The Universal Self-Improvement Life Hack
An easy life hack to boost your learning, to bring anxieties and emotions down, to become an active listener, to ask good questions, to connect you with people, and disconnect from inner-self
Are you an introvert who wants to have a break from inner-self? Are your anxieties and emotions hitting the ceiling? Do you know how to become an active listener? Do you want to learn what good questions are and when to ask them? Are you weak at noticing details? Are you learning a foreign language?
Inspiration to Self-Improve
There are thousands of self-improvement articles, books, and courses attempting to answer all the above questions. Most of them answer the question about why to self-improve and are the most clapped for and followed articles here on Medium.
They do inspire you to fly. But what about the wings and the instruction manual? We also need life hacks, techniques, tricks, and methods to achieve what we want.
Self-Improvement Life-Hack
I would like to share with you just one professional and universal life-hack that can empower you on your road to self-improvement.
I call this trick a silent fast repeat.
Why is it Professional?
I first learned it during translation classes when I was a student. My professor, a former UN interpreter, showed us the most effective tool to remember what to be translated.
Some speakers remember that the audience doesn’t understand their language. They stop and let an interpreter do the job. But many would be so absorbed in their endless thought tunnels that in the end an interpreter can hardly remember what to translate.
The trick they used at the UN was a silent fast repeat. You repeat in your head what the speaker says without efforts to remember it. Your brain automatically saves it in your short memory. Then, your job is just to convey it to the audience in your language.
Active Listening and Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time
When you fast repeat what you listen to, you filter every word. When you don’t recognize it, or find it interesting why it is here, or a statement is questionable, you stumble upon it to either ask a clarifying question right away or remember it for further resolution.
That’s how you become an active listener, interviewer, interrogator, or just a person who asks the right questions at the right time.
You’ll notice that Nancy Reagan never drinks water when Ronny speaks.
Robbin Willams
You will also be able to notice who and what does when someone speaks.
You can try to listen to anything or anyone right now and fast repeat in your head. You will be amazed at how easy and effective it is.
Learning a Foreign Language
If you are learning a foreign language, fast silent repeat is the most effective new word actuator. If you have ever come across a word before, you will be able to repeat it and remember it better. If not, you will snag on it, find out what it is, and learn.
You can fast repeat podcasts, speeches, discussions, lessons, radio. It is especially good as a rehearsal before the event you will be using a foreign language at.
What-I-See Commentary for Anxieties, Emotions, Inner-Work
I promised a silent fast repeat is a universal tool. But it has its variation, the fast what-I-see commentary.
I was impressed to find out how many things we look at but ignore to see.
I’ve picked it up from a defensive driving course. It is a technique to describe what you see several streetlights ahead, in the left, right, and rear mirror, what car make is right behind you, who is a reckless driver in the lane of cars behind while you are driving. You describe everything relevant to the process of driving.
When I first used it during the course, I thought why not combine it with the fast repeat technique and use it for broader application.
The next day, I was walking along the street and started commenting whatever my eyes would pick up. I was impressed to find out how many things we look at and ignore to see.
When you comment on what you see, you start noticing what kind of clouds are on the sky, what car has just passed and who is in it, what a person is carrying and what are his or her shoes, a bird singing, another one flying — everything that has always been around but you haven’t seen.
We usually don’t notice things. We can look at something, see its shape but no details.
Anxiety
One day, I was crossing the border and had an issue with my passport. Officers gathered in the booth twisting my passport and pointing at something in it. They were discussing in their language I couldn’t understand. I felt my anxiety was picking up.
I started the fast silent what-I-see commentary. I would describe officers, other travelers, different color passports in the hands, hurrying up people — all, what my eyes looked at. My mind was busy describing and all the emotions settled down. My smile was back and I could firmly explain to the officers why the passport was valid for 100 years in my country.
It will disconnect you from yourself and will connect with the others.
You can use this technique to avoid a panic attack when your anxiety is rising. You might have come across another powerful tool with anxieties, breathing. That’s true. But when used together, these two tools are a very powerful combination.
Disconnecting from Inner-Self
If you an introvert, you might like to indulge in self-talk. Sometimes, you can go too far and need to stop. But it’s difficult. You need a switch.
It can be the silent what-I-see commentary. It immediately disconnects you from the inner talk.
In times, when you are too much connected to your inner-self during discussions, you can use silent fast repeat technique combined with the what-I-see commentary. It will disconnect you from yourself and will connect with the others. You will see the world more what it is and less what you think it is.
What-I-Hear Variation
You can change the what-I-see commentary to the what-I-hear one. You can do it even when you do your work. It’s also a very useful technique to ease your anxiety, stabilize your emotions, or disconnect yourself from an inner talk.
Sleeping
I even use it for sleeping. I listen to my breathing, to what I can hear around and fall asleep faster with the help of sounds. I admit I haven’t tried it during a rock festival.
Fun
I like to use silent what-I-see commentary just for fun. We usually don’t notice things. We can look at something, see its shape but no details.
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Anais Nin
Noticing Details
When you activate the what-I-see commentary, you notice everything. It both widens your perspective and focuses on detail. You will learn to notice the details.
