Learn How To Learn

I know, I know… This sounds a little bit cryptic and half esoteric. But I promise it is not.

You might think that learning comes in different formats – self-study, classroom courses, training… That is not the HOW I am referring to…

You might also be thinking about you being a visual learner versus an auditive learner – that is also not the HOW I am referring to…

The point I want us to discuss today is more fundamental: it is the underlying meaning of learning.

Most of us think of learning as a utilitarian concept. I learn about something to be able to use it – might be to pass a test, might be for an immediate practical application. The problem with this version of learning is how transient it is. 

By definition, all knowledge will become obsolete. In some areas faster than in others, but no area is immune to obsolescence. Given that, how do we position ourselves not to be stale? 

By learning how to learn… By learning MORE than the knowledge itself. 

In my observations over more than thirty years interacting professionally with thousands of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experience levels taught me one thing: people who find ways to learn for good, and who learn for the long run, are the people who succeed. These normally are the same people who are naturally curious, self-aware about how much they know – or don’t know – about a topic, and self-starters to own and take action to close the gap on their knowledge.

They are also the people who not only dwell in the space of theory, but that can bridge theory with practice. 

I know, I know: the million-dollar question is “how do I learn how to learn?”

I do believe some people have that ingrained in their brains when they are born. But I am certain this is not the only way. Anyone can be really intentional about it. 

How? By reflecting on what you are learning. By turning that new information around from different angles and truly understanding it, assessing how it fits with other information you’ve learned about before, by testing that information against imagined possible scenarios. I had a teacher who used to say that every angle you look at new knowledge adds one pathway to it in your brain. So digesting it for a while, instead of passing by it, increases significantly the chance of it to stick.

For me it is about making sense of new information or new data. Everything in my head is a little story, and any new piece of information is then analyzed to see how it fits into the story – is it a trigger? Is it the outcome? Or is it another step on the path of that story? And when I find its place – or at least the place that seems to make sense to me – I repeat the entire story – including the new element. It reminds me of old knowledge. It positions the new knowledge. And that means it is less likely I will forget it.

And if I really want to make sure I learned something? I immediately set myself to teach or explain it to someone else. Bonus points if I do it to someone who has absolutely no previous context for it – my father is my most frequent guinea pig, I will explain things to him over video, across the ocean, and the fact he only studied until third grade in elementary school means I have to make sure I frame whatever I learned in terms that are practical and applicable and mundane. I am lucky my father is a very curious man. Why explaining to someone without context is important, you might ask? Because it forces you to distill the learning to its core, to something you can articulate to people from other fields, other backgrounds, people who are above you in the hierarchy… And by understanding the fundamental core, you can then begin the fascinating task of connecting the dots of this new fundamental information with previously learned fundamental information.

And nothing against AI, but prompting for a response might get you a potentially correct answer in record time, but will not make that answer stick and become ingrained in your knowledge.

What about you? Have you ever stopped to reflect on how do you really learn something? It might begin sometimes by knowing some ways you don’t learn – things that you forget the moment you finish a project, turn the page, leave a class or close a video… And once you eliminate what does not work, then begin exploring, intentionally, how to make new information fit into your knowledge map. 

The cherry on top of the cake? If you can be humble enough to recognize what you don’t yet know, and if you are also able to win over inertia and take the initiative to learn it… 

Knowing how to learn, being curious to kick-off new learning, and learning without being told to do so: that combination makes you hard to beat – in life and professionally!