In an ever-changing world, learning new skills and ideas is quickly becoming a necessity. Continual self-education makes all the difference between people and businesses that thrive and those that get left behind.
The cold hard truth, however, is that learning is difficult and, frankly, quite lonely. Maybe you started off the new year with a firm resolution to learn a new language. By now you probably have already lost all your enthusiasm. Progress can be disappointingly slow. 5 months in and you’re still trying to figure out how to get German definite articles right.
The good news is, you don’t have to be a genius to learn new skills even when you have a full-time career. Many polymaths claimed not to have exceptional intelligence – and some of them were actually chronic procrastinators.
So how did they end up excelling in so many different pursuits? There are a few strategies to become a super learner. Whatever you’re trying to learn, they will make your memory the envy of your peers.
Super Learners Fail
How do you say “thank you” in Hungarian?
I’m guessing that no one outside Hungary has any chance of answering correctly. Magyar is not even an Indo-European language and is completely different from English.
The answer is “köszönöm.” And thanks to that initial struggle, you’re more likely to actually remember it. Psychological tests show that taking a quiz before reading enhances your learning, priming your brain to retain the relevant information. This is true for complex material as well. In a study, participants were asked to read a scientific text about vision. The students who were quizzed beforehand performed 15% better than those who were given extra time to carefully reread the text.
Whenever you’re about to dive into a new topic, try to gauge your current knowledge about it – even if it is limited.
Super Learner Teach Others
“He who can does; he who cannot, teaches” is a witty line from Bernard Shaw’s play Man and Superman. Is there any truth to it?
I don’t think so. And neither did the famous physicist Richard Feynman. He was revered for his ability to illustrate dense topics to the layman. And he made a learning model out of his teaching endeavors. Super learners know that teaching someone else a topic in simple terms helps you pinpoint the holes in your preparation. It forces you to demonstrate a deep conceptual understanding.
The ultimate test of your knowledge is your capacity to transfer it to another.
Super Learner Take Care of Their Brains
Our mind power naturally declines if we do nothing to protect it. Actually, we may be actively damaging our brains.
There is a strong connection between what goes into your body and how well your brain performs. “Omega-3 fats from fish or nuts fight inflammation associated with neurodegeneration. Fruit and vegetables combat age-related oxidative stress that causes wear and tear on brain cells,” says Dr. Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry and aging at the University of California, Los Angeles. Remember that just like an expensive car, your brain works better when it gets premium fuel.
Super Learners Listen to Focus Music
Music moves your brain to pay attention. According to researchers at the Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Music engages the areas of your brain that control the strength of your memory retention.
Naturally, not every kind of music is ideal for learning new skills. Bob Dylan is a genius. The lyrics of songs like Highway 61 Revisited, Blowin in the Wind, or Not Dark Yet won him a Nobel Prize. But lyric-based music is actually distracting. It gets kind of hard focusing on something else when the song you’re listening to claims your undisputed attention.
To help you choose wisely, we made a lovely focus music soundtrack. It will help you learn anything without ever being in your face. It’s your first step towards becoming a super learner.
