LSQ Newsletter

LSQ Newsletter

A newsletter for lifelong learners looking to improve their processing, retention and recall of everything they learn.

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Archive

The Zeigarnik Effect: Why Unfinished Tasks Haunt You (and Help You Learn)

The Zeigarnik Effect: Why Unfinished Tasks Haunt You (and Help You Learn)

How your brain’s need for closure can be turned into a secret memory advantage.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Note-Taking Wars: Cornell vs Zettelkasten vs Chaos

Note-Taking Wars: Cornell vs Zettelkasten vs Chaos

Three popular note systems go head to head: which one wins for understanding, retention, and creativity?

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Metacognition: The Art of Thinking About Thinking

Metacognition: The Art of Thinking About Thinking

How to use your brain’s built-in coach to learn faster and think smarter.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Transfer of Learning: Why Skills Don’t Travel (and How to Make Them)

Transfer of Learning: Why Skills Don’t Travel (and How to Make Them)

How to make what you learn in one area actually help you in another.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Curiosity as a Superpower

Curiosity as a Superpower

The neuroscience behind curiosity and how to trigger it on demand for faster learning.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
The Science of Boredom: Why You Need It to Learn

The Science of Boredom: Why You Need It to Learn

What your mind does when it’s “doing nothing,” and how boredom fuels insight and creativity.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Gamifying the Grind: What Video Games Teach Us About Motivation

Gamifying the Grind: What Video Games Teach Us About Motivation

From XP bars to quest design, lessons from game mechanics that make learning addictive (in a good way).

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
The Color Code of Memory

The Color Code of Memory

How color, underlining, and visual structure affect recall... and how to design notes that your brain actually likes.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
The Mozart Myth: Does Music Really Make You Smarter

The Mozart Myth: Does Music Really Make You Smarter

A breakdown of how sound, rhythm, and tempo influence focus, retention, and creativity (with playlists to test).

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
Why Effort Feels Bad (and That’s Good)

Why Effort Feels Bad (and That’s Good)

The neuroscience behind “desirable difficulty” and how struggle actually signals deep learning, not failure.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
The “Forgetting Curve” and How to Outsmart It

The “Forgetting Curve” and How to Outsmart It

Why your brain deletes knowledge faster than your browser history, and how spaced repetition makes learning stick for life.

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
How Sleep Turns Your Brain Into a Learning Machine

How Sleep Turns Your Brain Into a Learning Machine

Why your best study hack might be a nap

Ray Blakney
Ray Blakney
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