Wanna learn faster?

Wanna learn faster?

Admit it. You want to be able to learn faster and remember forever – once and for good. So that you can absorb all you need to know about building software, writing better public speeches, become an expert in a new area and still have time to sleep.

You’ve even got a pile of books on the topic, subscribed to newsletters, and started watching that video course, but…

There is so much information to go through and so many conflicting approaches, you don’t know where to start. Worse, information you’ve thought you’ve absorbed just does not stick.
Stop buying new books, courses and other stuff. Ditch the videos. But most of all – rejoice! There is a faster way to extract what you need from any source of information and a more effective approach to learning and remembering.

The downside? It’s unauthorised. There is research to back some of it up; some methods I’ve tested on my students, too. But mostly it’s n=1 tried and tested. I’ve run those experiments for years though while self-learning and achieving near-native speaker fluency in two and basic conversational level in three more languages, as well as writing fiction, non-fiction, e-learning courses; and lots of other things. This is the way to learn faster I recommend.

In a nutshell, this information is provided for entertaining purposes only. It is not intended to replace expert advice or be seen as such, because I am not an expert. I am just sharing what has worked for me. You do it at your own risk, so exercise your judgement.

 

If you really want to learn faster, you need to be clear what you want to learn and why, and follow an effective learning process.

 

Step #1. Choose your source of knowledge

For college or university students or people doing some otherwise prepared course it’s pretty straightforward – just go for the textbooks prescribed and recommended readings (jump to Step #2).

For those who like me, love learning things by themselves, it may be a challenge. Many of self-learners face this difficulty: which one of the multiple fantastic-looking books/e-books/courses on (x, y, z) I should chose? How would I know it’s good and worth buying?

While I can’t give you 100% fail-proof method, here is what I do:

 

1) To learn faster – be clear on what you need/want to learn

Are you after some general knowledge on a subject, or do you need to understand the nitty-gritty of a specific topic? Do you have any knowledge in the (area), or do you need a guide ‘for dummies’? To learn faster, you need to be clear about what you need to learn and why.


2) Align with your preferred way of learning (maybe)

Even though so-called learning styles have been condemned as not really making significant difference  to the speed or effectiveness of what we’re learning, you still may want to make it easier for yourself and chose your source of knowledge with your learning preference in mind.

Do you learn best when you’re reading, or listening to a presentation? Do you prefer the information to be presented in a graphic form, or you prefer to make your own drawings?


3) Align with the context for learning (definitely)

More importantly, though, think of the nature of what you want to learn (theoretical knowledge vs practical skills), and how and where you will be exploring the subject.
For technical skills, you likely to need visual aids, so don’t go for audiobooks or podcast-only formats.

Where will you be studying?
If you are hoping to use your commute time for learning, consider the practicalities of your commute and the learning process. It is highly unlikely that you will learn by listening to someone reading to you only, so if you drive to work and want to use that time productively, your best choice will be a light, narrative read that will supplement your more serious/effort-heavy reads/studies at other times. You definitely don’t want to focus too hard on your audiobook while driving – it could be lethal!

On the other hand, public transport commutes don’t require you to focus on the journey (except for not missing your stop), so audio formats are more likely to work. Don’t forget to always carry a notebook and pens for recording what you’re learning for future reference (Step #4 and 5)


4) Ask/find recommendations

In real life, ask people you trust: friends, colleagues, acquaintances, or anyone you know who has expert knowledge in the area – someone you would want to learn this stuff from (if they wanted, or were able to teach you).
If you don’t know anyone suitable, then turn for expert advice to the Internet, but be careful who you choose to listen to, as not every expert will be a real expert and some real experts will not suit your taste.

My favourite places to ask for advice on quality books and courses are:

LinkedIn subject-specific groups, where you can verify the expertise of people giving you advice by checking their profile (you need to be a member of the group though)
Quora (search previously asked& answered questions, ask and A2A – ask to answer)
– search tool on Amazon: look for items with a decent number of reviews and healthy proportion between good and not-so-good reviews (to me ‘ 5* only reviews’ situations are suspicious, even though Amazon has started a war on fake reviews)
Don’t forget to check the content section to see if the book covers what you’re after.

 

5) Limit your choice to 2-3 sources

Don’t let your search for the perfect sources of knowledge get in the way of learning. Like with any search for ‘the one and only truth’, it is somehow pointless – advances of science and the constant rush for the next big thing mean that the world out there is full of ‘breaking news’ discoveries, which quickly become old news, or are discounted by the next big discovery.  Don’t waste your time on looking for the golden egg, but don’t fall for fool’s gold either – grab your first or second trustworthy source, add in a few additional resources and run with it. You can always change it when you feel this is not good enough (but not until you really feel this is not good enough).

 

Step # 2. Scan for ‘the gist’

Another sad truth is, unless you have ‘eidetic memory’ you are unlikely to remember what you’ve read/listened to ‘once and for all’ after your first time. Accept the learning process will take time.
Here is how you can speed it up.

Your first reading or listening session should be focused on ‘getting the gist’ – the overall idea.

So if you’re listening to a course on giving attention-grabbing presentations, after the first run, you should know what the principles of a good presentation are, what elements you need to include and in which order.
Generally, the first ‘read’ is to get key ideas, principles or concepts are, how they are related. You may also start focusing on understanding concepts at this stage (see step #3).
After you have finished, spend a few minutes thinking about what you have just read. Summarise it in 1-2 sentences: start with ‘the gist of it is…’ ‘in a nutshell… ’

Ideally by the end of the first run, you want to have a framework for further explorations of the topic/subject, with general principles, key concepts and relationships between all those key elements drafted on a piece of paper (or electronic document, if you type fast and can draw/don’t need to draw) – like a one page view’ or a knowledge map

 

Step #3. Dive into details

Once you’ve got the gist, it’s time to get the details, too – this is what your second read is for.

This is usually a ‘longer’ read so you need to plan more time for it.

Re-read the section, or listen to the recordings once more, now at a normal, or even slower speed. Make sure you can pause and have tools to take notes.
This time, focus on detailed understanding of the key concepts, definitions, relationships among them, practical application, examples, etc.

While reading, make sure you understand what you read. Chunk the new knowledge, connect it with what you already know. Learn how to learn and learn how to learn effectively.

 

Step # 4. Take useful notes

Notes are really important when it comes to accelerated learning. Even though it seems like a waste of time, good notes can help you learn faster. This is the stage when you want to take more detailed notes, for future revisions/relearning. Don’t just rewrite the content – process the material and apply it to your world; use graphs, arrows and other visual cues to help you see connection and relationships between the elements.

Organise your notes by tagging/labelling pages and passages.
Here is more on how to take effective notes.

 

Step # 5. Use it or lose it

Sadly, for most of us, the ‘magical number seven (plus minus two)’ applies. Our working memory has capacity limits and unless we transfer the information to our long-term storage, the forgetting curve (picture) will deal with it.

The best way to fend the forgetting curve off is to transfer the piece of knowledge from our working memory into our long-term memory. We do it by processing for meaning, which in most cases boils down to practical application of the learnt material.

This is why cramming doesn't really work

This is why cramming doesn’t really work

 

revise the learnt material – go over your notes periodically (spaced repetition)
put your knowledge into practice
have a project that would use your new knowledge or skills (‘project based learning’) – and work on it in regularly scheduled sessions.

 

 

You don’t have to spend long hours over boring textbooks, or risk your life trying to concentrate on that audiobook while driving. Put a stop to stressing about forgetting everything you’ve learnt. Before you decide to learn anything, anywhere, go through this guide and plan your steps carefully. Make your next learning session, efficient and effective and you will learn faster and accelerate your professional and personal success.

 

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