1. The foundation: a productivity system
Our
first tip therefore is to adopt a productivity system. You need to develop the
habit of consistent and effective note-taking, you need to have a clean,
uncluttered desk to study at, you need a system for storing reference material
and tracking your (learning) projects. I strongly suggest following this
important tip, because it will make everything else (including learning) more
efficient and effective.
2. Speed reading
You probably need or want to read a lot of
offline and online material as well. But you only have so much time to do it.
This is where my second tip comes in. Practice speed reading to read smarter
and faster, while improving your comprehension
3. Think and work on paper
There
is no question that pen and paper are the most underrated productivity and
learning tools around. My advice is to always think and work on paper. It will
get things off your mind and make room for more creative thinking. Use your own
shorthand and notational system to highlight important facts and actions in the
material you’re learning. Condense, memorize and review the material you’ve
learned by creating mind maps.
4. Use multisensory techniques
This tip is all about discovering your
preferred learning style and leveraging it to make learning more fun and more
effective. You have to figure out for yourself if you are more of a visual
learner, an auditory learner or a kinesthetic/tactile learner. Information will
be absorbed by your brain much quicker and much more effective if you use your
preferred learning style. To enhance your learning experience even further,
combine your preferred learning style with the other ones. For instance,
writing things down combines the visual and tactile learning styles. Reading
things aloud to you combines the visual and auditory learning styles
5. Allow your brain to absorb new stuff
Everybody
has a certain learning rhythm. Some learn best in the early hours of the
morning, others learn best late at night. Figure out which rhythm and time
frame suits you best and use this to maximize your learning ability. However,
you must frequently give your brain time to absorb the new stuff that you are
learning. The best way is to “sleep on it” and the second best way is to take
frequent breaks and do something completely different.
6. Learning is in Your Head
Having
beautiful notes and a perfectly highlighted textbook doesn’t matter if you
don’t understand the information in it. Your only goal is to understand the
information so it will stick with you for assignments, tests and life. Don’t be
afraid to get messy when scrawling out ideas on paper and connecting them in
your head. Use notes and books as a medium for learning rather than an end
result.
7. Food for thought: Eat breakfast.
A
lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early
morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of
protein can actually cause headaches. Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches have a
tendency to make people drowsy. While you could turn this to your advantage by
taking a “thinking nap”, most people haven’t learned how.
8. Reduce stress + depression.
Stress
and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit
learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and
fewer refined foods.
9. Focus and immerse yourself.
Focus
on whatever you’re studying. Don’t try to watch TV at the same time or worry
yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of
information and ideas.
10.
Persist.
Don’t
give up learning in the face of intimidating tasks. Anything one human being
can learn, most others can as well. Wasn’t it Einstein that said, “Genius is 1%
inspiration and 99% perspiration”? Thomas Edison said it, too.
