How to Learn Faster with 5 Secret Techniques

Introduction

I think learning

I think learning is the highest-leverage skill you can develop. The quicker you can learn things, the more value you can provide to any kind of marketplace. Yet, so few of us are taught how to learn. And the worst of it is that we then blame it on ourselves for being too dumb, the subject is out of reach, and other such fallacies. Truthfully, the root cause is that you don’t know how your mind works. A better understanding of the mechanisms of the mind will give you the perspective you need when learning new subjects.

And in doing so…

You’ll no longer be phased by confusion.

Reading pages over and over again won’t be frequent.

Staring at problems for hours on end with no hope in sight will no longer be an issue.

Because you’ll know how to deal with it.

Below I’ll guide you through 5 of the most successful strategies I’ve used to boost my learning several times fold- and in doing so have managed to avoid the problems above.

Order Control

Have you ever read through a textbook and felt like you just weren’t getting it? Did you feel like the information you were consuming would just slip away?

This often happens when the information you consume isn’t optimal for the stage of learning you are in. For instance, in the beginning stages of learning a new topic, it’s more useful to have information that connects new knowledge to old knowledge and motivates the concepts that will soon be taught.

However, it can be difficult to coordinate your cognitive ability with the way in which the teacher decides to teach you. This is why you need to start taking control of the order in which you learn. You do this by asking the right questions, at your stage of learning.

You should consistently be focused on asking questions like:

  • When will I use this?

  • How does this connect to other concepts?

  • How does this relate to information that I already know?

You determine the kind of information you want to consume by asking questions. In this sense, you can think of this process as a car driving to a destination. The car (questions) gets you to the desired destination (the information).

Chunking

Compare the following picture.

What sticks out to you?

After a careful look, you’ll notice that the example on the left is much less organized, with concepts scattered everywhere. On the other hand, the example on the right is organized.

Assuming each example represents the mind of a student, who do you think will have better retention and mastery over the ideas?

Answer: The second student

The strategy that the second learner is using is called chunking.

Chunking serves two purposes.

  • Organization of information

  • Storing information under one label- this makes it easier for the information you learn to transition from your short-term memory into your long-term memory.

There are two steps to chunking.

  • Observing common patterns

  • Selecting the right label for the chunk based on the pattern

The most effective labels for chunks have the following characteristics.

Chunk it in terms of prior knowledge as labels

Chunk it in terms of applications as labels

The real magic happens when you combine both.

Here’s the process I use to chunk ideas.

  • As you go through the concepts ask yourself, when will I use this?

  • Spot common applications and group them under the application

  • Reframe the application/label as something that’s simple and intuitive (Ex: instead of grouping it under Newton’s Laws, group it under understanding motion)

Relationships

Think of your brain as a big web where each point on the web is something you know, and the threads connecting these points are how you relate one thing to another. By making stronger and smarter connections, your brain gains a deeper understanding of the ideas at play.

Think about it. If nothing connects, you’ll never be able to use concepts in conjunction- which would be a sign that you have a high level of mastery.

But, the problem is that connecting ideas together feels like a mysterious process to most. As it happens you’re not quite sure how it happened, you just know that it did. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Below I’ll show you three different ways that will help you find more relationships between ideas without having to rely on chance.

1) Compare ideas against each other. Spotting similarities and differences helps in making connections. Here are three ways in which I do it.

  • Compare them based on their applications

  • Compare them based on their subcomponents

  • Compare them based on their relationships to other concepts

2) See how different ideas can be collectively used to solve a particular problem

3) Keep certain mental models top of mind and connect new information to those mental models. Mental models are abstractions that you develop from spotting common patterns consistently.

For instance, a common mental model that I’ve often found while studying is this idea of editing [XYZ] thing.

In biology you edit genes

In programming, you can edit the state of certain components of the app, etc…

From experience in a subject you’ll start to develop general mental models to use within the field- and sometimes also apply them to other fields.

So, back to my example, given that this intuitive mental model of editing is in my head, and I use it frequently, then whenever similar queues present themselves, I get the thought “Oh, this is kind of like editing but in a different scenario”. And, making those kinds of connections gives me those ‘aha’ moments.

Variable Practice

Have you ever heard the phrase “perfection comes from repetition”? It’s quite popular, but also misleading. I used to think that it was true, but until I started to research more into how we learn, I consistently found that mastery didn’t come from repeating the same problems over and over again. Instead, variability in the problems you solve is what leads to mastery.

With this model in mind, here are a few ways you can introduce more variation into the problems that you are solving.

Problems are composed of the following:

  • Initial State (The concepts and constraints you have to solve the problem)

  • End State (The problem that you are trying to solve)

  • Steps that get you from the initial to the final state

You can vary the initial and final state- and the steps will change as a consequence.

I’ve found two ways in which you can modify the initial and final states.

You can modify their values — like switching a 1 to a 2

You can modify them completely by replacing them with a different concept, method, context, constraint, etc…

Teaching

Teaching is one of the best retrieval tactics for the following two reasons.

  • Great for refining and improving current understanding

  • Great for finding gaps in your knowledge

However, when teaching I’ve often found it difficult to improve my explanations and find gaps unless certain objective measures are in place, that allow me to track myself. Below are three that I’ve found to be particularly useful.

  • Simple

  • Condensed

  • Relational

This is a bullet point checklist, that I like to run through.

Relational → Connects multiple ideas together

Simple → Easy-to-read sentences, connecting them to simpler ideas people are more aware of.

Condensed → Try to pack in as much insight as you can into as few words as possible.

With this in mind, you can create an interesting feedback loop.

Explanation → Evaluate your explanation with the features → Fix it → Repeat.

I appreciate you for tuning in. That’s it for this article. I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for upcoming articles on Tech, Science, and Self-Development.