ingeniusly.com

Great training

Great trainingI live in London and work for a consulting firm as Vice President of Training. Most of my work consists of presenting workshops to public groups or companies in topics related to energy, petrochemicals and sustainability. In my work, as I deal with groups, it is very important for me to be able to answer questions and recall facts on the spot so that I can help attendees learn about the industry and become better at their jobs. On a personal level I also like to learn new things and improve myself, not only with topics related to my industry, but also by reading, visiting museums, attending concerts, etc. I was always proud of my good memory as a kid. However, at 53 I can see my skills are not as sharp as before. On morning, by chance, I met Martina outside Moorgate Underground station. She asked me whether I wanted to improve my learning skills, from having a better memory to reading faster and I was quickly interested. It took several months before I was able to join the Genius 21 programme, but once I did it I was very satisfied. I had three objectives when I joined: improving my memory, reading faster and becoming better organised with my time. Here are the results: First, my memory. Today I can confidently recall strings of numbers using the system I learned in Genius 21. When I see a short number of 4-8 digits, for example a membership number, I commit it to memory quickly rather than having to write it down. I feel sufficiently confident to memorize a few numbers, even if just for a short time. Every morning I practice the strings from 00 to 100 so that the number associations are fresh in my mind. I have also been learning poems in English and in Spanish (I have memorized about ten of them now). Second: I am reading faster. I used to read at 220 wpm and today I’m reading between 350 and 400 wpm. It’s a modest improvement but good enough for me. I used to read about 10 books per year before, this year I will read 25. Third: My organisation skills have improved too. I don’t build mind maps every single time, but, I organise my weeks based on the activities that need to be done and I can block time to do them. I am still too optimistic with the time it takes me to do something, but my current system with a notebook and a diary is much better than having multiple post-its all over the place and some information in a computer, some in a notebook and part in my brain. What role did Martina play in all this? First, she introduced me to Genius 21. I still remember our chat that morning outside of the Tube. She kept following up, calling me and looking for options to prompt me to join the workshop. It took almost one year before I could make it to the session. I travel a lot so schedule was always an issue, but Martina was always there with a friendly and patient phone call to remind me. During the workshop itself, the staff at Genius 21 always ensured a warm and friendly environment. This helped us learn better. Finally, in the months after I took the workshop, I had follow-up sessions with Martina to help me strengthen some of the learnings, refine my organisation skills and keep track of my reading speed. I always felt I could trust her. She has supported me in this journey from beginning to end and has become a good friend in the process.

Date of experience: Jul 12, 2021