Learning is a SKILL - here's how to do it effectively

[VoraciousReader]

The ability to learn and acquire new skills efficiently is going to be a key part of living a productive life in the coming decades.

Here are some thoughts and tips from my research into this topic:

Mindset

Learning should not be easy - the most productive learning is very hard work, you should almost feel "brain ache" during and afterwards. As the authors of "Make it stick, the science of successful learning" put it:

"Learning that is easy is like writing in the sand"​

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So whenever you are gearing up to learn something new - accept and embrace that it will be hard. Most real rewards in life are functions of hard work and effort.

Embrace it.

Just working hard though is not enough! As most of us know, there's a big difference between working hard and working smart. It's not unusual to work extremely hard on tasks that are a complete waste of time! This is true of the most common, "conventional wisdom" methods of learning like:

• Rereading content
• Reviewing notes
• Highlighting
• Mass practice

These are largely ineffective despite their popularity. They make you feel like you are learning, but we humans are very bad judges of our own learning progress.

So, what should one do instead?

1) To learn - retrieve

Rather than re-reading a text, re-watching a lecture, or pouring over notes - you focus your efforts onto remembering the core lessons and concepts of the content. A simple quiz at the end of a lecture, chapter, or course section is far more effective than rereading or reviewing notes.

Before you go over notes, always put effort first into recalling the information and concepts - and only go back to notes to verify your memories or to fill in parts that you have forgotten.

2) Interrupt Forgetting

I recommend having two notebooks when learning. One is for standard notes of key concepts and facts, another is to convert them into specific questions. At the end of every learning session you finish up with a focused period of going through your questions and retrieving the answers from your mind.

This isn't the end though.

We all have a "forgetting curve" - key times after the first exposure to material that we are most prone to forgetting. The key is to "interrupt" forgetting at just the right time to help the knowledge into your long term memory.


This strategy utilizes the "spacing effect" and it's explained well here.

You can book time in your calendar 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 days out to go over specific material - or you can use a tool like Anki to convert your DIY quizzes into flashcards and leave it to the software to prompt you at the key times. Here is a good article on how you would use Anki to help you learn how to code.

3) Embrace your multiple intelligences

You may have heard that we all have "learning styles", for example we are auditory/visual etc.

This theory was fashionable when I was at school but is not supported by evidence. It's been debunked repeatedly.

We all have a unique mix of intelligences, and our learning should reflect that too! Listen to podcasts, watch videos, read books, take courses - mix up your knowledge inputs and immerse yourself in the topic you want to master.

"We all have multiple intelligences to bear on learning, and you learn better when you "go wide", drawing on all your aptitudes and resourcefulness, than when you limit your instruction to the form you find most amenable"​

4) Interleave and mix it up

Interleaving means mixing up study and practice in different areas and topics, contrasted with "blocked practice"
(focusing exclusively on one topic before moving on). Interleaving study and practice is known to improve learning.

For example, let's say you want to attain advanced knowledge of cryptocurrency.

To get a total understanding of the topic it would work well to mix up study of:

- Monetary history
- Blockchain technology
- Cryptography
- Market dynamics
- The use cases of different platforms (ETH, XRP, BTC, etc)
- Key figures in the field

If you want to learn digital marketing it would work well to mix up learning on:

- Consumer psychology
- Analytics
- Copywriting
- SEO
- CRO
- UX principles

Rather than exclusively studying the topics one by one.

Of course, some topics require prior knowledge - and we must start at the foundational ones if this is the case. The idea is to gain knowledge in parallel areas simultaneously forming a mutually supportive conceptual web.

5) Elaborate!

Elaboration is the practice of giving new material meaning in your own words and relating it to what you already know. The more you learn, the more you can learn. This is because the more you can relate new concepts to prior knowledge that you have already mastered, the stronger the knowledge will be.

This is similar to the "Feynmann method".

Step 1​

Write the name of the concept at the top of a blank piece of paper.

Step 2​

Write down an explanation of the concept on the page. Use plain English. Pretend you are teaching it to someone else (e.g a new student). This should highlight what you understand, but more importantly pinpoint what you don't quite know.

Step 3​

Review what you have pinpointed you don't know. Go back to the source material, re-read, and re-learn it. Repeat Step 2.

Step 4​

If you are using overly wordy or confusing language (or simply paraphrasing the source material) try again so you filter the content. Simplify your language, and where possible use simple analogy.

Every time I learn something new now I try to write it out in a blog post, Twitter thread, and explain it to my girlfriend. I also try to bullet point a list of all the ways I see the concept applying to things that I already know about. This has helped me significantly.

6) Making a Learning Plan

In the excellent book Ultralearning, Scott H Young recommends that we create our own "learning projects" like so:

Phase A: Research

• Identify topic + scope

You probably already know the topic, but you should define it explicitly and create goals and outcomes that you want to achieve.

• Gather resources:

Do some research on the best books, courses, podcasts - or whatever else - that you will use as the basis of your learning.

• Research other's paths:

Have others gone before you on the same road? Probably. Find them and see what you can learn from their successes and failures.

• Define practice:

How will you practice? Brainstorm ways that you can use the skills you're learning as you go and how you can directly put your new skills and knowledge to use.

Phase B: Schedule

You should take your learning project seriously. That means scheduling it and blocking off time like you would any other activity. How much time will you commit? What's the end date? What days and times will you study and practice? Remember that shorter sessions spread out seem to produce better results.

Phase C: Execution

Now it's time to put your plan into action start learning.

Make sure that you are:

• Regularly testing yourself
• Harnessing the spacing effect and retrieval practice
• Using the Feynman technique and elaboration
• Applying what you've learned to existing knowledge
• Avoiding "illusions of knowing"
• Getting help and feedback from people knowledgeable in the field as much as possible

After the time you set yourself take a week off from learning and spend time reflecting on the progress you've made. Did you achieve what you set out to? Did unforeseen roadblocks hold you up? What's next on the path to mastery?

It's important to maintain a growth mindset, remembering that there's no such thing as failure when it comes to lifelong learning and investing in yourself!

This is just a tiny fraction of the rabbit hole I've been going down with this topic. If there is interest I'll post more specific and well structured guides.

Here are a few helpful articles and resources:

• Learning how to learn (coursera course)
• Scott H Young's site and book
• Nat Eliason's "Sandbox method"
• Farnham Street's learning section
• Make it Stick - the science of successful learning (book)

I also just started tweeting about learning, marketing, and personal effectiveness - if you're active on the platform feel free to follow me, it would be great to interact with some fastlaners on there!

 

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