Learn

How best to go about learning things

​Here we will go over the tried and tested best ways to go about learning anything. Whilst there are many ways to go about learning we will keep this simple and concentrate on the few very effective methods which work best.

​Overview

​It's true to say learning anything is much easier if you have a good memory, and we will look at memory techniques, but other things need to be considered whilst trying to learn a thing. 

An effective learning approach and process is very similar to an effective practice approach and process​, better to learn in a specific place for a specified amount of time say thirty minutes to three quarters of an hour.  Have all that you need at hand, calm yourself before the learning session, know what it is you are aiming to achieve, keep a log and notes to track your progress, know what you need to learn next and for feedback as to how things are going.

Overwhelm

​The last thing we want to do here is to make the ​topic of how to learn a whole massive subject in and of itself. We will keep this as simple and as effective as we can and give what we believe to be the most generically helpful tips overall. 

That said individuals have a preferred learning style, for example some prefer to read some, watch a lecture, some to listen and take notes at the same time and so on and so forth. It is your job to test ways and find which best suits you.

In simple terms to learn anything you need to be organized, have a way of memorizing and then just go about doing the thing.

​The learning Process

​So you have decided to learn something, great, what now? Now we need a strategy to set ourselves up for it in the best way possible. Decide . . . Discipline . . . Drum-in

​​​Every​​​​​​ time​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​you are about to sit down to learn something make the active mental selection process of deciding what you are going to learn in this session. ​​Write down what you are about to learn in your learning log. This of course will be an ongoing process for you will learn over time just how much you can learn in any session this will be a process of refinement, but you must start somewhere and it will be so much more benificail to you if you actively and objectively write down and process this information in a log book or journal.

The "decide" process works on a number of levels it will make it clearer to you what you need to learn . . .  it will say to your brain I'm about to learn ​and make it more ready to work at its best . . .  it will, over time, set up a good habit of getting into the learning mindset . . . it will anchor into your mind and being the learning mind set and get you in the most effective, best and ready state for learning.

The "discipline" process works and will work better and better, the more you practice it. You are building in a habit here. You might not be in the mood to learn but you might know that it is in your best interests to learn, even if you are not in the mood. So by setting up a time table and sticking to it even if initially it does not go well​, we know with-in ourselves that we get better at anything with enough practice. So even if at the start things don't go so well, you find your self drifting of for example and it difficult to focus, we know with continual commitment to the learning process we will get better and better. ​​Be patient and the discipline will set in.

The "drum-in" process. Let's not get subtle about this, to learn anything we pretty much have to drum-in  the information. It can be done in more effective​, relaxed and imaginative ways than just mere repitition, and we will look at that. But let's not kid ourselves, learning anything involves repetition.

Memorizing

​Here we will list memorization tips and techniques. Not all will suit you, though we would encourage you to try them all out. See what works for you ​, the more you use the better as it ​creates more path ways in the brain and aids in fixing in that information for recall at a later date. We remember best in pictures and visual images, both real and imagined.

Memory Palace

​The memory palace technique is simply using a well remembered journey to link ​items you wish to remember, to that journey. You bring to mind a journey you have taken with outstanding items on that route, and you then link an item to one of these outstanding items on the journey. This journey can be as simple as a journey around your house (palace) or an actual journey you've taken. By linking the items you wish to remember in this way linking each item to an already memorized item on your journey, it is possible to remember a long list of items easily. This can be a very useful way to remember the main order of topics in speeches for example.

​Let me give you a simple example. First create your memory palace. Let's start in our own home. This is best done in some order so it might be best to start with the room you first come to as you walk in the front door of your house. Actually physically do this. Go to that room, and starting from the left identify the first outstanding object you see. This object should be ideally large, ​for example a desk. The thing is it should be memorable.  Find five objects in this room ​​starting from the left and working in a clockwise direction.

​The objects should be spread out from one another and should be unique, no repeating items, and this goes for all items on your journey. 

​Then you go to the next ​room in your home. And you do this in a logical order, so you go to the nearest room you have just left and moving in a clockwise direction. Again find five unique, good sized and spaced out from one another objects.

​Continue this journey for every room in your home.

​At the end of all this you might have twenty- five to thirty objects. Go over this journey in your mind now with-out actually physically walking around your home. Do this a few times to really lock in each item and the journey you take. You can take a break and do this later in the day and even really cement it in by doing it a couple of days later, but once you have done this you will most likely find it is quite easy to recall this journey and the items in your head.

​Now anytime in the future you wish to remember something you just need to recall your journey and for each item you wish to remember you link it to an item on your journey. 

​Here is a practical example to clarify what we mean. Imagine you have a speech to make, a toast to Bob, it's his fiftieth birthday at the golf club . . . for example. You want the speech to be relaxed and natural but you do wish to mention three stories specifically. The time he fell in a pond, the time he hit a hole in one and the time he crashed his golf buggy into the chairmans golf clubs. All you would do is recall your journey and link each item in the order you wish to mention them in the speech,  with the order of each of the first three items on your journey.

If the first three items are a desk a television and a bookcase. And the order of the stories are hole in one, pond, and then golf buggy. You would link hole in one with desk   . . . imagine ​there is a massive big hole in the middle of the desk which you jump into,and once there  putting you arms out to the side and yourself looking confused ​as if to say "What's this hole dong here?" . The you move on to the next item pond, which you link to television  . . . somehow a pond has flodded and has burst into your home flodding your television shorting it out and sparks and blue lights of small mini explosions are going of as the television is short circuited and ruined by the pond water. . . And so on to the next item of golf buggy to bookcase. 

​Doing all this in your imagination using pictures, size movement, ​crazy things, color, and anything which aids to make the images , and therefore, the memories more impactful. 

​Mind Maps

​​What is a mind map? Starting from a central image or word we branch out from that central idea with relevant ideas or words relating to that idea, and from these branches we branch out further with other relevant ideas or words relating to these ideas or words. Effectively we are branching out from the main central idea out to less and less relevant ideas but these ideas still have relevance and significance.

​What can mind maps be used for? Mind maps have many uses. They can be used as a way of note taking, used ​when studying a topic, planning, organizing, generating ideas . . . The list goes on.

​Chunking

This is a good principle to be aware of and to apply when you can. Our brain likes to learn things in chunks or small groups. Think of ​bank card numbers, phone numbers and so on, they are arranged in groups of three or fours.  ​Our brain likes to learn in small chunks, mostly in chunks of ​three to five. This can be useful for example if learning lines and you chunk three or five lines in a group and then associate that group to an object in your journey, whilst using the journey method for example as mentioned above.  Use your imagination with this method, just being aware of this fact of three to five groupings will be useful when you need to use it.

​Associations and Hooks

​This is a shortcut method to be used as needed. For example, you meet a new per​son and it's important to remember her name, her name is Helen. A quick and useful method is to associate this Helen with a Helen you already know, or a Helen you can imagine, maybe you have a clear picture in your mind for Helen of Troy, one that works for you. So you can associate this Helen with the one you already have a fixed- in memory of,and you hook in this Helen using associations with the one you already know using the useful memory aid features of color, action, crazy, exaggerated or just outright bizarre. The two Helen's are having a fight with battle ships smashing into each other for example. . . For me that would work for when I think of the Trojan War I think of battle ships for some reason. . . and that's the point ! It must be something which works for you

​Spaced Recall and Spaced Repetition

Spaced recall is trying to remember what you have just learnt at spaced intervals, it's easier to remember a thing five minutes after learning it than two days later for example. Spaced repetition is both relearning what you have learnt to lock it in to your memory and also testing your memory to see how well you are getting on remembering that thing.

You can see how both recall and repetition work in unison with one another and whilst seperate aspects, they work hand in hand with one another, you might read a line then turn away to see how well you remember it. Over time you will need to look back at that line less and less to remember it, as it begins to lock into your memory banks in a solid definate way.

The trick is to have a system, a strategy, something in place you know will work and can rely on to lock in these things you wish to remember. Spaced repetition and active participation at trying to remember that which you wish to remeber is the answer. .

​How to apply Spaced Recall and Spaced Repetition

As the above graph shows you might wish to include a recall and review session on the day after learning something new, and from there ​do another recall review session on the third day, then the seventh day . . . and so on.

How you plan out your recall and review sessions is really up to you, your natural memory capabilities, the time at your disposal and ​the complexity of the material you are learning, just to name a few factors. The important point is that you should include  recall and review sessions, plan ​them out and make it part of your schedule and study routine.

Some tips : Glance and chance. ​If you are reviewing notes either written or on a mind map you might glance at these notes and then rewrite these notes or redraw the mind map just from memory. The longer the period between the need for you to glance back and check if you are getting things correct, and where you can just rewrite these notes from memory, show you ​how well you are memorizing the material. So glance at your material and then take a chance at how well you have ​absorbed the material from memory only , then for feedback purposes check your notes and see how well you are getting on.

Talk out loud. Talking out loud the information you are learning ​is always a great way to aid your learning experience as it is adding another sense and it also ​helps show just how well we really are doing. Record yourself if you can. Doing an out loud talk of the material you are about to review ​is a great way to start your review and recall session, it both gets your mind working and stretches your memory muscles, so to speak.

Spare moments recall comments : ​​whenever you have a spare moment, grab it for a quick review recall session. Talk it out in your head or draw a doodle of your mind map or write out that which you wish to remember. Flash recall and review moments can be really handy for cementing in that information.​​​