by 3 years ago | 4 Min Read
The more you learn, the more you earn. In the digital age that we live in, it’s never been easier to access information for free. There’s tons of it all over various websites and applications. With so much to learn out there, you’ll want to be as efficient as possible with the time you spend on learning new things. If you make a consistent habit out of learning, you will make significant strides in your life. Here are 5 ways to increase the speed that you learn things at.
#1. Figure Out How You Learn Best
Between reading, watching and listening to things, you can learn in many different ways. You can consume larger content or you can consume a variety of smaller content. You can also learn by talking to people and doing things. You should try out different ways to learn and see what feels most natural to you. If you want to focus on longer content like books, you might choose to read the physical book, to listen to the audiobook or to do both simultaneously. If you want to consume shorter content like podcasts, you can watch them on YouTube or listen to them on your favorite streaming service. If you want even shorter content, you can read blog posts or watch shorter videos on YouTube. Figure out what enables you to retain the most information and focus on that as your main way to learn new information.
#2. Get Into A State Of Flow
Being in a state of flow is most often associated with athletes who feel like they’re “in the zone”. Flow is when your brain focuses on performing one single task and blocks out thoughts about anything else. Being in a state of flow allows people to step out of their sense of self and pour their entire minds and energy into the task at hand. All aspects of physical and mental performance are heightened when you’re in a state of flow. Time even feels different when you’re in a state of flow.
There are a couple ways that you can improve your ability to get into a state of flow. You should try to eliminate as many distractions as possible, so you can focus on your work. Use your schedule to block out time to work on a specific project. You can use the Pomodoro technique, which is working for 25 minutes, then taking a 5 minute break, and then repeating that cycle as many times as you have the time for.
#3. Learn By Doing
While most people think of learning from books, lectures or podcasts, the best way to learn things is by doing them. Getting practical experience with something will teach you about that subject much faster than reading about it would. Too many people get trapped in paralysis through analysis, where they spend so much time learning about something that they never even end up doing. It’s much better to step outside of your comfort zone and get started with something new. You will make significant progress by doing that thing on a consistent basis. You can always continue to learn about that thing by consuming content, while you also learn from doing the thing itself.
#4. Be Persistent
It’s always most difficult to learn about a subject when you first approach it. You might be reading about something and you’ll encounter 10 new words you need to look up on the first page alone. It can seem daunting to overcome that much of an information gap but if you stay committed to your learning goals, you will eventually break through that discomfort, start to learn things and see the bigger picture.
#5. Get Enough Sleep
Getting the proper amount of sleep plays a big role in your ability to learn and retain new information. There’s only so much you can retain from a single day. Going to sleep allows our brains to consolidate all of that new information and make some serious sense of it. Many students tend to rely on cramming a few weeks of studying by staying up all night before their exam but they would be much better off studying the day before and getting some sleep. Their mind would be given the chance to really soak in all of that new information and they’d wake up feeling confident about their exam.
Knowledge is wealth. Knowledge is power. Being able to learn things is crucial towards building and maintaining success in life. The speed and quality of your learning ability will be a huge determining factor in whether you can reach all of your goals or not. Use these 5 tips to increase the speed at which you learn things. Before you know it, you’ll be the one that’s teaching the next person going through their own life journey.
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I hope that you’ve found value in this blog post! Feel free to share it with anyone that you think will benefit from it as well.
If you’d like to hear more of my thoughts on this subject, you can check out my video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt_l8N_X0bQ
If you’d like to be even more effective as an entrepreneur, check out my blog post on 5 Important Lessons From The Game Of Chess.
