4 Learning Techniques That Will Help You Save Time
A handy skill so many people want to develop is the ability to learn things faster.
While it might take some patience and focus to get there, it’s proven that you can train your brain to remember more. Let us share the learning techniques that have worked best for others and which can help you save time in the future.
Some of them have to do with mind hacks that you simply need to give a try in order to see results. Other of the methods below, however, will be related to strategic planning, time management, your habits and mindset, and getting other people involved.
Let’s see what’s the one learning technique that can make the biggest difference in your life and help you study smarter and remember more:
1. Find your driving force.
If you think about the times in life you achieved more, you might find out you were motivated enough to take action, overcome obstacles, invest time, and do what it takes to accomplish the end result.
That’s because motivation is powerful and knowing why we do what we do is the solution to also gathering our energy, clear thinking, creativity and talents and using them to our advantage.
Your driving force is the ‘why’ behind what you are looking to learn faster and no one else other than you can know what that is.
Sometimes, the true reasons might surprise us. Still, it’s worth setting some time aside and having an honest conversation with yourself in order to find what drives you.
Once you do, you can easily find the focus necessary to retain information and can ditch the distractions preventing you from learning effectively.
2. Teach others what you want to learn yourself.
When there’s new information you’re trying to retain, a skill you want to master sooner or a problem you have to solve now, it might help if you teach it to others.
In fact, a study suggests that you don’t need to actually go through the teaching process but can simply pretend to do it. The expectations in your mind are enough to help you remember more instead of using this information once and then forgetting it, as is the case when people study hard for a test.
3. Summarize.
Another interesting and simple learning technique worth trying is to summarize what you just learned, then go back to it again after some time.
Using visuals can be quite practical too. There are plenty of idea generation tools that let you create diagrams and make all kinds of lists where you can group sections of information and thus remember it better and faster.
This method works because you’re going over the subject many times and in a different way, which allows your brain to organize the information and store it in your long-term memory.
4. Take power naps.
You might have heard of these as they are considered productivity boosters and can turn into quite a pleasant habit if used right. Many people stay away from napping during the day as it makes them lazier, but taking power naps is proven to have a positive effect on your memory.
Because sleep itself helps with effective learning, it makes sense that naps will also encourage it. However, these should be short and they should happen during the process of learning a subject. You can consider them a study break and make sure they last around 45 minutes only.
Your thinking and learning skills are in your hands. With the help of the 4 techniques mentioned above and other little adjustments and mind hacks, you can easily learn anything faster.
