In today’s fast-paced world and abundant information, our ability to learn, absorb, and apply that knowledge plays a huge role both professionally and in our life.
Unfortunately, we are never tough on how to learn.
What techniques allow us to absorb and apply new information more effectively?
That’s exactly what you are going to learn today: The 6 steps to learn anything faster and with a deep understanding.
🚀 The Promise:
Learning how to learn is the single most important meta-skill that you can learn. It enhances the speed and depth in which you master any topic in all areas of your life — learning never ends.
Why is it important?
A study found that 85% of students of an elite university reported using the re-reading and highlighting techniques, and 55% of them said to be the most used studying techniques.
Those same studying techniques are proven to be of “low utility”.
That means they are not very effective for encoding and retaining information in our brains.
Your brain is not actively engaged with the material, it is in a passive state that doesn’t prompt deep learning and understanding.
It doesn’t only happen to students, it applies to all of us.
Life is a continuous learning journey.
Understanding how the process of learning, remembering, and putting that new knowledge into practice works, will translate into bigger and faster growth in all branches of your life.
Here we go:
5 Simple Steps to Learn Anything You Want in 5x the Time
1. Make sure you are Exercising and having enough Sleep
It’s common for students to do an all-nighter cramming for an exam.
However, research says that both sleep and exercise, are important in making us retain what we learn.
Studies show that people who regularly sleep for 7-9 hours each night retain new information 40% better than people who sleep less.
It is proven that when you are sleeping, you transfer information from your short-term working memory to where you want it to be — your long-term memory.
So it is crucial to sleep well, and exercise, to improve your retention for whatever it is that you are learning.
2. Use The Feynman Technique
Richard Feynman was a Physics Nobel Prize winner and a master at simplifying complex topics into simple and concise terms that even a child could understand.
The Feynman Technique for learning any topic is the following:
- Select a concept to learn;
- Teach it to a child;
- Identify gaps;
- Simplify language and analogies;
Repeat.
The bottom line?
When you think you understand, but can’t really explain it.
Rule of thumb, you don’t understand it.
Go back to the material and study, then simplify it until a fish-man or a 10-year-old can understand your explanation.
I couldn’t reduce it to the freshman level. That means we really don’t understand it.
3. Always assume You Are Wrong
More often than not.
Our inability to learn comes from a strong attachment to our current knowledge.
It’s REALLY hard to learn, if you think you already know.
That’s why it’s important to stay humble, curious, and open to new perspectives and ideas when learning.
As Epictetus the Stoic philosopher once said:
It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
4. Leverage Spaced-repetition
It’s scientifically proven that we learn better not in big and long sessions.
Instead, we learn better when we are exposed to the material at regular intervals toward the week.
It sends a signal to your brain that says:
- “This information is important to me, please remember it”
In short:
Instead of big long learning sessions, go for short learning sessions at spaced intervals to improve your retention and understanding.
5. Test and Challenge Yourself
Learning happens not when you put stuff into your brain.
But when you take stuff out of it.
That means when you test yourself.
That’s why students who study using practice tests score 20% higher than students who do not.
Learning happens in an active state, not passive like reading and highlighting.
That active state when you are searching for a solution, even if you don’t know the answer, is what deepens your understanding and retention of the material.
For non-students, this means: practicing cooking instead of just watching tutorials. Start creating the business instead of just
6. If you want to Master It you have to Teach it
The person who learns the most in any classroom is the teacher.
Similar to the Feynman Technique, the art of explaining a concept in our own words to someone else, is what deepens our understanding of the topic.
And don’t think that because you don’t have the experience you can’t teach someone.
Most of the time that is the most valuable advice for a beginner.
Because you know exactly what situation they are in first hand, and be extremely helpful and specific.
For example:
The 40-year-old rich man advising how to start investing, might not be very helpful for a beginner.
He is so far away from the beginner level that can’t even guess what the beginner is looking for. Because the beginner stuff seems so second nature at that point.
But someone who is at their level, or even just 10% better.
Can understand their situation first-hand, and can be 10x more helpful than the more experienced one.
If you want to learn how to cook. Teach what you learn to your friends and family.
If you want to learn to learn how to draw. Document and teach online what you learn.
It will take your learning to a much deeper level.
(there is a reason I write these newsletters… 😉)
Yogi Bhajan the spiritual teacher once said:
If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.
Bringing it home
A quick review:
- Learning how to learn is the most high-leverage meta–skill since you will continue learning until you die.
- Make sure you are sleeping enough and exercising, it is in sleep that we form memories, and it is also important for retaining new information.
- Use The Feynman Technique, when we take our current knowledge and try to explain in simple terms that even a child can understand, that’s how we test if we understand the topic. If you can’t, go back to the material and simplify even more.
- Always assume you are wrong, it’s hard to learn when you already know. Stay humble, curious, and open to new ideas.
- Leverage Spaced-Repetition, instead of big cramming days, focus on short learning sessions at regular intervals.
- Test and challenge yourself, learning happens in an active state, not passive.
- If you want to master any topic you have to teach it, sharing your insights and knowledge will take your own understanding of the topic to a whole new level.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to comment and let me know what actions you are going to take and your unique perspectives.
To your growth,
