Why is it in school we’re taught what to learn but not how to learn?

If education and knowledge is so important, both in school and in life, why is it that we’re not taught this basic skill?

Isn’t it obvious that one of the single biggest differences between ‘quick learners’ and ‘slow learners’, ‘good students’ and ‘bad students’, isn’t that some students are necessarily ‘smarter’ or ‘more intelligent’ than others, but that some students simply have better and more effective learning and study habits than others?

I think of all the things you could possibly learn, learning how to learn, must surely be one of lifes most important skills. It’s a wonder they don’t teach it at school.

“Learning how to learn is life’s most important skill.” – Tony Buzan

If you know how to learn, then learning becomes easy, and that’s exactly what I’m going to show you in this article…

What is learning?

Tony Robbins gives a great description of learning in this video.

Learning is making connections between what you know and what you don’t know.

Therefore when you’re asking someone to teach you, make sure they’re explaining things to you in simple language using words and examples you can easily understand and relate to, otherwise it won’t make sense to you.

e.g. There is no point in me telling you that Ayahuasca is “like a DMT trip but longer” if you’ve never done psychedelics before, or that a “locoplata” is like a “gogoplata” if you’ve never done Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu before. These examples wouldn’t mean anything to you. They wouldn’t help you. They would just confuse you.

What learning is not

Learning isn’t just knowing the ‘right’ answers, or that 5 x 5 = 25.

It’s about understanding how multiplication works and why 5 x 5 = 25.

If you know the ‘right’ answer, but don’t know why it’s the right answer, then you haven’t really learnt anything.

OK, now that we have a definition of terms, let’s look at 21 smart ways to learn:

1. Start with the top 5 books

Whatever it is you wish to learn, the first thing I recommend you do, is starting with the top 5 educational books/podcasts/videos on the subject.

The top 5 books/podcasts/videos are the top 5 for a reason and contain 95%+ of everything you need to know, and are often explained simply in a way that anyone can easily understand.

How do you find the top 5 books/podcasts/videos?

Simple.

You do your homework and spend a few hours looking online at reviews to see which books/podcasts/videos get the highest ratings and reviews and you start from there.

For example: If you were looking for the best books on personal finance, you’ll find that books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and Think and Grow Rich are on almost everyone’s “must read” lists.

2. Copy the best

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” – Pablo Picasso

I also recommend you read/watch/listen to the best in the world at whatever it is you wish to learn, and then steal their best strategies and techniques and make them your own.

If you want to become a great actor – watch the best actors.

If you want to become a great athlete – watch the best athletes.

If you want to become a great writer – read the best writers.

This is important. Successful people don’t always share their “secrets of success” in a book, podcast, or video, but it doesn’t matter, because you can still learn a lot about what makes someone successful simply by observing them and watching what they do.

“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” – Tony Robbins

By copying the habits/strategies/techniques of the world’s most successful people and making them your own, you can dramatically shortcut your learning curve and save yourself a ton of money, time, and effort.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when modelling someone successful:

Modelling questions

Who has already achieved what you want to achieve?

Who is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of what you want to do?

What is unique about their approach/mindset/strategy/technique?

What do they do differently than everyone else?

What habits do they have that you don’t?

What resources do they have that you don’t?

What training have they done that you haven’t?

What are the top 5 lessons you can learn from them?

What mistakes have they made that you should avoid?

Note: It’s important to pay attention to what the greats actually do, instead of just listening to what they say, because actors/athletes/celebrities etc. often say one thing and do another. Advertisers also pay celebrities millions of dollars to promote products they don’t even use in order to deceive and mislead you into buying their products.

e.g. Many professional bodybuilders will publicly endorse protein powders whilst secretly taking large quantities of steroids, HGH, and TRT.

“I steal from every single movie ever made. I love it. I’m taking this from this and that from that and mixing them together. I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don’t do homages.” – Quentin Tarantino

3. Learn the information in a variety of ways

Don’t just read books. Don’t just listen to podcasts. Don’t just watch YouTube videos.

DO IT ALL.

Learning a new subject is always most effective when you learn the information in a variety of ways simultaneously:

Read books and blogs about it

Listen to audiobooks and podcasts about it

Watch documentaries, presentations, and YouTube videos about it

Do lots of exercises, quizzes, and practice tests

Join a club where you can learn along with other people. If you want to learn acting, go to an acting school. If you want to learn public speaking, go to Toastmasters.

Try to teach what you’ve learnt to others and have them ask you lots of questions to see what you’ve learnt and what you haven’t, what you know and what you don’t

When you hear the subject taught by a variety of different teachers, in a variety of different ways (book/podcast/video), using a variety of different examples, you give yourself the greatest chance to learn the material. You might not understand or be able to relate to the examples given by one teacher, but the examples given from another teacher might make perfect sense to you.

See it. Hear it. Read it. Watch it. Do it.

Don’t just do ONE thing – DO IT ALL.

4. Do it

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” – Confucius

When it comes to learning a sport or anything with a high degree of practicality: acting, dancing, driving, martial arts, a musical instrument, public speaking, swimming etc. You have to do it. You have to drill it. Over and over and over and over again.

Book knowledge and theory isn’t enough.

If you want to learn to dance – dance.

If you want to learn how to drive – drive.

If you want to learn to swim – swim.

Practice beats theory any day of the week because it develops coordination and muscle memory, also known as feel, and feel isn’t something you can develop unless you actually do the thing you want to get good at over and over and over again.

Remember: “Practice makes perfect”. Not “study makes perfect”.

The sooner you go from theory to practice, from thinking to action – the better.

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.” – Bruce Lee

5. Record yourself on video

A smart way to shortcut your learning curve whenever you’re learning anything with a high degree of practicality: acting, martial arts, public speaking, swimming etc. is to record yourself on video.

Watching yourself on video allows you to see yourself as everyone else does, and it makes it immediately obvious as to what mistakes you’re making, and where you’re going wrong.

It’s one thing for your coach/mentor/teacher to see where you’re going wrong, and another for you to see it yourself.

6. Audiobooks and Podcasts

Audiobooks and podcasts are a winning habit, and they’re especially good for people who don’t like reading and/or don’t have time to read.

I listen to audiobooks, interviews, and podcasts almost everywhere I go, and what I love about them is that they don’t add any extra time to your day. You can listen and learn anywhere you are, no matter what you’re doing: driving, flying, walking, exercising, shopping, stuck in traffic, waiting for a friend etc.

In fact, if you made audiobooks a habit you could easily listen to one new book a week, or 52 books a year, just by listening during your daily commute to and from work.

It doesn’t matter what your interests are either: personal development, psychology, science, spirituality etc. there is an audiobook or podcast available on every subject imaginable for you to listen to.

PS: If you want to listen to someone but they haven’t released an audiobook and don’t have a podcast, you can still find interviews and talks you like on YouTube and convert them into MP3s with free online YouTube downloaders. I love doing this. I’m not just doing my shopping or walking through the park, I’m listening to incredibly interesting interviews and podcasts and learning new things from people like Adyashanti, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joe Rogan, Tim Ferris, Tony Robbins etc.

7. Arguments and debates

I consider watching debates to be one of the best possible introductions to a subject, especially if it relates to something like politics or religion.

Too often when we’re taught something, we only get to hear one side of the story. We’re only given one opinion, one perspective, one viewpoint.

If a child is raised as a Christian or a Muslim for example, they’re only ever given the arguments and evidence in support of the religion, but they’re never given the arguments and evidence against it, nor are they encouraged to think critically about it, or to challenge any of the information presented to them. They’re simply told to “believe” and to “have faith”.

Debates on the other hand are great because you get to hear all of the best arguments, evidence and reasons “for” and “against” the idea, debated on both sides by experts, as opposed to hearing a one-sided “because I said so”, or “it just is” type argument.

Note: Debating isn’t perfect. It has it’s flaws and weaknesses just like anything else. Debaters can be dishonest and disingenuous and misrepresent the other side in an effort to deceive the audience.

However, the pros easily outweigh the cons, because debating introduces you as a beginner to all of the different strengths and weaknesses of an idea. The speakers are generally experts in the field and almost certainly know the subject matter better than you do, and they’ll force you to consider many different ideas and perspectives you’ve probably never thought of before, and won’t hear elsewhere.

Here are some of my favorite YouTube debating channels:

8. Interviews

Another great way to learn is by watching interviews with the masters, and taking notes on their advice and recommendations.

Evan Carmichael does a brilliant job of capturing great advice from the world’s most successful people and I highly recommend you check out his YouTube Channel

It’s also a good idea to do your own interviews if you can, and to contact people you admire and respect and ask them what advice and recommendations they have for you.

9. Question everything

Asking questions is an important part of the learning process.

5 Questions to ask when learning something new

Why is this important? Why do I need to know this? What are the top 5 most important ideas and lessons presented in this article/book/lecture/podcast/video? How would I describe this teaching in one paragraph or less? After reading/watching/listening ask yourself: What don’t I know? What don’t I understand? What isn’t clear? What points do I need to clarify? How am I going to use this information and put it into practice?

This is a good start and you can add in your own questions also.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t know something, and don’t pretend to ‘get it’ if you don’t, because you’ve either learnt it or you haven’t, and you either know it or you don’t.

“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” – Chinese proverb

10. Quora

Speaking of questions, you should definitely be looking on Quora for the answers given to previously asked questions, and you should also ask your own questions too.

Quora is probably the best question and answer site in the world, with over 200 million visitors per month, with questions and answers on every subject imaginable.

Quora, like Reddit, can be hit and miss. Maybe you’ll get the answers you’re looking for, and maybe you won’t. But what do you have to lose by asking?

11. Reddit

12. How to read a book

Read this article: Critical Reading: The Ultimate Guide

13. How to solve problems

I don’t agree with the conventional advice from people like Tony Robbins who talk about being ‘solution focused’ and spending 95% of your time on the solution instead of the problem.

I think it’s the other way around. I agree with Einstein on this one.

“If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.” – Albert Einstein

I think that 90-95% of your time should be spent defining the problem and understanding everything you can about it, because the more you understand about the problem, why it exists, what’s causing it etc. the quicker and easier it’s going to be to actually solve it.

“The question ‘what shall we do about it?’ is only asked by those who do not understand the problem. If a problem can be solved at all, to understand it and to know what to do about it are the same thing. On the other hand, doing something about a problem which you do not understand is like trying to clear away darkness by thrusting it aside with your hands. When light is brought, the darkness vanishes at once. This applies particularly to the problem.” – Alan Watts

I believe one of the main reasons most people have difficulty solving problems, is not necessarily because the problem is so difficult, but because:

a) The problem is really several problems disguised as one

b) Only an effect or symptom of the problem has been identified, instead of the real root cause

Here are some questions to ask yourself the next time you need to solve a problem:

Problem solving questions

How would I describe this problem in a couple of sentences? What do we know about the problem? Why does this problem exist? What is causing this problem? What else might be causing this problem? What is happening before, during, and after this problem? What are the patterns and symptoms of this problem? What assumptions are contained within this problem? Have I identified the real problem or just a symptom of the real problem? What would make this problem worse? Can I break this problem into other smaller and easier to solve problems? (Am I really looking at lots of little problems deceptively disguised as one big problem?) Who could likely help me to solve this problem? How would Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or some other genius go about solving this problem? What would they suggest I do to solve it? Why do I need to solve this problem? What would the solution to this problem look like? What would it achieve?

PS: Don’t let anyone else define the problem for you either, because most of the time, the real problem isn’t actually what people say it is, and if you allow other people to define the problem for you, it’s likely to set you off on the wrong path from the beginning.

14. Take practice tests

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” – Confucius

One of the best and fastest ways to identify the gaps in your knowledge and understanding, is to take practice tests frequently.

By taking practice tests you’ll quickly find out what you know and what you don’t, and it’ll help you to quickly identify where your knowledge is weak and lacking, and what areas you need to focus on before the real test.

There are lots of free tests you can do online:

You can also write out your own list of test questions and then make it a game to go out and find the answers.

15. Try to teach what you’ve learnt to others

“We learn 10% of what we READ,

20% of what we HEAR,

30% of what we SEE,

50% of what we SEE and HEAR,

70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS,

80% of what is EXPERIENCED PERSONALLY, and

95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE.”

– Edgar Dale

“The best way to learn is to teach.” – Frank Oppenheimer

In addition to testing: One of the fastest ways to find out what you know and what you don’t, is to try to teach it to others.

Many teachers say that the best way to learn something is to teach it, and the reason for that is that teaching forces you to not only understand the subject well enough to pass a test, but to organise the information in your mind logically, so that you can explain it to others in a way that makes sense.

“While we teach, we learn.” – Seneca

Sometimes we think we know a subject but we have difficulty explaining it. But if you can’t explain it simply to others, you probably don’t yet understand it well enough yourself.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein

When you try to teach what you’ve learnt to others, and students ask you questions for clarification, it’ll quickly highlight the gaps in your knowledge and understanding, and you’ll soon find out what you know and what you don’t.

Also, different students will think differently and look at the subject matter from different perspectives, and they’ll ask questions and think about things you never would’ve thought about before.

Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, was a big fan of teaching as a way of learning:

The Feynman Technique

Feynman technique summary

Write down the name of a concept or technique you’re trying to learn at the top of a sheet of paper Explain the concept using plain and simple language Look for any gaps in your knowledge and identify any areas you don’t understand, or are confused about, and go back and review them Pinpoint any complicated terms and challenge yourself to simplify them

“If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.” – Yogi Bhajan

Pinpoint the exact point of failure

That last point is important: Whenever you have difficulty learning something new, there is always an exact point in which you start having difficulty with the subject matter.

What is it?

It’s not like you don’t understand any of it.

No. There was an exact point where you went from understanding to not understanding, from comprehension to confusion.

What is it?

Your job is to pinpoint the exact point of failure, the exact part where things start to become difficult for you, so that when you’re asking the teacher for help, you’re not giving them something overly vague such as “I don’t understand any of this”.

16. Tim Ferriss DiSSS Method

Tim Ferriss DiSSS method

D econstruction

econstruction S election

election S equencing

equencing S takes

D econstruction

Every complex skill is really just a combination of basic skills, just as every complex problem is really just a combination of smaller problems.

Therefore, one of the smartest ways to learn any complex skill, from a language to a martial art to a musical instrument, is to first break it down into each of it’s smaller components.

By deconstructing complex skills into each of the smaller components, you identify exactly what you need to work on, and you give yourself something specific to focus on.

For example: If you wanted to learn English, here are some of the skills you might identify:

Noun

Verb

Pronoun

Adjective

Adverb

Or if you wanted to learn Muay-Thai, here are some of the skills you might identify:

Jab

Cross

Hook

Uppercut

Elbow

Knee

Front kick

Roundhouse By breaking your goal e.g. “learning Spanish” into smaller mini-goals, you give yourself small milestones you can achieve and celebrate along the way instead of having one big goal e.g. “I’m going to learn Spanish” with no end in sight. PS: You also need to identify the reasons you might quit. What are the reasons other people have failed? S election Do an 80/20 analysis. Which 20% of the skills should I focus on in order to get 80% of the results I want? S equencing In which order should I learn these skills? What would be a good logical progression? What would happen if I did these things in reverse?