The brain processes meaning before detail. Providing the gist, the core concept, first was like giving a thirsty person a tall glass of water. And the brain likes hierarchy. Starting with general concepts naturally leads to explaining information in a hierarchical fashion. You have to do the general idea first. And then you will see that 40 percent improvement in understanding.

You've got seconds to grab your audience's attention and only minutes to keep it.

Don't start with the details. Start with the key ideas, and in a hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions.

Though we have been stuffing them into classrooms and cubicles for decades, our brains actually were built to survive in jungles and grasslands. A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary.

What you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like—it literally rewires it.

Not even identical twins can have the exact same experiences, and their brains are not wired the same way.

The brain doesn't pay attention to boring things.