General Introduction
We’ve all experienced that frustrating moment when we need to complete a task
but can’t seem to convince ourselves to do it. We know that we have to do it, or
else it will become a problem in the future; yet you find yourself doing
anything else—like cleaning your room or doing laundry—to avoid it.
What I just described may sound like
procrastination, which it
totally is. But you can prevent this by learning how to learn and making it a
habit.
Is It Hard to Learn How to Learn?
No, but it is difficult. It is a skill that can be learned. And the best part is
that you can easily boost yourself just by using the right tools.
Generally speaking, if you want to effectively learn something, you also need
some kind of “deep focus.” However, I won’t dive into that topic here. If
you are interested in this topic, I can recommend
this book.
How Much Time Do I Need to Learn New Things?
It’s difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all answer.
For my part, I am currently learning new things for my education; I do not learn
that much per day. If I had to guess, I would say that I learn around one
hour every day.
This may seem like a small amount of time, but you need to remember: I learn
every single day. This is the
power of habits.
That small hour per day accumulates to 365 hours per year. This is a lot of
time to learn new things.
Of course, if you want to study and need to learn a new topic by the end of next
month, you would need to dedicate more time. But always remember:
Sleep is really important. Do not—NEVER—cut down on your sleeping hours to
learn more. You learn most things when you sleep.
How to Get the Habit of Learning
Now, this is a simple answer: Just do it.
No, seriously, the only way to get the habit of Learning your flashcards every
single day is to just learn them every single day. Yes, this may sound like I am
trying to fool you, but this is literally the only and best way.
But I can reassure you. After a month (at most), it will feel completely natural
to learn your flashcards every day.
Now let’s get into the fun part: tools that can help you with the Learning
process.
Game-Changing Tools for Effective Learning
Now this is exactly where I feel at home. Yes, I admit I’m a bit lazy.
When I found out about these tools, I basically started feeling like I was
cheating in real life. Just to provide you with some facts: before I started
learning how to learn (and to use those tools), I was a C-F graded student.
Maybe if it was a topic I was interested in, I scored some B’s.
After I used them and started to learn how to learn, my life completely shifted
(in a positive way). I started scoring A’s and B’s all the time. These
tools genuinely feel like a cheat code for learning.
Now, what do I mean exactly? I am talking about the concept of
spaced repetition. This
concept is literally the best way for our brains to learn.
You do not learn when you read a Concept over and over again.
You do not learn when you summarize a text.
You only learn when you reproduce and think for yourself.
This is exactly what the concept of
spaced repetition does. You
create a question and need to recreate and rethink the answers.
Anki
Now let’s get to my favorite app that does this:
Anki.
Anki is basically a
FOSS
implementation of the
spaced repetition concept.
And it (on top) is the best implementation of the Concept I have ever found.
What Advantages Does Creating Simple Flashcards Give Me?
This is pretty simple to answer: easy learning. No, seriously, for me it is
always the same. Let’s say I need to learn for a simple vocabulary test in
another language. What do I do? I insert all the vocabulary I need to learn, and
that’s it. I know that by the time the test needs to be written, I will totally
know every single word and its translation.
And yes, this only works because of the daily habit of Learning those
flashcards. If I were only Learning them once every five days, it would not work
at all.
Logseq
This is a special candidate. Logseq is not a direct
“learning app” like Anki. It is a
personal knowledge management system (PKM).
It basically serves as a dumping space for all your thoughts. But for m, these
tools feel like heaven in combination. I may make a separate blog post regarding
Logseq if you are interested.
All in all, Logseq allows me to take notes on everything
and turn them into flashcards, which I can then learn in
Anki.
How to Stay Motivated
Here are some Personal tips that I use to stay motivated while Learning.
Reward Yourself
Now, this may seem obvious at first. But when was the last time you consciously
rewarded yourself for achieving a Learning goal?
So yes, it is fine to reward yourself when you achieve a goal in your Learning
journey.
But please don’t reward yourself with a break from Learning. Yes, I know
that this may seem obvious, but I have caught myself more times than I would
like to admit saying, “I don’t have to learn today; I learned so much
yesterday.” But this is something you should prevent from happening.
Building a habit can take weeks, but breaking it only takes a few days.
So if you want to reward yourself, use something positive for your life. If you
like reading, read a book for an hour. But please do not break your Learning
habits just because you learned well.
Work Towards a Goal
This specific point may be the most important. You should always work toward a
specific goal, even if it is just something trivial.
Having a goal greatly increases your chances and motivation to achieve that
goal. Studies have found that 70% of people reach their goals when they set
specific and measurable objectives, compared to only 35% who achieve them
without clear goals.
It also helps significantly if you write down your goals or even communicate
them with other people.
Celebrate Small Wins
This one is a big motivation booster. You are allowed, and even encouraged, to
celebrate small wins. Maybe your end goal is to be an all-A student. But why not
celebrate that you are a B student right now when previously you were only a C
or even a D?
Yes, it is hard to allow yourself to feel good when you achieve something but
not exactly your goal.
Because of this, it is really important to set yourself some mini-goals. These
might be the previously discussed B student or anything else. But it is fine to
celebrate some goals, even when they are smaller achievements than your final
goal. You know that you’ll achieve your final goal, so why not celebrate the
small steps that make up the big step?
Adjusting Your Approach
If something is not working for you, change it up.
What I mean by this is that if you are trying to learn a new language using an
app on your smartphone and it just is not working, change it up. Try using
flashcards, Books, courses—whatever.
Just because a single method of Learning is not working for you does not mean
that you cannot learn. Everybody can easily, without much effort, learn
anything they want.
Conclusion
“Learning to learn” can be (and totally is) hard. Learning to
deeply focus
again,
after having spent years on social media apps,
is a challenging task.
Learning to learn using flashcards every single day is another hard task to
perform.
But it definitely is worth it. Once you have mastered the initial hurdle of
getting started, it totally feels like cheating. You feel like you are doing
nothing, but you can do anything.
Of course, if you want to start, you should begin small. Do not try to learn
five languages at once; this may seem overwhelming.
This is the power of Learning how to learn. If you master it, you can achieve
anything.