We all certainly understand the great value of teaching and occasionally learn some new skills. This is a great aspiration, but we notice that someone is taught easily and by nature, while others have a lot of effort. It seems unfair, but who in our world is looking for justice. Let us try to address this issue from different angles.
To learn something, to know little about what to do, it is also important to understand what not to do.
Which you don’t have to do
Many people who want to learn something usually ask questions about how to learn something. How fast can you learn English, how fast can you learn to read, how fast can you learn to play guitar? Of course, you can learn all this quickly, but here’s the thing: usually these people don’t start learning anything because they think there’s going to be a specific day when they can tell themselves they’ve learned something. Learning is a constant process.
You have probably heard many times that it is simply impossible to learn any language because it is constantly changing. You can quickly climb a mountain of rules and spelling, it’s really possible, but then a very unpleasant thing happens – either you think that the subsequent learning of the language will come by itself, or you’re disappointed because you realize that it’s impossible to fully learn the language.
You see your result, you are proud of it, but at this very moment full apathy comes, telling you that so many unknown words and idioms still need to be learned, and you don’t even know what to take up. When you start to think that you already understand the taste of language, there is sure to be a situation that will tell you that it is not so. The topic of language learning is the most painful because it is relevant, but most importantly – the problems are clearly visible.
You do not need to take on everything at once. In today’s world, a huge amount of information that can not be memorized, a lot of skills. And let us confess honestly, it is impossible to study everything. So first of all, you must understand who you are and what you want, and what skills will help you in this. Yes, we are not talking about the speed of learning now, but about expediency, but this moment is extremely important. Everyone wants to learn five new skills here and now, but they do not take on any of them.
Don’t do anything nonsense. Of course, everyone is interested in trying something new for themselves, but before you do, at least think a little about how much it is necessary and important for you. You can give in to your emotions and start learning to play guitar, but what if you are not interested in music at all? But such an example is not sucked out of your finger, such people exist.
All of us should understand that to learn a skill, it usually takes at least a month, or even from a year to three. There are people who learn Spanish, but they do not even have the desire to learn Spanish history, even to go there. These people are involved in nonsense, arguing that every person should have some special skill. No one in the company speaks Spanish, but he does. And that’s considered an argument.
Why do some people learn fast, others slow?
There are several reasons. People who learn easily know what they want from life. Any skill they learn is confirmed every day that it is important to them. Such people learn English, and besides it they read the history of English-speaking countries, are interested in culture, literature, they plan trips to these countries. For them, the allotted hour in English is not limited to sixteen minutes, they are always on this wave. After all, weaving the skill you learn into your life is ideal for learning anything.
Learn to cook, ask the people you visit how they prepared this dish. Now you don’t have to talk about cooking all day long, just don’t forget about the skill after you’ve finished the formal training. If you spend an hour a day learning a skill and the rest of the time you are sick of it, it is not yours.
And if you must learn a skill, make a huge, voluminous list of the benefits you’ll get when you learn it. Reread it all the time, complete it. Read it before you learn it and immediately after. Always remember how important this skill is to you, otherwise it will become your burden, and you still need to learn. Imagine walking down an alley every day and stumbling on the same stone all the time. And after a month these stones become ten. Is it possible to admire the weather, walking along the alley, when inside there is a constant fear of stumbling? There will be no less of them, the number of stones will only grow.
These people achieve perfection in every aspect of their skill. They don’t learn for someone, they do it for themselves. If you’re looking at the wrong verbs in English, and you’re wondering what else to learn, what kind of progress can we talk about? Get a grip on yourself, take a couple of days and learn these verbs so you never have to think about them again. Otherwise, they will pop up in your consciousness and subconscious and destroy your confidence. How nice to know that you have learned the most difficult and unpleasant rule and now you can focus on something easy.
These people have a living example before their eyes. They see and communicate with people who have learned this skill and can help to understand it. Forums are good, but you can’t get that many quick answers there, and you can get a lot of energy and motivate yourself to be a living example in live communication mode.
They are constantly asking themselves the right questions. It is crucial in any training to study microcosm and macrocosm, to see the details and the big picture. When studying a rule, chords or text, you should ask yourself questions from time to time: “What am I doing now? And how does this help me in my global learning of the skill?”. When you get the answer, you clarify the purpose, you start to breathe freely. When you learn to play guitar, always remember why you do it – you want to write your own songs. It’s often the case that a person learning to play guitar can come into a stupor and look at themselves from the outside – some person with a wooden stick rubbing his fingers against the nickel. At such moments, the learning ability drops several times. Ask yourself: “What am I doing now in a global sense?”
They’re planning. It seems boring. Even when there is interest in learning a skill, you just want to learn it, you don’t want to think. Planning is good in that it allows you to think and see the whole picture.
Momentary practice
If you have taken a tutorial (on scripting, cooking, memory development), do not take it “just read”, do not engage in self-deception. When you read the book about scripting and the first chapter in it about creating a character, take it and create a character immediately. If you’re reading a book about memory development, make it happen right away. Why waste time reading when you can take the advice here and now and turn it into a book. If you have read the tutorial and have done nothing in practice, you have wasted your time. This simple thing you should understand here and now, otherwise the books and advice you have read will remain just a theory.
Daily practice
Of course, it is difficult to allocate time every day for dozens of skills, well, do not take on everything at once. Spend at least 30 minutes a day, but it really should be every day. The body must learn a new unusual sense of exiting the comfort zone, because any novelty to your brain is this very exit.
What to learn.
Learn only what attracts you, which has attracted you for a long time, because it will take a relatively long time to learn. Think about your values, who you are and what you want to achieve in life, and then answer the question about what skills you need to do this. If you work with people and you like it, you just need to learn psychology and the skills to influence people. There are people who like to communicate, but they are not progressing in their communication and cannot achieve what they would like.
Do you like music? Think again and answer the question – do you really like music? Is it something that makes you feel alive and real? Then start making music. That’s the only way you’ll succeed. Even if you have a completely different profession, you will come to your goal.
If you like the fine arts, you’ll certainly learn them. You may not be a genius, but any skill can be learned at a good level, even if “you have no talent”.
Do you like computer games? Yes, it is incredibly hard to become a programmer, but you can write reviews, create your own YouTube channel and comment on games.
Improve your cognitive abilities…
Despite the fact that it is not the first point, it is, in fact, the key one. Developing memory, you become able to remember more important information, remember the forgotten, begin to show their abilities in creative thinking (these are related things). When you learn to be attentive and focused, you will cease to be distracted and can learn much more than before.
You’ll be able to notice things you haven’t seen before, catch the tone of your interlocutor, understand the taste of food and read faster. This is all your support, which will help you learn to learn and do it faster (if this is your goal).
You probably know people who grab everything on the fly without being particularly read and smart. These people, from birth or childhood, have developed cognitive skills. They are able to notice, remember and understand more than others. They remember more quickly, they can think of an unusual association for any word at the same second. And yes, their most important advantage is that they are easier to learn than others. It’s true that a lot of them don’t use that gift. What’s not suffered is rarely valuable. But if you increase your cognitive abilities, it will have a price for you.
What’s great about cognitive abilities is that raising one raises the other. One memory training can do wonders with your brain.
The 21st century is ideal for learning
With the Internet, you can learn almost any skill. Of course, if you don’t want to learn how to operate people (and this is also a profession, and we are talking about skills). For many other cases there are thousands of books, articles and sites on the subject. One YouTube is enough for a lifetime. Google has already digitized 30 million books, famous universities around the world are doing the same and making them available to the public, the Coursera web service offers free video courses for everyone.
Always remember that you learn something only for yourself. And if you take one aspect of skill over your sleeves thinking you’ve cheated on someone, you’ve cheated yourself. Do not engage in self-deception, perfect any aspect and be proud of yourself for it.
And how else do you think you can learn to learn? Leave your comments.
