notion save to notion right here I will
18:16choose the database that I want to save
18:18it to which is my extended brain notes
18:20database and from here I can link it to
18:22a lecture if I'm doing research on a
18:23lecture a class if it's for class or a
18:26project if I'm working on a project and
18:28if none of those exists I can actually
18:30make a new project let's say this is
18:32YouTube video about flow and I can click
18:35on new and it will make a new page for
18:37me there and I'll hit save page and boom
18:40so save to notion will create a page in
18:43extended brain that's linked to this
18:44Source URL my favorite part is as I read
18:47through this article now I can save
18:49highlights that go directly into
18:51extended brain without even leaving my
18:53browser for example if this part here
18:55seems useful I'll highlight what I want
18:57to extract into extended brain like that
19:01I'll right click use add highlight and
19:04then a popup will appear I can write my
19:06own personal blur about why I think this
19:08is useful and then when I'm done I'll
19:10just hit enter to save it to notion and
19:12I can just continue doing that as I go
19:14through this article I'm just
19:16highlighting random stuff here just to
19:19demonstrate this even works for YouTube
19:21videos like check this out I'll just go
19:22to YouTube and I'll search in cun koi
19:26let's find a video this one that we
19:27released today I'll pull up save to
19:30notion here click the database that I
19:32want to save it to at the bottom I
19:34actually have an option to embed the
19:36YouTube video into notion itself I'll
19:38click save page boom it saves to notion
19:42and I can even take notes on this video
19:44I'll click the Dots here to show
19:46transcript and I can show the transcript
19:49as I'm watching the video to follow
19:50along and anything I highlight here I
19:53can just like before rightclick add
19:56highlight this part was cool enter and
20:00it'll save that highlight to notion so
20:02if I go back to notion now I'm going to
20:04head over to my knowledge base this is
20:06where all my notes are and that can be
20:07found in the manage pathway here I'll
20:10click on Knowledge Management here under
20:12the notes inbox notes Library section I
20:15can see all of those notes that I just
20:17saved to notion right here's that flow
20:19psychology paper and it's linked to that
20:21YouTube project that I made let's open
20:23up the note and we can see this is the
20:25name of that paper it's linked to that
20:28new YouTube video about flow here are
20:30those highlights that I saved and if I
20:32expand 13 more properties there is that
20:35link that goes back to the original
20:37Source document right so this notes
20:38Library here just shows me all of the
20:40notes that are linked to a specific
20:42project or a specific lecture or a
20:44specific class but I can also go to
20:47those individual folders themselves to
20:49see their individual notes and you might
20:51be wondering where the heck is that
20:52YouTube video that we just saved well
20:54for any notes in save to notion that I
20:56don't link a top topic a class or a
21:00project they go to my notes inbox which
21:02is another link right here and I can
21:04open it there I'll scroll down right and
21:06there is that YouTube video so the notes
21:08inbox is kind of like a temporary
21:09holding zone for any notes that I
21:11haven't linked to any projects topics or
21:13domains but if I want to I can just link
21:15them here um by clicking on project and
21:18linking it to that page and it
21:20disappears from the notes inbox so
21:22nothing gets lost but at least this area
21:24is cleaned up all right so let's go back
21:25to the YouTube video about flow let's
21:28open up that YouTube video here's that
21:29highlight with my comment about what
21:32timestamp it was and if I scroll down
21:34there is the video embedded directly
21:36into notion so this workflow makes
21:37researching and notetaking so efficient
21:40I cannot stress how valuable this has
21:42been for me even outside of being a
21:44student as a Creator I consume a ton of
21:46content books articles papers and
21:48podcasts and since Mike and I are in the
21:50process of writing a book about learning
21:52and productivity it's been even more
21:55valuable and important for us to store
21:56our notes and keep a running list of
21:58citations I have complete peace of mind
22:00I never have to worry about losing links
22:01or misplacing files because everything
22:03gets sent and stored directly into
22:05extended brain so if you're able to lock
22:06in those three things I guarantee you're
22:09going to cruise through school you'll
22:11have a pretty rad Learning System for
22:12the rest of your life the workflow in
22:14extended brain isn't just for students
22:16it's for creators professionals or
22:18anyone just looking to manage their life
22:20in a more streamlined way I wish I had a
22:22system like this years ago to grow my
22:23knowledge database instead of throwing
22:25away my notebooks or deleting all my
22:27files at the end of semester kind of
22:28makes me sad you know that all of that
22:31cool stuff that I learned over the years
22:32is just lost and I have nothing to show
22:34for it anyways for those of you
22:36interested there are a ton of other
22:38really powerful features with extended
22:39brain like habit tracking
22:41self-reflection task management
22:43calendars goal setting so if you want a
22:45completely done for you system
22:47definitely check it out if you made it
22:48to the end of the video thanks I know
22:49that was a little bit of a long one I
22:51have one final gift for you if you're a
22:53student or educator you can actually get
22:55notion plus completely for free if you
22:58sign up using youredu email just another
23:00way that notion is here to support us in
23:02our journey of self-discovery anyways I
23:03hope you got something useful from this
23:05video if anything at least understanding
23:07the value of creating that lifelong
23:09Learning System today it's going to
23:10serve you for the rest of your life if
23:12you want to connect hit me up on
23:13Instagram or on TW X it's weird thing
23:15ever say that um and let me know about
23:17what other notion of content I should
23:18make or any other productivity focused
23:20content that we should do and I
23:22appreciate it thanks for
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