Learning how to learn is one of those meta skills that nobody ever really teaches us. But, it’s also the number one skill we should learn if we’re looking to significantly improve our life in basically every single way.
For example, when I was in med school, I spent some time learning how to learn. Which meant I could study more efficiently. This gave me more time to do the things I enjoyed, like setting up a business and my YouTube channel.
These days, even though I don’t have to sit exams, learning is still a huge part of my life. I’m trying to get better at making videos, learn how to write better articles, and create better systems for managing my team. All of this stuff involves learning.
So, in this article I wanted to share nine evidence-based tips that I’ve found really helpful. These work when we’re learning pretty much anything:
- Sharpen the Axe
- Use Crutches to Optimise Focus
- Find Opportunities for Immersion
- Figure Out Your Weak Links
- Test Yourself
- Get Regular intense feedback
- Overlearn
- Use Spacing
- Teach What You’re Learning
🪓 1. Sharpen the Axe
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe“
This is a quote that’s attributed to Abraham Lincoln, and he’s talking about the power of preparation. And when it comes to learning, good preparation is essential.
Let’s say we’re trying to learn something, like the guitar or a new sport. We should spend a decent amount of time figuring out the meta learning behind what we’re actually going to learn before we do anything else. In other words, we need to work out how we’re actually going to learn the thing – seems obvious but we rarely consider it.
For example, when I was learning how to play the piano by ear, I spent a decent amount of time on the ‘Piano Learning’ subreddit, where I could read loads of interesting posts about how to play by ear. And by spending a little bit of time sharpening the axe before I actually sat down to learn the thing, my learning process accelerated.
If you’re interested in learning how to learn in a study-related context, I’d highly recommend you read the book “Make It Stick” – it’s brilliant.
🦿 2. Use Crutches to Optimise Focus
Whenever we’re learning, it’s tempting to do it passively. I sometimes end up watching TV or something while practising the guitar.
But, by fully focusing on the thing we’re learning, our brains are able to pick things up much faster. And so I’ve found a few different ‘crutches’ or ‘hacks’ that have been particularly helpful in helping me to focus on what I’m supposed to be learning.
The first is the five minute rule. The idea is that if we want to do something and we’re finding it difficult to start, the five minute rule tells us to just work on the thing for 5 minutes. Then, after five minutes, we’re allowed to stop. We don’t have to continue if we don’t want to. But, more often than not, I find that if I’ve already started doing something, I do actually want to continue. The problem was just getting started.
The second ‘crutch’ I found useful is to chuck my phone away. I know it sounds simple but we’re so glued to our phones these days that by tossing our phone on the floor or leaving it in the kitchen, we can remove a key point of distraction and force ourselves to focus, free from distraction. And if there’s anything else we find particularly distracting – like tablets, TVs, or other interesting gadgets – it’s really helpful if we can place them as far as possible from our workspace.
🌊 3. Find Opportunities for Immersion
There’s a great book called Ultralearning by Scott Young, where he talks about his journey learning different languages in three months. His takeaway from this experience was that language learning is about immersion. If you can immerse yourself in a language as much as possible, it won’t be long before you’re fluent.
So the general principle here is that we learn best when we’re in the environment where we’re actually going to be using the skill.
For example, when I was learning how to become a close-up magician, a lot of my early practice was in front of my webcam or a mirror. But, my webcam/mirror wasn’t really the arena where I’d be performing my magic. So I made it a point to try to perform my magic for real people as much as possible. I’d take a deck of cards to school and constantly be showing my friends what I’d recently learnt.
Eventually I got pretty good at performing in front of friends and family, so I started reaching out to do paid gigs. Although, I probably wasn’t good enough to get paid for the magic I knew at the time (🤷♂️). But, that’s not the point. The point was that by performing magic at different gigs and parties, I significantly improved my abilities in a way that wouldn’t have been possible if I stuck to performing in front of the mirror.
My advice: step out of your comfort zone and fully immerse yourself in the thing you want to learn. It can be scary, but it’s 100% worth it.
