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Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights From Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick
In this exciting new book, Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath breaks fresh ground on the vital topic of influence. By combining cutting-edge brain research with proven behavioral science, Dr. Horvath outlines 12 scientific principles of how to impart knowledge in a way that truly sticks with and impacts others.
For leaders sick of repeating themselves to clients and colleagues, for coaches tired of drilling athletes without seeing meaningful improvement, for teachers fed up with pouring their hearts into lessons only to see no lasting impact ... it's time to stop talking and start influencing!
For leaders sick of repeating themselves to clients and colleagues, for coaches tired of drilling athletes without seeing meaningful improvement, for teachers fed up with pouring their hearts into lessons only to see no lasting impact ... it's time to stop talking and start influencing!
304 pages, Paperback
Published March 12, 2019
90 people are currently reading
526 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 5, 2019
Stop Talking, Start Influencing is an easy to read educational guide for influencing others based on twelve principles of how people learn. Whether you are making a presentation, writing a speech, teaching a course or simply seek to become more influential in your everyday life, the twelve principles can help you achieve your goal. These principles are rooted in neuroscience and are neatly laid out with interesting anecdotes along the way.
February 6, 2019
Wow. I did not expect this. This reminds me of those great pop-sci books from the 90s (before the genre became a bunch of 300 page books that could have been written in 10 pages).
It feels like each page introduces a new idea, and every idea is important and useful. For instance, I used to think I was weird for not being able to take notes when the teacher was speaking, but now I know why it is impossible. I feel like I should have been taught these things in grade school.
Honestly, I was about ready to give up on this genre but this has reinvigorated me. Reminds me of books like "The Brain that Changes Itself" and "Proust was a Neuroscientist". Fun and useful.
It feels like each page introduces a new idea, and every idea is important and useful. For instance, I used to think I was weird for not being able to take notes when the teacher was speaking, but now I know why it is impossible. I feel like I should have been taught these things in grade school.
Honestly, I was about ready to give up on this genre but this has reinvigorated me. Reminds me of books like "The Brain that Changes Itself" and "Proust was a Neuroscientist". Fun and useful.
February 2, 2019
Honest and in-depth advice for reaching your full potential. This advice is presented in easy to follow language that can be broken up and applied in pieces at a time.
June 12, 2025
The single best book I've ever read on cognitive and behavioural science. Great ideas about the mechanics of learning and implementable strategies for all contexts, including presentations, coaching, as well as teaching.
I highly recommend this to those who are curious about how we learn and make things stick.
I highly recommend this to those who are curious about how we learn and make things stick.
December 28, 2019
Real damn good, practices what it preaches, reviews, interleaves. Doesn’t require a prior knowledge of anything really, but being a teacher with a working knowledge of CLT beforehand would be useful. Great use of visuals, quizzes and even the breaking of principles at points to prove others. As the back cover blurb says, it’s an experience more than it is a book. Don’t be a contrarian, do what the book says and give the activities the time they deserve to illustrate the things it’s setting out to. A must read for teachers, coaches, presenters and leaders across all fields. A good teacher, regardless of calling or career is an asset to any group or organisation.
March 16, 2021
This book is a well presented guide to how the brain works to improve learning and influence. The author clearly explains with story , theory and practical examples how to apply this knowledge to learn or help others learn. It also, as the title suggests, outlines the techniques to make your presentations or contributions in meetings more effective in any setting.
Although many teachers will have used some of the techniques, this book explains how and why they work ( or don't ) and answers many of the questions we have such as - Does listening to music help concentration? Why and when should you practice in the same environment ?
I highly recommend this text.
Although many teachers will have used some of the techniques, this book explains how and why they work ( or don't ) and answers many of the questions we have such as - Does listening to music help concentration? Why and when should you practice in the same environment ?
I highly recommend this text.
November 19, 2020
Stop Talking, Start Influencing
This novel combines effective learning techniques with their justification (i.e. brain research) to produce a captivating and memorable reading experience about elevating learning and memory.
This is a book to continually revisit to understand how humans interpret, store and solidify information and one that I will benefit from continuously. Summarised below are the key chapters of the book (of which there are 12)
## 1. Text + Speech
- ** Dichotic listening **: We can listen to multiple people at a time but only truly understand one person at a time
- It is impossible to understand something you are reading while simultaneously trying to understand a voice you are listening to. This is because the brain interprets reading as a visual and oral activity, which collides with the brain regions which are processing the external voice signal. This creates a bottleneck or 'switch' mechanism in only one voice signal can be active to facilitate understanding
- During a powerpoint presentation, your brain is doing overtime processing the speaker's voice and the sound of your own silent reading voice (reading the contents of the slide). Only one stream of information can pass the bottleneck in the brain
- This is why we must put no (or minimal) text on slides (the take home)
- Including simultaneous text and speed elements impairs comprehension and learning
## 2. Images + Speech
- Hearing and vision combine to generate greater meaning
- Conclusion: Use images on powerpoint slides
- Also, don't flood audience with multiple images as this harms memory (one image at a time)
1. Do images need to be relevant to the topic being discussed?
1. Engagement and learning are inversely related. An irrelevant or silly image boosts engagement but hinders learning and vice versa
- ** The Attenborough Effect ** - Learning is not affected by the ostentation or the 'flashiness or sleekiness' of a learning material
## 3. Space
- Memory technique = ** Method of loci **
1. Elaboration
2. Placement
- A very strong relationship between spatial locations and memory
- Memory comes in many forms
1. Working memory
- The ability to briefly maintain recently experienced information
2. Procedural memory
- Is largely the unconscious ability to activate physical movements and skills. This is why brushing your teeth or throwing a ball requires little-to-no effort
3. Declarative memory
- The ability to remember specific facts and events. E.g. the capital of France, your favourite childhood teacher.
- When you can accurately predict where in space relevant information is likely to occur, you expend less time and energy interpreting that information. E.g. all road signs are the same height.
Applications
1. Ensure slides are consistently spatially formatted
2. What happens if I change up an otherwise consistent format?
- A small signal called 'mismatch negativity' is triggered within the brain that forces attention on the irregularity. Use this to trigger audience engagement by breaking the uniform layout of slides
3. Use a consistent format on webpages and applications
- A static and uniform design allows users to learn the spatial layout and makes it easier to locate information.
- One never-ending page hinders comprehension
- Anchoring can be used where specific text is 'anchored' to an image or element.
Conclusion
- The hippocampus is the gateway to memory. It is lined with place cells witch embed a spatial layout into each newly formed memory
- Spatial layout can be used as a guiding cue to recall information
## 4. Context/State
- ** Context-dependent learning: ** Where we do our learning forms an integral aspect of what we learn
- It's the reason why we don't always recognise co-workers outside the workspace and why places from our childhood bring back long-forgotten episodes
- ** State-dependent learning **: Any new memory form is embedded with an emotion at the time of the memory. In order to reconstruct a memory, try reconstructing the emotion you felt during the memory
- Declarative memories (from previous chapter) come in two forms:
1. Episodic
1. Are facts/events tied to a specific time or place
2. Semantic
1. Facts or events independent or time or place
- All new memories begin as episodic but repeated exposure to the same memory across a variety of contexts transforms it into a semantic memory
- Advice: Study, train and practice across multiple locations to produce semantic memories. This allows us to perform well across a variety of contexts
- Explains the 'home-field advantage' during the beginning of a league
- Tips:
1. Match training context to performance context
- The environment will act as a guiding cue to more easily access relevant memories
- Used when the location, moment and circumstances of performance are known
- E.g. exam in the gymnasium, presentation in the boardroom
2. Mix up learning contexts
- The inverse is true. For unknown performances, learn in a myriad of contexts to disassociate your memories
3. Leverage your senses to boost performance
- If you chew a particular flavour of gum while training, that acts as a guiding cue. More examples including wearing a particular shirt and smelling a particular air freshener
4. Be aware of state dependency
- If u prepare whilst in a unique state, its worth it to mimic that state for performance time
- Also, reproduce the unique performance state during your learning state
- This phenomenon is present when you supplement a cram session with caffeine, nicotine, junk food etc. When its time to recall, performance drops as those supplements are vacant
- Burning Question 3: 'Does listening to music while studying help or hinder learning'
- The big myth
- Stochastic resonance
- Music has to be predictable enough to remain 'noise'. It must not divert your attention, rather strength it and should be UNsurprising.
- The music doesn't have to be monotonous either. just highly predictable otherwise it is called a 'signal' which requires attention to decipher
- There we go. A solid answer to a commonly asked question. Nice to see a resolution.
- Also, classical music does not boost memory or intelligence. Sorry (book's words not mine ha)
## 5. Multitasking
- The lateral prefrontal cortex can only hold one 'ruleset' at a time. Put it simply, we can't multitask
- Task-switching has 3 consequences
1. Time
2. Accuracy
3. Memory
- Practice makes perfect does not exist
- Feel free to take the supertasker test to examine your ability
- Detrimental to retention, comprehension and understanding. Don't invite it
- 'If it's impossible to multitask, then why can I walk and chew gum simultaneously'
- Well, just like conversating while eating and singing in the shower, one of these tasks includes a habitual routine mediated by the striatum. We can do 2 tasks at a time as long as one of them can be performed with little external thought
- 'Sometimes I walk into a room only to suddenly forget why'.
- Whenever the ventral attention network registers a threat, it automatically drops our current ruleset. Any lingering info gets erased. Luckily, we can use spatial context and guiding cues to reconstruct our original train of thought and to remember our original intentions
- Break complex tasks to small chunks
## 6. Interleave
- The process of grouping discrete items into a unified concept called ** chunking **
- Relieves bottleneck at presupplementary motor cortex (pre-SMA)
- Ever zoned out while driving. The brain creates a driving chunk and once accessed, it can let the sequence roll with almost no conscious effort
- Chunks are extremely durable. I.e. its difficult to access individual actions within the chunk. For example, try recalling the past 3 digits of your number. You probably had to work your way from the start to end, rather than jump to the last few digits
**Interleaving**
- When I first read this I thought of bit/byte interleaving ha.
- Anyways, this term means to practice in a random manner so that extended, accidental sequences don't emerge. (Frequently switch between difference skills to apply them better across shifting and unpredictable scenarios)
- Helps access individual chunks easier and faster
- You must first learn skill then interleave
- Also, interleave ***similar*** chunks
- Keeps multiple skills accessible and prevents tasks from becoming automated
- 'Can I really increase my memory capacity and become super-smart'
- Put simply: no. There is limit on information you can hold within your prefrontal cortex
- Brain training games are a sham
- Interleave only when performance *unpredictable*
## 7. Error
- When presented with an error, the brain either updates the mental model to learn from the error or rejects the error and upholds its prediction
- When we interpret errors as a threat to our personal identity, we ignore the error and avoid situations that can occur that same error in the future. (Scary)
- If the error alarm signals a gap in our knowledge, ** curiosity ** is the recognition that this gap can (and must!) be filled (there is a thrill in chasing the solution)
- When errors are transparent and accepted, people intrinsically pursue knowledge-gaps and chase curiosity
- Updating of mental models requires that we make a prediction about new information before receiving it. Lesson is to embed common mistakes or misconceptions to develop mental models then you can rectify them with new information
- ** Feedback ** can trigger the error alarm and notify you of small errors your brain rejected
- Praise is not feedback. Praise is an acknowledgement of an individual's effort. This boosts confidence, reignites motivation and inspires people
## 8. Recall
- Three stages of memory
1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
- Why is to so easy to remember that radio jingle you heard a couple times as a kid, yet so hard to remember those math equations you spent years studying?
- Firstly, whenever information enters our brain, all the regions (we shall call them instruments in an orchestra) are triggered. The **conductor** who handles all these instruments is the right prefrontal cortex
- 3 different methods to retrieve a memory:
1. Review
- Return to original source of information, e.g. re-reading book chapters, re-scanning a set of notes. This relies exclusively on external world
- This form doesn't involve the manager of the brain (the right prefrontal cortex). It requires little effort and does **little** to strengthen memories
2. Recognition
- Different information is presented and our brain scans each option, seeking the correct one. E.g. when witnesses asked to identify the criminal based on photograph
- People supplied with correct answer, and need only identify it
3. Recall
- Internal process
- What is the capital of Germany?
- Brain will cue that German novel you read, that German film you once saw, that Germany song you once heard. These are cues that your brain uses to seek and guide memory. These related memories are called **associations** and they strengthen memory. These can form association networks
- Works in tandem with feedback
- The more we recall a memory, the easier it will be to access that memory
- Lessons
- Ensure there are ample opportunities to retrieve information during and between sessions
- Explain the Tip-of-the-Tongue Effect. The brain is searching for associations for the missing information but none are working
- Open-book exams don't lead to deep memories as you are learning only to externally *locate* and *recognise* information
- Employ recall meeting
- Re-reading notes worthless to memory
- Instead, highlight important sections, translate into own words, then create flashcards
- Highlighting does not aid memory, it just guides your eyes
## 9. Priming
- The brain holds onto recent associations and ties them to new information. Exploiting this is called priming
- 3 types:
1. Concept
2. Expectancy
3. Strategy
Concept Priming
- Activating relevant **concepts** and facts and allowing them to echo throughout our mind makes it easier to decipher and remember new material
- Cornerstone of advertising
Expectancy Priming
- Activates specific **expectations** or beliefs in order to guide how others perceive, understand and react to various circumstances
- E.g. saying that men perform better on tests then females doesn't cause anyone to suddenly remember or forget basic math facts. Rather it changes how people respond to difficulties regardless of the authenticity of the 'primer' (in this case it is false)
- External expectancies are the reason why food tastes better when we're told it was prepared by a celebrity chef and why water tastes fresher when we're told it was collected from a pristine Artic glacier
- Very powerful
Strategy Priming
- Activates very specific procedure or approach to guide how people tackle tasks
- Make your first impression count , because they definitely exist and are determined by the emotional epicentre of the brain rather than logic. We activate relevant expectations and make a judgement in less than 30 seconds
- Breaking a first impression requires a stronger, counter-emotional reaction to the original impression.
- Warm-ups before a presentation/session drive performance
- Primes are fragile and can backfire. If pointed out, they don't work also people can overcome some priming
- To protect against unconscious priming, make a plan
## 10. Story
- Your brain reacts quite viscerally and positively to stories
- Aids in memorisation to link different concepts together in a narrative
- Open with a story
- Puts the audience at ease and willing to learn.
- Enables comprehension of novel concepts in the manner you desire
- Types of stories: The origin, the controversy, the application, the humanizer, the cliff-hanger
- How you * feel * when telling a story will influence how *your audience* feels when listening
- Ask others to share their own stories
- Stories establish memory landmarks from which new associations emerge
I am running out of characters so
#11 is Stress
- Moderate stress is beneficial in aiding learning
#12 Distributed practice
- Distribute practice periods over multiple weeks, months to retain on to information for longer
- We lose 70% of the information we learn after the first day we learnt it
This novel combines effective learning techniques with their justification (i.e. brain research) to produce a captivating and memorable reading experience about elevating learning and memory.
This is a book to continually revisit to understand how humans interpret, store and solidify information and one that I will benefit from continuously. Summarised below are the key chapters of the book (of which there are 12)
## 1. Text + Speech
- ** Dichotic listening **: We can listen to multiple people at a time but only truly understand one person at a time
- It is impossible to understand something you are reading while simultaneously trying to understand a voice you are listening to. This is because the brain interprets reading as a visual and oral activity, which collides with the brain regions which are processing the external voice signal. This creates a bottleneck or 'switch' mechanism in only one voice signal can be active to facilitate understanding
- During a powerpoint presentation, your brain is doing overtime processing the speaker's voice and the sound of your own silent reading voice (reading the contents of the slide). Only one stream of information can pass the bottleneck in the brain
- This is why we must put no (or minimal) text on slides (the take home)
- Including simultaneous text and speed elements impairs comprehension and learning
## 2. Images + Speech
- Hearing and vision combine to generate greater meaning
- Conclusion: Use images on powerpoint slides
- Also, don't flood audience with multiple images as this harms memory (one image at a time)
1. Do images need to be relevant to the topic being discussed?
1. Engagement and learning are inversely related. An irrelevant or silly image boosts engagement but hinders learning and vice versa
- ** The Attenborough Effect ** - Learning is not affected by the ostentation or the 'flashiness or sleekiness' of a learning material
## 3. Space
- Memory technique = ** Method of loci **
1. Elaboration
2. Placement
- A very strong relationship between spatial locations and memory
- Memory comes in many forms
1. Working memory
- The ability to briefly maintain recently experienced information
2. Procedural memory
- Is largely the unconscious ability to activate physical movements and skills. This is why brushing your teeth or throwing a ball requires little-to-no effort
3. Declarative memory
- The ability to remember specific facts and events. E.g. the capital of France, your favourite childhood teacher.
- When you can accurately predict where in space relevant information is likely to occur, you expend less time and energy interpreting that information. E.g. all road signs are the same height.
Applications
1. Ensure slides are consistently spatially formatted
2. What happens if I change up an otherwise consistent format?
- A small signal called 'mismatch negativity' is triggered within the brain that forces attention on the irregularity. Use this to trigger audience engagement by breaking the uniform layout of slides
3. Use a consistent format on webpages and applications
- A static and uniform design allows users to learn the spatial layout and makes it easier to locate information.
- One never-ending page hinders comprehension
- Anchoring can be used where specific text is 'anchored' to an image or element.
Conclusion
- The hippocampus is the gateway to memory. It is lined with place cells witch embed a spatial layout into each newly formed memory
- Spatial layout can be used as a guiding cue to recall information
## 4. Context/State
- ** Context-dependent learning: ** Where we do our learning forms an integral aspect of what we learn
- It's the reason why we don't always recognise co-workers outside the workspace and why places from our childhood bring back long-forgotten episodes
- ** State-dependent learning **: Any new memory form is embedded with an emotion at the time of the memory. In order to reconstruct a memory, try reconstructing the emotion you felt during the memory
- Declarative memories (from previous chapter) come in two forms:
1. Episodic
1. Are facts/events tied to a specific time or place
2. Semantic
1. Facts or events independent or time or place
- All new memories begin as episodic but repeated exposure to the same memory across a variety of contexts transforms it into a semantic memory
- Advice: Study, train and practice across multiple locations to produce semantic memories. This allows us to perform well across a variety of contexts
- Explains the 'home-field advantage' during the beginning of a league
- Tips:
1. Match training context to performance context
- The environment will act as a guiding cue to more easily access relevant memories
- Used when the location, moment and circumstances of performance are known
- E.g. exam in the gymnasium, presentation in the boardroom
2. Mix up learning contexts
- The inverse is true. For unknown performances, learn in a myriad of contexts to disassociate your memories
3. Leverage your senses to boost performance
- If you chew a particular flavour of gum while training, that acts as a guiding cue. More examples including wearing a particular shirt and smelling a particular air freshener
4. Be aware of state dependency
- If u prepare whilst in a unique state, its worth it to mimic that state for performance time
- Also, reproduce the unique performance state during your learning state
- This phenomenon is present when you supplement a cram session with caffeine, nicotine, junk food etc. When its time to recall, performance drops as those supplements are vacant
- Burning Question 3: 'Does listening to music while studying help or hinder learning'
- The big myth
- Stochastic resonance
- Music has to be predictable enough to remain 'noise'. It must not divert your attention, rather strength it and should be UNsurprising.
- The music doesn't have to be monotonous either. just highly predictable otherwise it is called a 'signal' which requires attention to decipher
- There we go. A solid answer to a commonly asked question. Nice to see a resolution.
- Also, classical music does not boost memory or intelligence. Sorry (book's words not mine ha)
## 5. Multitasking
- The lateral prefrontal cortex can only hold one 'ruleset' at a time. Put it simply, we can't multitask
- Task-switching has 3 consequences
1. Time
2. Accuracy
3. Memory
- Practice makes perfect does not exist
- Feel free to take the supertasker test to examine your ability
- Detrimental to retention, comprehension and understanding. Don't invite it
- 'If it's impossible to multitask, then why can I walk and chew gum simultaneously'
- Well, just like conversating while eating and singing in the shower, one of these tasks includes a habitual routine mediated by the striatum. We can do 2 tasks at a time as long as one of them can be performed with little external thought
- 'Sometimes I walk into a room only to suddenly forget why'.
- Whenever the ventral attention network registers a threat, it automatically drops our current ruleset. Any lingering info gets erased. Luckily, we can use spatial context and guiding cues to reconstruct our original train of thought and to remember our original intentions
- Break complex tasks to small chunks
## 6. Interleave
- The process of grouping discrete items into a unified concept called ** chunking **
- Relieves bottleneck at presupplementary motor cortex (pre-SMA)
- Ever zoned out while driving. The brain creates a driving chunk and once accessed, it can let the sequence roll with almost no conscious effort
- Chunks are extremely durable. I.e. its difficult to access individual actions within the chunk. For example, try recalling the past 3 digits of your number. You probably had to work your way from the start to end, rather than jump to the last few digits
**Interleaving**
- When I first read this I thought of bit/byte interleaving ha.
- Anyways, this term means to practice in a random manner so that extended, accidental sequences don't emerge. (Frequently switch between difference skills to apply them better across shifting and unpredictable scenarios)
- Helps access individual chunks easier and faster
- You must first learn skill then interleave
- Also, interleave ***similar*** chunks
- Keeps multiple skills accessible and prevents tasks from becoming automated
- 'Can I really increase my memory capacity and become super-smart'
- Put simply: no. There is limit on information you can hold within your prefrontal cortex
- Brain training games are a sham
- Interleave only when performance *unpredictable*
## 7. Error
- When presented with an error, the brain either updates the mental model to learn from the error or rejects the error and upholds its prediction
- When we interpret errors as a threat to our personal identity, we ignore the error and avoid situations that can occur that same error in the future. (Scary)
- If the error alarm signals a gap in our knowledge, ** curiosity ** is the recognition that this gap can (and must!) be filled (there is a thrill in chasing the solution)
- When errors are transparent and accepted, people intrinsically pursue knowledge-gaps and chase curiosity
- Updating of mental models requires that we make a prediction about new information before receiving it. Lesson is to embed common mistakes or misconceptions to develop mental models then you can rectify them with new information
- ** Feedback ** can trigger the error alarm and notify you of small errors your brain rejected
- Praise is not feedback. Praise is an acknowledgement of an individual's effort. This boosts confidence, reignites motivation and inspires people
## 8. Recall
- Three stages of memory
1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
- Why is to so easy to remember that radio jingle you heard a couple times as a kid, yet so hard to remember those math equations you spent years studying?
- Firstly, whenever information enters our brain, all the regions (we shall call them instruments in an orchestra) are triggered. The **conductor** who handles all these instruments is the right prefrontal cortex
- 3 different methods to retrieve a memory:
1. Review
- Return to original source of information, e.g. re-reading book chapters, re-scanning a set of notes. This relies exclusively on external world
- This form doesn't involve the manager of the brain (the right prefrontal cortex). It requires little effort and does **little** to strengthen memories
2. Recognition
- Different information is presented and our brain scans each option, seeking the correct one. E.g. when witnesses asked to identify the criminal based on photograph
- People supplied with correct answer, and need only identify it
3. Recall
- Internal process
- What is the capital of Germany?
- Brain will cue that German novel you read, that German film you once saw, that Germany song you once heard. These are cues that your brain uses to seek and guide memory. These related memories are called **associations** and they strengthen memory. These can form association networks
- Works in tandem with feedback
- The more we recall a memory, the easier it will be to access that memory
- Lessons
- Ensure there are ample opportunities to retrieve information during and between sessions
- Explain the Tip-of-the-Tongue Effect. The brain is searching for associations for the missing information but none are working
- Open-book exams don't lead to deep memories as you are learning only to externally *locate* and *recognise* information
- Employ recall meeting
- Re-reading notes worthless to memory
- Instead, highlight important sections, translate into own words, then create flashcards
- Highlighting does not aid memory, it just guides your eyes
## 9. Priming
- The brain holds onto recent associations and ties them to new information. Exploiting this is called priming
- 3 types:
1. Concept
2. Expectancy
3. Strategy
Concept Priming
- Activating relevant **concepts** and facts and allowing them to echo throughout our mind makes it easier to decipher and remember new material
- Cornerstone of advertising
Expectancy Priming
- Activates specific **expectations** or beliefs in order to guide how others perceive, understand and react to various circumstances
- E.g. saying that men perform better on tests then females doesn't cause anyone to suddenly remember or forget basic math facts. Rather it changes how people respond to difficulties regardless of the authenticity of the 'primer' (in this case it is false)
- External expectancies are the reason why food tastes better when we're told it was prepared by a celebrity chef and why water tastes fresher when we're told it was collected from a pristine Artic glacier
- Very powerful
Strategy Priming
- Activates very specific procedure or approach to guide how people tackle tasks
- Make your first impression count , because they definitely exist and are determined by the emotional epicentre of the brain rather than logic. We activate relevant expectations and make a judgement in less than 30 seconds
- Breaking a first impression requires a stronger, counter-emotional reaction to the original impression.
- Warm-ups before a presentation/session drive performance
- Primes are fragile and can backfire. If pointed out, they don't work also people can overcome some priming
- To protect against unconscious priming, make a plan
## 10. Story
- Your brain reacts quite viscerally and positively to stories
- Aids in memorisation to link different concepts together in a narrative
- Open with a story
- Puts the audience at ease and willing to learn.
- Enables comprehension of novel concepts in the manner you desire
- Types of stories: The origin, the controversy, the application, the humanizer, the cliff-hanger
- How you * feel * when telling a story will influence how *your audience* feels when listening
- Ask others to share their own stories
- Stories establish memory landmarks from which new associations emerge
I am running out of characters so
#11 is Stress
- Moderate stress is beneficial in aiding learning
#12 Distributed practice
- Distribute practice periods over multiple weeks, months to retain on to information for longer
- We lose 70% of the information we learn after the first day we learnt it
May 14, 2020
So many insights into human nature and how we can more skillfully influence others and ourselves. Mostly it's about how we learn. Feel like I need to read this again with the intention of incorporating the insights into my daily life this time. Highly recommended.
September 12, 2020
We have to understand how people learn. Stop Talking, Start Influencing shares insights on how we can share knowledge in a way that others can truly listen and understand. For example, its important to know that there is no way to read and listen in the same time. So how can we prepare a better powerpoint presentation at work? and how can we become a better story teller? how to overcome stress when delivering a speech?
Some of the principles are very useful to me. I like how the author rooted these principles in neuroscience and linked to life application.
Some of the principles are very useful to me. I like how the author rooted these principles in neuroscience and linked to life application.
January 11, 2025
A practical and insightful book, offering valuable techniques on how to make your message resonate with others. The author draws from brain science to show how our brains process information, making the book both informative and applicable to everyday communication.
What I appreciated most was how the book breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps, making it easy to implement the insights in real-life situations. The strategies presented are grounded in science, yet they’re simple enough to be used by anyone looking to communicate more effectively.
What I appreciated most was how the book breaks down complex concepts into actionable steps, making it easy to implement the insights in real-life situations. The strategies presented are grounded in science, yet they’re simple enough to be used by anyone looking to communicate more effectively.
October 12, 2022
Stop Talking, Start Influencing is one of the best “how to” books I’ve ever read. Not only demonstrating how to influence someone, it accompanies with “why” it can affect someone efficiently. The author used scientific evidences especially neuroscience or brain science to support what were behind these effective methods to influence people.
I recommend this book for everyone, especially leaders, coaches, teachers or content creators.
I recommend this book for everyone, especially leaders, coaches, teachers or content creators.
June 28, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the first time I read a book in the field of neuroscience, and it did not disappoint. It answered so many wonderings that I always pondered about how I learn or why I can’t retain information. I loved the practical strategies offered to help improve learnt information stick! It is a book I will constantly refer back to in the future.
July 24, 2019
I recently read a different book on learning and that one was good, but this one was even better. It was written in a way that was easy to understand, had plenty of great examples, and kept you involved in the ideas. I will be taking a good deal of ideas from this book and implementing them into my classes for this upcoming school year. Highly recommended for all teachers!
4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5 stars
September 3, 2019
A well-written book on influencing. The author backs up his claims with science and ends with a section on how to use the information from the perspective of teachers, mentors and coaches. The information will also be useful for people giving presentations and leaders in the business context.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley.
October 28, 2019
Absolutely loved this book. One of the reviews on the back cover says something like “you don’t just read it, you experience it.” That’s accurate! Dr. Cooney-Horvath takes you through experiences, activities and anecdotes that really make you understand these complex principles... and they really can impact the way that you teach, present or influence!
March 21, 2021
Awesome awesome awesome. Well worth a read for anyone in education. There are genuinely so many tips and features in this book that have opened my eyes and made me really reflect on how I teach students. So glad I found this on another teachers ‘must read’ list!! Super interesting and ultimately super helpful! Must read!
April 20, 2019
Love this book! Why didn't they teach us this stuff when we were back in school? Honestly, I feel like I understand how to learn so much better now. This book would not only be helpful to teachers and trainers, but also to students (probably high school and college age).
So good.
So good.
April 9, 2023
I feel this is one of the underrated books within its genre out there. It is simple to understand, with enough scientific information for teen and layman like me, and the explanations actually are supported by how the format the book was written.
September 13, 2023
Ce livre ne comporte que des généralités à propos de la communication, du processus d'apprentissage et de quelques autres éléments qui tombent sous le sens où ont été abordés de façon plus intéressante dans d'autres ouvrages.
À éviter.
À éviter.
July 2, 2019
This book is an experience, I completely ate it up. Plenty of ideas for me to take back to the classroom and I've noticed it impacting other parts of my life as well. I highly recommend this book!
July 30, 2019
Enjoyable, engaging and filled with some tips and tricks worth employing in your everyday life.
March 28, 2020
I absolutely loved this book. The way that Horvath explains brain science makes it really easy to understand. Plus, the application of how it works in teaching/presenting is extremely helpful.
April 25, 2020
어떻게 생각하고 배우고 기억하는지 과학적이지만 재미있게 이야기해준다.
책 전반에 걸쳐 이어지는 학습을 유도하기 때문에 한 호흡에 쫙 읽는게 좋을듯
책 전반에 걸쳐 이어지는 학습을 유도하기 때문에 한 호흡에 쫙 읽는게 좋을듯
May 7, 2020
Good book with some practical tips. Had gone to his presentation once and it was fantastic. Half of the book was covered in the presentation,
August 25, 2020
Great insights into brain science with strategies to help you think about how to best present information to children or adults to get the information to stick long term.
December 19, 2021
Great book that no only teaches you the how but also the why
June 10, 2022
The best random pick in a book store I have ever made. A humongous amount of thought has been made writing and planning this book. Incredibly engaging.
February 17, 2023
This should be mandatory reading for anyone in education!
June 14, 2024
Interesting read, aimed at teachers or trainers/enablement people but also for presenters. Lots to think about and wish so many of my teachers had done any of this.
August 18, 2024
มีข้อมูลที่มีประโยชน์ในเชิงความคิด ความจำ และสมอง
เรียบเรียงดี เข้าใจง่าย นำไปใช้ประโยชน์ได้จริง
เรียบเรียงดี เข้าใจง่าย นำไปใช้ประโยชน์ได้จริง
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