7 steps to learning and acquiring any skill in a short time.

We often desire to learn new things or acquire new skills but is often difficult to know where to start, allocate time, keep up with books to read, etc. Nevertheless, in the history of humans, there have been fast learners who acquired skills in different unrelated fields to the level of expert in a short time. You have certainly come across amazing stories of individuals with so many unrelated skills and perform well at them. Some of these are often attributed only to the intelligence of the individual concerned. However, research shows that everyone can potentially learn anything provided they put their mind to it and stay committed. There is no age when the ability to learn stops. We learn from infancy to the day of death either actively or passively.

In research, many skills are required ranging from problem-solving, writing, coding, graphics design, etc. which need to be acquired to at least an intermediate level to produce impactful research. Of course, there is the option of outsourcing but with limited funds, I have to do some myself. With a short time to learn, I decided to research methods that could help me not only learn fast but retain and be very good at a skill.

This article is written based on the points in the book Ultralearning by Scott Young. These steps have enabled me to learn graphics design in science from being a simple user of icons to a designer from scratch of cell structures. Also, I have learned how to code and analyze Next-Generation DNA and RNA sequencing data with Python, R, and Ubuntu within a few months. It is incredible how knowing the right framework to use can drastically change your approach to learning, acquire skills faster and boost your self-esteem. So, let’s dive into the methods.

1. Meta-learning

An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing. Dale Carnegie

As a prerequisite, Clearly define the reason you want to learn the skill before starting. This will guide your motivation during the process. A shallow reason will greatly affect your compliance to learning. Let’s look at the methods of approaching a topic or skill.

Research the topic and find out the main concepts, key principles, or facts, and procedures that govern that field. These are the fundamental things that remain fairly constant and are applied irrespective of the level of mastery of that skill. For example, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are basic concepts in math used in every level of math. It sounds too simple right, but for a skill you are new to, it is not so obvious the reason why research comes in.

Knowing the basics also gives you a reference for innovation once you have mastered the skills.

Research how others are learning the skill. High chances are that the skill you want to learn others are masters at it and have written their testimonies about their learning journey. Follow a few people who are experts at what you are learning on social media or attend their conferences and seminars if you can.

When you know the concepts, facts, methods/procedures make a mind map of how the concepts relate to each other. It also helps your brain have a visual conception of what you are approaching. Our brains learn faster by making connections, so this step is very important. This will also enable you to design your learning plan and goals in a manner that suits your learning ability without following the one-size-fits used in school programs. Make short notes of your findings for future reference.

According to the skill, decide if you will learn by

Project-based: If the aim for learning how to code is to build an app, then after researching you can lay out the steps of building an app then start building one yourself at the same time. By the time the app is done, you would have acquired a significant percentage of the skills required and also an app to add to your portfolio.

Immersive learning: Surround yourself with the environment where the skill is practiced. This is suitable for learning a new language like living in a region or country where the language is spoken.

Simulations: Suitable for a skill like piloting or driving. It gives you a quick feel of what it will be like to do what you practice in real life.

2. Focus:

The successful man is an average man with a laser-like focus. Bruce Lee

This is probably the most difficult for many people: Finding time to concentrate on a single task without interruptions. This is however not as difficult as it seems. All that is needed is to allocate enough time that can enable you to learn and practice consistently. To learn science graphics design I allocated 30mins a day for 2 weeks to get to the point where I am. It seems small but the consistency of learning compounds the effects over time as you learn.

Allocate these small chunks of time when you can focus exclusively on the task without distractions. Know the shortest time you can focus on a task without distraction and use that to plan your learning times. It varies for different people: 1hr for some, and 15 mins for others. The idea here is also to help fight procrastination the smaller the time and the less ambiguous the task you are to do each in each session, the easier it will be to engage each time. Take note of possible distractions from your environment, task, or mind.

3. Drill

Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points. Knute Rockne

Be conscious of your weak points. One of my weak points was taking a break when I succeed at a major milestone in my learning journey. Taking some time to celebrate a milestone is good but care has to be taken not to slip and lose sight of the long-term goal.

4. Retrieval.

It pays better to wait and recollect by an effort from within than to look at the book again. William James.

Test to learn. You can test yourself to assess your knowledge and of course, learn more about the skill. This point is rather unfriendly for reasons that we often have a phobia for anything test or exam. When taking online courses on Coursera, the trick I used to improve my focus and attention was to take the final exam before starting the course. It built my curiosity and motivation to learn tremendously. I also took some extra tests from outside the platform to learn other concepts or approaches that may not have been addressed in the course.

In this case, it is important to approach testing as a learning experience and to compare what you know with what there is out there.

For personal testing, closing the book and trying to recall in your own words is a more effective method of long-term storage and easy retrieval of information than just going back to the book again.

5. Feedback

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson

Proper feedback on what you are doing is the only way to properly gauge your progress, your mistakes, and an opportunity to make small mends. You can show what you have done to a friend or someone who masters the skill to get an honest opinion. Be objective when receiving feedback and make an honest decision to improve. Allocate some time to take a step back without letting your ego in the way, think, and troubleshoot things that went wrong before moving forward. Know the things to pay attention to and those to ignore.

6. Retention.

Retention is the single most important thing for growth. Alex Schultz

Understand what you forget and why. I mentioned above the use of associations to make the brain grasp information visually. The brain learns and stores information by creating patterns. Make sure that what you learn, you can understand from a different angle.

The more you learn the more you can create patterns of knowledge within a field and be able to deduce first principle approaches when solving problems in that field. To solve future problems, approaching a problem from the deeper principles/basics/concepts/laws rather than the superficial views is critical. The reason why the basics as stated above are important. Experts build a huge library of patterns from basic principles over the years. When compared to a novice, both the expert and the novice may be able to solve a problem, but the expert always provides the best solution.

Also, make notes of what you learn and revise them at intervals. You can also teach what you are learning to others. It helps you understand more by forcing you to put into your own words what you have in mind.

Yes, you can use memorization techniques, but I would advise that memorization should be for facts or lists and not a cheap escape for understanding and appreciation of the knowledge to behold. There are several mnemonic methods that you can apply to improve memorization. You can research and use those that suit your learning preferences.

7. Practice and Experimentation.

Results? Why, I have gotten lots of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work. Thomas Edison.

Explore outside your comfort zone. The key to this is to first believe that you can improve continuously on what you know. The principles explained above enable you to get started, but to truly master a skill, after following the path taken by others, you need to start exploring possibilities that others are yet to imagine. Practice what you learned all the time, taking new projects that challenge you each time. To be a master, you must create sufficient patterns through practice such that you will not just be able to do with ease the difficult things others do but do things no one has done before. Like they say “A great mathematician is one who can solve problems others cannot, not just one who can solve previously solved problems easily”.

There are many ways to do productive experimentation: From the repertoire of information you have gathered over time list the techniques, materials, and styles. Experiment with the materials you used during learning, experiment with a technique or procedure, experiment with a style,

1. You can copy or try to reproduce something else someone has done.

2. Compare two methods side by side (For example, repeating a drawing done in pencil with a pen to compare the strokes)

3. Introduce new constraints that can limit your use of some methods you already know.

4. Combine two or more unrelated skills u have and go beyond conventions.

Wish you a pleasant Learning journey……..

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.