The following is the text from my recent Board of Education Address for Spackenkill High School in Poughkeepsie, New York.

First, let me state that it is an honor for me to serve on the Board of Education and to have the opportunity to say a few words on this special occasion.  It is a responsibility that I take very seriously and I assure you that I will continue to work diligently to ensure this path of success we are celebrating today continues.

You have had the good fortune to attend a quality public school.  You will meet others who were not so fortunate but that does not mean that they are any less worthy which leads me to my first point.

Take up a cause at some point in your life whether it be your career choice, hobby, or any other interest.  I highly recommend at some point you read the book, Giving, by former president Bill Clinton.  It is a great introduction into the charitable good that is being performed in the world today and it is a pleasant distraction from the 24 hour news cycle on television today.

Yours is a generation of activism and optimism.  There are and there will continue to be serious and complex domestic and international problems to manage for the foreseeable future and I have no doubt that graduates sitting here today will be instrumental in solving them.  So remain optimistic. As Paul Harvey said, “I have never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.”  You hear it all the time but it bears repeating.  Life is short so make the most of it.  Which leads me to my second point.  Effort is everything.

As the coach of the Dallas Mavericks recently stated in an interview when asked how they won the NBA Championship when Miami seemed to have all the talent -   He said, “Talent is Overrated.”  There is a good book that addresses this issue that every student and parent should read titled MindSet – The new Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck.  While the book focuses on how individuals view themselves with respect a growth mindset or fixed mindset the real message is that everyone is capable of success however they define it by working hard and continuing to learn.  In this book she quotes Robert Sternberg, an intelligence expert who states whether people achieve expertise “is not some fixed prior ability but purposeful engagement.”  Talent will only get you so far.   So as you enter college, the workforce, military or any other endeavor keep working hard to improve all of your skills because you while you think you may have it all planned out something is bound to change and those who focus on effort will overcome those changes more readily.

I’ll share two quick personal stories relating to effort that hopefully might resonate with some of you at some point in the near future.  I would have described myself as a slightly above average high school student but certainly not amongst the top academic performers in my class.  One of my best friends who I considered extremely intelligent was going to attend and be my roommate at Purdue University.  At the last moment he was accepted into an honors program at Ohio State University and so we went our separate ways.  High school was very easy for him and he exerted little effort up to that point and received excellent grades.  I cannot tell you all of the circumstances that lead to his downfall but I know for a fact he did not put in the effort to succeed at Ohio State and as a result he eventually dropped out.  To this day he is bouncing from job to job still searching for his calling.  Again effort is everything.

Secondly, I don’t have too many regrets but a big one is not exerting myself at Purdue to the best of my ability.  I look back and regret how much more I could have learned and experienced during those precious years.  Fortunately, six years later after leaving the Navy I had the opportunity to do college the right way when I went back to school for a different field of study at Penn State.  Not only was it rewarding and beneficial to do well but it was fun.  So I urge you to not make the mistake I made and give whatever your next step is the best effort you can.  Do that and you won’t have any regrets in that area of your life.

Along with dedicating yourself to a cause and always focusing on effort, never quit learning.  We as a district have tried to instill in you the virtue of life long learning.  I am convinced that learning, not rote memorization, but true learning is the master key to the doors of happiness and success.  The more you learn and experience the richer and more joyful your life will be.  When you learn about wines they taste better, when you study philosophy you think clearer.  When you study history you gain a better perspective on the present and the future.  You will become a more interesting person.  Think about it, the alternative is to be an uninteresting person and live an uninteresting life.

I’m fairly certain that there has been at least one, if not more, special teacher, coach or other mentor during your schooling.  Keep in touch with them.  Send them a letter or email occasionally to let them know how your are doing or how much they meant to you.  It is a simple gesture that will make their day.

And to the proud parents I am sure this day has come too quickly since these students entered kindergarten and possibly not fast enough when they became teenagers.  Graduates, you have no idea as to the amount of time, effort, tears and money your loved ones have invested to help you get to this point in your lives.  Take the time to thank them.

I am sure most of you will forget much of what has been spoken about today but I hope you will take away one point and that is to never give up no matter how tough the challenges are that may confront you.   Never give up on your dreams, your friends and family or your community and country.

As the great statesman Winston Churchill stated and my own high school teacher and mentor had published in her obituary as her favorite quote  “Success is not final, Failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”

As we used to say in the Navy I wish you all fair winds and following seas.

Thank You and Congratulations

What is the applicability of this eBook as it relates to Virtuous Children? This eBook is a guide to help you plan the life you want to live which I hope includes raising virtuous children. Family is one of the eight categories listed in the book for you to identify goals and develop a plan of action. This is section where you will list items such as when and how much time you will spend reading with your children, or helping them with their homework or how you will try to encourage your child’s inner creativity or just ensuring your children have dedicated time to just have fun.

Almost nothing in life is as disheartening as living with regret. Though it’s impossible to change the choices and actions of the past, A Life of No Regrets seeks to provide a path for a future free of remorse, starting today. Throughout the pages of this self-paced course, you’ll find Aristotelian insight paired with a modern approach to realizing your life’s potential. You’ll discover the relationship between risk and regret, our primary and secondary motivations, and how to set goals and use focused planning to achieve them. Exploratory exercises accompany each chapter and break down the lesson material into activities that directly relate to your life. At the conclusion of the course, you’ll have thoroughly evaluated decisions and priorities and have an action plan to set you on the route to making the right choices — and leading a life with no regrets.

Click here to learn more.

The sad truth is that it will take more time than it should to implement this philosophy within the realm of public education.  So in the interim it is up to parents to try and supplement their child’s math education with real life applications and to try and force the issue to be discussed within their local school district.

I hope you enjoy watching this video and it gets you thinking as to how you can help your children get the most out of math.

Incorporating this type of planning and following through will take care of every Yew Year’s resolution or goal you may have this year.  The reason why this method is so effective is that it keeps the issues that are important and meaningful to you clearly in the forefront of your mind.  Additionally, when you complete a task or activity that you schedule based on your principled questions there is a real sense of meaningful accomplishment, which is the basis of happiness.

The easiest way that I have found to accomplish this is to write a set of questions relating to your principles or goals to ask yourself at least once a day and implement the answers into some type of day-planner.

Step 1. Determine what is important to you.  This will certainly vary among individuals and your current life circumstances.  Sit down in a quiet place and start writing what is important to you.  Write as much as you can.  For example, you may write your health, your family, your career, your relationships, your mind, your hobbies etc…  Now add more detail within each category.  For example, in the area of health you may write; maintaining an ideal body weight, improving your flexibility or strength, improving your cardiovascular system, eating more healthier or better quality foods etc…

Step 2. Identify a list of questions that you will ask yourself everyday that relate to the important principles you just identified in step 1.  For example, you may have a list that includes questions similar to the following:  What am I going to do today to improve my health?  What am I going to do today to move me closer to my long-term goal(s)?  What am I going to do today to improve my relationship with someone I care about?  What am I going to do for myself today?  These questions can be as general or specific as you want them to be.  Remember, this is your list and your life and don’t be afraid to change the questions as time goes by.

Step 3. Generate your list of questions and develop a method to implement them into a day planner system.  You must have some type of day-planner system for this method to be effective.  The day-planner can be as elementary as a paper to-do list or as sophisticated as a blackberry phone.  One simple method is to keep the list of questions on separate piece of paper and write the answers in your to-do list or schedule them into your calendar.  I actually have designed my own paper day-planner that has these questions on the top of each page where there is room to write in an answer and then I try to schedule the tasks throughout the day.  If you have generated a large list of questions you may want to only answer half of them one day and half the next day.  Again, it’s your list and your life so make the most of it but do not make it overwhelming for yourself.

Step 4. Answer the questions and take action to accomplish them.  Aw, there is a catch you are thinking.  Yes, you do have to do something when your list of questions is completed.  This is where most people fail.  They do not take action or follow through.  Well you are not most people and you are certainly capable to acting upon what you consider important and meaningful.  My advice is to begin with small steps or answers to your questions.  For example, if your first questions is “What am I going to do today to improve my health?”  Your answer may be:  Drink four glasses of water or walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes as opposed to eat three healthy meals today or run on the treadmill for 30 minutes.  Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to accomplish too much too fast.  Anything you do that is an improvement on what you have been doing is a success.  You will be amazed at what you will accomplish by taking small steps over the course of a year.

Step 5. Pick one question that you will ask yourself, answer and complete everyday.  Yes, everyday.  This is the one goal, resolution, dream or whatever you want to call it that will make the biggest difference in your life.  In fact, it could change your life.  It may take more than one year to accomplish this overall goal but that is OK.  The momentum of taking action towards it everyday will keep you energized, excited and moving in the direction you are destined to go.

Finally, accept right now that there will be days when you do not accomplish everything you set out to do and that is not a failure on your part.  Don’t beat yourself up over it.  Events will occur that will be out of your control.  You need to be somewhat flexible.  But always accomplish the task related to your highest goal.  You may have to adjust or scale down your answer.  For example, if you were going to write a letter to a loved one, just address the envelope.

So make and keep the one New Year resolution of implementing principled and focused planning that will take care of all the rest.

We utilize Netflix to rent these series although you can probably find some other source.  If you can find an older series that your children find entertaining you will have many hours of commercial free quality television to occupy your children’s discretionary time.

The same holds true for you.  There are many entertaining TV series available on DVD these days.  Once you find one that is right for you, you can avoid the commercials and enjoy them in accordance with your schedule as opposed to the networks’.  Some of my favorites are LOST, House, and The West Wing.

If you have any recommendations for children or adult TV series please feel free to leave a comment.

Unfortunately, times have changed since September 11th, and visiting West Point is much more structured and supervised.  You cannot just stroll along the magnificent campus.  Having to take a mandatory tour does have its advantages such as having a knowledgeable tour guide.  Ours was a former drill sergeant.  There were many tidbits of trivia that were very interesting like what a prankster General Eisenhower was when he was a student and how General Douglas MacArthur’s mother hid food in cannons for him because she did not feel her son was being well fed.

What I found most interesting was that all West Point Cadets have to take one of the three following sports:  Golf, Tennis, or Skiing.  The reason for this requirement is these are life long sports; do not require many people to play them, and that business deals are conducted on golf courses, at tennis courts and in ski lodges.

I mention this as food for thought whether for your own information or perhaps to think about sports you may want to encourage your children to explore.  If participation in one of these sports is mandatory for the cadets of West Point, there just may something to the idea.  As an avid golfer and casual tennis player and skier I think you will find one of these sports to your or your children’s liking.  Give it a shot you won’t regret it.

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

I was given this book by someone in the field of education in order to understand how we need to teach our students to succeed in this global age. While all of the skills in this book will certainly be critical to education both now and in the future it turns out that this was really a business book that has many applications

The arguments or premises that this book is based on are that computers and those living outside the U.S. can perform many of the skills we have acquired and that have sustained our economy thus far much faster or more inexpensively.   Therefore, we need to develop skills that cannot be performed by computers or a less expensive labor force.

The six skills outlined in the book are: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Is argued in this book that mastering these skills is necessary to succeed in a global world. You will have to read the book to understand the definition and meaning of these skills as I cannot do them justice here, but I think you’ll find it a worthwhile endeavor.

Whether you are a parent raising a child, a high school or college student trying to decide on a career, an entrepreneur starting a business or a CEO of a well-established business you would be wise to read A Whole New Mind.

One note, do not get hung up on the first chapter as it is a somewhat scientific description of how the brain functions. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that it is necessary to read the first chapter to get the meaning from this book.  However, I am one of those people who feel they have to read every page.

Go ahead and purchase the book or audio version.  You won’t regret it!

How I Was Able to Ace Exams Without Studying by Scott Young

In high school, I rarely studied. Despite that, I graduated second in my class. In university, I generally studied less than an hour or two before major exams. However, over four years, my GPA always sat between an A and an A+.

Recently I had to write a law exam worth 100% of my final grade. Unfortunately, I was out of the country and didn’t get back by plane until late Sunday night. I had to write the test at 9 am Monday morning. I got an A after just one hour of review on the plane.

Right now, I’m guessing most of you think I’m just an arrogant jerk. And, if the story ended there, you would probably be right.

Why do Some People Learn Quickly?

The fact is most of my feats are relatively mundane. I’ve had a chance to meet polyglots who speak 8 languages, people who have mastered triple course loads and students who went from C or B averages to straight A+ grades while studying less than before.

The story isn’t about how great I am (I’m certainly not) or even about the fantastic accomplishments of other learners. The story is about an insight: that smart people don’t just learn better, they also learn differently.

It’s this different strategy, not just blind luck and arrogance, that separates rapid learners from those who struggle.

Most sources say that the difference in IQ scores across a group is roughly half genes and half environment. I definitely won’t discount that. Some people got a larger sip of the genetic cocktail. Some people’s parents read their kids Chaucer and tutored them in quantum mechanics.

However, despite those gifts, if rapid learners had a different strategy for learning than ordinary students, wouldn’t you want to know what it was?

The Strategy that Separates Rapid Learners

The best way to understand the strategy of rapid learners is to look at its opposite, the approach most people take: rote memorization.

Rote memorization is based on the theory that if you look at information enough times it will magically be stored inside your head.

This wouldn’t be a terrible theory if your brain were like a computer. Computers just need one attempt to store information perfectly. However, in practice rote memorization means reading information over and over again. If you had to save a file 10 times in a computer to ensure it was stored, you’d probably throw it in the garbage.

The strategy of rapid learners is different. Instead of memorizing by rote, rapid learners store information by linking ideas together. Instead of repetition, they find connections. These connections create a web of knowledge that can succeed even when you forget one part.

When you think about it, the idea that successful learners create a web has intuitive appeal. The brain isn’t a computer hard drive, with millions of bits and bytes in a linear sequence. It is an interwoven network of trillions of neurons.

Why not adopt the strategy that makes sense with the way your brain actually works?

Not a New Idea, But an Incredibly Underused Idea

This isn’t a new idea, and I certainly didn’t invent it.

Polymath, cognitive scientist and AI researcher Marvin Minsky once said:

“If you understand something in only one way, then you don’t really understand it at all. The secret of what anything means to us depends on how we’ve connected it to all other things we know. Well-connected representations let you turn ideas around in your mind, to envision things from many perspectives until you find one that works for you. And that’s what we mean by thinking!” [emphasis mine]

Benny Lewis, polyglot and speaker of 8 languages, recently took up the task of learning Thai in two months. One of his first jobs was to memorize a phonetic script (Thai has a different alphabet than English). How did he do it?

“I saw [a Thai symbol] and needed to associate it with ‘t’, I thought of a number of common words starting with t. None of the first few looked anything like it, but then I got to toe! The symbol looks pretty much like your big toe, with the circle representing the nail of the second toe (if looking at your left foot). It’s very easy to remember and very hard to forget! Now I think of t instantly when I see that symbol.

It took time, but I’ve come up with such an association for all [75] symbols. Some are funny, or nerdy, or related to sex, or something childish. Some require a ridiculous stretch of the imagination to make it work. Whatever did the job best to help me remember.”

The famous British savant Daniel Tammet has the ability to multiply 5 digit numbers in his head. He explains that he can do this because each number, to him, has a color and texture, he doesn’t just do the straight calculation, he feels it.

All of these people believe in the power of connecting ideas. Connecting ideas together, as Minsky describes. Linking ideas with familiar pictures, like Lewis. Or even blending familiar shapes and sensations with the abstract to make it more tangible as Tammet can do.

How Can You Become a Rapid Learner?

So all this sounds great, but how do you actually do it?

I’m not going to suggest you can become a Tammet, Lewis or Minsky overnight. They have spent years working on their method. And no doubt, some of their success is owed to their genetic or environmental quirks early in life.

However, after writing about these ideas for a couple years I have seen people make drastic improvements in their learning method. It takes practice, but students have contacted me letting me know they are now getting better grades with less stress, one person even credited the method for allowing him to get an exam exemption for a major test.

Some Techniques for Learning by Connections

Here are the some of the most popular tactics I’ve experimented with and suggested to other students:

1. Metaphors and Analogy

Create your own metaphors for different ideas. Differential calculus doesn’t need to just be an equation, but the odometer and speedometer on a car. Functions in computer programming can be like pencil sharpeners. The balance sheet for a corporation can be like the circulatory system.

Shakespeare used metaphor prolifically to create vivid imagery for his audience. Your professor might not be the bard, but you can step in and try them yourself.

2. Visceralization

Visceralization is a portmanteau between visceral and visualization. The goal here is to envision an abstract idea as something more tangible. Not just by imagining a picture, but by integrating sounds, textures and feelings (like Tammet does).

When learning how to find the determinant of a matrix, I visualized my hands scooping through one axis of the matrix and dropping through the other, to represent the addition and subtraction of the elements.

Realize you already do this, just maybe not to the same degree. Whenever you see a graph or pie chart for an idea, you are taking something abstract and making it more tangible. Just be creative in pushing that a step further.

3. The 5-Year Old Method

Imagine you had to explain your toughest subject to a 5-year old. Now practice that.

It may be impossible to explain thermodynamics to a first grader, but the process of explanation forces you to link ideas. How would you explain the broader concepts in simpler terms a child would understand?

4. Diagramming

Mind-mapping is becoming increasingly popular as a way of retaining information. That’s the process of starting with a central idea and brainstorming adjacent connections. But mindmapping is just the skin of the onion.

Creating diagrams or pictures can allow you to connect ideas together on paper. Instead of having linear notes, organized in a hierarchy, what if you had notes that showed the relationships between all the ideas you were learning?

5. Storytelling to Remember Numbers and Facts

Pegging is a method people have been using for years to memorize large amounts of numbers or facts. What makes it unique isn’t just that it allows people to perform amazing mental feats (although it can), but the way it allows people to remember information–by connecting the numbers to a story.

Pegging is a bit outside the scope of this article, but the basic idea is that each digit is represented by the sound of a consonant (for example: 0=c, 3=t, 4=d…). This allows you to convert any number into a string of consonants (4304 = d-t-c-d).

The system allows you to add any number of vowels in between the consonants to make nouns (d-t-c-d = dot code). You can then turn this list of nouns into a story (The dot was a code that the snake used…). Then all you need to do is remember the order of the story to get the nouns, consonants and back to the numbers.

The Way We Were Taught to Learn is Broken

Children are imaginative, creative and, in many ways, the epitome of this rapid learning strategy. Maybe it’s the current school system, or maybe it’s just a consequence of growing up, but most people eventually suppress this instinct.

The sad truth is that the formal style of learning, makes learning less enjoyable. Chemistry, mathematics, computer science or classic literature should spawn new ideas, connections in the mind, exciting possibilities. Not only the right answers for a standardized test.

The irony is that maybe if that childlike, informal way of learning came back, even just in part, perhaps more people would succeed on those very tests. Or at least enjoyed the process of learning.

Scott Young is a university student, author and head of an online service designed to teach you rapid learning tactics.

There is a product out there that can help.  It is a software program called Amazing Slow Downer and it has made my life much less stressful when helping my children with their music practice.  This software allows you to slow down or speed up for that matter any song that you have in your digital library.  Having your child’s s exact song in your digital library can be a challenge.  If anyone knows a good destination to purchase digital music that is played in schools I would love to hear about it.

The cost of the program is $49.95 and you can get it instantly at their website www.ronimusic.com.  I would say this software or something similar is essential if your child is just starting out.  Many of the teaching music books available include a compact disk that you can import into your library and then play along at whatever speed you or your child is comfortable with.  I would highly recommend that you have a set of speakers where you can raise the volume high enough so that you can actually hear the music over the playing.

Playing a musical instrument can be very frustrating when first starting out but using a program like Amazing Slow Downer can definitely ease the frustration.  It also can provide you with means to get involved in your child’s practice and help them develop their playing ability. The more you can incorporate yourself into your musical realm the more likely they will stick with it and excel.  You may also be surprised how it will add another positive dimension to your relationship with them.