10 Ways Some People Learn
Things Much Faster Than Others
Humans’
ability to learn complex, abstract ideas and concepts is what separates us from
all the other species on the planet. But that doesn’t mean it’s a simple
process. And anyone who’s taken calculus can attest to that.
If you’re
looking for “tricks” that will allow you to take in information or gain
abilities effortlessly like Neo in “The Matrix”, you might be disappointed to
discover that you simply won’t find them here. What you will find are tried and
true methods which require discipline, but almost guarantee success.
If you’re
willing to put in the time and effort required to learn something
new, following these ways that those who learn faster already live
by will certainly make the process as easy as possible.
1. They
Set a Purpose
Everyone’s
done it: you watch a video of Jimi Hendrix shredding on the guitar
and think, “I wish I could do that.” You take a forkful of your
favorite meal from your favorite five-star restaurant and think, “I wonder
if I could make this at home.” You finish reading a book that has kept
your attention for an entire Sunday afternoon and wonder how in the world
someone could create something so magical.
Well, the
truth is, none of these creators did so by accident. They all started out not
knowing the first things about how to create any of what is now seemingly easy
for them to do. But they set a purpose for learning their skill: what did they
want to learn, and what did they hope to get out of learning it?
When
setting out to learn something new, don’t just say, “I wish I could do that.”
Instead, say, “I wish I could do that so I could…”, knowing your skill will be
put into practice once you become a master at it.
2. They Set Measurable, Reasonable, and Reachable Goals
Maybe you won’t be the next Hendrix, or the
next Stephen King. The goal of learning isn’t to surpass anyone else but
yourself. When setting out to learn a new task, you should set daily and
long-term goals that are doable and actionable, and which build upon your
current skill set.
If you’ve decided you want to learn a
new language, it would be counterproductive to set your goal as, “By the end of
this month, I will be conversational in Spanish.”
For one thing, it most likely will not happen,
and you will assuredly feel let down. Secondly, there’s no way to measure what
“conversational” Spanish is. Instead, set a goal such as, “Today I will study
Spanish vocabulary related to the family, and by the end of the week I
will be able to teach my son the Spanish translations for father, mother,
sister, and brother.”
By setting tangible goals, you can
measure the effectiveness of your studies, and modify them accordingly.
3. They Set a Schedule
Along with setting goals, you also must set a
schedule for your learning. Learning a new skill doesn’t just require practice;
it requires study, comprehension, and practical use as well. Learning to play
the guitar, for example, involves reading about how to string and tune the
instrument, listening to how chords should sound, understanding why certain
chords sound good together, and how to place your fingers on the fret board.
In this case, it’s not enough for you to say,
“I’ll practice guitar for an hour a day.” Instead, set a schedule to include
all aspects of the instrument: Today I will watch a YouTube video on stringing
and tuning the guitar, then I will do it myself; tomorrow I will read about the
most common chords used, and practice playing each of them in succession.
By the end of the week, I will strum a G, D,
and then a C chord to create a song of my own. By setting a schedule for your
learning, you reinforce the goals you’ve set for yourself.
4. They Collect Multiple Resources
Remember in high school when you were
assigned 15 pages to read in your history book for homework? If you were
anything like your faithful Lifehacker, you probably read them, memorized the
names and dates you saw, passed the quiz the next day, and promptly forgot
everything you’d read the night before.
Obviously, that’s not an effective way to
learn anything. To truly learn everything about a specific topic, you need to
collect various books, articles, videos, and other media pertaining to the
subject in question. And you actually have to use them.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand
a concept during an initial reading of a text; make a note of it, push forward,
and come back to it later. Chances are, after watching a video or listening to
a podcast, your mind will be able to wrap itself around ideas that were completely
new to you hours or days before.
5. They Review and Record Progress
Learning is, of course, a long-term process.
But it’s not one long, continuous process with a singular goal (as mentioned
before); there are steps along the way. Each of these steps need to be reviewed
and evaluated upon completion to assure accuracy, and to tweak technique if
needed. Like we said before, it’s not enough to simply read pages from a book,
especially if you didn’t comprehend what you read.
Be honest with yourself at the end of a
learning session. If something was difficult, make a note of it, and come back
to it. Pressing forward to the next step without solidifying your foundation of
understanding will certainly lead to disaster.
On the other hand, recording and reviewing
your accomplishments over the past week, month, or year is a great confidence
booster. Even if you’re not the best (yet), you’ll see how far you’ve come from
knowing absolutely nothing.
6. They Follow a Model
No matter how good you get at whatever skill
you’ve set out to learn, there will be ways to get better. And, unless you’re a
World Record holder, there will always be someone better than you. This isn’t a
bad thing; having someone to look up to is beneficial in many ways.
For one, it gives you something to strive
for. Secondly, you can further your learning by analyzing an expert’s
performance. Sure, Hendrix taught himself how to play guitar, but he was
influenced by greats like BB King and Muddy Waters.
The man commonly thought to be the greatest
guitarist of all time may never have even picked up a 6-string if it wasn’t for
the greats that preceded him. When learning something new, don’t be pressured
to reinvent the wheel – just look to improve upon it in your own way.
7. They Search Out Feedback
We live in such an amazing time, in which
professionals in all fields are more than happy to give feedback to beginners
in order to help them improve. Don’t be shy; many experts are honored that
people come to them for advice. Of course, they may not have time to get to
everyone though, so broaden your scope.
If you’re trying to break into the blogging
business, search out other authors who have successful blogs within your chosen
niche, and read about them. Once you have a good idea about how they got where
they are, and you have a decent amount of articles posted, seek them out and
see what they say.
Don’t be discouraged if they have some
criticism; it’s exactly why you contacted them in the first place. Instead, use
their advice to focus your practice on improving those specific areas.
Constructive criticism from experts is perhaps the most valuable tool you can
have when learning something new.
8. They Teach Others
As we just mentioned, there are a ton of
experts out there who are more than happy to teach beginners how to get moving.
You can be this person to anyone below you in skill level! While watching pros
do their thing can be intimidating, teaching people who are just getting
started has the opposite effect.
Although it might be a tad selfish, it definitely
will make you feel better watching a beginner fumble through playing their
first song; but this is mostly because you’ve been there, and you know they’ll
soon improve. Doing so also gives you perspective; you might not be a
professional, but you definitely have gotten better from when you just started.
Lastly, to be able to teach something
requires you to have a deeper understanding of the skill, so you can explain to
your student why what their learning is important, and where they will go from
where they are.
9. They Reward Themselves
Successful people find various ways to reward
themselves. Mind you, these rewards are not counterintuitive (such as rewarding
yourself for hitting your fastest mile mark by taking a week off from training,
or rewarding yourself for your weight loss by eating a bowl of ice cream), but
actually build upon accomplishments. Notice the implication of the previous
example: the person might be training to get into shape, but he’d much rather
be sitting on the couch watching TV.
If he actually wanted to beat his
fastest mile, he wouldn’t take a day off at all. Instead, he might reward
himself by running through the park instead of on the treadmill, or taking his
kids for a relaxing jog instead of going all out. The reward and motivation to
get better is intrinsic: the outcome is the reward.
With this way of thinking, every small
accomplishment made is another reward on the path to success.
10. They Learn on Their Own Terms
The best learners are able to translate
abstract concepts and ideas into layman’s terms, not for others, but for
themselves. I used to find my wife, an incredibly hard-working student of
optometry, muttering to herself about a subconjunctival hemorrhage caused by a
ruptured blood vessel in the eye, which sounded absolutely frightening until
she clarified: “Oh, it’s just a bloodshot eye.” (Note: That’s an
oversimplification that I had to Google to even come close to pulling off, but
hopefully you get my point).
Using Tier III language (field-specific
jargon), and translating it into every day vocabulary is imperative to
truly understanding the concepts behind the skill you wish to learn. By using
the language of the field in your every day life, the learned skill becomes not
just something you know, but it becomes a part of who you are.
MATT DUCZEMINSKI
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-ways-some-people-learn-things-much-faster-than-others.html?ref=mail&mtype=goal_reminder&mid=20161110_with_thumbnail&uid=687414&hash=707e797f7e757e6d794c856d747b7b3a6f7b79&action=read_more&goal_id=24&token=d0e3e4b03809d240b52d71f8a6770fa9
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