9 Top tips for speed learning
Our world is changing so quickly, I believe it's imperative that we develop the ability to learn quickly in order to keep up. Our employers or our clients often require us to consume and understand large amounts of information in a short space of time. This is very challenging without practice.
So, do want to learn some quick tips for accerating your learning? You probably know some of them already, but I'm sure there'll be one or two points that you've never thought of. I hope this helps.
Forget what you already know about the subject. Assume that there is so much more than you can learn if you are open.
Forget multitasking and avoid distractions. This is a serious impediment to speed learning - we know that our brains cannot focus deeply on more than one thing at a time - our concentration is limited.
Forget about your limitations. Common limitations that people voice are things like 'I'm a slow learner' or 'I don't have a good memory'. It's well known that our brains can be trained and our memories improved. For anyone who wants further proof of this, I recommend reading a fantastic book called Moonwalking with Einstein.
Check out sources like Audible.com and podcasts (iTunes or Soundcloud). These are great for learning on the move. For more advanced users, try increasing the speed of the audio one step at a time to listen even faster. You may find this difficult at the start, but you'll get used to it.
Take notes and review them regularly.
Be an active learner in the topic or situation. In other words, passively learning is usually quite slow compared to actively learning something. Immerse yourself in the topic or area and practice it if possible.
Learn as if you're going to teach it to someone else.
Get some to test your knowledge and skills or test yourself. Then make a point of learning whatever you missed.
Find someone in the area who is an expert and model them. Find out what they learned, how they learned it and how they use the knowledge. Ask yourself, 'what do they do and what do they not do?' Also, 'what techniques or tools do they use?' This is a super quick way of getting the best knowledge fast.
