Why Is It Important That We Learn How To Learn?

Why is it important that we learn how to learn?

For thousands of years, people have been learning.  This ability has shaped us as a species and has allowed us to become the dominant life form on our planet.  

Unfortunately, many of us feel and believe that it is something that just simply happens.  We passively sit and wait for information to come to us, absorbing what we happen to catch long enough to pass a test or earn some kind of reward, and then losing most of it quickly afterward.

This isn’t our fault – many of us were taught to learn this way throughout our academic careers, which created the expectation that is the only way.  Why would schools teach us inefficient learning methods?  Why would the academic institution in which we spend many hours of our formative years use poor, outdated methods of teaching and learning?

Simply put: standardized testing.  We are taught to pass tests because that is the standard to which our schools are held.  

It isn’t the teachers’ fault, either – many of them are amazing people.  Please don’t take that as an attack on our awesome, well-meaning teachers.  But many of them were brought up in this same environment – they were given the expectation that this is normal, and so they teach based on that expectation.

I, and others like myself, are part of a movement that wants to change the way that we learn.  We want to revolutionize the way information is taught, remembered, and expanded upon.  We want to re-create learning into an active process, one in which students are engaged and focused on the material rather than submissively accepting it.

We want you to become Superlearners!

Why?

Because learning is one of the ultimate “Meta-Skills”.

Everything we do, every skill we aspire towards, and every new direction we want to take requires us to learn.

Improving our learning skills makes that easier, faster, less stressful, and more FUN!

Would you rather stumble forward every time you wanted to pick up a new skill?  Or, worse yet, never pick up a new skill because you’re unsure of how to start?  

If we want to create a reality that is different than our current, we will need to change ourselves first.  This means learning new skills, taking on new perspectives, and tackling new challenges.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

-Albert Einstein

How, then, do we get “different thinking”?  Through learning.  Through expanding ourselves beyond our current limitations.  By not allowing ourselves to be walled in by our own limited views on what we are capable of.

Improving our ability to learn means we can create these new realities in less time that it would take if we stumble forward with no structure.  

For example, take Tim Ferriss’ “DiSSS” model.

Deconstruction – break the skill down into it’s smallest parts.  What are the fundamental, bite-size thing I must learn to become good at this skill?

Selection – now that I have the smallest pieces, which are the most important?  Which pieces will get me the most bang for my buck?

Sequencing  – now that I know which parts are the most important, in what order should I learn them?

Stakes – how can I put some skin in the game and give myself a deadline that motivates me?

That is a very powerful model.  Using that model alone can cut HOURS out of learning any new skill. This is because we are not jumping in blindly, but attacking the subject with a plan, a purpose, and in manageable chunks.

Scott Young in his book Ultralearning also gives us some awesome insights into how we can create a process for learning new subjects.

First, he suggests that we start with our “why”.  Why do we want to learn this skill?  How do we plan to use it?  What will it do to solve a real problem in our lives?

Then, we divide the subject into three sections: facts, procedures, and concepts.

Facts we must memorize, and we can use some super-powerful visual mnemonics like those found here to help do this faster. There is also powerful spaced repetition software like Anki to help us review our new visual memories.

Procedures must be practiced to get them into our muscle memory. There are ways we can speed this up, too – by employing DiSSS, above, and being sure we are learning physical skills in the right order.

When I was learning guitar, I knew that something I would have to get into this procedural memory was strumming patterns.  Now, I could dive right in, banging my head against the wall until I got it right…or I could break it down.  Start with a simple pattern, like one strum on every downbeat.  Then, complicate it a little – maybe two strums per beat (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1…).  Next, I might try adding in some rests (1 and rest and 3 and rest…).  Finally, I can move onto more complicated patterns from there.

These patterns are rehearsed until they become automatic, as the last thing I need to be worried about when trying to play a song is how to strum. I also need to know what my fretting hand is doing (and hopefully get a large portion of that into procedural memory, as well).  If I’m singing while playing, now I have my vocals, the rhythms, and the lyrics to worry about. I can break all these parts down, practice them as individual pieces, and mix it all to gether to come up with a song that someone else can (hopefully) endure hearing.

Finally, we have concepts.  These are ideas which must be understood beyond memory.  We need to see how concepts are related to one another.  We need to know how and when they are applicable. 

As we learn models and systems like these, our learning becomes easier and faster. We are no longer afraid to tackle the next challenge, which may be harder (or, at least, further outside our comfort zone).  We can learn that skill faster, and it boosts our confidence to learn yet another subject.

Pretty soon, we create a snowball effect – the more we learn, the easier it becomes, so the faster we can learn going forward.

Soon that daunting, unreachable skill that you couldn’t even imagine before doesn’t seem so bad.  In fact, it’s downright attainable.

This isn’t some magic pill.  You will still have to put in the time and effort required to become competent.  You’ll just be able to do it in far less time and with far less stress.

Imagine the possibilities. Take a few minutes right now and write down at least 3 skills you would learn today, right now, if you knew how to use these learning skills.

What doors would open up for you?  How would your world change?

How would you change the world?

Want to learn more about how you can improve your learning, memory, and reading speed? Here are a few options I can give you.

• Check out this book
• Take some time to check out this webinar for the Superlearner Master Class. This is the very course that got me started with accelerated learning and speed reading.
• Click this link to chat directly with me about how I can help you.  I love doing this, helping and teaching people is what I am called to do, and working with you would be awesome!