When you used to have a test or exam and you had to revise for your exam, did you find it hard to revise or learn? Just because you cannot learn properly don’t put yourself down, it might just be that you have a different learning style to everyone else.
Everyone does not fit one type of learning style. There are three types of learning styles that people use. Some people may learn better by actually doing the thing while other people learn better by hearing and listening. For example if you want to learn how to people football, you will get better by doing it however if you are learning about a n
ew marketing technique you might learn better by listening to an audio tape about it. The last learning style is seeing something and learning. This could simply be watching a video about your certain topic or reading a book.
A great tip is to actually like what you are learning. It is a proven fact that if you do not like something, then you will not want to learn about it. Remember back in school when the teacher would say your going to learn about Algebra today. Wasn’t a very exciting topic, was it? I am sure you did not want to learn about it either. But what about when you did a more exciting a more exciting topic or subject like Gym, it was fun and you wanted to learn more didn’t you? So if you want to learn better and faster, start liking what you learn, it’s the only way you’ll learn more quicker.
Metacognition
Using Metacognition helps when it comes to learning. Metacognition is a big word but simply put it is the ability to learn. It means learning to learn or ‘thinking about thinking’. It is a term and theory used by educational psychologists.
Metacognition can be split into three components. Metacognitive knowledge which is what each person knows about themselves and others as cognitive processors. You should be aware of everything around you.
The next component would be Metacognitive Regulation. In this step you control your learning through a set of activities. The different activities help enable a better learning experience.
The last component in Metacognition is Metacognitive experiences, this is learning through experience and has something to do with the current, on going endeavors. This basically means that you have to keep on studying the thing you are studying. It is said you have to read something three times or more for it to stick in your head.
If you plan, monitor and evaluate what you are doing right or wrong then you will surely be able to learn more. Make sure you choose the correct strategies when learning and monitor what you are doing so the tasks you are performing are correct. The final thing you should do is see if the tasks you are doing is efficient and if they are correct.
Trying to Learn a New Skill or Language?
Learning a new skill is always fun. Ok sometimes it can get slightly frustrating. But it is pretty awesome learning a new skill plus it is impressive as well. There is a method that world class learners use to learn new skills or a language in six months or less.
How would you like to learn how to play the piano to a world class standard in six months? Did you always want to learn how to do computer programming? Or would you like to learn Spanish or a different language? A technique called Meta-Learning helps you learn all these skills and more.
Lifestyle hacker and author Tim Ferriss uses meta-learning in his book The Four Hour Chef and The Four Hour Workweek to learn and acquire new skills as well Josh Kaufman in The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything… Fast. By using this method both these individuals have learnt plenty of new skills.
Meta-Learning helps you copy the worlds fastest learners and learn anything in record time. The key thing to do in Meta-Learning is to deconstruct the skill so you see it as easier doable chunks. Meta-Learning can be split into 5 easy to do steps:
Step 1: Deconstruct the Skill
This just means find out the main things you would need to do to master the skills. Break the skill up into smaller tasks. So, for example, if you want to learn boxing split it up into the main things you would have to learn; footwork, jabs, hooks, movement, etc.
Step 2: Identify the Likely Failure Points
Find out the main points which you think you are most likely to fail on. You should do this so you could avoid them early on in your training. This way it would be much quicker and efficient for you to complete the skill.
Step 3: Selection
Do you know who Vilfredo Pareto was? He was an Italian economist who came up with the 80/20 rule which is also known as the Pareto Principle. For the third step you should use the Pareto Principle. This means that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your input. This may should counter-intuitive at first but you will actually find it helps you more. For example, if you are trying to learn computer programming, learn the main parts which amount to 20%. So the main things that would enable you to design an app or program a website. You have to find out what are the 20% of things that you have deconstructed that will account for 80% of your success.
Step 4: Sequencing of the Skill
This is a very important step to learning something new however this step is often overlooked. This is why most people fail when they are trying to learn something new. They just go straight to the advanced stuff before they start the basics because they thing they already know the basics. You cannot run before you can walk.
You would have to find out if learning it in a different order to what the usual sequence is would affect the speed of your learning. Going back to our computer programming example, you can’t learn programming if you completely skip HTML. It is one of the fundamentals in programming,
To wrap it up, you should focus on what you think is important and don’t focus on whats next. Eliminate any thing you think would be a waste of time or is not important.
Step 5: Big Stakes = Big Results
Your motivational factor if you get so frustrated or annoyed at the fact you can’t do it that you give up. This is could be anything that you do not want to lose; money, clothes, car even your house (might be going abit extreme but would be an awesome motivational tool). Most people would put money down and because nobody likes losing , you will psychologically start performing better and want to achieve what you set out to do.
It doesn’t even have to be anything of monetary value on stake. It could just be a forfeit for not doing what you set out to do. Get a friend to hold you accountable for this and you should be on your way to achieving what you want.
Another great option to do is to donate an amount of money to charity, if you fail to acquire the skill. Using Stickk helps. Stickk is a website which helps you achieve your goal. If you do not achieve the goal by the deadline you set Stickk will donate money from you to charity. This serves as a great motivational tool.
Researchers say that it takes 10,000 hours or 10 years to master a skill while that may be true, to actually get good at something doesn’t take long at all. If you know what you are doing, plan everything out, follow the steps in this article there isn’t nothing that you cant learn.
Resources
There are plenty of resources out there to help you to achieve your goal or the skill that you want to acquire. There are many mobile apps or websites you can use for free to help you achieve what you want. Technology is amazing isn’t it?
Some resources that would help you are:
Chandoo (get awesome at Excel)
Spreader (learn to speed read)
Duolingo (learn languages completely free)
Udemy (paid courses but a great resource)
Any.do (mobile app to help you manage yourself)
Lift.do (app that helps you achieve your goals)
Conclusion
There are plenty of resources to help you achieve what you want and acquire any skill that you want. Many of these resources are completely free to use, so there are no excuses to achieving a new skill or learning a new language.
For all those people that think once they learn a new skill and don’t do it over time, they will just forget it. That doesn’t happen. It’s like learning to ride a bike. Once you learn how to ride a bike even if you haven’t done it for years, once you get on a bike you will be able to do it. You already know the fundamentals so once you do think the particular skill you will be able to remember it again, even if you haven’t done it for years.
Do you have any skills that you would like to learn? If so, what kind of skills and things do you want to learn? We would love to hear from you, please comment below with what you would like to learn.
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