Note: This article is from blogger Darius Foroux, who gives us 5 tips to speed up your learning curve.
But we know these kinds of claims are utter nonsense, but why are these headlines still so tempting to us?
We are optimistic, and that's okay; we all know that we can't grow very high quickly and can't read a 300-page book in 30 minutes. Mastery doesn't happen that way, and there are no shortcuts to that.
Mastering something is not completely hard to achieve because just as there are exaggerated claims, there is also a culture that says it takes 10,000 hours (or more) to master a skill. For me, I think it takes longer to master something, but I strongly believe there is a difference in the way we learn. You can spend 10,000 hours practicing something and not learn anything from it.
5 Tips to Boost Learning Speed
I'm going to share five tips that have worked for me before to accelerate my learning curve and learn skills faster:
1. Use best practices to accelerate learning
We may often hear this phrase: “Don't reinvent the wheel,” but we all think we're great inventors. When you start learning a skill, you have to admire the practice. Start with the basics, whether you want to learn to write, invest in value, or play a particular musical instrument. I know that some people want to be different and try to do new things, but no one on earth has started as an “inventor.”
We all start doing what everyone else did, and once we've mastered the basics, we can do what we want. For me, when I started writing, I did what my favorite authors did, and I followed some advice from books, such as On Writing by American author Stephen King and American novelist Ernest Hemingway.
I did the same for investing. I didn't try to create my strategy from the beginning; I learned about investing from mentors and books, and I didn't make decisions on my own at first, as I did later.
At first, you can avoid making mistakes by listening to best practices, which is precisely why most people never master some things and withdraw very early. So, do not be like most people, but learn from the greats and respect the skill you learn; this way, you can accelerate your learning curve.
2. Measure and evaluate your progress weekly
Measuring your progress is the only way you can evaluate it. You don't need data to evaluate it. For me, I use my journal as an evaluation tool, writing down everything I've learned daily, all the mistakes I've made, what I should avoid, and what I want to focus on.
Every week, I review my journal and see how things have gone, whether I have spent enough time training, taken enough notes, and what I should do differently. This information helps me assess my learning progress.
3. Request feedback
To accelerate your learning curve, you must receive input from mentors, coaches, or experts who have done what you are trying to do, and you must ask for feedback from someone with extensive experience, for example:
- Play the guitar in front of the guitar teacher.
- Send your essays to a writer with a long history of writing.
- Discuss your business model with a successful entrepreneur.
If you can't reach an expert, pay someone to help you, and it can be scary to receive feedback from someone more experienced than you. I've been through this many times; no one likes to be given feedback, and no one wants to look stupid, but what's more important? Your feelings or your career?
Good mentors and coaches will never make you feel bad, so remember: If someone makes you feel bad, it means you've asked the wrong person for advice. So, look for experienced and successful people, as these people will help you in a better way.
4. Do not withdraw
You can't master a skill if you withdraw early, and there's no point in talking about it because understanding the reason for withdrawal can help us not to do it early. So, when you learn a skill, you won't progress linearly early over time, but we all expect learning to be linear.
You may think that the more time you invest in something, the better you will get, but learning doesn't work that way. We reach a stage of inertia in learning and suddenly stop improving, but the problem is that time does not stop—only our progress stops, which is very frustrating.
It is the desire to withdraw that frustrates us, so when you stop growing, know why you want to withdraw; you must know why you want to do it and not give up, and remember: When you accelerate your learning curve, you will always reach a stalemate, but the difference is that you will expect it, and this will help you move forward.
5. Work hard
Some highly intelligent people try to work “smartly,” which is good for them, but this is not what I am talking about. Even if you work only two hours a day, you must work hard during these two hours, so work hard every day, as this is how you accelerate your learning curve.
I always thought I was working hard, but I didn't work as hard as I do today, and I can still get a lot better. Hard work isn't about looking busy or doing pointless tasks, but it's about focusing.
So, when you're working, work right; don't drink coffee ten times a day, stop browsing your social media, and don't sit back and think, “What should I do now?” You must take your personal development seriously to accelerate your learning, achieve more, and contribute.
In conclusion
I'm not a fan of thinking between two options, but when it comes to mastering what you do, it's a choice between two things: Are you learning or not? There is no compromise. Either you step up, or you step back, it's up to you.
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