2020 was quite a wild ride. But also, allowed me a lot of time to think critically about how I learn. It came to me in thought, that I read a lot of articles, YouTube videos, listen to conversation. But... Am I actually remembering any of this!??

Perhaps, you share a similar dilemna. We live in a world full of information, more accessible than ever before. We surround ourselves with continuous overload of information, do we really take any time to process what we learn?

Do we even prioritise what we are learning? How important is learning what type of foods a faved celebrity eats, over learning skills that will land you your dream job?

Information overload just leads to information that goes in one ear, and out the other in a matter of minutes.

The solution

Take a step back. Look around you and ask yourself: "What are my goals? What are my passions I would really love it if I could grow".

1. Do less

The first and most important way to learn more, is to actually aim to learn less. Begin to live your life with an idea of your priorities, this was a lesson that took me a while to own. I wanted to do everything! I wanted to do so many projects at once, and learn so many new things at once, however by the end of the day I would forget the stuff that I 'learned', and I didn't actually work on my projects because I was busy trying to plan around how to do them all. Is this relatable?

I was also feeling guilty! Guilty that I could not complete all my goals I had for the day. Or even some days I would feel burned out, because I worked all day, but in reality this was 'fake productivity'.

Fake productivity is when you aim to be productive, but you choose super simple tasks that does not require much effort, but equally does not provide you progress towards your goals. This happens to me frequently, I prepare myself for a productive day, but then I notice my desk is a bit messy, so I clean it; then I remember I had errands to do, so I try get those done; then I watch some productivity videos, which makes me feel like I am learning from them, but I am not; so the end of the day hits, and I wonder how did I not do anything...

2. Focus

Focus is the answer here, when wanting to learn, you have to really focus on it. You have to really want it, remind yourself why is it that I want to learn this, what impact will this have on me?

Focus also means, doing only one thing at a time. It is incredibly challenging to ever learn something, whilst also watching TV. Your brain is not good at task switching, whenever you leave your focus, you must spend a few moments again to recollect your thought when coming back to it.

Learning sequentially will provide far better quality than attempting to learn things in parallel.

If having a hard time focusing, and getting on distracting applications or websites. Online shopping, gaming, social media. The best thing to do is allow yourself a break from those distractions, put your phone elsewhere, limit notifications, or even set up app blocking on your devices that block certain apps at different times of the day.

3. Write

Learning also requires you to backtrack on it, remind yourself on what you have just learnt. We very often skip this step, as it is very easy to understand something when we first read/listen to something, then we too quickly move onto the next thing. But when it comes to using that knowledge, you forget everything.

A simple way to backtrack on your new knowledge, that can be done as soon as you consume your new knowledge, is to write about it. Record your comprehension of the topic somewhere, think of how you can write it in a way that could be later shared with someone else, including yourself.

Blindly writing notes word by word, does not teach you anything. In my case, I can very easily type / write out my notes without any active understanding. Put extra thought into what you write, it is not about quantity, it is quality. If you can summarise a page into a few key sententences that are meaningful for you, you are not only saving time, but also aiding in your learning better.

4. Build

Often the case, we learn and somewhat comprehend a topic, but we have to often remind ourselves otherwise we can quickly forget. Sometimes we understand the concepts of things, but have no knowledge into real world application of the knowledge, so the knowledge that we have is very tightly coupled to the specific article we read.

Building on the new knowledge, and applying your new knowledge creates further insights into the topic. This also shows a greater appreciation of the topic, and something REAL, cementing the knowledge.

This is a reason why many online courses, and school ask for many assignments. Sitting in a class, and hearing someone talk does not aid much in learning, it is only a small part of the learning journey.

After all of these steps. Sharing your new knowledge is the ultimate form of true comprehension. That you are able to share your own understanding of the topic to others, this usually requires that you have gone out of your way to collect several pieces of information, and your own experiences.

Think to yourself, how easy it is to remember different facts about people through forms of gossip. Or when you engage in classes / conversations you remember so much more, because you are putting yourself out there.

6. The Dopamine detox

It could also be that you, among most of the world is suffering from a dopamine addiction. We are surrounded by so many distractions, and better things to be doing, that we avoid what we should really be doing to be at our best.

Learn to be content with minimal stimulations, then you will find pleasure in the activities that are long term rewarding.

I reccomend this book: Dopamise Detox