Quick Tip on How to Learn Effectively: Lesson About Learning New Things
In this post, I want to convince you that effective learning has more to do with training ABS than you might think. Here’s why and how to apply it.
Have you ever trained your Abdominal Muscles? If so, then you probably know that the effective way to get “6-pack” ABS is by hitting ABS from different angles to engage different parts of the abdomen. You have to do different types of exercises that use your muscles in many different ways. You won't get too far by doing crunches only, no matter how hard you try and how many repetitions you do. It won’t work.
The key is to add variety to your workout routine and you’re going to see results. Now, why is it so important in the context of effective learning?
Because having a variety of ways to approach learning is what makes it effective. Instead of learning by one standard method, which is reading and then memorizing by strenuous effort to put the information into your brain, try to bring as many angles as you can into learning new things. You can do it by singing, drawing, writing, and then re-writing or whatever you came up with.
Basically, it’s about activating different parts of your brain.
Maybe you've already heard about this method, maybe even in school. I remember when teachers encourage us to learn through storytelling. We had to create stories related to a given topic, use analogies in stories that are connected to science subjects. And it worked pretty well because it added variety but was quite time-consuming.
The method that I’m in huge favor of is effective learning through explaining (to yourself or others). All you have to do is explain things you’ve already learned so simply that a 5-year-old child would have no problem understanding. By explaining new concepts you activate other parts of the brain that holistically can improve your understanding of a certain topic.
A similar method is used in the Feynman Technique, which consists of 4 steps:
Break down the subject
Learn by teaching it
Identify the knowledge gap, make a review of things you do not know yet
Sum up and tell a story (use analogies in stories)
As you can see, Feynman also emphasized the value of diversity in his approach to effective learning. His effective learning process does not consist of simple reading and memorization, but in activating various areas of the brain by identifying the problem, explaining, using analogies, and making up stories.
The next tip is bringing your body into the process of learning.
Use your voice, mind, imagination, or physicality, you can even dance to it. Try to attach a physical environment to your learning process and see how easy and better you start to understand new things. Approach your process from as many angles as you can.
An interesting example given by Scott Adams is learning how to play drums and internalize the metronome. For most beginners, it’s hard or almost impossible to keep the proper rhythm and play the drums at the same time. The advice Scott Adams heard from the drum teacher was to physically hear the metronome and clap your hand in a harmonious way shown by the teacher. And what happens when you start clapping your hand at such a consistent pace is that you begin to form a new habit to the point that almost you become a metronome. Your body starts to remember the tempo independent from the part of your brain that is responsible for playing drums.
And that’s the way to learn effectively how to play drums - to involve your body in the learning process.
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Summary:
Hit your learning from as many angles as you can. Activate different parts of the brain by explaining things, breaking down them, using analogies, and creating stories.
Involve your physicality in the process of learning, you can sing, dance, chant, use your mind or imagination. It’s about the holistic experience. Use your body as the tool and internalize it with the whole process.