The Learning Logistics Center - A Metaphor for Your Brain

Ok, stick with me here folks. Your brain is like a warehouse and in the last couple of decades, we've learned a lot about how it works. So, we'll talk about how to make all this happen next (effective learning techniques), but first lets take a little tour.

1. The Loading Dock (Input)
   • Intake: Everything you learn starts on the Loading Dock. Trucks (books, videos, teachers, coaches, experiences) arrive and drop off boxes of raw data.
   • Scheduling: If you try to bring in too many trucks at once (cramming), the dock gets jammed. The workers get stressed and they start making mistakes. You have to space out the arrivals so the team can keep up.
2. The Assembly Area (Working Memory - Understanding & Chunking)
   • The Workspace: The assembly area has room for four boxes (your working, or short term memory). These boxes can be any size - small boxes for small chunks of information, and big boxes for big chunks.
   • Unpacking: This is where you open the boxes. You don't just shove the raw parts on a shelf. You open them up, sort them out. Here, you also bring out boxes you already have in the warehouse with related information. You figure out how they fit together. (Understanding)
   • Repacking: You might take a new idea from a truck, combine it with a few parts you already had in the warehouse, and build a "Fasteners kit" with different sorts of screws and bolts. You pack it into a new, sturdy box and label it clearly. Now, instead of 50 loose parts, you have one single box that is easy to grab. (Chunking)
3. The Aisles (Long Term Memory - Elaboration & Encoding)
   • Long Term Storage: Next, you move the kit into the Warehouse. (Encoding)
   • Organization: If you’re learning about fractions, you don't put it in a dark, isolated corner. You store it right next to "Slicing a Pizza". By placing the box near related things you already know, you are creating connectedness. This connectedness helps you find the box later when you need it. (Elaboration)
   • Search Efficiency: Without this connectedness, sometimes boxes get lost. Better elaboration is like being able to use a more general search term, use it to get to the right area of the warehouse, and then refine the search until you find the right box.
4. The Order Desk (Discrimination)
   • When a problem comes in, the order desk gets involved, deciding which box to send for.
   • If the order says "build a bed," a the order desk calls for the "Carpentry Kit," not the "Plumbing Kit. They also call for the new "Fasteners Kit" since it will also help.
   • The more varied the requests are, the more you train the Order Desk clerk to recognize exactly which tool is needed for each unique job. (Interleaving)
5. The Pickers (Recall and Reconsolidation)
   • When an order is made, the Picker goes to get the box (recall) and bring it in to the assembly area (working memory)
   • The picker doesn't have a map, they have to remember where something is stored. If it's stored with similar things (good elaboration), then it's easier to find.
   • After the Assembly area is done with the information, they repack it - this time, moving the fasteners and carpentry tools into the same box (creating a bigger chunk). (Remodeling)
   • Every time the Picker retrieves something (and later puts it back), the path gets easier to remember. (Strengthening the neural path)
6. The second shift (diffuse mode)
   • When the first crew takes a break, the second shift comes in. These are some of the most experienced workers here.
   • Clear the clutter: They help put away anything that's not being used, leaving fresh, cleaner spaces for the first shift workers.
   • Re-organize: Sometimes, they look at what's left out in the assembly area and re-organize it, they may put some boxes away and bring out boxes that are better suited for the task at hand. They leave instructions, like supervisors. And (like supervisors) sometimes their instructions are good, and sometimes they're bad - but when they interfere, they always suggest a new way to do something. When the first shift (focus mode) comes back, they'll need to examine these instructions, try them out, and see if they work.
7. The Night Shift (Sleep & Maintenance)
   • Clearing the Dock: The night shift looks at the loading dock and assembly areas. Any boxes that were never opened or assembled are considered "trash" and thrown away. If you don't unpack it (understand), repack it (chunk) and put it away (encode) during the day, the brain assumes it isn't important and discards it.
   • Cleaning the Aisles: They also sweep the aisles, removing the dust and trash that built up during the day.
   • If you don't get good sleep, and the cleaning crew doesn't get to work, the whole place gets messy and the workers have a harder time with their jobs the next day.
   • A note about those thrown away boxes: The good news here is, if you get the same shipment in later, you'll probably notice it is familiar. When this happens, you know you got caught in an illusion of competence. You thought you learned something, but you didn't. You either didn't understand it well enough (unpacking), put it in the right box (chunking), or organize it well enough in the aisles (elaboration). Try harder this time with all three things and make a note to think about it again later in the same day and again tomorrow to see if you can find it.
8. Automation (fluency and mastery)
   • Fluency: At first, all of this work requires the workers time and attention, but eventually, if you use something over and over, they decide it's worth tagging for automation. Here, The processes are automated, and it works fast. Literally in the blink of an eye. As soon as something is needed in the assembly area, the workers there have the information they need, often in great big chunks that hold lots of interconnected bits.
   • Mastery: At this stage, it's possible to work on really hard problems - maybe even create something completely new. If you have lots of giant boxes that are automated, your brain can quickly cycle among an astonishing amount of helpful information, making new connections, and occasionally - leaps of insight.
9. Continuous Process Improvement
   • CPI: If you've actually worked in a warehouse, or in many other professional settings, you're probably familiar with the concept of Continuous Process Improvement (CPI). This is how real businesses get better, incrementally, over time. The fantastic news is that your brain has this built in.
   • Process mastery: The more you learn, the better all your workers and all your shifts are trained. You know what it feels like to have something be new and totally mystifying, and how little by little, more information comes in, gets understood, gets chunked into the right box, and gets used over and over. Eventually, you'll have had that experience enough to internalize an incredibly important thing. It's not that the new thing is incomprehensible... it's just that you don't comprehend it yet. You will build up the faith in yourself that you know how to build that comprehension. The more often you do, the more powerful that faith will become, and the more learning something new will be a fun process of discovery instead of a fearful time of doubt and discomfort.
   • Structural improvement: Part of CPI is process mastery - the training we talked about above; doing things better. Part of CPI is structural: better tools and bigger facilities. This connects to our warehouse in two ways. First, the more well labeled boxes you have in well organized aisles, the easier it is to figure out where to put the next thing. It is literally easier to learn things when you have a lot already in your warehouse to connect the new things to. Second, unlike a physical warehouse, your brain has unlimited space. Taking Organic chemistry for the first time? Add and aisle and start filling it up!
   • Between learning getting easier (and more fun), and the limitless storage capacity, learning to learn effectively can be a powerful, life changing skill. Life long learning is a habit that will change your life.

Onward: Now that you understand how the different processes work together in a very abstract way, lets move to some very practical learning techniques you can use to learn as efficiently as possible.