10 Steps to learn anything

10 Steps to learn anything

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.” – Doris Lessing

As the world is changing at an unimaginable speed, the ability to learning anything at our own will has become one of the most sought after skill. Here is a summary of the top tips on learning, taken from leading scholars worldwide:

1. Define what you want to learn: Define the specific topic that you want to learn. For example, learning how to write Business Emails is a specific goal, learning English is not.

2. Define the purpose: The purpose helps us visualise the end result and therefore there is a higher probability of completing the task.

3. Figure out what level of mastery do you need: This will influence what amount of time would you need to dedicate to it, is it just working knowledge or mastery.

4. Identify and deconstruct the skills: Break down the topic into smaller skills. If you want to learn how to play a musical instrument, it will start with the first notes, the chords, the lead, the notes, playing tunes by someone else and then creating our own.

5. Prioritise skills and apply the 80/20 principle: Prioritise which of these skills will have the maximum impact, and devote more time to it.

6. Study and practice each skill one by one: Instead of trying to achieve all at once, take it one at a time.

7. Create something small: Applying what we learn to build/create something helps us test our level of mastery.

8. Reflect on what you have created: Identify what went well, where do we need more effort.

9. Teach, coach and mentor other people: ‘While we teach, we learn’, says Seneca the Roman philosopher. Teaching remains the best way for people to learn.

10. Change things up: Try different permutations and combinations to test what you have learnt.

The human mind has fascinating capabilities and continuously feeding it with new challenges helps us nurture it. Online learning space has helped us overcome the constraints of time and place and given us the freedom to take charge of our own development.

Let’s remain a student for life!

#LearningisFun #LearnEveryday