In today’s cut throat competition, if anyone wants to survive, he has to improve his ability to learn faster, adapt to changing demands and stay relevant in technology driven world.
Malcolm Gladwell’s book outliers states that it takes 10,000 hours to become expert in any field. Yes, it takes several hours of commitment to be an expert in any field.
However, most people are running short of time and want to maximise learning in short periods. In this article we are sharing some smart ideas by which any person can increase the ability to learn faster just by spending just 40 minutes per day.
1. Break the task into parts and apply 80-20 rule
Henry Ford said, “Nothing in particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”
Breaking down the task into small parts and prioritising which things need to be addressed first can make your job easier. The Pareto Principle states that for many events roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of causes. Or in other words, 80% of your learning can be done by focusing on the 20% core topics. To learn faster, you can prioritise on things that matter the most.
Suppose you want to learn how to play guitar so you can break the skills down into components like, reading music, proper posture, learning chords, proper finger placement, finger picking and so on. Experienced guitarists will tell you that learning chords and finger placement are the two most important things for learning Guitar. By learning only two chords & finger placement you can learn many songs.
2. Learn from an Expert or Coach
No matter what skill you want to accomplish, there must be someone out there who is already good at it. So, find a person who is already getting the results you want, figure out where you can find these people and model your own journey.
If you don’t know any expert personally from whom you want to learn, than you have to do some research, ask your friend circle or search that person online, because internet has a world of resources hidden inside it. You can find the best professionals online and even explore their videos, blogs and other stuff to learn.
3. Learn From Multiple Sources
Studies shows that the more ways you experience a piece of information, the more likely you are to retain it. Why? Because different learning media activate different parts of your brain. When different parts of your brain work together synchronously, you can retain knowledge better and remember things quickly.
So, start reading books, listen to audio tapes, watch videos, use learning apps to practice your chosen particular field. Try to involve all your five sense in your learning program so that you can learn quickly and effectively.
4. Research less and Practice More
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
Aristotle
You learn best by practicing not by theory. Learning by doing is important to develop quick and effective expertise in any field. For e.g. if you want to learn football, you will never be a good player by reading books instead of playing football. Our brain learns easily by doing things not by just reading, listening, or watching it.
The more time we spending doing something, the better we become at it. To accelerate your learning, start practising what you want to learn and train yourself to improve consistently.
5. Get Immediate Feedback
In a survey that was done among famous rock bands of US, only those rock bands consistently performed well who worked on the feedback given by their listeners.
Feedback and criticism are very important for improving yourself and learning. Getting feedback from others always plays a crucial role in learning things faster. You can realise your blind spots and mistakes when others give you honest feedback.
Once you’re aware of the shortcomings, you can always take the corrective measures and improve yourself. Many times negative feedback and criticism from an expert with the right intention will be more helpful to your learning than praise. It is invaluable to get feedback from people around you. They could be your friends, coaches, mentors, teachers, your manager or experts in your field.
6. Give yourself a Deadline
There is a law called Parkinson’s Law that states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Our brains work with more focus and dedication when we have a clear deadline and goal.
When you give yourself less time & tight deadlines to do something, you work more efficiently without wasting time. So always put a deadline and be committed to learn in that period only. You cannot have more time, so make best use of whatever is available to you.
7. Commit to lifelong learning
When we get an opportunity to learn something new, we enter into a phase what many people called Honey Moon phase. In this stage our brain releases Dopamine chemical. It is the chemical that mediates pleasure in the brain. It is released whenever we experience something new or pleasurable.
When honey moon phase fades we started getting frustrated with failures and often give up what we wanted to pursue. Now the question arises how to overcome this? According to author of a bestselling book, Josh Kaufman, ”To get good at something it takes about 20 hours of focused deliberate practice.” When you get into the practicing phase make a commitment that you won’t quit without practicing it for atleast 20 hours.
I know it sounds crazy that at the beginning we have said it took 10,000 hours to become expert at something, and now we are saying 20 hours are enough to learn something, which is far less than that. But studies have proven it true, that just practicing anything for 40 min per day for a month will make you learn something quickly & be reasonably good at it.
Time commitment is where people have the biggest trouble, but it is also the key to success. It is not necessarily fun to practice the same skills repeatedly for several days.
People tend to build what Kaufman called the Frustration barrier, which is when we feel we are not improving quickly despite committing a lot of time and efforts. This is where we lose confidence, and then we tend to quit. But if you stay committed for the first 20 hours practicing the skills, you will develop the skill.
