How To Accelerate Your Learning
Co-written by Kaye Jayme and Yana Brewster
Co-CEO, John Clegg, recently ran a bootcamp that teaches the facts and techniques of learning and how to use these techniques in order to become an expert. Read on for more!
Learning starts with your beliefs. If you want to achieve something, you must believe in yourself - learning is just a case of practising. You won't even try to improve if you believe you don't have what it takes.
Practise effectively; practice is a repetition of an action. Our brains have two kinds of neural tissue: grey matter and white matter. So, how do practise and repetition affect the brain? It’s down to myelin changes. These neural pathways build up and get stronger and better as you continue to practise.
Now, let's bust some myths about learning:
Learning myths:
You can multi-task effectively - High-cognitive load jobs shouldn't be multi-tasked. Multi-tasking doesn't work; research indicates that people would fail when juggling high-cognitive tasks. An example of this is being able to listen to music and drive a car as it's low-cognitive, but you can't text and drive simultaneously. Focus entirely on the task and cut out other visual or aural distractions when concentrating on learning.
Learning styles are fixed - There are visual, aural and kinetic styles. Research has challenged this concept, but it works well for some people. You can read more about the research here.
Giving and receiving feedback is not important - Asking tutors/lecturers for feedback is super important as it helps you learn and improve your skills.
Talent is born, not made - From successful sports stars to multi-millionaires, all talented people have a common trait: practice makes perfect. Even some of the most successful people are rarely born with extraordinary abilities. The only difference is that they started training from a young age, practised repetitively, and received continuous feedback on how to improve.
"Smarter" people with high IQs are just better at learning - Not necessarily. They may have low motivation to learn or excel and don't always progress higher within the workplace. Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard enough.
Learning facts
"Learning isn't a way to reaching one's potential but rather a way of developing it. We create our potential" - Anders Ericsson.
It takes about 20 hours to learn a skill.
It takes around 100 hours to become "competent”.
It can take upwards of 10,000 hours to become an expert.
Take handwritten notes.
The science behind it:
When you handwrite notes, you summarise and paraphrase what you have learned, forming new connections in your brain.
When you type notes on your laptop, you are often copying the content, so you remember less. It's like trusting your laptop to remember the content and not your brain.
What's an expert?
An expert is a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.
Mental models are the building blocks of learning: constantly practising something that you're learning helps build your mental models in your neural pathways. Your brain makes connections between new and old information; this builds your mental models and releases a burst of dopamine. Creating these strong connections helps your brain become an expert on a studied topic or skill. Experts have more mental models about a specific skill.
Reflect on feedback to create stronger neural connections between old and new feedback. Schedule reflection time, look back at what you've learned and try to strengthen those connections.
Experts get constant feedback on improving their work, which helps them to practise more effectively and push themselves outside their comfort zone.
How to become an expert?
Better practise: Practise makes permanent. It's essential to practise correctly, remove distractions, and focus on what you're doing. We can also get better by being more self-aware about how we learn and what engages us. The next time you learn something, ask yourself;
What made the experience good or bad?
What mental state am I in?
Do I like to watch(visual) or listen(aural) when learning?
Discovering how we behave in study environments can help us enjoy learning and make practice time more effective.
Some suggestions for the different learning styles people have:
Visual learner - flow charts, mind-maps
Aural learner - record lectures or get someone to repeat the content back to you to understand it better
Reading/writing - summarising, using lists and bullet points
How do I find my learning style? There's a test to find out at The VARK Questionnaire.
John has kindly shared the presentation slides here.
