How to learn & study more effectively

209,567 views ・ 2020-09-16

English with Emma


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you about an approach
0
250
6690
00:06
that will help you become a better learner.
1
6940
3940
00:10
It doesn't matter what you're learning.
2
10880
2030
00:12
Maybe it's English.
3
12910
1220
00:14
Maybe it's learning how to drive or maybe it's learning how to be a better conversationalist.
4
14130
7230
00:21
Whatever you're learning, this approach can help you, because this approach is used for
5
21360
5550
00:26
all types of learning.
6
26910
1500
00:28
So, what is this approach called?
7
28410
2300
00:30
Well, I call it the "BLESS ME" approach.
8
30710
4500
00:35
I will explain in this video how you can learn better with the BLESS ME approach.
9
35210
5500
00:40
I will teach you about seven different factors to think about when you learn anything.
10
40710
8490
00:49
These factors really influence and impact your learning.
11
49200
4350
00:53
So, you really want to think about these different factors to become the best learner you can
12
53550
5950
00:59
be.
13
59500
1000
01:00
Now, before we get started on what is BLESS ME and what are these seven factors, I just
14
60500
6171
01:06
wanted to thank James Fricton, who taught me this approach in his application of this
15
66671
6159
01:12
to medicine.
16
72830
1710
01:14
I'm taking this approach and using it for learning, but James Fricton is the one who
17
74540
4920
01:19
created this approach for medicine, okay?
18
79460
3250
01:22
So, thank you, James Fricton.
19
82710
1610
01:24
Now, let's get started.
20
84320
1660
01:25
How can we use BLESS ME when we're learning?
21
85980
3380
01:29
So, BLESS ME is a way to remember seven factors.
22
89360
6200
01:35
The B in BLESS ME stands for body.
23
95560
3180
01:38
It's important to think about your body when you're learning anything, because the brain
24
98740
5870
01:44
is a part of your body, and by thinking about your body, you can really increase your ability
25
104610
5450
01:50
to learn.
26
110060
2360
01:52
You need to think about lifestyle.
27
112420
2239
01:54
Lifestyle has a huge impact on learning and whether or not you're going to be successful
28
114659
4721
01:59
in remembering different pieces of information.
29
119380
4220
02:03
It's going to help you with studying and a whole lot more.
30
123600
4370
02:07
Think about your environment.
31
127970
2259
02:10
What's around you when you're learning?
32
130229
1311
02:11
We'll go into a little bit more detail on how the environment will impact your learning.
33
131540
7550
02:19
You can also think about society.
34
139090
1180
02:20
That's going to impact your learning.
35
140270
3520
02:23
Your spirit, and I'll talk a little bit about how that impacts learning and what I mean
36
143790
4500
02:28
by spirit in a moment.
37
148290
2980
02:31
The M in BLESS ME stands for mind.
38
151270
3200
02:34
And finally, the E stands for emotion.
39
154470
3390
02:37
So, BLESS ME is just - so, all of these equal BLESS ME.
40
157860
4959
02:42
It's an acronym that can help you remember these different factors and how they impact
41
162819
7211
02:50
your learning.
42
170030
1220
02:51
So, I'm going to go over each of these factors and tell you specifically how they can improve
43
171250
6230
02:57
your learning if you think about them.
44
177480
1910
02:59
Alright, so let's first talk about body and how your body impacts your learning.
45
179390
5980
03:05
So, the first thing you need to think about is in your body is your brain.
46
185370
5430
03:10
And so, when you take care of your body, you're also taking care of your brain.
47
190800
4100
03:14
So, this is why it's important, because your brain is where you learn.
48
194900
4740
03:19
So, what's important for learning?
49
199640
3599
03:23
First thing is exercise.
50
203239
2201
03:25
Exercise seems to be important for everything, and it's very important for learning.
51
205440
5299
03:30
Because when you exercise, you actually can create new neurons or brain cells.
52
210739
7080
03:37
So, exercise can help with your memory, so it can increase your memory and what you can
53
217819
7081
03:44
retain.
54
224900
1949
03:46
And also, when you exercise, you get more blood going towards the brain, which allows
55
226849
6750
03:53
nourishment for the brain.
56
233599
1810
03:55
So, exercise helps you learn better and faster.
57
235409
5981
04:01
So, when I say exercise, what do I mean?
58
241390
3510
04:04
It can be as simple as going for a walk or a jog, as long as you are, you know, not walking
59
244900
6169
04:11
too slowly.
60
251069
1000
04:12
There's a lot of different ways you can exercise.
61
252069
2530
04:14
The main thing is, by being active, you're going to help your learning.
62
254599
5320
04:19
Posture.
63
259919
1861
04:21
What do I mean by posture?
64
261780
1940
04:23
Posture is the way we hold our bodies, okay?
65
263720
3150
04:26
So, maybe, you know people who have really bad posture.
66
266870
3630
04:30
They're the kinds of people who might be like this at their computers.
67
270500
4660
04:35
What you want when you learn is good posture.
68
275160
3099
04:38
Why?
69
278259
1021
04:39
Well, posture actually can help you to stay more alert.
70
279280
5109
04:44
So, if you are sitting upright while you're learning and, you know, you're aware of your
71
284389
6101
04:50
posture, you can actually become more alert and remember more.
72
290490
5540
04:56
It's easy to see this if you look in any classroom and you see the students who are lying down
73
296030
4990
05:01
on their desk, their head on their arm, and they have terrible posture.
74
301020
4970
05:05
They're probably not paying attention that well.
75
305990
2780
05:08
But when you have somebody sit upright, it tells the body to become more alert.
76
308770
5160
05:13
So, posture is key.
77
313930
1880
05:15
It can also help your confidence.
78
315810
2639
05:18
So, when you have good posture, you might be more confident and feel better about yourself
79
318449
5301
05:23
as well, which can also help your learning.
80
323750
3290
05:27
Alright, so after body, the next part of BLESS ME is lifestyle.
81
327040
7310
05:34
So, how do you live your life - can really impact your ability to learn.
82
334350
6030
05:40
I'll give you a couple of examples here.
83
340380
3640
05:44
What you eat is a part of your lifestyle.
84
344020
3110
05:47
Are you the type of person that eats a whole bunch of sugar and potato chips and then falls
85
347130
5050
05:52
asleep on the couch?
86
352180
1980
05:54
Or are you the kind of person who tries to eat healthy?
87
354160
3640
05:57
Well, not - I don't think this is a big surprise for you, but healthy eating really helps with
88
357800
8080
06:05
memory and it helps with learning, okay?
89
365880
3530
06:09
The reason is food is the fuel or the gas of the brain.
90
369410
4860
06:14
Your brain needs a lot of different nutrients in order to work and do its best.
91
374270
7049
06:21
So, food is really important to learning.
92
381319
3070
06:24
Here, I've written "healthy foods and a balanced meal", making sure you get your proteins,
93
384389
7101
06:31
your fats as well as your carbohydrates, can really help you learn better.
94
391490
4300
06:35
And if you are like, "What's a protein?
95
395790
1780
06:37
What's a carbohydrate?"
96
397570
1140
06:38
I think it's really good to learn about nutrition.
97
398710
3900
06:42
Because, by understanding nutrition, you can help yourself learn better.
98
402610
4880
06:47
So, healthy foods, balanced meals, equals a happy brain.
99
407490
5590
06:53
Okay, my next point is sleep.
100
413080
4840
06:57
In lifestyle, we're also talking about sleep.
101
417920
2940
07:00
Do you get enough sleep?
102
420860
1899
07:02
Do you get four hours of sleep, or do you get eight hours of sleep?
103
422759
3660
07:06
Well, ideally, to help your brain learn and be its best, you need about eight hours of
104
426419
6571
07:12
sleep.
105
432990
1030
07:14
So, try whenever you're studying, whenever you need to learn something new, make sure
106
434020
6040
07:20
you get enough sleep those nights.
107
440060
2410
07:22
Because it's when you're asleep, that your brain is doing a lot of work to remember everything
108
442470
5370
07:27
you've learned during the day.
109
447840
1340
07:29
So, sleep is important.
110
449180
4230
07:33
The other thing I want to say about sleep is it's always a good idea to try to learn
111
453410
4210
07:37
when you're at your best.
112
457620
1519
07:39
So, some people, maybe they're at their best at 11:00am.
113
459139
4021
07:43
So, that's a good time to learn maybe harder material.
114
463160
5900
07:49
Maybe other people, they might be at their best at 7:00pm.
115
469060
3470
07:52
So, that's when they might learn things that are hard for them.
116
472530
4729
07:57
So, my point is know yourself, know your best times, and try to study when you're not tired
117
477259
6690
08:03
and when you're the most energetic.
118
483949
1791
08:05
So, know your cycle, know what's best for you during the day and when is the best time
119
485740
5720
08:11
for you to study.
120
491460
2179
08:13
The other thing I just wanted to add was, in terms of lifestyle - thirsty.
121
493639
5680
08:19
It's important, when you're learning, to be well hydrated and to drink lots of water.
122
499319
5690
08:25
That's going to help the blood flow in you, and it will help you with learning as well.
123
505009
6951
08:31
So, make sure you stay hydrated.
124
511960
2150
08:34
Now, let's look at some of the other factors in BLESS ME.
125
514110
4290
08:38
Okay, so a lot of people, when they're learning, are really surprised to find out how big of
126
518400
7030
08:45
an impact the environment you learn in has on your learning.
127
525430
5320
08:50
So, what I'm trying to say is this: the environment is important to think about when you're learning.
128
530750
6690
08:57
So, let's think about the environment for a moment.
129
537440
2790
09:00
When I'm talking about the environment, I'm not talking about the forests and the jungle
130
540230
4510
09:04
and the oceans.
131
544740
1000
09:05
I'm talking about the environment around you.
132
545740
2840
09:08
That might be your classroom, it might be your bedroom, it might be the library.
133
548580
4660
09:13
The place where you learn is what I'm talking about.
134
553240
3420
09:16
So, it's important when you're learning to have a quiet environment with not a lot of
135
556660
6410
09:23
distractions.
136
563070
2320
09:25
If you're the type of person that gets a lot of messages on your phone and you hear the
137
565390
4000
09:29
beep or the bell a lot, or the ringing, I mean.
138
569390
4030
09:33
That can be very distracting and it interrupts your learning.
139
573420
4010
09:37
When you learn, you need focus, because your brain then doesn't have to waste time on thinking
140
577430
9070
09:46
about other things.
141
586500
1080
09:47
It's really important, when you're learning, to be in a quiet, focused environment.
142
587580
5610
09:53
One of the best tips I ever got when I was learning how to study properly was don't study
143
593190
7240
10:00
in your bedroom, especially not in your bed.
144
600430
3649
10:04
Because if you study in your bed, you're more likely to get sleepy, and that can be really
145
604079
4741
10:08
hard for learning.
146
608820
1540
10:10
So, find a place.
147
610360
2020
10:12
It might be in your house, it might be at the library, but have a good place to study.
148
612380
5390
10:17
And make sure that there's enough lighting so you don't have to work so hard when you're
149
617770
3879
10:21
learning and reading things.
150
621649
2531
10:24
One thing that can be really helpful when you're learning is to have what you're learning
151
624180
6790
10:30
in the environment.
152
630970
1020
10:31
So, I'll give you an example.
153
631990
2000
10:33
In my classrooms, I always like to have a lot of English on the walls.
154
633990
5010
10:39
Why is that?
155
639000
1690
10:40
Well, sometimes students might be tired and they might not be listening to the teacher,
156
640690
6640
10:47
so they start to notice what's around them in the room.
157
647330
3390
10:50
And then they might read a poster in English, or they might read something, and they might
158
650720
4100
10:54
think about it.
159
654820
1250
10:56
So, a lot of the times, what is in your environment is actually helping you to learn without you
160
656070
8600
11:04
realizing it.
161
664670
1479
11:06
So, you know, you can do this at home or in your study space.
162
666149
6541
11:12
You can write English words that you're trying to memorize on the walls.
163
672690
3620
11:16
You can write things you need to remember.
164
676310
2800
11:19
Maybe it's pronouns, maybe it's different expressions.
165
679110
3830
11:22
But having what you're learning on the wall can be very helpful.
166
682940
5780
11:28
And here, I've put learning without thinking.
167
688720
3570
11:32
Okay, so environment is very important.
168
692290
3169
11:35
Think about where you learn and think about how can you improve it, so your brain can
169
695459
4880
11:40
work at its - your brain can do its job at its best.
170
700339
5821
11:46
Okay, the next part of BLESS ME stands for society or social life.
171
706160
5080
11:51
So, when we're talking about the S in BLESS ME, we're talking about who can you practice
172
711240
5289
11:56
your learning with.
173
716529
1581
11:58
So, if you're learning English, for example, do you have somebody you can practice with?
174
718110
5580
12:03
That might be a classmate.
175
723690
1960
12:05
Maybe it's somebody you met at a bar who speaks English.
176
725650
5250
12:10
Who can you practice with?
177
730900
1810
12:12
And that goes for any learning.
178
732710
1780
12:14
It's important to choose people who are not going to distract you.
179
734490
6430
12:20
So, you might know somebody who knows English and can speak it really well, but if all they
180
740920
6390
12:27
want to do is party and they procrastinate all the time, it's probably better to find
181
747310
5370
12:32
somebody who is more serious and who is really focused on what you're learning.
182
752680
7940
12:40
Another key of having good support or knowing somebody you can practice with is it gives
183
760620
6519
12:47
you a great advantage when it comes to getting tips.
184
767139
5690
12:52
You can learn a lot by talking to people about how they learn.
185
772829
5301
12:58
When you meet somebody and you're in a class, you can ask them, "How do you study this?
186
778130
4440
13:02
What are your methods?" and you'd be surprised.
187
782570
2750
13:05
A lot of people have really good ideas on how to learn.
188
785320
4290
13:09
And so, the more people you meet, you can find this information out.
189
789610
4060
13:13
Maybe they have a good website they use that you can - they can recommend to you.
190
793670
5530
13:19
But the key is, by talking to people who are learning the same thing, you share information
191
799200
5389
13:24
and you can actually learn how to become more effective and efficient in your learning.
192
804589
8740
13:33
And again, they can be supportive.
193
813329
3401
13:36
When you're learning something, it's always good to have a cheerleader, or somebody who
194
816730
3830
13:40
says, "You can do it!"
195
820560
1690
13:42
Especially when you have a bad day, you're tired.
196
822250
2860
13:45
Maybe you didn't do well on a test.
197
825110
2130
13:47
You always want somebody who will encourage you and tell you, "Don't give up, you'll get
198
827240
5039
13:52
this."
199
832279
1000
13:53
That's really important in learning.
200
833279
1691
13:54
So now, let's look at the last part of BLESS ME, which is the S, the M, and the E.
201
834970
5510
14:00
Okay.
202
840480
2099
14:02
The next part of BLESS ME is an S, which stands for spirit.
203
842579
4251
14:06
So, what do I mean by spirit?
204
846830
2170
14:09
Well, for some people, spirit can refer to something to do with their religion.
205
849000
6160
14:15
For other people, it just means just how they see the world and the meaning they get from
206
855160
5510
14:20
it.
207
860670
1000
14:21
So, it might be religious or maybe not.
208
861670
2719
14:24
Depends on the person.
209
864389
1111
14:25
When we talk about spirit, we're talking about what is our purpose in life.
210
865500
5889
14:31
What is our life meaning?
211
871389
2471
14:33
What are we motivated by?
212
873860
2849
14:36
Usually with spirit, we're talking about the big why questions.
213
876709
3271
14:39
So, when you learn something, it's good to think about why are you learning this.
214
879980
5460
14:45
How does it fit in in with the big picture?
215
885440
2970
14:48
Maybe if you're learning English or a language, for example, maybe you have motivation because
216
888410
5810
14:54
you want a better life in another country.
217
894220
3359
14:57
Or maybe you want to learn more about the world and English is a great way to do that,
218
897579
6070
15:03
because a lot of things are written in English.
219
903649
1991
15:05
So, it's always good to ask why are you learning something, and to think about how does it
220
905640
4980
15:10
fit in with your life goals.
221
910620
2930
15:13
The more motivation you have, the more likely you will be to learn something.
222
913550
7719
15:21
When we're talking about spirit, we also talk about resilience.
223
921269
2801
15:24
So, this word has become very popular: resilience.
224
924070
5290
15:29
When we talk about resilience, what we're talking about is how does somebody handle
225
929360
6960
15:36
bad things happening to them?
226
936320
2000
15:38
How do they cope?
227
938320
1639
15:39
What do you do when something goes wrong?
228
939959
2630
15:42
Are you the kind of person who gives up and says, "Oh, okay, that went horrible, I quit."
229
942589
7221
15:49
Or, are you the kind of person who finds your strength and is able to achieve success, despite
230
949810
7149
15:56
things going wrong?
231
956959
1281
15:58
So, that's what we mean by resilience.
232
958240
2560
16:00
What do you do when things go bad?
233
960800
2310
16:03
People who are resilient are able to bounce back when things go badly in their life.
234
963110
7610
16:10
They're able to continue, and they don't give up.
235
970720
3950
16:14
So, this is a question you can ask yourself.
236
974670
3400
16:18
When something you're learning gets hard - so maybe you're learning - for me, it was math.
237
978070
6850
16:24
When I had to study math in university, I had a hard time.
238
984920
4410
16:29
And so, for me, that's when I really needed my resilience.
239
989330
3390
16:32
When my classes got really hard, what did I do?
240
992720
5080
16:37
And so that's a question for you to think about and reflect.
241
997800
2409
16:40
What do you do when things get hard?
242
1000209
2771
16:42
So, spirit was the S. Now, we also have M in BLESS ME, and the M stands for mental or
243
1002980
9150
16:52
mind.
244
1012130
1410
16:53
You can use either mental or mind.
245
1013540
2299
16:55
And what do we mean by mental or mind?
246
1015839
1981
16:57
Well, we're talking about your thoughts.
247
1017820
2650
17:00
How you think really impacts your ability to learn.
248
1020470
4430
17:04
So, for this, a very important question to ask yourself when you're learning anything
249
1024900
7189
17:12
is it's important to ask yourself how you learn best.
250
1032089
5230
17:17
What tricks work for you?
251
1037319
2260
17:19
How do you study?
252
1039579
2130
17:21
These types of questions are really important because sometimes you'll find that the way
253
1041709
4291
17:26
you're learning actually is not the best way, and there's an easier way which will let you
254
1046000
6210
17:32
be more successful.
255
1052210
2339
17:34
So, reflect on why you do what you do.
256
1054549
3562
17:38
Why do you study where you study?
257
1058111
4769
17:42
Why do you write your notes the way you write your notes?
258
1062880
2670
17:45
Why do you do your homework the way you do it?
259
1065550
2310
17:47
Okay?
260
1067860
1000
17:48
It's really important to think about these things, because once you realize what you
261
1068860
2880
17:51
do, you can think about ways to improve it.
262
1071740
4040
17:55
So, with mental, part of this is also problem solving.
263
1075780
6140
18:01
Sometimes, we're trying to learn, but maybe things aren't perfect, okay?
264
1081920
5550
18:07
Maybe I want to learn in a quiet spot, but I can't because, you know, I have a brother
265
1087470
6730
18:14
who loves to play loud music and so every time I'm trying to study, I just hear music
266
1094200
6310
18:20
playing.
267
1100510
1000
18:21
So, by problem solving, maybe I can think of a better way to learn.
268
1101510
3080
18:24
Maybe it might be buying headphones to drown out the noise.
269
1104590
4240
18:28
So, this is what we mean by mental, problem solving.
270
1108830
3440
18:32
How do you fix problems with your learning?
271
1112270
2850
18:35
So now, let's get to the last part of BLESS ME, and that is the final E.
272
1115120
4559
18:39
Okay, so the last part of BLESS ME is the E, which stands for emotion.
273
1119679
7630
18:47
It's important when you're learning something new to ask yourself, "How do you feel?"
274
1127309
6521
18:53
When we learn something new, it's often frustrating, okay.
275
1133830
4320
18:58
Sometimes we can feel bad or like, we're stupid because we don't understand everything right
276
1138150
5200
19:03
away.
277
1143350
1180
19:04
And learning takes time.
278
1144530
1700
19:06
So, emotion is really important to the learning process.
279
1146230
4890
19:11
I'll give you an example.
280
1151120
2960
19:14
Research shows that when you're feeling a lot of stress, your ability to learn actually
281
1154080
4709
19:18
goes down.
282
1158789
1260
19:20
So, if you think about, you know, if you're trying to learn before a test, you probably
283
1160049
6171
19:26
have a lot of stress.
284
1166220
2610
19:28
And so maybe you're not going to learn as much as if you're learning in a really nice,
285
1168830
6510
19:35
calm, stress free environment.
286
1175340
3320
19:38
So, emotions matter when it comes to learning.
287
1178660
4220
19:42
So, what can you do?
288
1182880
2370
19:45
Okay, if you have stress or you're feeling really bad, one of the main things I think
289
1185250
7000
19:52
is learning good stress management techniques.
290
1192250
4290
19:56
Because if you learn how to manage your stress, your learning can increase.
291
1196540
4690
20:01
So, for example, this might be having - knowing what to do when you're feeling bad.
292
1201230
8490
20:09
For some people, that might be doing yoga or meditation.
293
1209720
4260
20:13
For others, it might be as simple as listening to music or going for a walk.
294
1213980
4110
20:18
But knowing what to do when you feel bad is important, because by addressing how you're
295
1218090
6260
20:24
feeling, you can increase your learning.
296
1224350
4480
20:28
And this also goes for when you're feeling good.
297
1228830
4160
20:32
When you're feeling happy or you're having fun, you actually learn a lot more.
298
1232990
5429
20:38
You can even think about this with school.
299
1238419
2191
20:40
When you think back to classes you had, you probably really remember the fun ones.
300
1240610
6120
20:46
And so, when you're learning, it's important to make it fun and a positive experience.
301
1246730
5990
20:52
For some people when they're learning English, a great idea is to use music to learn English.
302
1252720
6260
20:58
And the reason is because when you're listening to music, you're often having fun and you
303
1258980
5650
21:04
can actually learn a lot, because you're not feeling as stressed as maybe if you're just
304
1264630
4870
21:09
reading a grammar book.
305
1269500
2010
21:11
So, taking into account your emotion is very important.
306
1271510
5710
21:17
Similarly, sometimes when people feel a lot of stress, they procrastinate.
307
1277220
7510
21:24
What do I mean by procrastinate?
308
1284730
1500
21:26
Well, it's when you don't do what you need to do because you're feeling too stressed
309
1286230
5720
21:31
about it.
310
1291950
1000
21:32
So, when some people procrastinate, instead of doing their homework, maybe they watch
311
1292950
4490
21:37
a movie instead.
312
1297440
1700
21:39
Again, by learning stress management techniques, you can address this.
313
1299140
6690
21:45
So, you've learned about BLESS ME today, and the main point I want to make about BLESS
314
1305830
5250
21:51
ME is what it does is it helps you to think about your learning, which is important, and
315
1311080
6700
21:57
to find the best ways to learn better by thinking about how you learn and what's best for your
316
1317780
6970
22:04
brain.
317
1324750
1190
22:05
So, thank you for watching.
318
1325940
2430
22:08
I hope you've enjoyed this video.
319
1328370
3790
22:12
I would like to invite you to check out our website at www.engvid.com . There, you can
320
1332160
5649
22:17
actually find a quiz where I go over BLESS ME and ask questions about it.
321
1337809
6431
22:24
That way, you can practice what you've learned.
322
1344240
2900
22:27
I'd also like you to check out my channel and subscribe.
323
1347140
4870
22:32
Just remember to ring the bell.
324
1352010
1160
22:33
I have a whole bunch of different resources there on a whole bunch of different topics.
325
1353170
5540
22:38
So, check it out.
326
1358710
1780
22:40
And if you're looking for free resources and you're learning English or just learning how
327
1360490
4170
22:44
to learn, I also invite you to check out my website at www.teacheremma.com . There, you
328
1364660
6491
22:51
can find a lot of materials as well.
329
1371151
2039
22:53
So, thank you for watching, and until next time, take care.
330
1373190
3250
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7