Month: October 2014

Sleep on it

Stewing on it is a useful mental technique to enhance learning. But sometimes doing something physical in the hopes that things will bubble up from your subconscious isn’t the only way to elicit learning. Another simple way is to put down the books. Learn for a while and then stop. Stop at least for a day. Enough time to sleep…

Stew on it

One way to solidify learning is to give yourself an opportunity to stew on it. Learning leads to forgetting if we don’t find ways to revisit what we’ve learned. Sometimes we don’t have an immediate use for the knowledge. Or an immediate way we can experiment with the knowledge. In these situations you can still find solace in your mind.…

Find a project

No doubt you have a list of things you hope to get the chance to learn. Perhaps sooner rather than later. But one of the biggest mistakes, and perhaps why you haven’t got to the list yet, is learning without a purpose. Learning for learning’s sake is only followed by forgetting. One of the best purposes for learning is to…

Brute force learning

Imagine someone from 100 years ago was given a modern day computer. Let’s say a laptop. And let’s assume they were intrigued. Without any guidance, they would struggle to learn much. They may not even figure out how to turn it on. Given enough time, one can imagine they might find the power button. One may also imagine they might…

Relative learning

Ten years ago, TVs were bigger, heavier and simpler than the TVs we’re buying today. Although TVs today are more sophisticated they still require electricity. They have a power button. They have a remote. They have inputs and outputs. And they still allow us to watch shows and movies. The type of power button and location are no doubt different.…

What to do after learning

When’s the last time you acknowledged you completed a learning challenge? When’s the last time you feel you completed a learning challenge? Most of the time learning fizzles from burn out. Usually because there’s not a clear objective nor benefit What if learning were tactical? In and out with clear objectives and visible success. To get there, you’ll need to…

What to do during learning

Once you’ve established an objective here are some tips to help stay on target when learning. Leverage expertise You always have a spectrum of expertise at your disposal. It’s up to you to tap into it. So many people refuse to spend any money to further their learning. It’s really sad, because consuming and applying information is almost always more…

What to do before learning

It’s valuable to employ a multifaceted approach to learning. Whatever approach you take, in any substantial learning opportunity there are a few things you should consider before you begin. Why? Because haphazard learning is about as effective as not learning at all. It leads to the learn-lose cycle. 1. Understand how you plan to use the knowledge. Do you have…

Learning inadequacy

A slavish sense of inadequacy is the number one failure with the way most people approach learning. Let’s get one thing out of the way, you can’t know everything. You can’t even begin to know everything within your industry. You can’t even begin to know everything within your expertise. You could spend all your life reading written knowledge alone, and…

The learn-lose cycle of learning

Learning, or acquiring knowledge, is always followed by forgetting: Ineffective learning results in a cycle of learning followed by forgetting. It leads to the learn-lose cycle: In extreme cases, this style of learning is no better than not learning at all.