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How I learn stuff
Most businesses know the 80/20 rule which states that 80% your income comes from 20% of your clients. However did you know that this rule can also be applied to learning? 20% of the students will get the most benefit from the class. Your success or failure could be due to a number of factors such as:- The teacher understanding adult learning styles
- Your interest in a course
- The amount of time you have
- How well you structure your time
- Or even how much stress you're under.
Recently a friend of mine noted that I seem to get a lot of value out of the courses I attend. I noted that it's not because I'm smarter but because I have a system that I learnt at University that works for me. He asked if I could share that system so here it is.
When I was at University I tried a multitude of ways to get smarter such as:- Played tapes at night to try and learn by osmosis (chuckle, chuckle - that doesn't work)
- Hung around with smart people (helpful)
- I took speed reading courses (helpful)
- I scheduled weekly additional research at the library
- I recorded books I was reading and replayed them as I walked to Massey (brain switched off and day dreaming took over)
None of the above really helped me learn what I was supposed to be learning because I have since learnt that my learning style is more hands on. I need to actively take part for information to stay in my head. In one of the courses I did they outlined a number of ways to take notes at a lecture and this one has worked really well for me:
- Add the date and the name of the course to the top right of your page
- Through-out the course actively listen to what the teacher is saying
- Try to identify the main messages the teacher is trying to get across. This is normally really easy because a good teacher will identify them at the start of the course. For example, "In today's class we'll be examining A, B and C"
- Write down these main points on the page and leave plenty of space under each to write more notes.
- Here's the golden rule. Don't write a lot. Just points that you need to remind yourself of. The page should look more like a mind map than a written document.
- After the course (preferably within 2 hours) go back to your notes and add more detail if you need to.
The only difference I use at business courses is:
- Identify things I want to implement from the course
- Prioritise the list from easiest/quickest to most difficult.
- Schedule in the tasks for the soonest possible time - you should be able to schedule the short tasks for the next day. The secret is that the satisfaction of achieving the small tasks and seeing them grow will motivate you to act on the larger tasks.
Hope this helps. If you're like me and find it hard to remember peoples names unless you write them down then this system should work for you.
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